Michael faraday

Michael Faraday /1791-1867/ is the Father of the electric motor. He was born in a small village in a poor family of a blacksmith. As a boy Michael did not have much schooling. When he was 13 he went to work in a bookbinder's shop. He lived among books. Once he ran across an article on electricity. It struck his imagination. Faraday wanted to make experiments and devote his life to science.

He made a new kind of steel and a new kind of glass. He studied flying. Faraday was wondering whether a magnet could give an electric current. At 40 he got a bright idea: he would move the magnet near wire. And then he got an electric current in the wire! This was a great moment in history of electricity but Faraday didn't stop. He got a current when he moved the wire instead of the magnet.

He made a machine of electromagnetic induction. The machine gave Faraday a currant of electric­ity. It was the beginning of the electrical age, which has changed the face of the earth.

George stephenson

George Stephenson /1781-1848/ is the Father of the Railways. He was son of a poor English worker. George grew up illiterate. When George was 8 he began to work. His job was to put coal under the boilers. He learnt everything he could by watching. George began to dream of becoming an engineer. When he was 17 he decided to learn to write and read. After 12-hour shift he went a long distance to a teacher to be taught the alphabet.

During the First Industrial Revolution Stephenson designed a locomotive. He laid metal rails for his engine to run on. On July 25, 1814, his locomotive hauled 8 loaded wagons /30 tons/ at a speed 4m/h.

The new railway was opened on September 27, 1825. Stephenson made an engine Rocket which could run lOm/h. On September 15, 1830, the railway between Liverpool and Manchester was opened.

His son Robert was a perfect partner and an outstanding inventor. Robert supervised the building of the Rocket. A monument to father and son was erected in Westminster Abbey.

William harvey

William Harvey /1578-1657/ is English physician who discovered the circulation of the blood. He was a son of a rich merchant. In 1588, when he was 10, he was sent to King's School in Canterbury. He decided to become a doctor and was sent to Cambridge. He took his BA at Cambridge and went to the Pa­dua University in Italy. It was in Padua that he got his first clue about the circulation of the blood. His anatomy teacher discovered that the veins contained valves. The discovery showed Harvey that there was no passing of the blood to and fro as it was believed.

In 1602, at 24, he left Padua with his degree of Doctor of medicine and returned to England. He set up in London and became a well-known doctor. In 1628 his work about heart and blood in Latin was pub­lished in Germany. The book aroused much criticism. Some of his patients thought he was mad and left him. But time passed and medical men saw that Harvey was right. Harvey was made court physician.

In 1658 William Harvey died. He was buried in Hampstead Church in Essex. The church has a special tower built in honour William Harvey's memory.