Michael Faraday and the Inductionists [Historically Speaking]

Michael Faraday was the first to discover magnetic induction, but there were several others searching for induction effects at the same time and even earlier. This group is referred to as the “inductionists.” These included Fresnel, Ampere, and Henry, as well as Faraday. This article outlines the directions each of them took and the interactions Faraday had with them. There was an interesting set of speculations and experiments on the path to discover electromagnetic induction before Faraday’s success in 1831.