Greatest Discovery

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 18, 14 November 1930, Page 10

Greatest Discovery

Hundred Years of Electricity "THE Royal Institution is making arrangements for the celebration in September, 1931, of the discovery by Michael Faraday of electro-magnetic induction, in which lies the origin of the dynamo and which is the starting point of the utilisation of electric power for the purposes of man, The day of the discovery was:August 29, 1831. On that day Faraday, as his diary shows, working in his laboratory at the: Royal Institution, wound two coils of wire on to opposite sides of e) soft iron ring, connected one coil to a battery and the other to a galvanometer, and at the "make" and "break" of the battery circuit observed the deflections of the galvanometer connected in the other circuit. From this simple experiment and the variations made in it by Faraday in subsequent trials has grown in the past 100 years the science of electrical engineering. The Royal Institution, in a preliminary announcement of the proposed celebrations, says: "No other experiment in physical science has been more fruitful in benefit for mankind. August 29, 1931, is, then, the centenary of one of the great events in the history of the world." The Royal Institution and the Institution of Hlectrical Hngineers have joined forces in making plans for the celebrations, and a number of other societies and organisations are co-operating. The Royal Society will entertain the delegates; the British Association has arranged the dates: for its centenary meeting in London, aiso in 19381, to coincide with the Faraday celebrations ; the Federal Council for Chemistry will participate in the arrangement of a Faraday Bxhibition, for Faraday’s chemical researches-his isolation of benzene and his establishment of the laws of electro-chemistry-are hardly less remarkable than his purely electrical discoveries, and Governments, university, and scientific interests have joined in offering their assistance to make the celebrations worthy of the occasion, Faraday kept a careful diary, in his own hand, of all his experimental work, which was bequeathed to the Royal Institution, and for over 60 years g been its most treasured possession,. The Royal Institution has resolved to blish the diary in full. It is intended to have two or more of the six or eight volumes in which the work will ultimately be completed ready b Septem‘ber, 1931, wep \