Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet (17 December 1778 – 29 May 1829), was a British chemist and inventor. He created the Davy lamp and an early version of the arc lamp. He discovered several elements for the first time using electricity: potassium and sodium in 1807, and calcium, strontium, barium, magnesium, and boron the next year. He also identified chlorine and iodine as elements. Davy studied the forces involved in separating these elements, which led to the creation of the field of electrochemistry. He is credited with discovering clathrate hydrates.

In 1799, Davy experimented with nitrous oxide and found it caused laughter. He called it "laughing gas" and noted its possible use as an anesthetic to reduce pain during surgery. Davy held the title of baronet, served as President of the Royal Society (PRS), and was a member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA). He was a founding member and Fellow of the Geological Society of London and a member of the American Philosophical Society. In 1806, chemist Berzelius praised Davy’s Bakerian Lecture, titled "On Some Chemical Agencies of Electricity," as "one of the best memoirs that has ever enriched the theory of chemistry."

Early life: 1778–1798

Davy was born on December 17, 1778, in Penzance, Cornwall, England. He was the oldest of five children born to Robert Davy, a woodcarver, and his wife, Grace Millett. His brother, John Davy, a chemist, described their hometown as a place where many people believed strongly in supernatural events and unusual stories. He also noted that people in the middle and higher classes had little interest in books or science, and instead enjoyed activities like hunting, wrestling, and cockfighting, often ending these events with drinking.

At age six, Davy attended grammar school in Penzance. Three years later, his family moved to Varfell, near Ludgvan, and during school terms, Davy lived with his godfather, John Tonkin, who later became his guardian. After leaving grammar school in 1793, Tonkin paid for Davy to study at Truro Grammar School under the Rev. Dr. Cardew. In a letter to Davies Giddy (later known as Davies Gilbert), Dr. Cardew wrote that he did not see signs of the talents Davy would later show. During school, Davy wrote poetry, composed love poems called Valentines, and told stories from the collection One Thousand and One Nights. In a letter to his mother, Davy wrote that learning naturally brings joy, but many schools make it feel like a burden. He also said he was lucky to be left to study on his own, as he believed his success came from his own efforts. His brother described Davy as having strong natural energy and a true sign of genius.

In 1794, after Davy’s father died, Tonkin arranged for Davy to apprentice with John Bingham Borlase, a surgeon in Penzance. While working as a chemist in the apothecary’s dispensary, Davy began conducting experiments at home, which sometimes upset his family and friends. His older sister complained that his chemicals were ruining her clothes, and one friend worried that Davy might one day cause an accident.

In 1797, after learning French from a refugee priest, Davy read Lavoisier’s Traité élémentaire de chimie. This book greatly influenced his future work, which often challenged Lavoisier’s ideas and the dominance of French chemists.

As a poet, Davy wrote over 160 poems, most of which are in his personal notebooks. Most were never published, but he shared some with friends. Eight of his poems were published. His poems discussed his career and his thoughts on life, including topics like death, metaphysics, geology, natural theology, and chemistry. John Ayrton Paris noted that Davy’s early poems showed signs of great talent. His first known poem, The Sons of Genius, was written in 1795 and showed the immaturity of youth. Later poems, such as On the Mount’s Bay and St Michael’s Mount, were more descriptive.

Although Davy initially wrote poems to express his views on life and work, his later poems focused more on themes of immortality and death. This shift happened after he began experiencing poor health and a decline in his career.

Three of Davy’s paintings from around 1796 are displayed at the Penlee House museum in Penzance. One shows a view from above Gulval, including the church, Mount’s Bay, and the Mount. The other two paintings depict Loch Lomond in Scotland.

At age 17, Davy discussed the nature of heat with his Quaker friend and mentor, Robert Dunkin. Dunkin said, “I tell thee what, Humphry, thou art the most quibbling hand at a dispute I ever met with in my life.” One winter day, Dunkin showed Davy that rubbing two pieces of ice together could create enough energy to melt them. When the motion stopped, the ice pieces joined together through a process called regelation. Davy later used a similar experiment in his lectures at the Royal Institution, which drew much attention. As a professor there, Davy repeated many of the experiments he learned from Dunkin.

Early career: 1798–1802

Davies Giddy met Davy in Penzance, where he was swinging carelessly on the half-gate of Dr. Borlase's house. He became interested in Davy's conversation and invited him to his home at Tredrea, offering him use of his library. This led to Davy meeting Dr. Edwards, who lived at Hayle Copper House. Edwards was a chemistry teacher at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He allowed Davy to use his laboratory and may have drawn his attention to the floodgates of the port of Hayle in Cornwall, which were decaying rapidly due to the interaction between copper and iron in seawater. At that time, galvanic corrosion was not understood, but this phenomenon helped prepare Davy's mind for future experiments on ships' copper sheathing. Gregory Watt, son of James Watt, visited Penzance for his health. While staying at the Davys' home, he became a friend and taught Davy chemistry. Davy also met the Wedgwood family, who spent a winter in Penzance.

At this time, physician and writer Thomas Beddoes and geologist John Hailstone were involved in a scientific debate about the Plutonian and Neptunist theories. They traveled together to study the Cornish coast, accompanied by Giddy, a close friend of Beddoes, and met Davy. Beddoes had created a medical research center in Bristol called the "Pneumatic Institution" and needed an assistant to manage the laboratory. Giddy recommended Davy, and in 1798, Gregory Watt showed Beddoes Davy's book, Young Man's Researches on Heat and Light, which was later published in the first volume of West-Country Contributions. After long discussions, Mrs. Davy and Borlase agreed to let Davy leave. Tonkin wanted Davy to stay in his hometown as a surgeon and changed his will when Davy insisted on joining Dr. Beddoes.

On 2 October 1798, Davy joined the Pneumatic Institution in Bristol. The institution studied the medical effects of artificial gases and asked Davy to oversee experiments. The agreement between Beddoes and Davy was generous, allowing Davy to give up his claim to his father's property in favor of his mother. Davy did not plan to abandon medicine and aimed to study and graduate in Edinburgh, but he soon filled parts of the institution with voltaic batteries. While living in Bristol, Davy met the Earl of Durham, who stayed at the institution for his health.

Davy worked hard in the laboratory and formed a long romantic friendship with Mrs. Anna Beddoes, the sister of novelist Maria Edgeworth. Anna guided Davy on walks and showed him sights in the area. Critic Maurice Hindle was the first to note that Davy and Anna wrote poems for each other. Wahida Amin has recorded and analyzed several poems written between 1803 and 1808 to "Anna" and one to her infant child.

In 1799, the first volume of West-Country Collections was published. It included Davy's essays on heat, light, and the combinations of light, on phos-oxygen and its combinations, and on the theory of respiration. On 22 February 1799, Davy wrote to Davies Giddy, "I am now as much convinced of the non-existence of caloric as I am of the existence of light."

In 1799, Davy became more famous for his experiments with the effects of certain gases, including laughing gas (nitrous oxide). This gas was first created in 1772 by Joseph Priestley, who called it dephlogisticated nitrous air. Priestley described his discovery in Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air (1775), explaining how to produce "nitrous air diminished" by heating iron filings dampened with nitric acid. In a letter to Giddy on 10 April 1799, Davy wrote, "I made a discovery yesterday which proves how necessary it is to repeat experiments. The gaseous oxide of azote (laughing gas) is perfectly respirable when pure. It is never harmful but when it contains nitrous gas. I have found a way to make it pure." He inhaled sixteen quarts of it for nearly seven minutes and said it "absolutely intoxicated me."

Davy's enthusiastic experimental subjects included his poet friends Robert Southey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, as well as Gregory Watt and James Watt. James Watt built a portable gas chamber to help Davy test nitrous oxide inhalation. At one point, the gas was mixed with wine to test its effectiveness in curing hangovers (his notebook noted success). The gas was popular among Davy's friends, and he noted its potential for surgical use. Anesthetics were not regularly used in medicine or dentistry until decades after Davy's death.

During his gas experiments, Davy faced serious risks. Breathing nitric oxide, which may have combined with air in his mouth to form nitric acid (HNO₃), severely damaged his mucous membranes. In an experiment with carbon monoxide, Davy inhaled four quarts of "pure hydrocarbonate" gas and "seemed sinking into annihilation." When taken outside, he faintly said, "I do not think I shall die," but hours passed before his symptoms eased. Davy described his pulse as "threadlike and beating with excessive quickness" as he staggered out of the laboratory into the garden.

In 1799, Beddoes and Davy published Contributions to physical and medical knowledge, principally from the west of England and Essays on heat, light, and the combinations of light, with a new theory of respiration. Their work was poorly received and harshly criticized. Later, Davy regretted publishing these early, incomplete ideas, which he called "the dreams of misemployed genius which the light of experiment and observation has never conducted to truth." These criticisms, however, motivated Davy to improve his experimental methods, which he focused on more as time passed at the institution.

In December 1799, Davy visited London for the first time, expanding his circle of friends. He appears in the diary of William Godwin, with their first meeting recorded on 4 December 1799.

In 1800, Davy told Giddy that he had successfully repeated galvanic experiments during his gas research, which "almost incessantly occupied him from January to April." In 1800, Davy published Researches, Chemical and Philosophical, chiefly concerning Nitrous Oxide and its Respiration and received more positive feedback.

William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge moved to the Lake District in 1800 and asked Davy to handle the Bristol publishers of Lyrical Ballads, Biggs & Cottle. Coleridge asked Davy to proofread the second edition, the first to include Wordsworth's "Preface to the Lyrical Ballads," in a letter dated 16 July 1800: "Will you be so kind as just to look over the sheets of the Lyr

Mid-career: 1802–1820

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In June 1802, Davy published in the first issue of the Journals of the Royal Institution of Great Britain his An Account of a Method of Copying Paintings upon Glass, and of Making Profiles, by the Agency of Light upon Nitrate of Silver. Invented by T. Wedgwood, Esq. With Observations by H. Davy in which he described their experiments with the photosensitivity of silver nitrate.

He recorded that "images of small objects, produced by means of the solar microscope, may be copied without difficulty on prepared paper." Josef Maria Eder, in his History of Photography, though crediting Wedgwood, because of his application of this quality of silver nitrate to the making of images, as "the first photographer in the world," proposes that it was Davy who realised the idea of photographic enlargement using a solar microscope to project images onto sensitised paper. Neither found a means of fixing their images, and Davy devoted no more of his time to furthering these early discoveries in photography.

The principle of image projection using solar illumination was applied to the construction of the earliest form of photographic enlarger, the "solar camera."

Davy was a pioneer in the field of electrolysis using the voltaic pile to split common compounds and thus prepare many new elements. He went on to electrolyse molten salts and discovered several new metals, including sodium and potassium, highly reactive elements known as the alkali metals. Davy discovered potassium in 1807, deriving it from caustic potash (KOH). Before the 19th century, no distinction had been made between potassium and sodium. Potassium was the first metal that was isolated by electrolysis. Davy isolated sodium in the same year by passing an electric current through molten sodium hydroxide.

During the first half of 1808, Davy conducted a series of further electrolysis experiments on alkaline earths including lime, magnesia, strontites and barytes. At the beginning of June, Davy received a letter from the Swedish chemist Berzelius claiming that he, in conjunction with Dr. Pontin, had successfully obtained amalgams of calcium and barium by electrolysing lime and barytes using a mercury cathode. Davy managed to successfully repeat these experiments almost immediately and expanded Berzelius' method to strontites and magnesia. He noted that while these amalgams oxidised in only a few minutes when exposed to air they could be preserved for lengthy periods of time when submerged in naphtha before becoming covered with a white crust.

On 30 June 1808 Davy reported to the Royal Society that he had successfully isolated four new metals which he named barium, calcium, strontium and magnium (later changed to magnesium) which were subsequently published in the Philosophical Transactions. Although Davy conceded magnium was an "undoubtedly objectionable" name he argued the more appropriate name magnesium was already being applied to metallic manganese and wished to avoid creating an equivocal term. The observations gathered from these experiments also led to Davy isolating boron in 1809. Berzelius called Davy's 1806 Bakerian Lecture On Some Chemical Agencies of Electricity "one of the best memoirs which has ever enriched the theory of chemistry."

Davy performed a number of experiments aimed to isolate the metal aluminium and is credited as the person who named the element. The first name proposed for the metal to be isolated from alum was alumium, which Davy suggested in an 1808 article on his electrochemical research, published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. It appeared that the name was created from the English word alum and the Latin suffix -ium; but it was customary then to give elements names originating in Latin, so this name was not adopted universally. This name was criticized by contemporary chemists from France, Germany, and Sweden, who insisted the metal should be named for the oxide, alumina, from which it would be isolated. The English name alum does not come directly from Latin, whereas alumine / alumina comes from the Latin word alumen (upon declension, alumen changes to alumin-). The form aluminium, the modern preferred British word, was proposed by January 1811 in an account of Davy's published experiments written by William Hyde Wollaston. Davy later used aluminum (by 1812), which remains the U.S. word.

Chlorine was discovered in 1774 by Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele, who called it "dephlogisticated marine acid" (see phlogiston theory) and mistakenly thought it contained oxygen. Davy showed that the acid of Scheele's substance, called at the time oxymuriatic acid, contained no oxygen. This discovery overturned Lavoisier's definition of acids as compounds of oxygen. In 1810, chlorine was given its current name by Humphry Davy, who insisted that chlorine was in fact an element. The name chlorine, chosen by Davy for "one of [the substance's] obvious and characteristic properties – its colour", comes from the Greek χλωρος (chlōros), meaning green-yellow.

Davy seriously injured himself in a laboratory accident with nitrogen trichloride. French chemist Pierre Louis Dulong had first prepared this compound in 1811, and had lost two fingers and an eye in two separate explosions with it. In a letter to John Children, on 16 November 1812, Davy wrote: "It must be used with great caution. It is not safe to experiment upon a globule larger than a pin's head. I have been severely wounded by a piece scarcely bigger. My sight, however, I am informed, will not be injured". Davy's accident induced him to hire Michael Faraday as a co-worker, particularly for assistance with handwriting and record keeping. They were both injured in another NCl3 explosion shortly thereafter. He had recovered from his injuries by April 1813.

In 1812, Davy was knighted and gave up his lecturing position at the Royal Institution. He was given the title of Honorary Professor of Chemistry. He gave a farewell lecture to the Institution, and married a wealthy widow, Jane Apreece. (While Davy was generally acknowledged as being faithful to his wife, their relationship was stormy, and in later years he travelled to continental Europe alone.)

Davy then published his Elements of Chemical Philosophy, part 1, volume 1, though other parts of this title were never completed. He made notes for a second edition, but it was never required. In October 1813, he and his wife, accompanied by Michael Faraday as his scientific assistant (also treated as a valet), travelled to France to collect the second edition of the prix du Galvanisme, a medal that Napoleon Bonaparte had awarded Davy for his electro-chemical work. Faraday noted "Tis indeed a strange venture at this time, to trust ourselves in a foreign and hostile country, where so little regard is had to protestations of honour, that the slightest suspicion would be sufficient to separate us for ever from England, and perhaps from life". Davy's party sailed from Plymouth to Morlaix by cartel, where they were searched.

Upon reaching Paris, Davy was a guest of honour at a meeting of the First Class of the Institut de France and met with André-Marie Ampère and other French chemists. It was later reported that Davy's wife had thrown the medal into the sea, near her Cornish home, "as it raised bad memories". The Royal Society of Chemistry has offered over £1,800 for the recovery of the medal.

While in Paris, Davy attended lectures at the Ecole Polytechnique, including those by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac on a mysterious substance isolated by Bernard Courtois. Davy wrote a paper for the Royal Society on the element, which is now called iodine. This led to a dispute between Davy and Gay-Lussac on who had the priority on the research.

Davy's party did not meet Napoleon in person, but they did visit the Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais at the Château de Malmaison. The party left Paris in December 1813, travelling south to Italy. They so

Later life: 1820–1829

On October 20, 1818, Davy was given the title of baronet, which was the first such honor given to a scientist in Britain. A year later, he became president of the Royal Society. At that time, the Society was changing from a group of wealthy people interested in science to an organization focused on specialized scientific research. Joseph Banks, the previous president, had led the Society for over 40 years and ruled it strongly. He had chosen Davies Gilbert to take over, but Gilbert refused. Some members wanted Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg or Edward St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset, but both declined. Davy was the most respected scientist, but some members disliked his work at the Royal Institution.

Elections for president happened on St. Andrew’s Day, and Davy was chosen on November 30, 1820. Though he had no opponents, other candidates had early support. These candidates showed the challenges Davy faced during his presidency, which eventually led to his downfall. One strong competitor was William Hyde Wollaston, supported by mathematicians like Charles Babbage and John Herschel, who tried to stop Davy. They worried Davy would not support young scientists in fields like math, astronomy, and geology, who were forming their own groups. Davy was only 41, and some feared he might hold the presidency for too long.

At first, Davy hoped to unite the old and new groups in the Royal Society. In his first speech, he said, “I trust that, with these new societies, we shall always keep friendly relations… I am sure there is no desire in the Royal Society to act like a ruler over these institutions.”

Since 1761, copper plating had been used on the bottom of Royal Navy ships to protect wood from shipworms. However, the copper corroded over time in saltwater. Between 1823 and 1825, Davy, with help from Michael Faraday, tried to protect the copper using zinc or iron. This method, called cathodic protection, worked to stop corrosion, but the copper became covered with seaweed and marine life, making it hard to steer the ship.

The Navy Board asked Davy for help with corrosion in 1823. After testing in Portsmouth Dockyard, they used Davy’s protectors. By 1824, most ships with protected copper bottoms had fouling problems. By 1825, the Admiralty ordered the Navy Board to stop using the protectors. Though corrosion was prevented, the fouling caused serious issues, and captains complained.

Davy struggled to manage group disagreements, but his reputation suffered after failures like the copper-bottomed ship project. His popularity dropped further due to political mistakes. In 1825, he promoted the Zoological Society, which upset expert zoologists. He also failed to give Royal Medals or a position to Babbage. In 1826, Davy had a stroke and never fully recovered. A mathematician, Edward Ryan, wrote that members were angry with Davy’s actions and wanted him removed.

Davy was re-elected president without opposition, but he was clearly unwell. In January 1827, he went to Italy for health reasons, but his condition worsened. He did not run for re-election in 1827 and was succeeded by Davies Gilbert.

Davy’s assistant, Michael Faraday, later became more famous and influential. Davy once said Faraday was his greatest discovery, but later accused him of stealing ideas, which made Faraday stop his research in electromagnetism until Davy died.

Davy was accused of plagiarism in 1821, when Faraday discovered electromagnetic rotation independently. This accusation, according to Geoffrey Cantor, was Davy’s attempt to control Faraday. Though Davy failed to stop Faraday from joining the Royal Society, the event changed their relationship. Some say Davy’s comment about Faraday was a joke, not a compliment.

Davy was known for being enthusiastic and imaginative. He was a deist, believing in a higher power but not in organized religion. His lectures were popular, and he was praised by poets like Coleridge and Southey for his creativity. He cared deeply about helping people, as seen in his invention of the miners’ lamp. However, his lack of tact sometimes caused problems.

In his final months, Davy wrote Consolations in Travel, a popular book mixing poetry, science, and philosophy. He died on February 20, 1829, after another stroke, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Honours

• Shortly after his funeral, his wife arranged a memorial plaque for him in Westminster Abbey, costing £142.
• In 1872, a statue of Davy was built in front of the Market Building in Penzance (now owned by Lloyds TSB) at the top of Market Jew Street, Penzance.
• A commemorative slate plaque on 4 Market Jew Street, Penzance, states that the location is his birthplace. A secondary school on Coombe Road, Penzance, is named Humphry Davy School.
• A pub at 32 Alverton Street, Penzance, is called "The Sir Humphry Davy."
• One of the science buildings at the University of Plymouth is named The Davy Building.
• There is a road named Humphry Davy Way near the docks in Bristol.
• Outside the entrance to Sunderland Football Club’s Stadium of Light, a large Davy Lamp stands to honor local mining history and the importance of Davy’s safety lamp to the mining industry.
• A street named Humphry-Davy-Straße is located in the industrial area of Cuxhaven, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
• A satellite campus of the University of Sheffield at Golden Smithies Lane in Wath upon Dearne (Manvers) was called Humphry Davy House and housed the School of Nursing and Midwifery until April 2009.
• Davy Sound in Greenland was named in his honor by William Scoresby (1789–1857).
• A commercial area called "zone of activity" in La Grand-Combe, Gard, France—a former mining town—is named after Davy.
• Mount Davy in New Zealand’s Paparoa Range was named after him by Julius von Haast.
• In 1827, the mineral davyne was named in his honor by W. Haidinger.
• Since 1877, the Royal Society of London has given the Davy Medal each year to recognize an important recent discovery in any area of chemistry.
• The Davy lunar crater is named after him. It is 34 km wide and located at coordinates 11.8S, 8.1W.
• Davy’s love for fly-fishing earned him the nickname "the father of modern fly-fishing." His book Salmonia is often called "the fly-fisherman bible."
• The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge said he attended Davy’s lectures to expand his collection of metaphors.

In popular culture

• Davy is the subject of a humorous song written by Richard Gendall. The song was recorded in 1980 by folk singer Brenda Wootton on the album Boy Jan Cornishman. The song has seven verses, each describing a day of the week and a discovery that Davy supposedly made on that day.

• English playwright Nick Darke wrote a comedy script titled Laughing Gas (2005) about the life of Sir Humphry Davy. The script was left unfinished when Nick Darke passed away. It was later completed by actor and playwright Carl Grose and produced by the Truro-based theater company O-region.

• Edmund Clerihew Bentley’s first clerihew, published in 1905, was about Sir Humphry Davy. A clerihew is a short, humorous poem with a specific rhyme scheme.

• A humorous rhyme of unknown origin exists about the statue of Davy in Penzance.

• In his 1864 novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth, author Jules Verne mentions Davy’s geological ideas.

Publications

Refer to Fullmer's work for a complete list of Davy's articles.

Humphry Davy's books include the following:

• — (1800). Researches, Chemical and Philosophical; Chiefly Concerning Nitrous Oxide, or Dephlogisticated Nitrous Air, and Its Respiration. Bristol: Biggs and Cottle. p. 1. Accessed on September 18, 2016.
• — (1812). Elements of Chemical Philosophy. London: Johnson and Co. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-217-88947-6. {{ cite book }}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help).
• — (1813). Elements of Agricultural Chemistry in a Course of Lectures. London: Longman.
• — (1816). The Papers of Sir H. Davy. Newcastle: Emerson Charnley. (on Davy's safety lamp)
• — (1827). Discourses to the Royal Society. London: John Murray.
• — (1828). Salmonia or Days of Fly Fishing. London: John Murray. p. 13.
• — (1830). Consolations in Travel or The Last Days of a Philosopher. London: John Murray. p. 1.

Davy also wrote articles about chemistry for Rees's Cyclopædia, but the specific topics are not recorded.

His collected works were published between 1839 and 1840:

• Davy, John (1839–1840). The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy. London: Smith, Elder, and Company. ISBN 978-0-217-88944-5. {{ cite book }}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help).