While browsing social media, I came across a post (via Ildeu Moreira) about the malaise of academic life. There wasn't an exact reference, and a search using a few keywords led to a summary provided by the search engine's AI, quite similar to the text of the post. It's worth reproducing here an excerpt of seemingly artificial authorship:
“There is a persistent unease in contemporary academic life that is not always precisely named. It is not simply a matter of overwork or precarious employment, but of a deeper transformation: the progressive replacement of intellectual meaning by a logic of management, recording, and constant evaluation. In this shift, the university ceases to be organized around knowledge and becomes organized around its bureaucratic demonstration.” [Scielo Mexico]
It's a feeling of unease that I share, and it made me think of times past. Without fear of anachronism, I present some aspects of the life of Michael Faraday (1791-1867), which may be useful in our century for rethinking certain things.
Anyone who has studied physics knows Faraday's law, but this Scientist (with a capital S) made other contributions to Physics and Chemistry, developed practical applications for science, popularized science, responded to attacks on science, debunked pseudoscience, and drew public attention to environmental issues.
Young Michael Faraday had little formal education. Of humble origins, he went to work as an apprentice to George Ribeau, a bookbinder and bookseller in London.[1]This went on for seven years, starting at age 14, with the books he bound – be it a chemistry textbook, a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica, or "One Thousand and One Nights." He read and took notes until one day, a client gave him a ticket to attend a lecture at... Royal InstitutionFaraday continued to frequent them until he managed to get hired as a laboratory assistant there. Later, he became the institution's most eminent scientist and professor.
Already at 30 years old, working in Royal InstitutionFaraday learned – through his mentor, the chemist Humphry Davy (who later, probably out of jealousy, became his enemy) – of the recent discovery by the Danish scientist Hans Christian Ørsted: an electric current deflected the needle of a compass. Viewed since ancient times as separate entities, electricity and magnetism became associated in the eyes of science. Faraday immediately thought that the opposite should also happen: a magnetic field should cause an electric current! Initially, a partial success: Faraday invented the first electric motor in history, which was not practical, but it worked and anticipated the long journey to today's electric cars.
It took ten long years of attempts until, in 1831, he demonstrated his law of magnetic induction, inventing the electrical transformer in the process: yes, the variation of a magnetic field causes an electric field (although the term "fields" wasn't yet used, but rather "lines of force"). Faraday continued to work exhaustively for more than two decades, studying the magnetic and electrical properties of various materials, the Earth's magnetic field, and the electromagnetic properties of light. But what does "exhaustively" mean in this context? At the request of colleagues and friends, Faraday compiled his work not into a succession of articles – which today guide academic careers – but into the three volumes of... “Experimental Researches in Electricity”,[2] which total more than 1500 pages. At the end of the second and third volumes, he added scattered articles of his own and by other authors, "essential for understanding subsequent developments." The compilation of “Experimental Researches”, which spans from 1831 to 1855, is not divided into chapters, but, curiously, into 3430 numbered paragraphs.[3]
In physics courses, excerpts from these experimental investigations in electricity should be studied, as Faraday's text is a narrative that, in part, recounts how discoveries are made, and not just their justification. There is a marvelous drawing in paragraph 2807: the magnetic field lines for two types of materials, one called paramagnetic, and the other diamagnetic (without going into technical details, the difference between the two is evident in the drawing). Although Faraday designated them as lines of force, the idea, application, and representation of what was later called fields were already there. James Clerk Maxwell would later comment that Faraday intuited a much more advanced mathematics than contemporary mathematics, which he was unaware of.
At a time when formal science education was practically nonexistent in schools, Faraday dedicated himself to teaching and disseminating science, creating the famous [scientific institutions/programs] in 1825. Christmas LecturesThese lectures, as the name suggests, were held around Christmas time. They continue to this day and are aimed at young people.[4]Faraday sought, with his 1001 experiments (recalling the book he had read in his adolescence), to win hearts and minds, not only that of a sultan, as Scheherazade had done, but of as many children as possible.
Of all Faraday's lectures, the series "The Chemical History of a Candle" is his masterpiece, remaining highly relevant in both its concept and form. Delivered at the end of 1848, they were published as a book in 1861 and have continued to be reprinted ever since. The series addresses transversal themes: from the complex structure of the flame and its chemical reactions, through the composition of water, to human respiration. The book presents the demonstrations made in the lectures so they can also be reproduced at home. Today, the history of the candle can be viewed on YouTube.[5].
The “Chemical History of a Candle” resulted in another interesting development at the time. It was retold by Percival Leigh, in the first of a series of stories about science featuring the Wilkinson family. In Leigh's version, during a dinner, the eldest son recounts Faraday's lecture to his family; the father helps him with the technical terms, the younger brother represents the enthusiasm for the story, the mother brings popular wisdom, and an uncle, who is somewhat of a buffoon, always alludes to other sources of knowledge. These stories were published in the magazine "Household words", whose epigraph was taken from Shakespeare, in Henry V: “Family in their mouths as Household Words” (Freely translated: “familiar in their mouths like household words”). The journal – which ran from 1850 to 1859 – was edited by none other than Charles Dickens, who was familiar with Faraday's work. Together, they conspired for science.
Back in the distant 19th century, science was the target of skepticism, if not attacks. Faraday also defended it in this context, with a dose of humor and irony that seem to have been lost in more recent times. Two of his well-documented aphorisms are worth mentioning.[6] In an 1816 lecture, the scientist discussed a series of newly identified chemical elements.
“Before setting aside this substance, Chlorine, I will speak about its history, as an answer to those who are in the habit of saying to every new fact, 'What is the use of this?' Dr. Franklin's answer is 'What is the use of a child?'”
In other words, the question was originally posed to Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), which Faraday (who admired the American scientist) took full advantage of. But not in the context of his contributions to electromagnetism, as is often claimed. In any case, Faraday added: “The answer of an experimentalist is to strive to make it useful. When Scheele discovered it, this substance appeared to have no use, it was in its infancy and in a useless state, but, growing to maturity, its powers are witnessed and one can see what efforts have been capable of.”
The analogy regarding so-called "futile" efforts is apt, including the time it takes for a fundamental discovery to have a practical application. Another phrase attributed to the scientist and frequently quoted is the answer he supposedly gave to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time, when asked about the usefulness of the discovery of electromagnetism: "Soon you'll be able to tax it."
Here's a tip for revisiting the question and answer in current debates.
Faraday is therefore an example of a scientist who believed he had the right and the duty to mobilize in defense of important values, not only in defense of science, but also in denouncing pseudoscience.
In the mid-19th century, mesmerism (vital magnetism, an intangible natural force that all living beings supposedly possessed) and table-turning were in vogue—procedures for the spirits of the dead to communicate with the living. The spirits would turn the table, stopping to indicate a letter and thus spelling out their messages. Well, the tables did indeed turn, but was this due to the spirits? Franck James, editor of Faraday's correspondence, recounts the story.
Faraday was privately skeptical of mesmerism, as his letters reveal. However, regarding table-turning, he became public. The scientist received numerous invitations to participate in table-turning sessions, sometimes politely declining, other times ironically. Until he finally decided to go, around May 1853. Then, he conceived and executed ingenious experiments that conclusively demonstrated that the tables turned due to involuntary movements of those who sat at them and placed their hands on the tabletop. Faraday became interested in the matter because many attributed the phenomenon to electrical and magnetic effects. His verdict was irrefutable. He initially announced it in a newspaper, in July 1853, a note in "Illustrated London News"He received immediate support from several colleagues, but also furious threats. The poet Elizabeth Browning called him "arrogant and insolent." The detailed description of the experiments and their results appeared in November of that year in... “Journal of the Franklin Institute”: “Experimental Investigation of Table-Turning”. But it didn't stop there. He also gave a lecture at Royal Institution (from a series on education and science), in the presence of Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, entitled "Observations on Mental Education", in which he took beliefs about table-turning as a key example of problems in education.[7] Faraday approached Holocaust deniers, understood their beliefs, designed experiments to disprove them, went to the media, published a scientific article, and spoke with the highest authorities about it. It is worthwhile to reproduce some excerpts from his speeches.
In the newspaper article:
"The effect produced by table spinners has been attributed to electricity, magnetism, attraction, some unknown or hitherto unrecognized physical power capable of affecting inanimate bodies – to the Earth's revolution and even to diabolical or supernatural agents."
"The natural philosopher can investigate all these supposed causes, except the last one."
"I think the education system, which could leave the public's mental state in the state in which this matter found it, must have been seriously deficient in some very important principle."
Introduction to the lecture in which Prince Albert was present:
“I take courage, Your Majesty, in Your presence here today, to speak assertively what is on my mind. I feared that this might be disagreeable to some in the audience, but as I know that Your Highness is a promoter and seeker of truth, I want to believe that we are all united in the same cause and, therefore, I assert, without hesitation, what I have to say regarding the present state of education.”
"I will simply express my strong conviction that the aspect of self-education which consists in teaching the mind to resist desires and inclinations until they are shown to be correct is the most important of all, not only in matters of natural philosophy (science), but in all areas of daily life."
In turn, Faraday's environmentalist side was revealed in his public denunciation of the pollution of the River Thames. To avoid making this text too long, I reproduce below a cartoon published in a newspaper of the time, depicting Faraday inspecting the river.
In these other times and contexts, Michael Faraday could be an inspiration for changes in attitude to progressively replace, at least in part (let's be realistic), the logic of management, recording, and evaluation with the real meaning of knowledge.
This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Unicamp.
[1] Back then, bookstores had the book blocks of printed books available for sale, without the covers. The customer chose the binding, so that each copy was unique (see Bookstores - a history of reading and readers, by Jorge Carrion, Bazar do Tempo publisher).
[2] The first volume is on the Internet Archives
The second volume can also be viewed on the website.
The third volume, with the famous paragraph 2807
[3] Ah, a book organized by paragraph numbering, like Ludwig Wittgenstein's "Philosophical Investigations." Could the great philosopher have been inspired by Faraday? Well, Wittgenstein certainly studied physics, as he dedicated himself extensively to engineering, notably aerodynamics, before causing a stir in philosophy. And paragraph 108 of his investigations explicitly quotes a phrase from Faraday!
[4] https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrHnLXMTOWM
[6] “'The Newborn' by Faraday and Franklin” (Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, June 1987, Vol. 131, No. 2 (June 1987), pp. 177-182).
[7] This lecture is transcribed and available on the Internet Archives (Science and education; lectures delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain).
