DAVY, HUMPHBY. — Born at Penzance, in Cornwall, on 17 December 1778; died at Geneva on 29 May 1829. Of modest family, he was first an apprentice in a pharmacy and then an assistant, and later head of the laboratory of the Pneumatic Institution of Bristol for the study of the physiological and therapeutic action of gases. He discovered the intoxicating action of laughing gas, or nitrous oxide, which was one of the first general anesthetics: this achievement opened the way for him to teach chemistry at the Royal Institution of London, enabling him to devote himself to scientific research with truly exceptional results. Together with Hisinger and Berzelius, he was among the first electrochemists.
He studied the electrolysis of water; by means of electric current he isolated the alkali and alkaline-earth metals (potassium, sodium, calcium, barium, and strontium), boron, and chlorine, whose nature as a chemical element he recognized; at the same time as Gay-Lussac, he isolated iodine and recognized its nature as an element. He invented the safety lamp that bears his name, for which he refused to take out patents. He was a member and later president of the Royal Society of London.
In delicate health—also as a result of the experiments he had conducted on himself with gases—having become wealthy through marriage and famous for his discoveries, he made two journeys to Italy, where he stayed for long periods and met Volta and Morichini.
Of philosophical mind and religious spirit, he found the traces of God the Creator and Providence in nature and science; he opposed materialism and, although a Protestant, showed a sincere sympathy for Catholicism. He published a diary: Consolazioni di viaggio o gli ultimi giorni di un filosofo (Italian trans., Milan 1928), in which he set forth his spiritualistic ideas; on his tomb he wished a single word to be inscribed: « spero ».