FREE ESSAY ON SIR HUMPHREY DAVY

SIR HUMPHREY DAVY

Sir Humphry Davy
In Chemistry there are many very important chemists. One is Sir Humphry Davy. Davy was
born on December 17, 1778 in Penzance, Cornwall, England. He went to school in Penzance
and in Truro. In 1794 his father died, to help his family financially he got a job as an
apprentice to a surgeon. The surgeon's name was J. Binghan Borlarse. In 1797 Davy became
interested in Chemistry. So in 1778 he became superintendent of the Medical Pneumatic
Institution of Bristol. This organization was devoted to the study of the medical value
of different gases, it was here that Davy first made his reputation. He discovered the
effects of nitrous oxide, which is now known as laughing gas. Davy breathed 16 quarts of
the gas in seven minutes and became completely intoxicated. He had no idea that
forty-five years later it would be used as an anesthetic by dentists. Davy's next
discoveries were in the field of electrochemistry. He found that if he passed electricity
through some substances then it would decompose. This process was later called
electrolysis. Through electrolysis, Davy eventually discovered magnesium, calcium,
strontium, and barium in 1808. In 1810 Davy showed that muriatic or marine acid was a
compound only of hydrogen and chlorine, and contained no oxygen. Davy also made some
advances in Iodine. Davy first made iodine pentoxide, a colorless, odorless, crystalline
substance of high density in 1815. Davy also developed the method for the decomposition
of silicates into silica by treatment with HCI. In 1802, Thomas Wedgwood and Sir Humphry
Davy published a paper called  An Account of a Method of Copying Paintings on Glass, and
Making Profiles, by the Agency of Light upon Nitrates of Silver. The pictures made by
this process were very temporary. As soon as the negatives were removed the pictures
turned black. Davy also invented the miner's safety helmet. The lamp on the safety helmet
would burn safety and light the way even when there was an explosive mixture in the air.
Davy didn't patent the lamp. This lead to a false claim that George Stephenson invented
it, not Sir Humphry Davy. 
Davy received the accomplishment of being knighted just three days before he married a
rich widow. Her name was Jan Apreece. In 1827, Davy became seriously ill. He became ill
because of inhaling to many gases over the years. So he moved to Rome to live a peaceful
life. While living in Rome, he had a heart attack and died on May 29, 1829 in Geneva,
Switzerland.