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Unearthed notebooks shed light on Victorian genius who inspired Einstein
The Guardian ^ | 3/15/2025 | Donna Ferguson

Posted on 03/16/2025 7:41:20 PM PDT by logi_cal869

Michael Faraday’s illustrated notes that show how radical scientist began his theories at London’s Royal Institution to go online

He was a self-educated genius whose groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of physics and chemistry electrified the world of science and laid the foundations for Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity nearly a century later.

Now, the little-known notebooks of the Victorian scientist Michael Faraday have been unearthed from the archive of the Royal Institution and are to be digitised and made permanently accessible online for the first time.

The notebooks include Faraday’s handwritten notes on a series of lectures given by the electrochemical pioneer Sir Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution in 1812. “None of these notebooks have been looked at or analysed in any great depth,” said Charlotte New, head of heritage for the Royal Institution. “They’re little known to the public.”

Faraday, the son of a blacksmith, left school at 13 and was working as an apprentice bookbinder when he attended the lectures. He penned very careful notes and presented one of his notebooks to Davy, hoping for a job at the Royal Institution despite his working-class background and rudimentary education.

The notebooks shed light on the workings of Faraday’s mind and reveal he made intricate drawings to visualise the scientific experiments and principles he was learning about at the lectures.

- snip -

A curated selection of key pages from the notebooks will be launched online for the first time on the Royal Institution website on 24 March, to mark 200 years since Faraday founded the annual Royal Institution Christmas lectures.

- snip -

Eventually, every page of Faraday’s notebooks will be digitised and made searchable online, she added.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Science
KEYWORDS: chemistry; einstein; electromagnetism; faraday; faradaycage; jamesclerkmaxwell; michaelfaraday; physics; science

1 posted on 03/16/2025 7:41:20 PM PDT by logi_cal869
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To: SunkenCiv

Ping to the list


2 posted on 03/16/2025 7:44:35 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: logi_cal869

The British have an incredible history - hopefully they know enough to get it moved to a safe place (maybe the US, or China, or Russia, or Japan), before their new masters take power in a decade or two, as they don’t value history the way Westerners do.


3 posted on 03/16/2025 7:48:56 PM PDT by BobL (The people who hate Trump demand that you hate Russia)
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To: All
No disrespect to Faraday but James Clerk Maxwell did more to help Einstein than about anyone else. Issac Newton also
4 posted on 03/16/2025 8:09:53 PM PDT by BipolarBob (Whoever said "out of sight, out of mind" never had a snake disappear in their bedroom.)
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To: logi_cal869

Are you a Sandemanian?

https://faithalone.org/grace-in-focus-articles/are-you-a-sandemanian-2/

5 posted on 03/16/2025 8:22:32 PM PDT by fishtank (The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
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To: BipolarBob
No disrespect to Faraday but James Clerk Maxwell did more to help Einstein than about anyone else. Issac Newton also

Maxwell synthesized his equations from the carefully made observations of Faraday.

In a manner similar to the way Einstein synthesized his great breakthroughs in quantum mechanics and relativity from the observations of Planck and Michelson/Morley.

Einstein actually named Maxwell as the scientist he most admired.

The astonishing leap of insight made by Maxwell was at least as impressive as the two astonishing leaps of insight made by Einstein.

6 posted on 03/16/2025 9:22:10 PM PDT by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: BipolarBob
No disrespect to Faraday but James Clerk Maxwell did more to help Einstein than about anyone else. Issac Newton also

"If I have seen farther, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants."

7 posted on 03/16/2025 9:32:33 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats do not object to government corruption as long as they get a cut of the loot.)
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To: logi_cal869

Will read in entirity later. Pretty interesting stuff.


8 posted on 03/16/2025 9:53:42 PM PDT by Beowulf9 ( )
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To: logi_cal869

Little-known? Who doesn’t know what a faraday cage is?


9 posted on 03/16/2025 10:04:35 PM PDT by Tacrolimus1mg (Do no harm, but take no sh!t.)
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To: fishtank

Mister Sandemanian
Adapted from the Chordettes hit song of 1954.

Mr. Sandemanian bring us a dream
Give him a pair of eyes with a “come-hither” gleam
Give him a lonely heart like Pagliacci
And lots of wavy hair like Liberace.

Mr. Sandemanian,, someone to hold
Would be so peachy before we’re too old
So please turn on your magic beam
Mr. Sandmeanian, bring us, please, please, please
Mr. Sandemanian, bring us a dream.


10 posted on 03/16/2025 10:54:28 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: BipolarBob

Maxwell’s contributions to Einstein were greater and closer in time than those of Faraday. Much like Einstein though, Faraday was also heavily self-taught and had an originality of mind that greatly advanced physics.


11 posted on 03/17/2025 12:06:51 AM PDT by Rockingham
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To: Tacrolimus1mg

“Who doesn’t know what a faraday cage is?”

You know what it is. And I know what it is. And likely most folks reading this thread know what it is. But if Jay Leno were standing on Hollywood Blvd with a microphone and interviewing random tourists as they walked by, how many could explain what a Faraday Cage is? Ten percent? Twenty percent? I’d be surprised if it were much more than that. There’s a lot of ignorance out there.


12 posted on 03/17/2025 12:43:29 AM PDT by irishjuggler
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To: BobL

The Royal Academy tried really hard to ban Faraday because he was a commoner.


13 posted on 03/17/2025 6:08:47 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: frank ballenger

If that wasn’t so cute we’d beat you.


14 posted on 03/17/2025 6:10:29 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: logi_cal869

Wow... This could be very cool. There could be some hidden nuggets that spark new creativity in these. Never being published is exciting. That means not many have even read any of it or studied it.


15 posted on 03/17/2025 6:46:08 AM PDT by Openurmind
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To: Openurmind

My thoughts as well.

Fatigue prompted me to post without comment.


16 posted on 03/17/2025 9:10:53 AM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: irishjuggler; Tacrolimus1mg
I usually keep my mobile phone in a "Faraday tin" a small steel box with a tight fitting lid. I have tested it several times in the following manner.

1) Phone is on and make a call to the phone from my landline, the phone rings.

2) Place the phone, still switched on and in the same location, inside the box and close the lid. Make another call to my phone from my landline. This time the phone does not ring and I get a message telling me the phone is unobtainable.

PS I am totally not a crank or paranoid in any way.... nope not me ;)

17 posted on 03/17/2025 11:33:15 AM PDT by protest1
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