Michael Faraday: A Life from Beginning to End (Biographies of Inventors)

by Hourly History

“As an answer to those who are in the habit of saying to every new fact, ‘What is its use?’ . . . The answer of the experimentalist would be, ‘Endeavour to make it useful.’”

By 1833 even the established vocabulary relating to electricity had to be rethought. An entirely new language was needed. Faraday invited William Whewell to come up with new words with which Faraday could describe the world he was uncovering. The words which Whewell conceived included cathode, anode, and ion. All have since entered into common scientific usage.