Faraday's meeting with Maxwell

Long before the 19th century, scientists had computed the speed of light, but no one knew what light actually was. Back in England, a man we've already met was willing to make an educated guess. After Sir Humphrey Davy's death, Michael Faraday became Professor Faraday, one of the most important experimenters in the world. The scientific establishment still found it hard to accept that electricity and magnetism were just two aspects of the same phenomenon, which Faraday called electromagnetism. But now, he has an even more outrageous proposal for his audience. Invisible lines that can emanate from electricity in a wire, from a magnet, or even from the sun. For it is my contention that light itself is just one form of these vibrating lines of electromagnetism. For 15 years, Faraday struggled to convince the skeptics that light was an electromagnetic wave, but he lacked the advanced mathematics to back up his idea. Eventually, someone came to his rescue. Professor James Clark Maxwell believed in Faraday's farsighted vision, and he had the mathematical skill to prove it. Maxwell and the aging Faraday became close friends. James, James, forgive me. A word of advice, don't get old. Michael, how are you? I'm fine. Memory isn't too good. Well, I thought you might like to see what I've just published. Oh, yes, yes. Splendid. So your results show that when electricity flows along a wire, what it actually does is create a little bit of magnetism. And as that magnetic charge moves, it creates a little piece of electricity. Electricity. Electricity and magnetism are interwoven, like a never-ending braid, so it is always pulsing forward. It's wonderful. Michael, Michael, there's something very crucial in maths. This electricity producing magnetism and magnetism producing electricity can only ever happen at a very particular speed. The equations are very clear about it. They come up with just one number. 670 million miles per hour. I'm not sure. It's the speed of light. That is the speed of light. You were right all along. Light is an electromagnetic wave. Maxwell had proven Faraday right. Electricity and magnetism are just two aspects of a deeper unity. A force now called electromagnetism, which travels at 670 million miles per hour. In its visible form, it is nothing other than light itself.