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At Christmas 1848, the scientist Michael Faraday gave a series of lectures for young people at the Royal Institution in London, all about a single candle…
At Christmas 1848, the scientist Michael Faraday gave a series of lectures for young people at the Royal Institution in London, all about a single candle. Why does the flame have its shape? What happens to the wax? Where does the light come from? Following these questions, he leads his audience to combustion, water, the air we breathe and the chemistry of our own bodies.
Context and significance
Published in 1861, the lectures are one of the most famous examples of science explained for young people, full of simple experiments that can be repeated at home with care. Faraday's own great discoveries are recorded in his Experimental Researches in Electricity.
About the author
Michael Faraday (1791–1867) was the son of a London blacksmith and left school early to become a bookbinder's apprentice, educating himself by reading the books he bound. After attending lectures by the chemist Humphry Davy, he sent Davy his notes and was taken on as his assistant at the Royal Institution.
He discovered electromagnetic induction, the principle of the electric generator, and laid the foundations of electrochemistry, as recorded in his Experimental Researches in Electricity. He started the Royal Institution's Christmas lectures for young people, among them The Chemical History of a Candle, and refused a knighthood.