Humphry Davy
British chemist and inventor of the Davy lamp, pioneer of electrochemistry
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 is known for using electricity to isolate several elements for the first time: potassium and sodium in 1807, and calcium, strontium, barium, magnesium, and boron the next year. He also proved that chlorine and iodine are elements. Davy examined the forces behind these separations, founding the field of electrochemistry. He is credited with finding clathrate hydrates. In 1799, he tried nitrous oxide and was amazed by its laughter-inducing effect, calling it "laughing gas" and suggesting it could be used as an anaesthetic for surgery. Davy held titles including baronet, President of the Royal Society, Member of the Royal Irish Academy, a founder and Fellow of the Geological Society of London, a member of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and a member of the American Philosophical Society. Berzelius described Davy's 1806 Bakerian Lecture "On Some Chemical Agencies of Electricity" as "one of the best memoirs which has ever enriched the theory of chemistry."
Davy was born in Penzance, Cornwall, on 17 December 1778, the oldest of five children. His father Robert was a woodcarver, and his mother was Grace Millett. His brother and fellow chemist John Davy noted that their hometown had "an almost unbounded credulity respecting the supernatural and monstrous," with little interest in literature or science among the middle and upper classes, who preferred hunting, shooting, wrestling, and cockfighting, often ending in drunkenness.
At six, Davy entered Penzance grammar school. Three years later, his family moved to Varfell, near Ludgvan, and during term time he boarded with his godfather and later guardian, John Tonkin. After leaving grammar school in 1793, Tonkin paid for him to attend Truro Grammar School under Rev Dr Cardew, who later wrote to engineer Davies Giddy that he "could not discern the faculties by which he was afterwards so much distinguished." Davy entertained schoolmates by writing poetry, composing Valentines, and telling stories from *One Thousand and One Nights*. In a letter to his mother, he said, "Learning naturally is a true pleasure; how unfortunate then it is that in most schools it is made a pain." He added, "I consider it fortunate I was left much to myself as a child, and put upon no particular plan of study... What I am I made myself." His brother believed Davy had a "native vigour" and "the genuine quality of genius."
After his father died in 1794, Tonkin apprenticed Davy to John Bingham Borlase, a surgeon in Penzance. While learning chemistry in the apothecary's dispensary, Davy began his own experiments at home, annoying friends and family. His older sister complained his corrosive substances ruined her dresses, and a friend thought the "incorrigible" Davy might "blow us all into the air." In 1797, after learning French from a refugee priest, Davy read Lavoisier's *Traité élémentaire de chimie*, which influenced his later work as a reaction against Lavoisier and French chemists.
Davy wrote over 160 manuscript poems, mostly in personal notebooks. He shared only a few with friends, and eight were published. His poems covered his career and views on death, metaphysics, geology, natural theology, and chemistry. John Ayrton Paris said Davy's early poems "bear the stamp of lofty genius." His first preserved poem, "The Sons of Genius," dates to 1795. Later works like "On the Mount's Bay" and "St Michael's Mount" are descriptive. As his health and career declined, his final poems focused on immortality and death.
Three of Davy's paintings from around 1796 survive at Penlee House museum in Penzance: one shows the view from above Gulval with the church, Mount's Bay, and the Mount; the other two depict Loch Lomond in Scotland.
At 17, Davy debated the materiality of heat with his Quaker friend and mentor Robert Dunkin, who told him, "I tell thee what, Humphry, thou art the most quibbling hand at a dispute I ever met with in my life." One winter, Dunkin showed Davy at the Lariggan River that rubbing two ice plates together generated enough motion to melt them, and after stopping, the pieces reunited by regelation. Davy later repeated this crude experiment at the Royal Institution, drawing attention. As a professor there, he replicated many of Dunkin's ingenious experiments.
- born
- 17 December 1778
- died
- 29 May 1829
- field
- Chemistry, electrochemistry, invention
- nationality
- British
- known_for
- Inventing the Davy lamp and early arc lamp; isolating potassium, sodium, calcium, strontium, barium, magnesium, and boron; discovering elemental chlorine and iodine; founding electrochemistry; discove
Lore & Background
Davy was born in Penzance, Cornwall, England on 17 December 1778, the eldest of the five children of Robert Davy, a woodcarver, and his wife Grace Millett. At the age of six, Davy was sent to the grammar school at Penzance. Three years later, his family moved to Varfell, near Ludgvan, and subsequently, in term-time, Davy boarded with John Tonkin, his godfather and later his guardian. Upon Davy's leaving grammar school in 1793, Tonkin paid for him to attend Truro Grammar School to finish his education under the Rev Dr Cardew. After Davy's father died in 1794, Tonkin apprenticed him to John Bingham Borlase, a surgeon with a practice in Penzance. While becoming a chemist in the apothecary's dispensary, he began conducting his earliest experiments at home. In 1797, after he learnt French from a refugee priest, Davy read Lavoisier's Traité élémentaire de chimie. As a poet, over one hundred and sixty manuscript poems were written by Davy, the majority of which are found in his personal notebooks. Eight of his known poems were published. Three of Davy's paintings from around 1796 have been donated to the Penlee House museum at Penzance. At 17, he discussed the question of the materiality of heat with his Quaker friend and mentor Robert Dunkin. Davies Giddy met Davy in Penzance and interested by his talk invited him to his house at Tredrea and offered him the use of his library. This led to his introduction to Dr Edwards, who permitted Davy to use his laboratory. Gregory Watt, son of James Watt, visited Penzance for his health's sake, and while lodging at the Davys' house became a friend and gave him instructions in chemistry. Thomas Beddoes and John Hailstone made Davy's acquaintance. Giddy recommended Davy to Beddoes, and in 1798 Gregory Watt showed Beddoes Davy's Young man's Researches on Heat and Light. On 2 October 1798, Davy joined the Pneumatic Institution at Bristol. While living in Bristol, Davy met the Earl of Durham, who resided in the institution for his health. Davy formed a long romantic friendship with Mrs Anna Beddoes.
Reader's Guide
Davy’s career advanced rapidly after his early work at the Pneumatic Institution, where he investigated the properties of gases. His experiments with nitrous oxide in 1799 revealed its capacity to induce laughter, leading him to name it “laughing gas” and to propose its possible use as a surgical anaesthetic for pain relief. He then became a professor at the Royal Institution, where he demonstrated many of the principles of heat and motion he had first encountered through informal experiments with his mentor Robert Dunkin, such as the generation of heat by friction between ice surfaces. Davy’s most significant contributions to chemistry involved the use of electricity to break down compounds. In 1807, he isolated potassium and sodium, and the following year he obtained calcium, strontium, barium, magnesium, and boron. He also established that chlorine and iodine were elemental substances. By studying the electrical forces behind these separations, he founded the field of electrochemistry. His 1806 Bakerian Lecture on this topic was praised by the chemist Berzelius as one of the finest memoirs ever to enrich chemical theory. Davy also invented the Davy lamp for miners and an early arc lamp, and he discovered clathrate hydrates. He served as President of the Royal Society and was a member of several learned societies, reflecting his broad influence across the sciences.
Did You Know?
- Davy nicknamed nitrous oxide 'laughing gas' after experimenting with it in 1799.
- He isolated potassium and sodium in 1807 using electricity.
- Davy wrote over 160 manuscript poems, but only eight were published.
- He was a baronet, President of the Royal Society, and a member of several learned societies.
Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)
"A sacred spark created by his breath, The immortal mind of man his image bears;A spirit living 'midst the forms of death, Oppressed, but not subdued, by mortal cares." — Humphry Davy "Every new discovery may be considered as a new species of manufacture, awakening moral industry and sagacity, and employing, as it were, new capital of mind." — Humphry Davy "Davy held that if the battery is strong enough any compound may be decomposed, and that chemical affinity is merely a form of electric attraction. He vigorously put his theory into practice..." — Humphry Davy "James Campbell Brown, A History of Chemistry from the Earliest Times (1920) pp. 340-341." — Humphry Davy
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