The Electric Boy

The episode explores the Earth's magnetic field and the contributions of Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867), which paved the way for high technology and light-speed communication.

Tyson continues on Faraday, coming from poor beginnings, would end up becoming interested in studying electricity after reading books and seeing lectures by Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution.

Faraday, undeterred, continued to work in the Royal Institution, and created the Christmas Lectures designed to teach science to children.

Following Davy's death, Faraday returned to full time efforts studying electromagnetism, creating the first electrical generator by inserting a magnet in a coil of wires.

Tyson continues to note that despite losing some of his mental capacity, Faraday concluded that electricity and magnetism were connected by unseen fields, and postulated that light may also be tied to these forces.

Michael Faraday presenting his experiments with electromagnetism at a Christmas Lecture , 1856
The Electric Boy, Essai sur l'electricité des corps , 1746