Humphry Davy: Laughing Gas, Literature, and the Lamp

Before culture was divided into the sciences and the arts there was a chemist who was also a poet. Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) is one of the best known men of science of the nineteenth century: he was the first person to inhale nitrous oxide; he isolated nine chemical elements; and he invented the miners’ safety lamp known as the Davy lamp. This course will consider Davy’s life and career using manuscript sources held at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. We will read Davy’s letters, his poetry and even recreate some of his most famous experiments! We have revised this online course to incorporate some of the discoveries made during our three-year project to transcribe Davy’s notebooks.

(See the Davy Notebooks Project here if you want to help complete transcribing the notebooks: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/humphrydavy/davy-notebooks-project)

This course is open to anyone with an interest in history, particularly the history of science and medicine, or with an interest in poetry. No prior knowledge of Humphry Davy’s life and times is required.

This course is open to anyone with an interest in history, particularly the history of science and medicine, or with an interest in poetry. No prior knowledge of Humphry Davy’s life and times is required.

• Explore key aspects of Davy’s life, career, and the times in which he lived
• Investigate the relationships that can exist between science and the creative arts
• Identify the role that science can play in society
• Assess the cultural and political function of science
• Explore Davy's different modes of communication (e.g. poetry, notebooks, lectures, scientific writings) and reflect upon their differences