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Davy, Humphry
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Davy, Humphry
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English chemist. He discovered, by electrolysis, the metallic elements sodium and potassium in 1807, and calcium, boron, magnesium, strontium, and barium in 1808. In addition, he established that chlorine is an element and proposed that hydrogen is present in all acids. He invented the safety lamp for use in mines where methane was present, enabling miners to work in previously unsafe conditions. He was knighted for his work in 1812 and made baronet in 1818.
Davy's experiments on electrolysis of aqueous (water-based) solutions from 1800 led him to suggest its large-scale use in the alkali industry. He proposed the theory that the mechanism of electrolysis could be explained in terms of substances that have opposite electric charges, which could be arranged on a scale of relative affinities – the foundation of the modern electrochemical series. His study of the alkali metals provided proof of French chemist Antoine Lavoisier's idea that all alkalis contain oxygen.
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