Adult life [ edit source ] Portrait of Faraday in 1842 by Thomas Phillips In 1812, at the age of 20 and at the end of his apprenticeship, Faraday attended lectures by the eminent English chemist Humphry Davy of the Royal Institution and the Royal Society , and John Tatum , founder of the City Philosophical Society. Many of the tickets for these lectures were given to Faraday by William Dance , who was one of the founders of the Royal Philharmonic Society . Faraday subsequently sent Davy a 300-page book based on notes that he had taken during these lectures. Davy's reply was immediate, kind, and favourable. In 1813, when Davy damaged his eyesight in an accident with nitrogen trichloride , he decided to employ Faraday as an assistant. Coincidentally one of the Royal Institution's assistants, John Payne, was sacked and Sir Humphry Davy had been asked to find a replacement; thus he appointed Faraday as Chemical Assistant at ...