What Did Sir Humphrey Davy Do?

Humphrey Davy was born in Penzance and went on to become a renowned chemist and physicist. Humphrey Davy invented and built a safety lamp for miners in 1815. This arc lamp (one of the first of its kind) was used in gassy coalmines and thus allowed for the mining of deep coal seams, despite the presence of Firedamp. Firedamp is made up mainly of Methane and when mixed with air it can be explosive. Before his invention, miners used candles for light and many of them lost their lives in the resultant explosions. The invention of this lamp was a bit of a controversy but to this day it is known as the 'Davy Lamp'.

Davy's encouraged manufacturers to consider a more scientific approach to production. His discoveries in chemistry contributed to the improvement in agriculture, mining and tanning. His career saw a host of awards and honors and he was knighted in 1812. He died in 1829

Humphry Davy was born on 17 December 1778 in Penzance, Cornwall, England. He was a chemist by profession and made many contributions to chemistry through his inventions. He was most influenced by the works of Micheal Faraday.

He is known for discovering several Alkali and alkali metals. He is most popular for inventing the Davy Lamp. This lamp was used by miners. He is known for discovering Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Barium and Boron.

The process of Electrolysis is credited to Humphry Davy. He used a battery to split the common compounds and make new compounds. Sodium, Potassium were discovered through this process. He also isolated Potassium through the process of electrolysis. Chlorine was also discovered by name and gave it its current name.

Sir Humpry Davy made the first lamp. But Joseph swan made the first electric light bulb and thomas edison inproved it.