On the occasion of the Centenary of the University of Birmingham in the year 2000, the sculptor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi presented the University with a bronze statue called Faraday. It was placed at the West Gate of the University. Close to the School of Computer Science. It would be the first thing students, staff and visitors would see after getting off the train or bus nearby.

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Faraday statue by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi at the University of Birmingham


Faraday statue by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi at the University of Birmingham


On the occasion of the Centenary of the University of Birmingham in the year 2000, the sculptor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi presented the University with a bronze statue called Faraday. It was placed at the West Gate of the University. Close to the School of Computer Science. It would be the first thing students, staff and visitors would see after getting off the train or bus nearby.


Faraday by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi

In the year 2000, when the University of Birmingham celebrated it's Centenary, the artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi gifted a bronze statue called Faraday. It was placed at the West Gate, on University Road West, outside of the School of Computer Science. You would see it when arriving at University Station, and walking towards University Square and Old Joe (and other parts of the campus). Even if you get off a bus, or walk from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, or Selly Oak Shopping Park (via Aston Webb Boulevard and New Fosse Way) you'd probably see it. Or it would be the last thing you see before heading into University Station, before catching a train on the Cross City Line up to Birmingham New Street.

The statue was probably inspired or named after Michael Faraday, who was an English scientist, who studied electromagnetism and electrochemistry. Various things were named after him. There is a statue of Faraday in London at Savoy Place.

 

Sir Eduardo Paolozzi CBE, RA (1924-2005) Faraday.
Bronze, 2000. West Gate, outside University Railway Station

Sir Eduardo Paolozzi said of this colossal bronze sculpture, commissioned to mark the centenary of the University of Birmingham's Royal Charter, that is was 'not of Faraday, but for him'. Faraday discovered the laws of electro-magnetic rotation and electrical induction and, among many other principles, explored the science of terrestrial magnetism. The loops of bronze between the figure's hands are a visual manifestation of natural fields of force.

Paolozzi has here articulated the achievements of all experimental scientists who unlock and transform understanding of natural phenomena, and has also created an allegorical figure representing the control of power. His figure of another great scientist, Newton (1995), stands outside the British Library (in London). Cut in the bronze around the base of the figure are lines from The Dry Salvages by T.S. Eliot. These reflect upon growth and change, and bear a valuable message for University students: 'Here between the hither and the further shore. While time is withdrawn, consider the future. And the past with an equal mind.'

 

I first photographed the Faraday statue in February 2013. There was a small bird on his head, and a tag around one of it's ankles. As a man looked on.

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Took Faraday again during January 2019. This time without any one or any objects on it. There appears to be a bench around the plinth.

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I next photographed the statue during June 2021. This time a view with 'Old Joe' the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower. At the time, the clock hands were being taken down, ahead of the clock getting repaired that year.

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In the other direction from behind Faraday, you can see part of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

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I also found a bronze plaque about Faraday by Eduardo Paolozzi (1924 - 2005). A gift from the artist to mark the Centenary of the University. 2000.

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In late August 2022, there was still Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Game wraps on the School of Computer Science, behind Faraday, including an image of the infamous Perry the Bull (remember him?) and 'Sport is just the beginning'.

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By October 2022, these had been replaced by the University of Birmingham, behind Faraday with 'Proud to be a World Top 100 University' and 'Welcome Game Changers'.

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Photography by Elliott Brown