Michael Faraday's work laid the foundations for electrical technology, and he was the first man to create continuous artificial electricity.
Faraday became fascinated with science as a teenager and at the age of 22 was given a researcher job at the Royal Institution, then the home of science.
He became an excellent chemist and even discovered a new substance called benzene, but he was drawn to work with electricity.
In 1821, he built two devices that swung round continuously using only the magnetic force of a wire circle, which he called 'electromagnetic rotation'. Ten years later he made his greatest discovery - how to generate electricity. 'Electromagnetic Induction' fed electricity into one wire from the 'electromagnetic' affect of another. The model needed developing but created the principles still used by today's massive electricity generators.
In 1832 he proved that electricity was the same regardless of its source (magnet, battery, or static). He went on to develop the First and Second Laws of Electrolysis and his name lives on in the Farad - the unit of electrical capacitance.
