MICHAEL FARADAY: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION,Michael Faraday is one of the best known scientific figures of all time Known as the discoverer of electro magnetic induction the principle behind the electric generator and transformer he has frequently been portrayed as the father of electrical engineering from whence much of hispopular fame derives This Very Short Introduction dispels the myth that Faraday was an experimental genius working alone in his basement laboratory making fundamental discoveries that were later applied by others Instead it portrays Faraday as a grand theorist of the physical world profoundly influencing laterphysicists such as Thomson Kelvin Maxwell and Einstein Frank A J L James explores Faraday s life from his origins in eighteenth century Westmorland and Yorkshire his religious and scientific background to the growth of his fame in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries As well as introducing his scientific research he also puts Faraday in thevarious institutional contexts in which he lived and worked including the Royal Institution the Royal Society Trinity House and other agencies of the state James therefore provides a commentary on the rapidly changing place of science in nineteenth century society especially in regards to itsrole in government and the growth of a professional scientific community