an English chemist, isolated several chemical elements, discovered certain chemical compounds, and conducted experiments in electrochemistry. A gifted theoretical and experimental scientist, Davy frequently applied scientific knowledge to practical problems, most notably as the inventor of the miner's safety lamp. An admired lecturer, Davy popularized science in the British Isles as well as in Europe. Davy analyzed the workings of a voltaic cell the main component of an electrical battery. He became convinced that a voltaic cell produces electricity from a chemical reaction, specifically the chemical combination of two substances having opposite charges. From thi.' conclusion, he reasoned that electrolysis could be used to break down chemical compounds into basic chemical elements. Electrolysis is the use of electric current to cause chemical reactions in certain substances. Davy's conclusion proved correct. Using electrolysis, he isolated the elements sodium and potassium from their compounds in 1807. In 1808 he isolated the alkaline-earth metals, a group of chemical elements including calcium, magnesium, barium, and strontium. He also discovered the element boron. Davy was the first scientist to recognize that diamonds are a form of carbon.
Davy studied the common chemical compound, hydrochloric acid. He realized that chlorine is a part of hydrochloric acid but failed to understand that chlorine is a chemical element. He explained in chemical terms how bleach works (by releasing oxygen from water a hydrogen-oxygen compound). In later chemical researches, Davy studied iodine (which he called substance X) and showed its similarity to chlorine. Development of the periodic table of elements some years later would show iodine and chlorine to be closely related, lining up in the table in the same column. Davy examined the relationship between electricity and magnetism. These researches probably influenced his assistant, Michael Faraday, who was destined to become one of the leading scientists in the fields of electricity an~ magnetism. Sir Humphry Davy also discovered a number of practical uses of science. Davy perfected a miner's safety lamp in 1815, an invention that greatly reduced the risks of mine explosions. For this invention and related researches, he won the Rumford gold and silver medals from the Royal Society and a gift of silver from the northern mine owners. In studies of leather tanning processes, Davy found a substance in tropical plants that could be use much more cheaply than oak extracts, which had been used up to that time
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