Davy, Sir Humphry, 1778–1829, English chemist and physicist. The son of a woodcarver, he received his early education at Truro and was apprenticed (1795) to a surgeon-apothecary at Penzance. While director (1798–1801) of the laboratory of the Pneumatic Institution, Clifton, he investigated the properties of nitrous oxide (laughing gas). He was lecturer (1801) and professor (1802–13) at the Royal Institution, London. His researches in electrochemistry led to his isolation of potassium and sodium in 1807 and of calcium, barium, boron, magnesium, and strontium in 1808. He established the elementary nature of chlorine, advanced the theory that hydrogen is characteristically present in acids, and classed chemical affinity as an electric phenomenon. He was also noted for the invention of a safety lamp for miners and for his lectures on agricultural chemistry (pub. 1813). Knighted (1812) and made a baronet (1818), he was elected (1820) president of the Royal Society. His collected works (9 vol., 1839–40; repr. 1972) include a biographical memoir by his brother, John Davy.

Bibliography

See biography by A. Treneer (1963).

Davy, Sir Humphry

(born Dec. 17, 1778, Penzance, Cornwall, Eng.—died May 29, 1829, Geneva, Switz.) English chemist. By his early 20s his work on gases had established his reputation. His discovery of the anesthetic effect of nitrous oxide in 1799 was a major contribution to surgery. He also did early research on voltaic cells and batteries, tanning, electrolysis, and mineral analysis. In Elements of Agricultural Chemistry (1813) he became the first to apply chemical principles systematically to farming. He was the first to isolate potassium, sodium, barium, strontium, magnesium, and calcium; he also discovered boron and studied chlorine and iodine extensively. He analyzed many pigments and proved that diamond is a form of carbon. He was one of the greatest exponents of the scientific method. His research on mine explosions and flame and his invention of the safety lamp brought him great prestige, and in 1820 he was made president of the Royal Society of London.