19th Century Pioneer

Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867).  England.

The unit of capacitance, the Farad was named to honor him.

Faraday had little formal education, but through self study and a healthy scientific work environment, he made significant contributions to society.  He experimented with magnetism, expanding upon the previous works of the Danish physicist, Hans Christian Oersted.  Faraday plotted the magnetic field surrounding a conductor carrying an electric current.

He discovered electromagnetic induction and demonstrated the induction from one current carrying wire to another. 

The generator, electric motor and transformer evolved as a result of his pioneering work.

He also discovered that a changing magnetic field produces an electric field.