ABSTRACT
Faraday’s views about the rights of a researcher to receive due recognition for the novelty of an idea or an experimental result were founded quite firmly on his own personal moral principles. The custom in the nineteenth century, as indeed it remains today, is for candidates aspiring to a post to ask eminent people of their acquaintance to write letters of recommendation on their behalf, drawing attention to their virtues and achievements. One form of acknowledgement of his achievements that Faraday himself received in abundance was honorary membership of academies and learned societies. It was Faraday’s settled opinion that governments should, for their own sake, honour those who, by pursuing scientific enquiry, illuminated the underlying principles that govern the natural world. Practical as ever, Faraday’s advice in 1854 to Lord Wrottesley, the Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee of the British Association was to reward talent, not through appellations, but by employing such individuals in the service of the country.
