"Can you see me?" "Can you hear me?" "How?" "I could be thousands of miles away, and yet, when you turn on whatever device is bringing my image and voice to you," "I'm there." "Instantaneously." "How is that possible?" "To our ancestors, it would've seemed like sorcery." "For them, speed of communication was only as fast as the swiftest horse or sailing ships." "Our messages travel invisibly at the speed of light." "How did we attain such mythic powers?" "It all began in the mind of one person." "A child of poverty of whom nothing was expected." "Infact, ifthismanhad not lived theworldwe know mightnotexisttoday." "¶ ¶" "¶ ¶" "¶ ¶" "NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON:" "Soonerorlater, someonewould've likelyfiguredout someofhisdiscoveries." "ButifMichaelFaraday hadneverlived, wemightstillbeliving as our ancestors did in the 17th century." "Unaware of armies of invisible servants awaiting our commands." "This is the story of how we learned to make electrons do our bidding." "In a way, it begins with the greatest genius who ever lived" "Isaac Newton." "This is Woolsthorpe, Newton's ancestral home." "He walked these fields, tormented by mystery." "Newton, the man who figured out the formula for the motions of the planets around the Sun, wanted to know how does the Sun make the planets act that way without touching them?" "How do all the apples know how to fall?" "Another genius was puzzled by another aspect of the same mystery." "(water splashing)" "(speaking in German)" "You see, son?" "No matter how I turn the compass, the needle always points the same way." "Except..." "But how?" "They do not touch." "I didn't hear a "thank you," Albert." "ALBERT EINSTEIN:" "Icanstillrememberthis ." "Theexperiencemadeadeep  andlastingimpressiononme." "Somethingdeeplyhidden hadtobe behindthings." "Between the lifetimes of Einstein and Newton, there lived another genius, one of equal stature." "The man who solved the mystery that stumped Newton, also laid the foundation for Einstein's revolutionary insights." "And for the way we live now." "(birds chirping)" "(coughing)" "DEGRASSE TYSON:" "In1791,in asqualidslum  inthesuburbsofLondon," "(baby crying) MichaelFaradaywasborn." "Heshowed littlepromiseat school." "Pray tell us a word that begins with the letter R." "Well?" "Wabbit?" "The word is "rabbit."" "Once again, and correctly this time." "Wabbit?" "Do you mock me?" "Have I not told you how to pronounce the letter R?" "Surely you can at least tell us your name?" "Michael "Fawaday," ma'am." "Take this ha'penny, and buy me a cane, so that I may give your insolent brother a proper flogging." "(door opens)" "DEGRASSE TYSON:" "History does not recordthatMichaelFaraday everattendedschoolagain." "Faradaytookhisfamily's fundamentalistChristianfaith toheart." "Itwouldalwaysremain asourceof strength, comfortandhumilityfor him ." "Hewassenttowork at abookbinderyat theage of13." "Byday,he boundthe books, andbynight, hereadthem." "Itwasthebeginning ofa lifelongfascination withelectricity." "After years of working in the bookbindery," "Faraday, now 21, yearned to escape to a larger world." "His big break came when a customer gave him a ticket to a sensational new kind of entertainment-- science for the public." "And it started right here atLondon'sRoyalInstitution." "HumphryDavywasnot only oneoftheleadingscientists ofhisday, hediscovered sevenofthechemicalelements, includingcalciumandsodium." "Hewasalso aconsummateshowman." "Andprimitivedemonstrations ofelectricity neverfailed asa crowdpleaser." "HUMPHRY DAVY:" "May we have the lights lowered, please?" "I am about to unleash the might of the 2,000 massive chemical batteries stored in the cellar beneath our feet." "And now, behold the power of the mysterious force of electrical fluid to illuminate our future." "(crackling, buzzing)" "(audience gasps)" "(applause)" "DEGRASSE TYSON:" "Faraday was too busytakingnotestoapplaud." "Faraday created a transcript of Davy's lecture." "Using the skills he had learned as an apprentice, he bound them into this book." "Perhaps such a gift would bring him to the attention of the great man." "Maybethisgesture couldbehismeansofescape toa largeruniverse." "Good day, sir." "I wish you to deliver this parcel to Sir Humphry." "DEGRASSE TYSON:" "Itwasalongshot ,anyway." "ButFaradayhoped somethingwouldcomeofit." "Anditdid." "Uh, the experiment is ready for you now, sir." "Ampere tells me that poor Dulong lost an eye and three fingers working with this." "(screams)" "My eyes!" "My eyes!" "When a chemical experiment blew up in the face of the world-renowned scientist Humphry Davy, he remembered Michael Faraday, the lad who had gone through such lengths to copy down and bind the transcript of his lecture." "You have a first-rate memory, young man." "And I shall have temporary need of a secretary." "Sir, I dream of a life in service to science." "I would advise you to stick to the bookbinding." "Science is a harsh mistress." "Surely, a person of your station and modest means must have a trade." "Trade is vicious and selfish." "Men of science are amiable and morally superior." "(scoffs) I take it I'm the first man of science you've ever met." "DEGRASSE TYSON:" "Faraday made himselfindispensableto Davy." "Thetemporaryjobbecame apermanentone, andtheRoyalInstitution becamehislifelonghome." "Byday,he assistedDavy inthelab, atday'send, heclimbedthestairs tothelittleapartment wherehisbelovedbrideSarah waswaiting." "(thunder crashing, rumbling)" "HumphryDavyandthe chemist WilliamWollaston wereexperimentingwith amysteriousphenomenon, onewithpotentially far-reachingimplications." "This is the identical setup to Orsted's." "Now close the circuit, Davy, and watch closely." "(buzzing)" "What could be driving the needle away from the wire?" "Damned if I know." "But it's as if the electric current makes the wire behave like some kind of magnet." "Electricity must have something to do with magnetism." "Now if we could only get it to turn continuously, imagine what might be accomplished if we could put these forces to work." "After you've tidied up, Faraday, you might see what you can make of it." "(quiet chuckle)" "DEGRASSE TYSON:" "Davy may have beenhavingabit offun attheexpense ofhisyoungassistant, but Faraday was on fire." "Up to now, electricity had been nothing more than an entertaining novelty toy." "It could make a light flash for an instant or turn a compass needle briefly, but it had no practical application." "Faraday immediately set about designing the experiment, devoting every moment of his spare time to the problem." "If Faraday succeeded, he would be putting an infinitely large, invisible, and as-yet-undiscovered army of electrons at the command of human whim." "How does a revolution begin?" "Sometimes it doesn't take much." "Apieceof metal, abowlof mercury, abitof cork." "Sarah dear, send your little brother down." "I'm about to try something knew, and I want him to see it." "Why don't you do the honors, Georgie." "(buzzing)" "FARADAY:" "There she goes." "There she goes!" "(buzzing, whirring)" "¶ ¶" "DEGRASSE TYSON:" "Thiswasthefirstmotor converting electric current into continuous mechanical motion." "Looks pretty feeble, right?" "Butthatturningspindle isthebeginning ofa revolution, onethatdwarfs alltheshotsfired andbombseverdetonated inthesheermagnitudeofits effectonourcivilization." "Trytoimagine allthebusinesses, industries,technologies, transformations ofthewaywelive  thathavetheirbeginnings inthatecstaticmoment inMichaelFaraday's laboratory." "News of Faraday's invention spread quickly, and suddenly, Davy's assistant was the toast of London." "Davy didn't take it well." "Hehad,afterall , discoveredallthoseelements." "Now people were saying that his greatest discovery was Michael Faraday." "Davy made sure that Faraday wouldn't be making any more headlines anytime soon." "(door opens)" "You sent for me, sir?" "I have a new challenge for you." "I want you to take over our efforts to improve the quality of British optical glass." "Those damned Bavarians are running circles around us." "Glass?" "With all due respect, sir," "I know nothing at all of glass-making." "Then you will learn, Faraday." "We all know what a quick study you are." "Just analyze the chemical composition of their glass and work backwards to see how they made it." "It shouldn't take you long." "¶ ¶" "DEGRASSE TYSON:" "But Faraday struggledforfouryears withoutanysuccess." "This is even worse than the last batch." "No matter how hard he tried," "Faraday could not figure out what Joseph Fraunhofer had discovered years before." "WhatFaradayfailedtograsp wasthatcasting perfectopticalglass fortelescopeswasacraft aswellas ascience, andthemasters inBavariakepttheirsecrets underlockandkey ." "Faradayneverdidlearn theirsecret." "Hekeptasingleglassbrick  asa souvenirof thisfailure." "Years later, it would change the course of his life... and ours." "¶ ¶" "Davy's death finally brought an end to this fruitless project, and Faraday, the boy from the slums, succeeded him as Director of the Laboratory." "Faraday used his new authority to do something unprecedented-- a series of annual Christmas lectures on science for the young..." "beginning in 1825 and continuing to this day." "¶ ¶" "¶ ¶" "¶ ¶" "Atoneof thefirst Christmaslectures," "Faradayenchantedhisaudience withdisplaysof thenew powers thatwereat hisdisposal." "Suppose I want to fire a portion of gunpowder." "I can readily do it with the power of electricity." "(explosion)" "(cheering, applause)" "If I receive electricity through this conducting wire," "I can then give it to anything I touch." "But I must stand on these insulating glass legs to prevent the electricity from going away into the floor." "(buzzing, crackling)" "Now I am electrified!" "(excited chatter) Whoa!" "¶ ¶" "Do you think I could light this gas jet just by touching it with my finger?" "No, don't do it!" "No!" "No!" "Don't!" "No!" "¶ ¶" "Now, mind you, don't try this at home." "(whoosh)" "(children cheering)" "And now, my children, you have seen for yourselves how this invisible force of electricity can be made to serve new purposes utterly unattainable by the powers we have now." "(applause)" "(applause continues)" "The invention of a motor that could work continuously, eliminating countless human hours of drudgery, would be more than enough to make you a fortune and land you in the history books." "But that's not how Michael Faraday saw it." "He had absolutely no interest in patenting his ideas or personally profiting from them." "And as for the history books, he had only written the first sentence of an entry that would be many pages long." "Mr. Anderson, may I ask you to dim the lights, please?" "Gentlemen, I am about to induce a current of electricity merely by moving a magnet." "Please observe what happens in the gap between the wires when I do so." "(buzzing, crackling)" "Do you see how the current only flows when the magnet is moving?" "This is the conversion of motion into electricity." "This was the first generator." "From here, electricity would become available on demand." "Faraday was continuing to change the world and the way people lived, and then, suddenly, an illness attacked his incomparable mind." "FARADAY:" "MydearSchoenbein," "Iwouldbe verygratefulto haveyouropinionregarding..." "Regarding..." "DearSchoenbein..." "regarding..." "My dear husband, whatever is the matter?" "I began a letter to Schoenbein and could not remember what I meant to say." "This is no cause for alarm." "You work too hard." "You're exhausted." "No." "Sarah, this is different." "Horribly different." "It's the third time my memory has failed me in as many days." "I fear I'm losing my mind." "And what would I be without that?" "Why, my darling husband, of course." "When Faraday was 49, he began to battle severe memory loss and depression." "His work came to a standstill." "And although he never fully recovered, his greatest achievements still lay ahead." "(whooshing)" "DEGRASSE TYSON:" "Fadaday had immersed himself so deeply in electrical and magnetic experiments that he came to visualize the space around a magnet as filled with invisible lines of force." "Amagnetwasnot ssimply themagnetizedbarofiron  thatyoucouldsee ." "Itwasalso theunseensomething inthespacearoundthebar." "Andthatsomething hecalledafield." "Amagneticfield." "Faradaybelieved intheunityofnature." "Havingdemonstrated theconnections betweenelectricity andmagnetism,he wondered, werethesetwoforcesalso  connectedtoathird--light?" "If he could only show a connection among these three invisible phenomena, one of nature's most intimate secrets would at last be revealed." "So,whatdidhedo?" "Hedesignedan experiment." "Faradayknewthatlight cantravelas awave." "Wavesoflightvibrate randomlyinalldirections." "Butthere'saway toisolate asinglewaveoflight." "It'scalledpolarization." "Whenlightbounces offa reflectivesurface, likea mirror, it becomes polarized." "Faraday wanted to see if that single ray of light could be manipulated by the invisible magnetic field." "Theeyepiececontained acrystal thatactedas akind ofpicketfencefor light." "Lightcouldonlypass throughit ifitwassomehowmoved bythemagnet." "Heplacedalantern beforea mirror, onethathe wouldonlysee throughtheeyepiece if its reflection could pass through the picket fence." "If this is hard to understand, don't feel bad." "Scientists could not explain this phenomenon for another 100 years." "Faradayknewthatmagnetism hadnoeffect onlight thatwasmovingthroughair." "Butwhataboutwhenitwas movingthroughothermaterials?" "Sowhatkindofmaterial couldheuse tohelpthemagnet movethelight?" "Hetriedhundredsofdifferent transparentchemicals andobjects butsawnothing throughtheeyepiece." "Thelightwasnot twisted bythemagnet." "Hetriedcrystalsofcalcite, sodiumcarbonate, calciumsulfate, andstill,he sawnothing." "Hetriedacids." "Sulfuricacid, muriaticacid, carbonicacid." "Hetriedgasses:" "oxygen,nitrogen,hydrogen... withnosuccess." "Themagneticfieldinduced inthesesubstances couldnottwistthe light fromhislampbackinto view ." "(buzzing) Damn!" "(gasps)" "Indesperation, hedecidedto try... theglassbrick, thesouvenir ofhisyears ofbondageto Davy." "(buzzing)" "Itdidthetrick." "(gasps) Theforceof themagnet twistedthelight sothatit couldpass throughthecrystal." "So,what'sthebig deal?" "Faradayhaddemonstrated theexistence ofthephysicalreality thatsurroundsus , butwhichno onehad ever beenableto detect." "Itwasas dramatic abreakthrough asseeingthecosmos fortheveryfirsttime  througha telescope." "By showing that an electromagnetic force could manipulate light," "Faraday had discovered a deeper unity of nature." "He had opened a door for Einstein and all the physicists who came after him to glimpse the interplay of hidden, primal forces in the universe." "Even as he approached the summit of his genius, he was plagued by depression and doubts about his ability to retain even the simplest thoughts." "FARADAY:" "My dear friend, I find adifficultyin answering orevenacknowledgingproperly ascientificletter, forI cannotnowholdit atoncein my mind." "Thememory ofthepartsfailme." "SARAH:" "P.S.Youwillbesorrytosee  thetoneof thisshortnote , butmydearesthusbandisnot quitesowellasusual, butI hopehe willimprove." "Yoursverytruly,S.Faraday." "As a young man, Faraday had risen from poverty, in one of the most class-conscious societies the world has ever known, to become the most celebrated scientist of his time." "By age 40, he had invented the electric motor, the transformer, the generator, machines that would change everything about the home, the farm, the factory." "Now, at 60, decades after the fertile periods of the greatest physicists, plagued by memory loss and melancholy, he fearlessly probed deeper into the mysterious invisible forces." "The world thought that Michael Faraday was a has-been." "Despite his depression, he remained as passionately curious as ever." "Having discovered the unity of electricity, magnetism and light," "Faraday needed to know how this trinity of natural forces work together." "¶ This is the way the ladies walk... ¶" "DEGRASSE TYSON:" "Thiswasnothingnew ." "Childrenhadbeenplaying withmagnets andironfilingsfor centuries." "Everyonehadalwaysassumed thatthislovelypattern wasjustsomething thatirondid." "Faradayknew thatelectriccurrent turnsa wireintoamagnet, soheexpected tofindrelatedpatterns inironfilingsaroundawire carryingelectricity." "(Faraday whistles jauntily)" "Butwhereotherssaw merely lovelyshapes," "Faradaysawsomethingprofound." "Thepatternswerenot simply aquirkof ironfilings;" "theyexistedin thespace arounda magnet oranelectriccurrent, evenintheabsence ofironfilings." "Thepatternswerethe traces, thefootprints ofinvisiblefieldsofforce, thatreachedoutintothespace  aroundanythingmagnetic." "Thecompassneedle thatpeoplewonderedat fora thousandyears wasnotreacting tosomefaraway magneticNorthPole." "Itwasdetecting acontinuousforcefield thatstretched allthewaythere." "Earth itself is a giant magnet." "And like any other magnet, its lines of force extend far out into the space surrounding it." "They're everywhere, all around us." "They've always been." "But nobody had ever noticed them before." "Nobody human, that is." "(birds squawking)" "Birdsarethelastliving descendantsofthedinosaurs." "Pigeonsandotherbirds areremarkablygood atfindingtheirway around." "Theycanmigratethousands ofmileswithoutgettinglost ." "How?" "Partlyby recognizing familiarlandmarks-- rivers,mountains,stars." "Evencertainsmellscan serve assignposts formigratingbirds." "Butbirdsalsohave aninnercompass." "Theycanactuallysense theEarth'smagneticfield." "Theirbrainsprocessmagnetic datainmuchthe sameway oursprocessvisualdata." "Bysensingthedirection ofthefield, birdscantellnorth fromsouth." "That'sonewayNorthAmerican birdsknowwhichway togo whentheyheadsouth forthewinter." "Thefieldis stronger nearthepoles thanitis at theequator, afactthatbirdsuse tofigureouttheirlatitude." "Therearealsosmall irregularitiesinthefield, locationswherethefield isa littleweaker orstronger." "Justlikeadistinctive mountainorriver, thesemagneticanomalies canserveas landmarks." "Forthousandsof years,humans haveusedcarrierpigeons tosendmessages todistantlocations." "Itwasacrucialmethod ofcommunication asrecentlyas WorldWar II." "Whenyouthinkaboutit, we'vebeenusing magneticfieldsto communicate fora longtime." "Wejustdidn'tknowit." "So why does our planet have a magnetic field at all?" "What causes it?" "The answer lies deep inside the Earth." "Liquid iron, circulating around the solid part of the core as Earth rotates, acts like a wire carrying an electric current." "And as Faraday showed us, electric currents produce magnetic fields." "And that's a good thing." "Our magnetic field protects us from the onslaught of cosmic rays, which would be very damaging to our biosphere." "Cosmic rays can rip through DNA." "Without our magnetic field, the rate of mutation in living organisms would be much higher." "Fortunately, most of this cosmic shrapnel gets trapped in the Van Allen belts, donut-shaped zones of charged particles corralled by our magnetic shield." "KnowingthattheEarthitself islikeagiantbarmagnet explainsoneof themost beautifulsightsin thesky , theaurora." "Chargedparticlesfromthe Sun , thesolarwind, areconstantlybombarding theEarth." "Youcanthinkofthesolar wind asa kindof electriccurrent." "Ourplanet'smagneticfield channelsthatcurrenttowards theNorthandSouthPoles." "Whenithitsour atmosphere, theoxygen andnitrogenmolecules intheairglowlike  giantfluorescentlightbulbs." "WhenFaradaypursued his last and most profound discovery, the poverty of his childhood stymied him as it never had before." "He needed help and found it in one who had come from another world." "Michael Faraday had solved the mystery that baffled Isaac Newton." "Thiswashowthe Sun  toldtheplanetshow tomove  withouttouchingthem." "TheSundoestouchtheplanets withitsgravitationalfield, andEarth'sgravitationalfield tellstheappleshow tofall ." "(children laughing)" "All this is a dream." "Unfortunately, that was the prevailing view among his fellow scientists." "Faraday was dreaming." "Theyadmiredhisinventiveness andhisgenius forexperimentation, buttheyregarded hisinvisible"linesofforce"" "andhisideasaboutlight andgravityas hand-waving, meaningtherewasnothingsolid tobackit up ." "Someopenlyridiculed histheories." "Theyneeded toseehisideasexpressed inthelanguage ofmodernphysics:" "preciseequations." "Thiswastheone area whereFaraday's childhoodpoverty andlackof formaleducation actuallyheldhimback." "Hecouldn'tdo themath." "Faradayhadfinallyhit awall  thathecouldnot overcome." "Andthen,thegreatest theoreticalphysicist ofthe19thcenturycame along." "JamesClerkMaxwellwas born intoa worldof wealth andprivilege, anonlychild ofdotingmiddle-agedparents." "Byhisearly20s , hehadmadeaname forhimself asa mathematician." "Whileotherscientistshad come tothinkof Faraday asold-fashioned;" "agreatfigureofthepast butnopartofthefuture ofphysics," "JamesClerkMaxwell knewbetter." "Hebeganby readingeverything" "Faradayhadwritten onelectricity." "Hebecameconvinced thatFaraday'sfieldsofforce werereal, andhesetout togive them  aprecise mathematicalformulation." "¶ ¶" "An equation in physics is just a shorthand description of something that can be represented in space and time." "For instance, the equation that describes the arc of a pendulum shows that it can never swing higher than its initial height." "When Maxwell translated Faraday's experimental observation on electromagnetic fields into equations, he discovered an asymmetry." "See that bottom one?" "It cries out for something else." "Great mathematician that he was," "Maxwell added a single term to balance it." "This tweaking of the equation changed Faraday's static field into waves that spread outward at the speed of light." "It wasn't long before we found a way to turn those waves... (over speaker):" "...intocouriers forourmessages." "Can you see me?" "Can you hear me?" "This is how." "Thistechnologyhastransformed humancivilization froma patchworkof cities, townsandvillages intoanintercommunicating organism linkingusat lightspeed toeachother..." "(cheering) ...and to the cosmos." "¶ ¶" "FARADAY:" "Nothing is toowonderfulto be true, ifitbe consistent withthelawsofnature." "Captioned by MediaAccessGroupatWGBH  access.wgbh.org"