Humphry Davy (1778-1829): A self-educated scientist

When Humphry Davy was born, the industrial revolution was well under way; one of his roles was to be the apostle of Applied Science. By 1829, every scientist was `DAVYAN', accepting that science can and must be applied to increase the comforts but also realise the dangers of life, as he did with miner's safety lamp.

HUMPHRY DAVY was born on December 17, 1778 in Penzance (England). His father, of yeoman stock, was a wood carver but earned little by it. Davy joined at the age of six the local grammar school and shifted to Truro where he studied classics.

His father died when he was 16, to support the family the young Davy became an apprentice to a surgeon-apothecary.

He said of his schooling in a letter to his mother in 1802:

``Learning naturally is a true pleasure: how unfortunately then it is that, in most schools, it is made a pain. I consider it fortunate that I was left much to myself. I enjoyed much idleness ..... I perhaps own to these circumstances the little talents I have and their peculiar application. What I am I have made myself'' (``Humphry Davy - Science and Power'' by David Knight, Cambridge Scientific Biographics Series, 1996).

During his apprenticeship the patients whom he had to bandage liked him greatly; he was all his life praised for his readiness to help and general amiability. In his spare time, he drew up a formidable program of self-education, which included theology, seven languages and a number of science subjects.

He began the study of chemistry with William Nicholson's ``Dictionary of chemistry and Antoine Lavoisier's'' Treatise on elementary chemistry`` which he read in French.By 1799, he was working as an assistant at Medical Pneumatic Institute in Bristol, which has been just founded to study the therapeutic uses of gases.

This placed at his disposal a special laboratory for chemical experiments. He prepared nitrous oxide by heating ammonium nitrate and showed that it caused intoxication (hence called laughing gas), by breathing it himself. He further encouraged his friends (which included the poets Coleridge and Southey) to try it too. This later became the first ANAESTHETIC for surgical operations.

In 1800 Davy published his first book describing the experiments on nitruous oxide. It was an instant success, by which Davy's name became well known in science. The self-educated Davy was fortunate in the people he met, though his lack of formal and systematic training in chemistry was to remain with him. Count Rumford, founder of the Royal Institution, invited (1801) him to give every year a certain number of lectures to large audiences. He was promoted to the post of professor in 1802, at the young age of 24.

Under Davy, the Royal Institution became a leading research centre and for polished demonstration lectures. The audiences were able to hear accounts of research work in progress and to see the latest discoveries in electrochemistry demonstrated before them.

The climax of the experimental work on aqueous solutions came in 1807 with the isolation of sodium and potassium by the electrolysis of their fused salts. He first isolated boron (1808) by heating borax with potassium. Davy's discoveries immediately led to fresh efforts to separate the new elements: in the case of sodium, by purely chemical methods within a year and later by reduction at high temperatures with carbon and iron on a large scale. As observed so often in the history of science and technology, the proof and properties of newly identified elements was sufficient to result in their production on a commercial scale.

In 1812, he was knighted, he also received many honours from abroad, which included the medal for his electrical discoveries by the Institut de France. He married in the same year and set off on an European tour. He took with him Michael Faradayh (1791- 1867) who was his laboratory assistant and also acted as his valet.Davy took with him portable scientific equipment in a small case to study chlorine compounds. This prepared the groundwork for the discovery of iodine.

On his return to England in 1815, the Society for Preventing Accidents in Coal Mines commissioned Davy to study mine explosions and prevent such disasters. He invented the miner's safety lamp an oil lamp whose flame was encased in metal gauze which allowed light and air through but prevented the heat of the flame from starting an explosion.

Davy did not patent the lamp which was to lead to an aerimonious claim to priority by George Stephenson (1781-1848), the inventor of steam locomotive.The miners presented him a lavish set of silver plate, which he later sold to establish a trust for awarding the Davy medal for scientific discoveries. He received a baronetcy for this invention (1818), which was then the highest honour conferred upon a man of science. He was elected a `Fellow of the Royal Society' (F.R.S.) in 1803 and was its president from 1820 to 1827.

Davy found out the composition of hydrochloric acid and various properties of the element chlorine, at the same time he extended his research, the application of chemistry to agriculture. His lectures from 1802 to 1812, were published as a book ``Elements of Agricultural Chemistry'' and was a standard work on the subject for many years. It would appear strange that Davy opposed Faraday's election as FRS in 1824, for he had been generous to the latter and really liked him. This sad fact reveals Davy's isolation and unhappiness.

Davy suffered a stroke in 1827 and thereafter his life consisted of lonely journeys in Europe to recover his health. He settled in Rome in 1829; on 29 May he suffered a heart attack and died in Geneva, Switzerland. - (The Dictionary of Scientific Biography, New York)

R. Parthasarathy

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Science & Tech
Previous : Energy efficient FRP axial flow fans
Next     : Question Corner