Father of Electronics, Child of God
Michael Faraday and "The Beauty of Electricity"
193 years ago today, Michael Faraday conducted an experiment that changed the course of history and made it possible for us to live in unprecedented ease.
Try as you might, you really can’t imagine what your life would be like without electricity. You’re probably reading this on a device powered by electricity, in the air-conditioned comfort of a home or office abuzz with dozens of electrical devices that make your life comfortable and safe in ways we daily take for granted. The closest we may get to life without electricity is an occasional camping trip, but even then we dare not leave the house without flashlights, smartphones, and GPS navigation tools powered by portable electricity.
Thousands of miles of copper wire silently transport the electricity we depend on every day. Even your car is a mobile electricity producer and consumer that contains over a mile of copper wire, and if you want to know how many feet of copper wire are in your house, multiply the square footage by 2.
What Happened on August 29, 1831?
That’s where Michael Faraday comes in.
On August 29, 1831, Michael Faraday, a British scientist, did something so smart, that I have to let someone else explain it to you. All of the electrical engineers among my subscribers will dig it, but the rest of you may just want to skim this explanation from The American Physical Society and focus on the parts I’ve emphasized:
On August 29th, he succeeded in accomplishing this with a six-inch diameter iron ring, around which were wound five coils of copper wire. One coil was connected to the voltaic pile and another to a galvanometer. The moment the current in the battery was active, a transitory current appeared in the galvanometer in the opposite direction. This now-famous induction cell was the first electrical transformer, and modern transformers-some of which have capacities of up to 550 MVA and contain more than 40 tons of copper-are still constructed on the same principle.
Faraday then proceeded to demonstrate that the lines of magnetic force could be cut, and a current induced, simply by rotating a copper disc by hand between the poles of a powerful electromagnet. This is now known as the principle of the dynamo, and soon found practical application in numerous small electric generators. It took several years for such generators to become efficient, but by 1841 power-driven multipolar machines were employed in Birmingham for the electroplating of copper articles, and by 1858 a generator for electric light had been installed in the North Foreland Lighthouse.
To this day, a “Faraday” is a unit of electrical charge “that is transferred when one mole of electrons (approximately 6.022 x 10^23 electrons) is passed through an electrical conductor in an electrolytic reaction.”
The Father of Electronics Is A Child of God
So now you know. That’s how Michael Faraday became the Father of Electronics.
But there’s something else you need to know about Faraday. As a devout follower of Christ, he saw no final conflict between good theology and good science. Like many scientists before and after him, his observation of the natural world was built on the premise that it was sustained by an orderly God. God’s Word and God’s world had the same Author and it’s our privilege and duty to study each in-depth to learn more about the Creator. The special revelation of Scripture and the general revelation of creation discovered through science is never at odds. He affirmed that “God governs his material works by natural laws,” and “the beauty of electricity is that it is under law.”
As an active church member, he served as a Deacon and two terms as an Elder, often preaching in his church. Once, after preaching on the Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19:16 and and John 17:3, Faraday closed by saying:
“And therefore, brethren, we ought to value the privilege of knowing God's truth far beyond anything we can have in this world. The more we see the perfection of God's law fulfilled in Christ, the more we ought to thank God for His unspeakable gift.”
The Father of Electronics, who loved the church, the Bible, and the Lord, thought that electricity was a beautiful thing. So do I.
(Photo credit: Science History Institute)