Michael Faraday Statue - Savoy Place, London, UK - Exact Replicas on Waymarking.com

The bronze statue stands on top of a black, granite plinth. The plinth is about 1.5 metres (5 feet) high and has inscriptions on the front. The inscription, immediately below the statue, reads "Faraday". The lower inscription reads:

Michael Faraday
September 22nd 1791
August 25th 1867

At the base of the plinth is a plaque that reads:

Bronze copy of marble
original by J H Foley 1874
at the Royal Institution
their kind consent / is acknowledged

Foley's bronze statue shows Faraday with his famous electro-magnetic induction ring in one hand, while his other hand is raised as if he is in the midst of explaining it. The statue is about lifesize.

The BBC website has an article about Michael Faraday that tells us:

Faraday was a British chemist and physicist who contributed significantly to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.

Michael Faraday was born on 22 September 1791 in south London. His family was not well off and Faraday received only a basic formal education. When he was 14, he was apprenticed to a local bookbinder and during the next seven years, educated himself by reading books on a wide range of scientific subjects. In 1812, Faraday attended four lectures given by the chemist Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution. Faraday subsequently wrote to Davy asking for a job as his assistant. Davy turned him down but in 1813 appointed him to the job of chemical assistant at the Royal Institution.

A year later, Faraday was invited to accompany Davy and his wife on an 18 month European tour, taking in France, Switzerland, Italy and Belgium and meeting many influential scientists. On their return in 1815, Faraday continued to work at the Royal Institution, helping with experiments for Davy and other scientists. In 1821 he published his work on electromagnetic rotation (the principle behind the electric motor). He was able to carry out little further research in the 1820s, busy as he was with other projects. In 1826, he founded the Royal Institution's Friday Evening Discourses and in the same year the Christmas Lectures, both of which continue to this day. He himself gave many lectures, establishing his reputation as the outstanding scientific lecturer of his time.

In 1831, Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction, the principle behind the electric transformer and generator. This discovery was crucial in allowing electricity to be transformed from a curiosity into a powerful new technology. During the remainder of the decade he worked on developing his ideas about electricity. He was partly responsible for coining many familiar words including 'electrode', 'cathode' and 'ion'. Faraday's scientific knowledge was harnessed for practical use through various official appointments, including scientific adviser to Trinity House (1836-1865) and Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich (1830-1851).

However, in the early 1840s, Faraday's health began to deteriorate and he did less research. He died on 25 August 1867 at Hampton Court, where he had been given official lodgings in recognition of his contribution to science. He gave his name to the 'farad', originally describing a unit of electrical charge but later a unit of electrical capacitance.

The Victorian Web website tells us about the original Foley statue:

Faraday was very closely associated with the Royal Institution. He was first appointed as laboratory assistant there in 1813, became director of the laboratory in 1825, and Fullerian Professor of Chemistry there from 1833 to 1867. It was here that he conducted his electricity experiments; as superintendent of the institution, he also lived in a flat there with his wife Sarah, until the couple were given a house near Hampton Court in 1858. Although under no obligation to lecture, he was in fact "a gifted lecturer," who, for example, delivered his friend Charles Wheatstone's lectures for him because Wheatstone himself was too shy.

Foley shows Faraday with his famous electro-magnetic induction ring in one hand, while his other hand is raised as if he is in the midst of explaining it. The statue stands imposingly at the foot of the institution's main staircase (with its splendid ironwork), as if to welcome visitors.

The original can be seen here.