| Authorised form of name | Davy; Edmund (1785 - 1857); chemist |
| Dates | 1785 - 1857 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Penzance, Cornwall, England |
| Date of birth | 1785 |
| Place of death | Kimmage Lodge, Kimmage, County Dublin, Ireland |
| Date of death | 05 November 1857 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
St Mary's churchyard, Crumlin |
| Occupation | Chemist |
| Research field | Electrochemistry |
| Metallurgy |
| Chemistry |
| Activity | Education:
Penzance
Career:
Went to London (1804); Laboratory Operator and Assistant, Royal Institution, through the influence of Humphry Davy; had control of the laboratory (1804-1813); Professor, Royal Cork Institution (1813); Professor of Chemistry, Royal Dublin Society (1826); wrote on agricultural chemistry, electro-chemistry and metallurgy; professor of agricultural chemistry at the Royal Dublin Society (1856)
Memberships:
Chemical Society of London
Royal Irish Academy
Société Française Statistique Universelle (honorary) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 12 May 1825 |
| Age at election | 40 |
| Proposer | George Pearson |
| William Hasledine Pepys |
| James South |
| John George Children |
| Frans Beaufort |
| William Hyde Wollaston |
| Davies Gilbert |
| John Guillemard |
| William Babington |
| Relationships | Parents: William Davy and M[ary?] Ann
Cousins: Sir Humphry Davy (FRS 1803); John Davy (FRS 1814)
Spouse: Phillis Emma Barry, only daughter of David Barry of Dundulrick, co. Cork.
Children: Edmund William (1826–c.1900) |
| PublishedWorks | RCN 35736
RCN 35737 |
| OtherInfo | Discovered acetylene.
Accidentally discovered a gas which he described as "a new carburet of hydrogen", while attempting to isolate potassium metal.
First to discover a spongy form of platinum with remarkable gas absorptive properties.
Performed a series of experiments to detect the presence of metallic poisons by means of electricity, as a test of the presence of poisonous substances in cases of suspected poisoning.
Found that the use of zinc blocks would prevent corrosion of the iron structure of buoys.
Epecially interested in the applications of chemistry in agriculture. Studied peat, as well as the uptake of arsenic by crops from artificial manures chemically prepared with sulphuric acid.
An original member of the Chemical Society. |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Notes:
Citation: first 'being' deliberately obscured & '[...] ... being' inserted; small sections of certificate missing |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/41134825 |
| Code | NA7507 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1825/17 | Davy, Edmund: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| MS/426/248 | Copy letter from C R [Charles Richard] Weld, the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to E [Edmund] Davy, Esq | 4 January 1847 |
| MS/426/239 | Copy letter from C R [Charles Richard] Weld, the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to E [Edmund] Davy Esq, Dublin [Ireland] | 18 December 1846 |
| PT/11/9 | Paper, 'On a new fulminating platinum' by Edmund Davy | 20 December 1816 |
| PT/14/8 | Paper, 'On some combinations of platinum' by Edmund Davy | 1 September 1819 |
| MC/1/302 | Letter from Edmund Davy, Royal Dublin Society, to John George Children, Secretary of the Royal Society | 12 April 1831 |
| RR/2/56 | Referee's report by John Percy, on a paper 'On the application of Potash as a test for Manganese' by Edmund Davy | 27 April 1854 |
| RR/1/49 | Referee's report by Michael Faraday, on a paper 'On a new combination of chlorine and nitrous gas' by Edmund Davy | 15 April 1851 |
| MC/1 | Volume 1 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1800-1831 |
| AP/15/3 | Unpublished paper, 'On a new combination of chlorine and nitrous gas' by Edmund Davy | [1831] |
| AP/14/5 | Unpublished paper, 'On a new fulminate of silver, and its application as a test for chlorine, etc.' by Edmund Davy | [1830] |
| AP/34/6 | Unpublished paper, 'On some new and simple methods of detecting manganese in natural and artificial compounds and of obtaining its combinations for economical or other uses' by Edmund Davy | 1853 |