Michael Faraday, the son of a blacksmith, left school at 13 and was working as an apprentice bookbinder when he attended electrochemical lectures. He penned very careful notes and presented one of his notebooks to Davy, hoping for a job at the Royal Institution despite his working-class background and rudimentary education.
When a lab assistant at the Institution got into a brawl and was fired in February 1813, Davy remembered the 22-year-old Faraday and offered him the job – which involved taking a pay cut, but gave the young man access to the laboratory, free coal, candles and two attic rooms.