DAVY, SIR HUMPHRY, BARONET

born Dec. 17, 1778, Penzance, Cornwall, Eng. died May 29, 1829, Geneva English chemist who discovered several chemical elements (including sodium and potassium) and compounds, invented the miner's safety lamp, and became one of the greatest exponents of the scientific method. Additional reading J.A. Paris, The Life of Sir Humphry Davy (1831), for more than a century the standard work on Davy's life; Sir H. Hartley, Humphry Davy (1966), an extremely useful account of Davy's life that complements Paris' biography but with changed emphases resulting from the passage of 135 years.