Scientist of the week

Michael Faraday(1791-1867)

The laws of electrolysis were discovered by Michael Faraday, perhaps the most talented experimental scientist in the nineteenth century.
Faraday developed the laws of electrolysis between 1831 and 1834. In mid-December of 1833, he began a quantitative study of the electrolysis of several metal cations, including tin(II), lead(II) and zinc(II) ions. Despite taking a whole day off for Christmas, he managed to complete these experiments, write up the results of three years work, and get his paper published in the Philosophic Transactions of the Royal Society on January 9, 1834. In this paper, Faraday introduced the basic vocabulary of electrochemistry, using for the first time the terms "anode", "cathode", "ion", "electrolyte", and " electrolysis".

To Michael Faraday, science was an obsession; one of his biographers described him as a "work maniac". An observer said of him,
...if he had to cross the laboratory for anything, he did not walk, he ran; the quickness of his perception was equalled by the calm rapidity of his movements.

Scientist of the week

John Dalton(1766-1844)

Remember John Dalton with his atomic theory?

Those who are form four students will definitely remember him for his theory in the atomic structure.

Dalton was a quiet, unassuming man. When presented to King William IV of England, he refused to wear the colourful court robes because of his religion. His friends persuaded him to wear the scarlet robes of Oxford University, from which he had a doctor's degree.

But Dalton was color-blind, so he saw himself clothed in gray.

Dalton made contributions to biology, physics and chemistry. In Manchester, England, he did research and spent 20 hours a week lecturing in maths and the physical sciences.

Dalton never married. He said, " My head is too full of triangles, chemical properties, and electrical experiments to think much of marriage."