Sir Humphry Davy
English chemist
December 17, 1778 - May 29, 1829

The English chemist Sir Humphry Davy was born on December 17, 1778, in the town of Penzance. He was a bright child who enjoyed creating and telling stories and verses. His formal schooling ended at the age of fifteen. At the age of seventeen, Davy was apprenticed to a surgeon and apothecary, and two years later began his study of chemistry.

In 1801 Count Rumford obtained a position for Davy at the Royal Institution in London as assistant lecturer on chemistry and director of the laboratory. His lectures were quite popular and were attended by philosophers and members of fashionable society. He remained at the Royal Institution for eleven years.

Davy is best known for his research in the field of electrochemistry and his discovery and isolation of the alkali metals potassium and sodium in 1807. Davy also discovered the physiological action of nitrous oxide (1794), isolated boron in 1808, and later prepared barium, calcium, strontium, and magnesium in the metallic state.