Humphry Davy (1778–1829), the son of an impoverished Cornish

woodcarver, rose meteorically to help spearhead the reformed

chemistry movement initiated by Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier—
although Davy was a critic of some of its basic premises.

Self-Made Scientist
Apprenticed to an apothecary-surgeon, Davy taught himself a wide range of other
subjects: theology and philosophy, poetics, seven languages, and several sciences,
including chemistry. In 1798 he took a position at Thomas Beddoes’s Pneumatic
Institution, where the use of the newly discovered gases in the cure and prevention of
disease was investigated. Davy’s earliest published work (“An Essay on Heat, Light,
and the Combinations of Light,” in Contributions to Physical and Medical
Knowledge, Principally from the West of England, ed. Beddoes, 1799) was a
refutation of Lavoisier’s caloric, arguing, among other points, that heat is motion but
light is matter. But his early reputation was made by his book Researches, Chemical
and Philosophical, Chiefly Concerning Nitrous Oxide . . . and Its Respiration (1799).
His recommendation that nitrous oxide (laughing gas) be employed as an anesthetic
in minor surgical operations was ignored, but inhaling the gas became the highlight
of contemporary social gatherings. In 1801 Davy was appointed—first as a lecturer,
then as a professor of chemistry—to the Royal Institution in London, which he
molded into a center for advanced research and for polished demonstration lectures
delivered to audiences largely made up of fashionable gentlemen and ladies. 

Electrochemical Experiments
Soon after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta announced the electric pile—an early type of
battery—in 1800, Davy rushed into this new field and correctly realized that the production of
electricity depended on a chemical reaction taking place. His electrochemical experiments led him
to propose that the tendency of one substance to react preferentially with other substances—its
“affinity”—is electrical in nature.
Discovering New Elements
Among his many accomplishments Davy discovered several new elements. In 1807 he electrolyzed
slightly damp fused potash and then soda—substances that had previously resisted decomposition
and hence were thought by some to be elements—and isolated potassium and sodium. He went on
to analyze the alkaline earths, isolating magnesium, calcium, strontium, and barium. Davy’s
recognition that the alkalis and alkaline earths were all oxides challenged Lavoisier’s theory that
 davy-large-profile.jpg

oxygen was the principle of acidity. Later, Davy

determined that not all acids contain oxygen, including
muriatic acid (our hydrochloric acid), which, as Davy
discovered, was not “oxymuriatic acid,” as Lavoisier
thought. It contained only hydrogen and one other
element, chlorine.
Other Achievements and Honors
In the course of his career Davy was involved in many
practical projects. For example, he wrote the first text
on the application of chemistry to agriculture and
designed a miner’s lamp that surrounded the lamp’s
flame with wire gauze to dissipate its heat and thus
inhibit ignition of the methane gas commonly found in
mines.
Davy became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1803
and served as its president from 1820 to 1827. He was
knighted in 1812 and created a baronet in 1818—two
honors, among many, that he much enjoyed.
 
Visit the Science History Institute to learn more
about Davy.
The information contained in this biography was last
updated on December 4, 2017.
 

Science and Celebrity: Humphry

Davy's Rising Star
DISTILLATIONS ARTICLE

Working his way up from humble

beginnings, Humphry Davy took England
by storm, traveling among the scientific
and literary elite while dazzling the
public with his groundbreaking
experiments.
 Left Behind
DISTILLATIONS ARTICLE

In the early 19th century, Humphry Davy was a scientific superstar, but
then science and the world around him changed.
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