In a poor family. My father died young. Mother couldn't support five children on her father's small farm, so she sold the farm and with the help of her adoptive father Tom King, the whole family moved to Penzance.
David has been very clever since he was a child, and he always wants to explore and spy on something new. When he was a child, the teacher often praised him for his high talent and hard work. At the suggestion of his teacher, he left the small village of Mount Kornur, where he used to live since childhood, and lived in the home of John Tang Jin. Grandpa Tom King's home is very comfortable. Outside the window is the blue sea. Open the window in the morning and evening to enjoy the sunrise and sunset. Such a beautiful environment makes David happy and excited. Beautiful nature always touches David's heart. He really wants to learn something.
The sudden death of my father ruined this beautiful idea. Young David was silent. He put his favorite chemical experimental instruments in a big cupboard, because his mother can no longer give him money for chemicals. In order to support five children, she sold her small farm and moved to Penzance with her brothers and sisters. Mother runs a small hat shop, but she is still not well off financially, so David's future should be carefully considered. Although he is a minor, he needs to help his mother by his own labor.
Mother knows that David likes biology and chemistry experiments. So I decided to let him work in the pharmacy of a gentleman named John Borus. Mr Bolesse is a good doctor, and David can study while working.
This decision made David very happy. On the one hand, he feels that he can help his mother with his own labor. On the other hand, he can learn a lot about chemistry and medicine in Mr Bolesse's laboratory. Scientific knowledge attracted him, and he went all out to study and work. He carefully read the works of chemist lavoisier and Nicholson's Chemical Dictionary. By reading these books, he felt that chemistry was what he should learn, so he spent all his spare time desperately reading chemistry books and doing experiments. Soon he became famous in Penzance. A man named Thomas Bedo in Clifton knew these facts. Thomas Bedo was a medical scientist at that time. He wrote some books about medicine and hygiene. From 65438 to 0798, Bedo founded the Institute of Gas Therapy in Clifton, engaged in the research on the influence of gas on human body. On the eve of opening, Bedo found David and told him, "I want to set up a gas research institute to study the effects of various gases on human body. I urgently need someone who is proficient in chemistry. I want to invite you. " David readily agreed.
After David arrived in Clifton, they quickly decided what to do. David is mainly responsible for producing various gases and doing various experiments. David's first job was to make nitrous oxide and study its characteristics. The study of this gas led David to conclude that this gas is harmless to human body. This completely negates the views of American scientists Samuel and Mitchell. Mitchell has always believed that inhaling nitrous oxide can cause serious diseases. David found that it can make people feel happy, has analgesic and anesthetic effects, and can be used in surgery.
During the research, a comedy caused by nitrous oxide also happened. One day, David made a big bottle of nitrous oxide and put it on the floor. At this moment, Mr Deus came. As soon as he entered the laboratory, he praised David and said, "It seems that I was right to invite you. I am very satisfied with your work. " When he turned around, he met a big iron tripod, fell and hit a bottle filled with a lot of nitrous oxide, and the bottle was broken. The laboratory is full of this gas. Suddenly, Bedoz, who has always been withdrawn and indifferent, burst out laughing, followed by David. The laughter of two people shook the whole house, and all the assistants in the lab next door came running. When they saw themselves laughing like this, they were puzzled and thought they were crazy. Suddenly, the assistants understood that they must be poisoned by gas. Indeed, when Bedos calmed down a little, he said, "David, your anger made me laugh to death." Let's go out for some air. " It is through this little comedy that David studied the stimulating effect of nitrous oxide on human body.
One day, an assistant sent an article saying that Dr. Bedoz invited David to read it. What he saw was a paper published by Nicholson and Carlisle at 1800, entitled "Method of Decomposition of Water by Battery Current". In this paper, they studied the decomposition of water by means of electric arc, and they confirmed that in this case, water will be decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen. In other words, current can decompose other substances. Tom, the assistant, and David discussed trying this experiment. They brought the battery pack prepared by Dr. Bedoz, and they are going to try the effects of current on different substances. They have made some achievements. David was going to do this experiment, but the appearance of Count langford made David make a new decision.
The count said to David, "We are going to set up a club in London. The name of the society is the society that develops science and popularizes useful knowledge. This society teaches students in addition to research. "
Although David found it difficult to leave Dr. Bedell, this new society attracted him deeply. He decided to go to London to take part in the work. The Earl of langford also insisted on inviting David, because the short contact has made the Earl feel that this young man is not as elegant as a figure in the upper class, but a talented and eloquent figure.
180 1 at the beginning of the year, David arrived in London and became a teaching assistant of the society. The following year, he was promoted to professor. After only a few lectures, he won a reputation as an outstanding speaker. He soon became a hot figure in London, and college students, science lovers, scientists and women from all walks of life came to listen to his speech. People want to see him at all kinds of parties. But all these flashy things didn't go to David's head. He continued to study mineralogy, metallurgy, tanning and agricultural chemistry in a down-to-earth manner, and taught him two subjects, applied chemistry and agricultural chemistry. David knows very well that because he didn't finish the basic courses when he was young, he didn't have better learning conditions like others when he was young. He realized that he must work harder. After a period of research, he gave up his research on mineralogy and leather manufacturing, which he lacked in analytical chemistry, and focused on agricultural chemistry. Later, he made some achievements in this respect.
In addition to agricultural chemistry, David continued to study the chemical action of electricity. On this issue, David made some achievements in Clifton. He continued his research and wrote a book about some chemical actions of electricity. When he gave a report at the Royal Society with this material, the unheard-of news came out-electricity will play a role in chemistry! David is a great inventor. He won a higher reputation for his achievements.
Then David discovered two new metals in the experiment. He found that the new metals potassium and sodium were very active and had strong reaction ability. David was unfortunately injured in repeated experiments in various ways. After the wound on his face scarred, one injured eye went blind. The loss is great, but it has been proved that two different metals, potassium and sodium, can be extracted from soda and potassium carbonate. These two metals are softer and lighter than water, and can react violently with water to produce flames.
Just then, Count langford (who married lavoisier's widow in 1804) brought a message: Emperor Napoleon issued an order. A British scientist won the humphry davy Medal in recognition of his achievements in electricity. This is a very high award, and the award ceremony will be held in Paris.
At that time, Britain and France were at war, so langford said, "We have no right to accept the enemy's reward. But we are proud that even the enemy recognizes your achievements. " "There should be no reward, and all members of the Royal Society support this opinion." However, David thinks: "I work for science and for all mankind." Scientists want to fight only for the victory of ideals and the struggle to uphold the truth. So I decided to go to France. "After accepting the grand awards ceremony held in the Palace of Versailles and Solponna ceremony hall, David devoted himself to intense research.
In the book Philosophical Basis of Chemistry, David proposed that hydrochloric acid oxide (chlorine) is not a compound, but a simple substance, which can support combustion like oxygen. So combustion doesn't have to have oxygen. Moreover, the hydrochloric acid oxide does not contain oxygen, indicating that oxygen-free acids can also exist. Here, he corrected lavoisier's two mistakes. First, it is not necessary to have oxygen to burn; Second, acids do not necessarily contain oxygen.
18 12 years, David completed the book "Fundamentals of Agricultural Chemistry". This book was reprinted four times later. This year, he won the highest prize in Britain. 18 12 On April 8, rows of sedan chairs and carriages were parked in the square near Westminster Abbey. Celebrities and dignitaries from the whole British upper class gathered in front of the arch in the front hall. The organ played a solemn movement, and people were holding a ceremony for humphry davy to obtain the title of nobility. Surrounded by a group of clergy, the king of England walked down the altar of the church. He solemnly walked up to the kneeling David, touched David's shoulder with a gilded sword and said, "You have made great contributions to the development of science, and you are worthy of the title of Lord. From today, Sir humphry davy, you are a former servant to the British throne! "
David got the title of Lord and married a rich widow. A few months later, they went on their honeymoon. David traveled to Europe with his mobile lab and assistant michael faraday 18 months. When they returned to the motherland, it coincided with the announcement of national mourning by Britain.
At that time, several terrible explosions occurred in the mines of Newcastle and Caldi, killing thousands of miners. In order to ensure the safety of operation in the mine, the coal mine company awarded a special prize to the inventor who could invent the safety lamp for the mine. The general manager of the company specially asked David to help them solve this problem. The mine sent him "explosive gas" for experiment, which is a dangerous gas. In fact, its composition is an explosive mixture of two volumes of hydrogen and one volume of oxygen. David and his assistant Faraday have repeatedly studied the properties and characteristics of this gas and the conditions under which it causes destructive explosion when burning.
Their research work lasted almost a whole year. They thought of introducing the air needed to keep the miner's lamp burning into the lamp with some thin tubes, and then exhausting the gas out of the lamp through these thin tubes. When the pipeline is thin enough, even if there is such explosive gas in the mine, it will not cause explosion because of its existence and contact with the lamp flame. They repeatedly observed the change of flame size when using different pipes, and conducted a series of systematic experiments. At the beginning of 18 16, a safety miner's lamp was finally designed successfully.
This miner's lamp is very effective. David replaced the glass cover of the miner's lamp with a metal net with a small mesh, so that the flame would not be exposed and burn the gas, but the gas could freely pass through the hole. Soon, this lamp was widely used in coal mines, and miners got rid of a deadly threat underground.
David won the langford Medal for inventing and designing the safety miner's lamp.
1820, David was elected President of the Royal Society. On February 20th, 1826 1826, David was elected honorary academician of Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Although David's research involves all aspects, he has never relaxed his research on electricity, because some phenomena about electricity have not been satisfactorily explained at that time, and the nature of electricity has not been clearly studied, which requires repeated experiments. Although he and Faraday, the famous Danish physicist Oster and other scientists have made some achievements, this is only the beginning, so David has been exploring the secret of electricity almost all his life. David has a laboratory specializing in electrical phenomena, which contains all kinds of measuring instruments, special instruments and other instruments for measuring the conductivity of objects.
The resistance of conductors to current varies with different conductors, and resistance can be used as an additional characteristic of conductor substances. David summed up the results of the long-term experiment. However, Faraday raised another objection. He said, "There is no doubt that the resistance is different, but at present I can't see its regularity." David thinks: "Indeed, it is very complicated to generalize different substances. However, for a single substance, the solution to the problem is much simpler. We have obtained some information in this regard. " So Faraday went to the table and wrote a few numbers, which fully proved that the resistance of the substance they studied depends on the length and cross section of the conductor. When the temperature rises, the resistance will increase.
Humphry davy extracted boron from strongly reducing potassium; Gases have also been deeply studied; Anesthetics and irritating nitrous oxide have been discovered, which is very useful for the development of surgery. He proved that chlorine is a chemical element through experiments. It is pointed out that the indispensable element in acid is hydrogen, not oxygen, which corrects lavoisier's viewpoint that "acid must contain oxygen". He invented the coal mine safety lamp to benefit the underground workers.
All these achievements are the result of his lifelong efforts. David is very ill. Prior to this, he went to Geneva and Switzerland for recuperation many times, but his condition has never improved. This time he lives in the suburbs of Geneva. In May this year, his wife and brother John David came. But David is so weak that he can only wait for the power of life to fade away.
1829 On May 29th, the great scientist humphry davy passed away.