Humphry Davy was born in Penzance, Cornwall. In 1795 he became an apprentice apothecary. After three years, Davy decided to launch into a serious scientific career. He applied for, and was accepted to, a job as a chemical superintendent of the Pneumatic Institution. This institution had been set up to study the potential usefulness of a wide variety of gases.

In order to find out the effects some of these gases had on the human body, Davy inhaled some of them himself. He even convinced some of his friends to try out nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. This extremely dangerous method of scientific investigation nearly cost Davy his life when he breathed in water gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide gases.

In 1800, Davy published his findings in his book, "Researches, Chemical and Philosophical". This book made him very well known in scientific circles and he moved to London in 1801, to work with Sir Henry Cavendish (see Page 12). They experimented with voltaic cells, which were early forms of the batteries which we use today. Davy became interested in this work and went on to study electrolysis in detail. This led him to extract native sodium and potassium from their compounds. He also made pure chlorine gas from another electrolysis experiment.

In 1802, Davy obtained a professorship and, in 1807, he was awarded the Napoleon Prize by the Institut de France. This was a remarkable honour considering that England and France were at war at that time!

It is often said, rather unfairly, that Davy's greatest achievement was in interviewing, and subsequently employing, Michael Faraday in 1813.

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