DAVY, HUMPHREY. - Born at Penzance in Cornwall on 17 Dec. 1778, died at Geneva on 29 May 1829. Of modest family, he was first apprenticed to a pharmacist and then became assistant and later head of the laboratory of the Pneumatic Institution at Bristol for the study of the physiological and therapeutic action of gases. He discovered the intoxicating action of nitrous oxide or laughing gas, one of the first general anaesthetics; this discovery opened the way to his teaching chemistry at the Royal Institution in London, which enabled him to devote himself to scientific research with truly exceptional results. He was, with Hisinger and Berzelius, 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, of which he recognized the nature as a chemical element; simultaneously with Gay-Lussac he isolated iodine and recognized its nature as an element. He invented the safety lamp which bears his name and for which he refused to take out patents. He was a member and then president of the Royal Society of London.
Of delicate health (also owing to experiments he made on himself with gases), he became wealthy through marriage and famous for his discoveries. He made two journeys to Italy where he stayed for a long time and met VOLTA and MORICHINI.
Of philosophical mind and religious disposition, he found the traces of God the Creator and Provider in nature and in science; he opposed materialism, and, though a Protestant, showed sincere sympathy for Catholicism. He published a diary: Consolations of Travel or the Last Days of a Philosopher (Italian trans., Milan 1928) in which he set forth his spiritualistic ideas; on his tomb he wished only one word to be written: “I hope.”