At long last, I get to blog about the paper that first piqued my interest about the research of Michael Faraday!  If you haven’t been following my Faraday posts, let me give a quick recap: Michael Faraday (1791-1867) was one of the greatest experimental physicists of all time, and the discoverer of some of the most important effects related to electricity and magnetism.  I’ve blogged previously about his discovery of electromagnetic induction, his work in proving that all forms of electricity have the same common origin, and his demonstration of the relationship between light and magnetism (Faraday rotation). I haven’t even had time to discuss Faraday’s contributions in formulating the laws of electrolysis, understanding diamagnetism, and inventing the Faraday cage.

The common thread of many of these discoveries is their goal: demonstrating that all the physical forces of nature are but different manifestations of a…