Faraday and the Faber Book of Beasts

Part 1- Faraday

According to the author of this extract, what aspects of Faraday’s life and work contributed to his reputation? How does the picture presented here compare to the picture of Faraday’s reputation in his own lifetime presented in Book 1, Chapter 4?

  In the extract, Faraday’s reputation is solely based upon the work that he did as a scientist and things that other people have said about him- it doesn’t include anything about his life before his experiments. One aspect that would substantially change a person’s view of Faraday is that “Faraday loved science for the sake of science” (The Times, in AA100 Assignment Booklet, 2011, p. 23) which would astonish a lot of people as many scientist want to experiment to make a breakthrough and gain fame from it; Faraday experimented and worked on his theories because he loved science- he had no ulterior motives.
  Another aspect that you learn from the piece of writing, which also contributes to Faraday’s reputation, is that his religion influenced his decisions with his career a lot as “he felt that his path in life was marked out for him” (The Times, in AA100 Assignment Booklet, 2011, p. 23). This made him give up the job that, at that point in time, was his only source of income but he still managed to do his experiments and continue his successful life in science. This shows that he was dedicated and had determination; the public could see this and admired him for his aspiration but also his religious beliefs.
  The chapter in the book, however, does go further into his life and achievements; it tells you more about his situation before he became an outstanding scientific lecturer. It refers to Faraday’s early life, commenting on how he was from a working class family and that “Those who did hold scientific positions were generally university trained and did not come from the working class” (Isobel Falconer with Frank James, 2008 p. 90) showing how extraordinary Faraday actually was, as although...