S01.E10: The Electric Boy

[maraleia]

 

Our world of high technology and instantaneous electronic communication with each other and with our robotic emissaries at the solar system’s frontier, is de-mystified through the inspiring life story of the man whose genius Albert Einstein revered.

As if in a dream we travel to the moment in Einstein’s childhood when his father gave him a simple toy that made him understand that something deeply hidden must lie behind all things

 

[QuantumMechanic]

James Clerk Maxwell?

[Cress]

My episode description says Michael Faraday. I bet the "electric boy" of the title will be one of the automaton toys like in the movie Hugo.

[Dagny]

I love this show. It's like revisiting college physics. Faraday's Law and Maxwell's demon. It's not brought up, but its nice to finally meet the people behind the theories and equations.

[futurechemist]

I get that this episode's narrative was all about how Faraday overcame adversity to do great things, but I can't help thinking that Maxwell got short shrift.  I remember my college physics professor making such a huge deal about how Maxwell's equations were like the 19th century version of Newton's Principia.  And the show just glossed over them in the last 2 minutes saying that Maxwell did the math behind Faraday's work and allowed modern technology.

 

Faraday does have quite a legacy though.  My college, which has no connection to Faraday or London, hosts an annual Faraday Christmas lecture for local kids.

[Cress]

Well I was wrong about the automaton. Poor Faraday, not being able to pronounce his 'R's in school, and being threatened by the teacher.

[A Boston Gal]

I loved this episode, and I love this show. For those of us who did not take physics in college, (hey, I barely squeaked by the science requirements), it's eye-opening.  And only three episodes left? Boo, hiss. Any word about if it's been renewed for another season?

[ShaggyDog]

Faraday set the ground work, but  I agree that Maxwell could have gotten a little more attention for delevoping his monumentally important set of equations. In my freshman physics quarter which covered electricity and magnetism, during a question and answer period, someone asked the proffesor to show us how Maxwell's equations give us the wave equation, and predict the speed of light. He did just that, and right after he wrote the final calculation on the blackboard, there was a stunned silence at the wonder of it all -- followed by thunderous applause, because it was just that awsome. The professor looked a little sheepish, but we weren't applauding for his performance as much as Maxwell's awsomeness.

Edited June 5, 2014 by ShaggyDog