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The University of Southampton
Interdisciplinary Research Excellence

Professor Frank James presents The Life and Work of Michael Faraday Event

Time:
18:30 - 19:30
Date:
21 November 2012
Venue:
Intech Science and Planetarium Morn Hill Winchester SO21 1HZ

Event details

Michael Faraday (1791-1867) is conventionally portrayed as a lone genius making major experimental discoveries in his basement laboratory in the Royal Institution. Many of these, such as electro-magnetic rotations and induction, the magneto-optical effect and diamagnetism and his consequent formulation of field theory are seen as later having major technological applications and in the engineering community Faraday is regarded as the ‘father’ of electrical engineering. Such retrospective fame has made it difficult to view him properly in the context of science and society in the middle third of the nineteenth century. Faraday was also a key figure in communicating science, in providing scientific advice to the state and its agencies and, as a Sandemanian, is a key figure in helping understand how science and religion interacted. This illustrated talk will address these themes and include a few experimental demonstrations.

Frank James is Professor of the History of Science at the Royal Institution. His main research concentrates on the physical sciences in the nineteenth century and how they relate to other areas of society and culture, for example art, religion, technology and the military. He is editor of the Correspondence of Michael Faraday , now completed in six volumes, and wrote Michael Faraday: A Very Short Introduction (OUP). He has also edited a collection of essays ‘The Common Purposes of Life' which traced the history of the Royal Institution from its founding by Joseph Banks in 1799 to the directorship of Lawrence Bragg in the 1960s. He has been President of both the Newcomen Society for the History of Engineering and Technology and the British Society for the History of Science.

These lectures are expected to last approximately 1 hour plus time for questions

Prices: £6.50 adults, £5.50 concessions & students (Includes free entry to the exhibition after 5pm).

Free entry for teachers and STEM Ambassadors.

To book: please contact Intech on 01962 863793

Further details can be found at www.intech-uk.com

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