Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday was a 19th century British scientist who defined himself a "natural philosopher". He was director of the Royal Institute and studied about electromagnetism. (AUDIO: The Four Doctors)

In the 1820s, he was expected in a scientific meeting in Killingworth sponsored by Lord Ravensworth and hosting George Stephenson, among the others. The meeting was supposedly cancelled after the plots of the Rani and, thwarted by the Sixth Doctor. (TV: The Mark of the Rani)

A Dalek time corridor ended in his house. In 1854, an inoperative Special Weapons Dalek arrived to his laboratory through it. This caught the attention of the Seventh Doctor. A week later, after a lecture about electromagnetism, Faraday found Colonel Ulrik, which led him to discover about the existence of time travel. Before the Seventh Doctor could seal the time-space corridor to prevent anything else from falling through it, however, two more fully active Daleks, one of whom was the Dalek Prime, arrived to Faraday's house. After activating Faraday's electromagnet, which disrupted the two Daleks' functioning, the Doctor was able to escape through the dumbwaiter. (AUDIO: The Four Doctors)

Legacy
His discoveries about electromagnetism were "destined to bring light to the world" according to the Sixth Doctor. (PROSE: The Mark of the Rani) The Seventh Doctor defined him "one of the most brilliant minds in the human history" (AUDIO: The Four Doctors) and the Eighth Doctor commented that, with the coming of the 20th century, the age of the gentleman scientist would end. He cited Faraday as an example of one such scientist. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy)

Faraday was the inventor of the first transformer, an electrical device that changed the voltage of an alternating current supply, the AC supply, such as the Earths mains electrical supply. According to Luke Smith Faraday didn't know what he'd invented and didn't know what he could use it for. (TV: Revenge of the Slitheen)

In 1866, Theodore Maxtible mentioned his experiments into static electricity. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)