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00:00can you see me can you hear me how i could be thousands of miles away and yet when you turn
00:14on whatever device is bringing my image and voice to you i'm there instantaneously how is that
00:22possible to our ancestors it would have seemed like sorcery for them speed of communication
00:29was only as fast as the swiftest horse or sailing ships our messages travel invisibly at the speed
00:36of light how do we attain such mythic powers it all began in the mind of one person
00:44a child of poverty of whom nothing was expected
00:51in fact if this man had not lived
00:54the world we know might not exist today
01:24so
01:35so
01:43so
02:51But if Michael Faraday had never lived, we might still be living as our ancestors did in the 17th century, unaware of the armies of invisible servants awaiting our commands.
03:04This is the story of how we learn to make electrons do our bidding.
03:10And in a way, it begins with the greatest genius who ever lived, Isaac Newton.
03:16This is Woolsthorpe, Newton's ancestral home.
03:26He walked these fields tormented by mystery.
03:29Newton, the man who figured out the formula for the motions of the planets around the sun, wanted to know,
03:34how does the sun make the planets act that way without touching them?
03:39How do all the apples know how to fall?
03:42Another genius was puzzled by another aspect of the same mystery.
03:46I saw only have a gschenk for thee.
03:56You see, son?
03:57No matter how I turn the compass, the needle always points the same way.
04:03Except...
04:04But how?
04:12They do not touch.
04:15I didn't hear a thank you, Albert.
04:17I can still remember this.
04:26The experience made a deep and lasting impression on me.
04:31Something deeply hidden had to be behind things.
04:36Between the lifetimes of Einstein and Newton, there lived another genius.
04:42One of equal stature.
04:43The man who solved the mystery that stumped Newton also laid the foundation for Einstein's revolutionary insights.
04:52And for the way we live now.
04:54In 1791, in a squalid slum in the suburbs of London, Michael Faraday was born.
05:21He showed a little promise at school.
05:34Pray tell us a word that begins with the letter R.
05:39Well?
05:43Wabbit?
05:44The word is rabbit.
05:48Once again, and correctly this time.
05:52Wabbit?
05:53Do you mock me?
05:55Have I not told you how to pronounce the letter R?
05:59Surely you can at least tell us your name?
06:03Michael Faraday, ma'am.
06:04Take this hay penny, and buy me a cane, so that I may give your insolent brother a proper flogging.
06:13History does not record that Michael Faraday ever attended school again.
06:33Faraday took his family's fundamentalist Christian faith to heart.
06:42It would always remain a source of strength, comfort, and humility for him.
06:47He was sent to work at a bookbindery at the age of 13.
06:51By day, he bound the books.
06:54And by night, he read them.
06:56It was the beginning of a lifelong fascination with electricity.
07:16After years of working in the bookbindery, Faraday, now 21, yearned to escape to a larger world.
07:23His big break came when a customer gave him a ticket to a sensational new kind of entertainment.
07:29Science for the public.
07:36And it started right here, at London's Royal Institution.
07:42Humphrey Davy was not only one of the leading scientists of his day.
07:46He discovered several chemical elements, including calcium and sodium.
07:50He was also a consummate showman.
07:53And primitive demonstrations of electricity never failed as a crowd-pleaser.
07:58May we have the lights lowered, please?
08:03I am about to unleash the might of the 2,000 massive chemical batteries stored in the cellar beneath our feet.
08:12And now, behold the power of the mysterious force of electrical fluid to illuminate our future.
08:24Faraday was too busy taking notes to applaud.
08:46Faraday created a transcript of Davy's lecture.
08:53Using the skills he had learned as an apprentice, he bound them into this book.
08:59Perhaps such a gift would bring him to the attention of the great man.
09:13Maybe this gesture could be a means of escape to a much larger universe.
09:18Good day, sir.
09:27I wish you to deliver this parcel to Sir Humphrey.
09:30It was a long shot anyway, but Faraday hoped something would come of it.
09:43And it did.
09:44The experiment is ready for you now, sir.
09:57Ampere tells me that poor Dulong lost an eye and three fingers working with this.
10:02When a chemical experiment blew up in the face of the world-renowned scientist Humphrey Davy,
10:24he remembered Michael Faraday,
10:27the lad who had gone through such lengths to copy down and bind the transcript of his lecture.
10:32You have a first-rate memory, young man,
10:36and I shall have temporary need of a secretary.
10:39Sir, I dream of a life in service to science.
10:43I would advise you to stick to the bookbinding.
10:46Science is a harsh mistress.
10:48Surely a person of your station and modest means must have a trade.
10:52Trade is vicious and selfish.
10:55Men of science are amiable and morally superior.
10:59I take it I'm the first man of science you've ever met.
11:02Faraday made himself indispensable to Davy.
11:09The temporary job became a permanent one,
11:12and the royal institution became his lifelong home.
11:15By day, he assisted Davy in the lab.
11:18At day's end, he climbed the stairs to the little apartment
11:22where his beloved bride Sarah was waiting.
11:33Humphrey Davy and the chemist William Wollaston
11:36were experimenting with a mysterious phenomenon,
11:39one with potentially far-reaching implications.
11:41This is the identical set-up to Orsted's.
11:47Now, close the circuit, Davy, and watch closely.
11:53What could be driving the needle away from the wire?
11:57Damned if I know.
11:58But it's as if the electric current makes the wire behave like some kind of magnet.
12:03Electricity must have something to do with magnetism.
12:07Now, if we could only get it to turn continuously,
12:12imagine what might be accomplished
12:13if we could put these forces to work.
12:16After you tidy up, Faraday,
12:22you might see what you can make of it.
12:25Davy may have been having a bit of fun
12:27at the expense of his young assistant,
12:29but Faraday was on fire.
12:32Up to now, electricity had been nothing more
12:34than an entertaining novelty toy.
12:37It could make a light flash for an instant
12:39or turn a compass needle briefly,
12:41but it had no practical application.
12:44Faraday immediately set about designing the experiment,
12:49devoting every moment of his spare time to the problem.
12:53If Faraday succeeded,
12:55he would be putting an infinitely large,
12:57invisible, and as yet undiscovered army of electrons
13:01at the command of human whim.
13:05How does a revolution begin?
13:09Sometimes it doesn't take much.
13:11A piece of metal, a bowl of mercury,
13:15a bit of cork.
13:20Sarah, dear, send your little brother down.
13:22I'm about to try something new,
13:24and I want him to see it.
13:27Why don't you do the honors, Georgie?
13:34There she goes!
13:35There she goes!
13:37Woo-hoo!
13:39Ha-ha-ha!
13:40Ha-ha!
13:41Woo-hoo!
13:42Ha-ha-ha!
13:43Ha-ha!
13:45This was the first motor,
13:48converting electric current
13:49into continuous mechanical motion.
13:52Looks pretty feeble, right?
13:55But that turning spindle
13:57is the beginning of a revolution,
14:00one that dwarfs all the shots fired
14:03and bombs ever detonated
14:04in the sheer magnitude
14:06of its effect on our civilization.
14:10Try to imagine all the businesses,
14:13industries, technologies,
14:15transformations of the way we live
14:17that have their beginnings
14:19in that ecstatic moment
14:20in Michael Faraday's laboratory.
14:23News of Faraday's invention spread quickly,
14:26and suddenly,
14:28Davy's assistant
14:29was the toast of London.
14:31Davy didn't take it well.
14:34He had, after all,
14:35discovered all those elements.
14:39Now people were saying
14:40that his greatest discovery
14:42was Michael Faraday.
14:45Davy made sure
14:46that Faraday
14:48wouldn't be making
14:48any more headlines
14:49any time soon.
14:54You sent for me, sir?
14:55I have a new challenge for you.
14:59I want you to take over our efforts
15:01to improve the quality
15:02of British optical glass.
15:05Those Dan Bavarians
15:07are running circles around us.
15:09Glass?
15:10With all due respect, sir,
15:12I know nothing at all
15:13of glassmaking.
15:14Then you will learn, Faraday.
15:17We all know
15:17what a quick study you are.
15:19Just analyze the chemical composition
15:21of their glass
15:22and work backwards
15:24to see how they made it.
15:26It shouldn't take you long.
15:34But Faraday struggled
15:35for four years
15:37without any success.
15:38This is even worse
15:56than the last batch.
15:57No matter how hard he tried,
16:01Faraday could not figure out
16:03what Yosef Fraunhofer
16:04had discovered years before.
16:06What Faraday failed to grasp
16:09was that casting
16:10perfect optical glass
16:11for telescopes
16:12was a craft
16:13as well as a science.
16:14And the masters in Bavaria
16:15kept their secrets
16:16under lock and key.
16:25Faraday never did learn
16:27their secret.
16:29He kept a single glass brick
16:31as a souvenir
16:32of this failure.
16:33years later,
16:36it would change
16:37the course of his life
16:38and ours.
16:41Davy's death
17:01finally brought an end
17:02to this fruitless project.
17:04And Faraday,
17:05a boy from the Sloans,
17:07succeeded him
17:07as director
17:08of the laboratory.
17:08Faraday used his new authority
17:11to do something unprecedented,
17:13a series of annual
17:14Christmas lectures
17:15on science for the young,
17:17beginning in 1825
17:18and continuing
17:20to this day.
17:21The
17:51at one of the first christmas lectures faraday enchanted his audience with displays of the new
17:59powers that were at his disposal suppose i want to fire a portion of gunpowder i can readily do
18:06it with the power of electricity if i receive electricity through this conducting wire i can
18:17then give it to anything i touch but i must stand on these insulating glass legs to prevent the
18:23electricity from going away into the floor now i am electrified
18:31do you think i could light this glass jet just by touching it with my finger no don't do it no
18:44no no don't now mind you don't try this at home
18:52and now my children you have seen for yourselves how this invisible force of electricity can be
19:02made to serve new purposes utterly unattainable by the powers we have now
19:08the invention of a motor that could work continuously eliminating countless human hours of drudgery
19:23would be more than enough to make you a fortune and land you in the history books
19:28that's not how michael faraday saw it he had absolutely no interest in patenting his ideas
19:34or personally profiting from them and as for the history books he had only written the first sentence
19:40of an entry that would be many pages long mr anderson may i ask you to dim the lights please
19:47gentlemen i am about to induce a current of electricity merely by moving a magnet
19:53please observe what happens in the gap between the wires when i do so
19:57do you see how the current only flows when the magnet is moving
20:08this is the conversion of motion into electricity
20:12this was the first generator from here electricity would become available on demand faraday was
20:30continuing to change the world the way people lived and then suddenly an illness attacked his
20:37incomparable mind
20:44my dear schoenbein i would be very grateful to have your opinion regarding
20:50regarding
20:54regarding
20:58dear schoenbein
20:59regarding
21:05my dear husband
21:12whatever is the matter
21:14i began a letter to schoenbein and could not remember what i meant to say
21:19this is no cause for alarm
21:22you work too hard
21:24you're exhausted
21:25no sarah this is different
21:27horribly different
21:29it's the third time my memory has failed me in as many days
21:32i fear i'm losing my mind
21:35and what would i be without that
21:39why am i darling husband of course
21:45when faraday was 49
21:47he began to battle severe memory loss and depression
21:50his work came to a standstill
21:52and although he never fully recovered his greatest achievements still lay ahead
21:59faraday had immersed himself so deeply in electrical and magnetic experiments that he came to visualize the space around a magnet as filled with invisible lines of force a magnet was not simply the magnetized bar of iron that you could see it was also the
22:06unseen something in the space around the bar
22:13and that's something he called a field a magnetic field
22:16and that's something he called a field a magnetic field
22:20faraday believed in the unity of nature
22:27having demonstrated the connections between electricity and magnetism he wondered
22:31were these two forces also connected to a third light
22:38if he could only show a connection among these three invisible phenomena
22:43one of nature's most intimate secrets would at last
22:46be revealed
23:02so what did he do
23:04he designed an experiment
23:06faraday knew that light can travel as a wave
23:09waves of light vibrate randomly in all directions
23:12but there's a way to isolate a single wave of light
23:16it's called polarization
23:18when light bounces off a reflective surface like a mirror
23:22it becomes polarized
23:24faraday wanted to see
23:26if that single ray of light
23:28could be manipulated by the invisible magnetic field
23:31the eyepiece contained a crystal that acted as a kind of picket fence for light
23:36light could only pass through it
23:39if it was somehow moved by the magnet
23:41he placed a lantern before a mirror
23:44one that he would only see through the eyepiece
23:47if its reflection could pass through the picket fence
23:50if this is hard to understand
23:52but don't feel bad
23:53scientists could not explain this phenomenon for another hundred years
23:57faraday knew that magnetism had no effect on light that was moving through air
24:03but what about when it was moving through other materials
24:06so what kind of material could he use to help the magnet move the light
24:11he tried hundreds of different transparent chemicals and objects
24:15but saw nothing through the eyepiece
24:19the light was not twisted by the magnet
24:21he tried crystals of calcite
24:24sodium carbonate
24:26calcium sulfate
24:28and still he saw nothing
24:30he tried acids
24:32sulfuric acid
24:34muriatic acid
24:36carbonic acid
24:37he tried gases
24:39oxygen
24:40nitrogen
24:41hydrogen
24:42with no success
24:44the magnetic field induced these substances
24:47could not twist the light from his lamp
24:49back into view
24:51in desperation
25:02he decided to try the glass brick
25:05the souvenir
25:08of his years of bondage
25:10to Davy
25:12he did the trick
25:27the force of the magnet twisted the light
25:30so that it could pass through the crystal
25:32so what's the big deal
25:34Faraday had demonstrated the existence of the physical reality that surrounds us
25:40but which no one had ever been able to detect
25:43it was as dramatic a breakthrough
25:45as seeing the cosmos for the very first time through a telescope
25:49by showing that an electromagnetic force could manipulate light
25:54Faraday had discovered a deeper unity of nature
25:58he had opened a door for Einstein
26:01and all the physicists who came after him
26:03to glimpse the interplay of hidden primal forces in the universe
26:08even as he approached the summit of his genius
26:11he was plagued by depression
26:13and doubts about his ability to retain even the simplest thoughts
26:17my dear friend
26:19i find a difficulty in answering or even acknowledging properly a scientific letter
26:24for i cannot now hold it at once in my mind
26:27the memory of the parts fail me
26:30p.s. you will be sorry to see the tone of this short note
26:37but my dearest husband is not quite so well as usual
26:41but i hope he will improve
26:43yours very truly
26:45s Faraday
26:47as a young man
26:50Faraday had risen from poverty
26:53in one of the most class conscious societies the world has ever known
26:57to become the most celebrated scientist of his time
27:01by age 40
27:03he had invented the electric motor
27:05the transformer
27:06the generator
27:07machines that would change everything about the home
27:10the farm
27:12the factory
27:13now
27:14at 60
27:15decades after the fertile periods of the greatest physicists
27:19plagued by memory loss and melancholy
27:22he fearlessly probe deeper
27:25into the mysterious invisible forces
27:28the world thought that michael Faraday was a has-been
27:47despite his depression he remained as passionately curious as ever
27:53having discovered the unity of electricity magnetism and light
27:57faraday needed to know how this trinity of natural forces work together
28:08this is the way the ladies walk
28:10this was nothing new
28:12children had been playing with magnets and iron filings for centuries
28:16everyone had always assumed that this lovely pattern was just something that iron did
28:22Faraday knew that electric current turns a wire into a magnet
28:26so he expected to find related patterns in iron filings around a wire carrying electricity
28:33but where others saw merely lovely shapes
28:36Faraday saw something profound
28:39the pattern
28:41the patterns were not simply a quirk of iron filings
28:44they existed in the space around a magnet or an electric current
28:49even in the absence of iron filings
28:51the patterns were the traces
28:53the footprints of invisible fields of force that reached out into the space around anything magnetic
29:00the compass needle
29:07the compass needle that people wondered at for a thousand years
29:10was not reacting to some far away magnetic north pole
29:12it was detecting a continuous force field that stretched all the way there
29:17earth itself is a giant magnet and like any other magnet its lines of force extend far out into the space surrounding it
29:30they're everywhere all around us
29:34they've always been
29:36but nobody had ever noticed them before
29:39nobody human that is
29:43birds are the last living descendants of the dinosaurs
29:49pigeons and other birds are remarkably good at finding their way around
29:53they can migrate thousands of miles without getting lost
29:57how?
29:58partly by recognizing familiar landmarks
30:01rivers
30:02mountains
30:03stars
30:04even certain smells can serve as signposts for migrating birds
30:08but birds also have an inner compass
30:11they can actually sense the earth's magnetic field
30:14their brains process magnetic data
30:17in much the same way ours process visual data
30:20by sensing the direction of the field
30:23birds can tell north from south
30:25that's one way north american birds know which way to go
30:28when they head south for the winter
30:30the field is stronger near the poles than it is at the equator
30:33a fact that birds use to figure out their latitude
30:38there are also small irregularities in the field
30:41locations where the field is a little weaker or stronger
30:44just like a distinctive mountain or river
30:47these magnetic anomalies can serve as landmarks
30:50for thousands of years humans have used carrier pigeons to send messages to distant locations
31:06it was a crucial method of communication as recently as world war ii
31:10when you think about it we've been using magnetic fields to communicate for a long time
31:15we just didn't know it
31:26so why does our planet have a magnetic field at all
31:29what causes it
31:30the answer lies deep inside the earth
31:33liquid iron circulating around the solid part of the core as earth rotates
31:38acts like a wire carrying an electric current
31:41and as faraday showed us electric currents produce magnetic fields
31:45and that's a good thing
31:47our magnetic field protects us from the onslaught of cosmic rays
31:51which would be very damaging to our biosphere
31:54cosmic rays can rip through dna
31:57without our magnetic field
31:59without our magnetic field
32:00the rate of mutation in living organisms would be much higher
32:04fortunately most of this cosmic shrapnel gets trapped in the van allen belts
32:09donut shaped zones and charged particles corralled by our magnetic shield
32:14knowing that the earth itself is like a giant bar magnet
32:26explains one of the most beautiful sights in the sky
32:29the aurora
32:33charged particles from the sun
32:35the solar wind are constantly bombarding the earth
32:38you can think of the solar wind as a kind of electric current
32:42our planet's magnetic field channels that current towards the north and south poles
32:47when it hits our atmosphere
32:49the oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the air glow like giant fluorescent light bulbs
33:12when faraday pursued his last and most profound discovery
33:19the poverty of his childhood stymied him as it never had before
33:24he needed help
33:26and found it in one who had come from another world
33:29michael faraday had solved the mystery that baffled isaac newton
33:44the mystery that baffled isaac newton
33:51this was how the sun told the planets how to move without touching them
34:10the sun does touch the planets with its gravitational field
34:14and earth's gravitational field tells the apples how to fall
34:19all this is a dream
34:30unfortunately that was the prevailing view among his fellow scientists
34:37faraday was dreaming
34:38they admired his inventiveness and his genius for experimentation
34:43but they regarded his invisible lines of force
34:46and his ideas about light and gravity as hand-waving
34:50meaning there was nothing solid to back it up
34:53some openly ridiculed his theories
34:56they needed to see his ideas expressed in the language of modern physics
35:00precise equations
35:02this was the one area where faraday's childhood poverty and lack of formal education
35:08actually held him back
35:09he couldn't do the math
35:12faraday had finally hit a wall that he could not overcome
35:17and then the greatest theoretical physicist of the 19th century came along
35:23james clark maxwell was born into a world of wealth and privilege
35:29an only child of doting middle-aged parents
35:40by his early twenties he had made a name for himself as a mathematician
35:44while other scientists had come to think of faraday as old-fashioned
35:48a great figure of the past but no part of the future of physics
35:52james clark maxwell knew better
35:55he began by reading everything faraday had written on electricity
35:59he became convinced that faraday's fields of force were real
36:04and he set out to give them a precise mathematical formulation
36:08for the future of physics
36:10he didn't get it
36:11at the same time
36:13the op-edian
36:15he was a master-ledged wife
36:17he didn't have to be a natural
36:18he was a natural
36:20for the future of physics
36:21as well
36:22he was destined for all for things
36:23in the future
36:24the milk
36:27of physics
36:27and the extra-ledged wife
36:28and the chef
36:32An equation in physics is just a shorthand description of something that can be represented
36:59in space and time. For instance, the equation that describes the arc of a pendulum shows
37:05that it can never swing higher than its initial height.
37:09When Maxwell translated Faraday's experimental observations on electromagnetic fields into equations,
37:32he discovered an asymmetry. See that bottom one? It cries out for something else.
37:41Great mathematician that he was, Maxwell added a single turn to balance it.
37:46This tweaking of the equation changed Faraday's static field into waves that spread outward at the speed of light.
37:53It wasn't long before we found a way to turn those waves into couriers for our messages.
38:06Can you see me? Can you hear me? This is how.
38:18This technology has transformed human civilization from a patchwork of cities, towns and villages
38:26into an intercommunicating organism.
38:30Linking us at light speed.
38:40To each other.
38:49To each other.
38:58Enter the cosmos.
39:01To each other.
39:06To each other.
39:08To each other.
39:11To each other.
39:16Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature.