Faraday's notes on Tatum's lectures. Illustration from lecture notes written by British chemist and physicist Michael Faraday (1791-1867). Faraday, a bookbinder's apprentice at the time, lacked a formal education and studied by reading books and attending lectures. He attended around 13 lectures by silversmith John Tatum (1772-1858) between February 1810 and September 1811. The notes Faraday made from these lectures formed four volumes and 300 pages and helped him start his career in science. This illustration shows an optical machine used by Tatum (named in the text at bottom) in an experiment during a lecture.