Davy, Humphry, Sir, 1778-1829

English physician and natural philosopher.

From the description of Papers, 1817-1829. (Duke University). WorldCat record id: 35007362

Epithet: natural philosopher

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000497.0x00030a

English chemist.

From the description of Letter, 1810 May 22, to John MacMurray. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122644626

From the description of Autograph letter signed : [n.p.], to an unidentified correspondent, [docketed 1823 Jan. 14]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270525481

From the description of Autograph letter signed : Hotwells, to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1800 Nov. 26. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270520380

Chemist. Fellow of the Royal Society.

From the description of Papers, 1795-1829. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 78729782

Sir Humphrey Davy was an English natural philosopher.

From the description of Correspondence, 1803-1822. (American Philosophical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 122523572

Humphry Davy was born December 17th, 1778, in Cornwall, England, into a middle-class family. He went to school in Penzance and Truro. His father died when he was 17, at which time he was apprenticed to a surgeon and apothecary. He became deeply interested in chemistry, and turned from his apprenticeship to the pursuit of science. His research gained him numerous honors throughout his life, including fellowship in the Royal Society, a professorship of chemistry, the Napoleon prize, an honorary LL.D.,at Trinity College, and a knighthood. He isolated sodium and potassium, and developed a safety lamp for miners. In 1812 he married Jane Apreece, a rich widow. Davy published several works on chemistry, a book on fishing, and a series of dialogues written in his last months of life. Davy died May 29, 1829.

From the guide to the Sir Humphrey Davy letter (MS 266), 28 March, [?], (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Special Collections Dept.)

Humphry Davy (1778–1829, APS 1810) was a British chemist and pioneer in the field of electrochemistry. He was a major figure in the reformed chemistry movement initiated by the French scientist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794, APS 1775).

Davy was the son of an impoverished Cornish woodcarver. As a youth, he was apprenticed to an apothecary-surgeon with whom he pursued a regimen of self-study that included theology, philosophy, poetics, several languages, as well as, botany, chemistry, anatomy, mechanics and physics. In subsequent years, when most of his time was occupied by scientific endeavors, Davy exhibited a particular fondness for philosophical writings and poetry. In 1799 he published his first poems.

However, it was Davy’s aptitude for scientific matters that soon attracted attention. One of the people who recognized his abilities was Davies Giddy (1767-1839), a Member of Parliament with scientific interests. Giddy eventually became Davy’s patron. He allowed his protégé access to his library; furthermore, he persuaded Davy’s master to release him from his indenture so that he could become the assistant to Thomas Beddoes, Giddy’s former teacher at Oxford.

In 1798 Davy joined Beddoes's Pneumatic Institution in Bristol which was established for the purpose of investigating the medical powers of newly discovered airs and gases. There, he made the acquaintance of fellow scientists as well as individuals with literary interests, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), Joseph Cottle (1770-1853), and Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849). In 1797 Davy read Lavoisier’s Traité élémentaire de chimie in French, a study that made a deep impression on him. Two years later he published an essay in which he refuted Lavoisier’s caloric; that same year he established his reputation as a chemist with his book Researches, Chemical and Philosophical, chiefly concerning Nitrous Oxide . . . and its Respiration in which he suggested that nitrous oxide (laughing gas) be used as an anesthetic in minor surgical operations. Davy had arrived at his conclusions after a series of risky experiments with different gases on himself. He described his “emotions” after awakening from the effects of laughing gas as “enthusiastic and sublime.”

Davy engaged in electrochemical experiments that led to several discoveries, including the recognition that the production of electricity was linked to a chemical reaction. He also isolated and analyzed the chemical elements potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, and barium. One of his best-known contributions to the field was his conclusion that, contrary to Lavoisier’s claims, there was no material basis for acidity. In 1810 he announced that the green gas contained in sea salt was an element. He named it chlorine.

As a strong promoter of applied science, Davy also engaged in various practical projects. He researched the chemistry of tanning, promoted improvements to agricultural practices, and developed a miner’s lamp that inhibited the ignition of the methane gas commonly found in mines. Furthermore, Davy was known as an effective lecturer. He made scientific topics accessible to an audience that extended beyond a small circle of fellow scientists.

Davy’s accomplishments were recognized with numerous awards and honors. In 1801 he joined the faculty of the Royal Institution in London. He became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1803, was awarded the Copley medal in 1805, and served as the Society’s president from 1820 to 1827. He was knighted in 1812 and created a baronet in 1818. He was also a founder of the Geological Society of London, the London Zoo and the Athenaeum.

Davy was married to Jane Apreece Kerr, a wealthy and well-connected widow. They did not have children. In 1829, he suffered a stroke while vacationing in Italy. He died a few days later.

From the guide to the Sir Humphry Davy correspondence, 1803-1822, 1803-1822, (American Philosophical Society)