born Sept. 22, 1791, Newington, Surrey, Eng.
died Aug. 25, 1867, Hampton Court
English physicist and chemist.
Son of a blacksmith, he received only a basic education in a church Sunday school, but he went to work as an assistant to diamagnetism . He also provided the experimental, and much of the theoretical, foundation on which {{link=Maxwell, James Clerk">James Clerk Maxwell built his electromagnetic field theory. In 1833 he was appointed professor at the Royal Institution. After 1855 he retired to a house provided by Queen Victoria, but he declined a knighthood.