Humphry Davy

An entertaining, accessible biography of Humphry Davy, professional scientist, inventor, and poet.

In this entertaining biography David Knight introduces us to Humphry Davy, one of the first professional scientists. Best remembered for his safety lamp, he taught Faraday chemistry, but is also recognized for his poetry and was friends with Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Byron. This book illuminates science and its institutions in Regency Britain.In this illuminating and entertaining biography David Knight draws upon Humphry Davy's poetry, notebooks, and informal writings to introduce us to one of the first professional scientists. Davy is best remembered for his work on laughing gas, for the arc lamp, for isolating sodium and potassium, for his theory that chemical affinity is electrical, and, of course, for his safety lamp. His lectures on science made the fortunes of the Royal Institution in London, and he taught chemistry to the young Faraday. He is also recognized for his poetry and was the friend of Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Byron. By investigating Davy's life Knight shows what it was like to be a creative scientist in Regency Britain, demonstrating the development of science and its institutions during this crucial period in history.