Physics ChannelJun 29
franco_vazza

For reasons I will once explain, I am becoming a conoisseur of Michael #Faraday life and correspondance.

These are his (not too flattering) feelings about the people he met in #France (mostly in Paris), during his first trip abroad following his master, Sir. Humphry Davy, in 1814 (he was 23 at the time), in a letter he sent to his friend Abbott.

#science #physics #astronomy

Jun 29 at 11:37amWeb
Show threadfranco_vazzaJun 29
#Faraday liked people in #Italy far, far less, however.
Show threadfranco_vazzaJun 29
#Faraday was not impressed by italian women either.
Show threadfranco_vazzaJun 29
His recollections of crossing the region of Vicenza (Veneto, my birth region too) are also quite not flattering as he was shocked by the amount of beggars on the streets and even in the countryside
Show threadfranco_vazzaJun 29

But I am really feeling now a connection with the man - I'd say in the top 5 of the most important scientists ever to live - , especially after a thousands and more pages into his life and correspondence.

He just falls into the same automatic and categoric ranking of the weirdness of others societies he encounters, and he generalises based on a few encounters in situations which are biased (both in time and pace) and he acknowledges it.

Show threadzl2todJun 29

@franco_vazza

I wonder if Faraday ever came across any Pacific languages.

Show threadOcéaneJun 29
@franco_vazza I don’t disagree with your takeaway but I find the letter very empathetic on the opposite: he doesn’t condemn the French people of his time, he flatters them while giving an account of how much they’re err, suffering, in a very gentle way I think.
Show threadProf Heino FalckeJun 29
@franco_vazza Also studying his faith 😉?
Show threadfranco_vazzaJun 29

@hfalcke being Sandemanian? That's surely a very interesting trait of his character indeed! When he officially entered as a senior in the cult, he did not tell his wife Sarah "That's a thing only between me and God" he said.

PS if there is warranty of achieving the same level of discoveries, I would easily convert myself to the same religion!

Show threadProf Heino FalckeJun 29
@franco_vazza Don’t know much about them. At fist sight I wouldn’t call it a sect, given the breadth of Christianity, but the claim “Sandemanians were missing the important trust aspect of faith—actual reliance on God’s Word instead of only rational acceptance.”, “biblical literalism”, and “faith unaccompanied by love” would have made me worried. But in the end it depends on how they lived it. Given that this tiny group produced someone like Faraday might make them worth studying.