English chemist and physicist (died 1829)

Humphry Davy

Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for the first time: potassium and sodium in 1807 and calcium, strontium, barium, magnesium and boron the following year, as well as for discovering the elemental nature of chlorine and iodine. Davy also studied the forces involved in these separations, inventing the new field of electrochemistry. He is credited with discovering clathrate hydrates.

Born

1778

December 17

Died

1829

Era

1770s

Country

—

About

Humphry, in brief

Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for the first time: potassium and sodium in 1807 and calcium, strontium, barium, magnesium and boron the following year, as well as for discovering the elemental nature of chlorine and iodine. Davy also studied the forces involved in these separations, inventing the new field of electrochemistry. He is credited with discovering clathrate hydrates.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

  1. 1778 Born
  2. 1829 Died

Also on December 17

What else happened on this day, through history

See all of December 17 →

Same-day contemporaries

Also born on December 17

Arthur Fiedler 1894–1979 American conductor (died 1979) Chelsea Manning 1987– American soldier and intelligence analyst Chuck Liddell 1969– American mixed martial artist and kick-boxer John Kennedy Toole 1937–1969 American novelist (died 1969) Kerry Packer 1937–2005 Australian businessman, founded World Series Cricket (died 2005) Paul Tracy 1968– Canadian race car driver and sportscaster Roger L'Estrange 1616– English pamphleteer and author (died 1704) Ryan Hunter-Reay 1980– American race car driver Susanthika Jayasinghe 1975– Sri Lankan sprinter

See everything on December 17 →

Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1778

Carl Ludvig Engel 1778– German architect (died 1840) Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen 1778–1852 Russian admiral, cartographer, and explorer (born 1778) Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (died 1841) 1778– Friedrich Ludwig Jahn 1778– Prussian gymnast, educator, and politician (died 1852) Robert Emmet 1778–1803 Irish republican (died 1803)

Keep going

More to explore

Humphry's birthday December 17 Humphry's zodiac Sagittarius Browse People A–Z