Humphry Davy

He married a wealthy widow, Jane Apreece, in 1812.

Sir Humphry Davy suffered from poor health during his later years. His body was considerably weakened by a series of strokes and he died in a hotel room in Geneva, Switzerland, on 29 May 1829, at the age of 50.

The Royal Society of London has awarded the Davy Medal—named in his honor—annually since 1877 "for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry."

Humphry Davy was born on 17 December 1778 in Penzance in Cornwall, England, into a middle-class family. He was the eldest son and had four siblings.

He received his primary education from Penzance school and Truro Grammar School.

His father, Robert, died in 1794 plunging the family into dire financial situation. Being the eldest son, Humphry was apprenticed to John Bingham Borlase, a surgeon with a large practice in Penzance.

Blessed with an artistic mind, the boy used to write poems and dreamed of becoming a poet. However, after he started to work in the apothecary he developed an even stronger interest in chemistry and experimentation and decided to abandon poetry in favor of science.

While working as an apprentice he also embarked on a journey of self-education. He was especially influenced by Lavoisier's famous work, ‘Traité élémentaire de chimie’ which he used as a guide in his chemistry experimentation.

Humphry Davy became a talented chemist and his intelligence and skills impressed Gregory Watt and Davies Giddy (later Gilbert). They recommended him to Dr. Thomas Beddoes for the position of superintendent of the newly founded Pneumatic Institution in Bristol and he was appointed to the position in October 1798.

The Pneumatic Institution was founded to study the possible therapeutic uses of various gases and to examine the idea that certain diseases might be cured by the inhalation of gases. As the superintendent, Davy studied the composition of the oxides and acids of nitrogen and persuaded others in the scientific fraternity to look into the effects of inhaling nitrous oxide.

In 1800, the account of his experimental works was published as ‘Researches, Chemical and Philosophical’. The popularity of this publication established him as a reputed chemist and soon he was invited to lecture at the newly founded Royal Institution of Great Britain, in London.

In 1801, he left the Pneumatic Institution and moved to London and was appointed in the Royal Institution as an assistant lecturer in chemistry, director of the chemical laboratory, and assistant editor of the journals of the institution.

Davy gave his first lecture on the relatively new subject of 'Galvanism' on 25 April 1801. It garnered rave reviews and within a period of months he became a very popular lecturer.

Sir Humphry Davy is best remembered as a pioneer in the field of electrolysis and for his major contributions to the discoveries of the elemental nature of chlorine and iodine.

The Davy lamp which he devised is an important invention of his. The safety lamp, consisting of a wick lamp with the flame enclosed inside a mesh screen was originally created for use in coal mines, to reduce the danger of explosions due to the presence of methane.