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Hello, near Waterloo Bridge in London there's a rather unusual bronze statue of a man.

It was unveiled in the 1980s and it portrayed not a king, a general or a politician, but a scientist.

The figure is Michael Faraday.

The experiments he conducted eventually transformed the way we live.

Born in 1791 he's researching to the relationship between electricity and magnetism led to the development of the electric generator and the electric motor.

Modern power generation is based on the work he did.

During his life he became the most famous scientist in the country and in 1931 on the centenary of his greatest discovery,

the Royal Albert Hall was devoted to a huge exhibition about him and electricity.

With me to discuss the life and achievements of Michael Faraday are Geoffrey Kanta,

Professor Emeritus of the History of Science at the University of Leeds, Frank James,

Professor of the History of Science at the Royal Institution, and Laura Hertz, Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford, Geoffrey Kanta.

What do we know about Faraday's childhood and early education?

There's very little documentary evidence relating to that,

but perhaps the one important thing is the family's social position that he was the son of a blacksmith

and therefore grew up in a poor but respectable household.

The family actually came from Clapham in North Yorkshire and had moved to London very shortly before Faraday's birth.

The reason for moving, one would guess, is for economic reasons.

There's a great, great deal of poverty in Yorkshire at the time,

and the father hoped to provide better for his family by coming to London.

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