Wellington Celebrations of Faraday Centenary

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 10, 18 September 1931, Page 7

Wellington Celebrations of Faraday Centenary

Scientists, electricians, engineers, and thinkers generally, in all parts of the world, are this month paying tribute to the memory of Michael Faraday, who, a hundred years ago, discovered and proved by demonstration to sceptical contemporaries the principle of electro-magnetic induction. From this beginning was evolved the present electrical age, and because of this the world owes to Michael Faraday a debt which can be paid only by the honouring of his name and an appreciation of the man himself and of his high character and ideals.

ReeNttyY electrical engineers from all parts of New Zealand gathered at a formal dinner in Wellington to celebrate the Faraday centenary, but it was felt that something more should be done, and, as a result of the co-operation of the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers, the Institute of Electrical Engineers, and the authorities of Victoria College, a public demonstration of electrical developments to mark further the centenary of the discoveries of Michael Faraday was held at Victoria College on the evening of September 11. In every way the evening was a great success. The chair was taken by Mr. M. Cable, general manager of the

Municipal Electricity and Tramway Department, and he S49 few words

spoke of Faraday’s achievements and of his high personal character and lovable nature. "The world," said Mr. Cable, "knows of Edison and of his works, but does the average man know anything of Faraday, or even who he was? "With a view to removing this charge of ignorance concerning

Faraday,’ he continued, "it behoves electrical engineers throughout the Empire to give greater recognition in the future to Faraday’s work, and to take steps to let the public know that ali modern electrical facilities and amenities are due to the momentous discovery of 1831."

Then followed a surprise-a trans‘Lasman radio telephone conversation between Mr. A. Gibbs, Chief Telegraph Engineer, and Mr. A. Wilson, one of the leading engineers of the Sydney Post Office. Both sides of the conversation passed through a powerful amplifier and loudspeaker, and every word was surprisingly clear. When invited to address the audience, Mr. Wilson spoke briefly of the Faraday centenary. : T the conclusion, Mr. Gibbs conveyed to him the thanks of the meeting and remarked that he thought it was the first time a New Zealand scientific meeting had been addressed by one of the Commonwealth engineers or, for that matter, by anyone else across the Tasman Sea. The first address, given by Mr. W. H. Gregory, engineer-in-charge of the hydro-electric station at Waikaremoana, traced the growth of electrical knowledge from 600 B.c., when the first knowledge of static electricity obtained from rubbing amber was gained, down through the centuries te when the ancients learned of the properties of the lode-stone, the natural magnet; the early eighteenth centu when it was (Concluded on page 33)

Faraday Centenary

(Continued from page 7.) found that static electricity could be transmitted from one body to- another by induction; SBenjamin Franklin’s famous kite ex; periment with lightning; the first known current of electricity. in the Voltaic pile and Galvani’s experiments; Humphry Davy’s first tiny are light from: a battery of cells; Oersted’s outstanding discovery that there was some relation between mavnetism and electricity; and in the early nineteenth century of Faraday’s line-in his notebook: "Convert magnetism into electricity. A splendid problem, but how to do it?’ Referring briefly to the work of other experimenters, Mr. Gregory passed on to Waraday’s first unsuccessful experiment with coils of wire, then to his first iron core transformer, and the manner in which the first almost insignificant kick of the measuring instrument, the galvanometer, proved that a current passing through one coil of wire could induce a current in a second coil not connected with the first. . From that point Faraday’s progress was amazingly fast. Day by day he applied. the basic fact in new experiments until; on the ninth day, he was able to construct a new electrical machine. Borrowing the most powerful magnet he could procure, he introduced a disc of copper which was so mounted that it could be revolved between the poles of the magnet. He pressed springy collectors to the shaft and the edge of the dise, and these he connected to a galvanometer. ‘On revolving the disc he produced a steady deflection of the galvanometer needle. "Here was the world’s first magnetic electric generator, the forerunner of present-day electricity, and though only 100 years have passed since this discovery, and we live in an electrical age," said Mr. Gregory, "the science is only in its infancy, and no man can foretell what the future holds, for even in our lives we have seen the wonders of wireless, and now television, and the transmission of thousands of horse-power in-electrical energy to inconceivable distances, all (lue to the discovery of Michael Faradiy, to whose memory this lecture and wweeting are dedicated." As each step was referred to My. (iregory demonstrated Faraday’s experiments upon apparatus made as nearly as possible like the original ‘ipparatus. On page 7 is a photo"raph of some of the facsimile aponvatus.