Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...20924605h&link_type=abstract
2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #246.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society,
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
In the 1850s, renowned physicist Michael Faraday launched a public campaign against pseudoscience and spiritualism, which were rampant in England at the time. Faraday objected especially to claims that electrical or magnetic forces were responsible for paranormal phenomena, such as table-spinning and communication with the dead. Using scientific methods, Faraday unmasked the deceptions of spiritualists, clairvoyants and mediums and also laid bare the credulity of a public ill-educated in science. Despite his efforts, Victorian society's fascination with the paranormal swelled. Faraday's debacle anticipates current controversies about public science education and the interface between science and religion. This episode is one of many described in the new biography, The Electric Life of Michael Faraday (Walker & Co.), which chronicles Faraday's discoveries and his unlikely rise from poverty to the pinnacle of the English science establishment.
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