Davy on Davy
John Davy on Sir Humphrey Davy
Published on 31. December 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
220 pages
978-0-00-711178-7 (ISBN)
Description
"Holmes's Lives" is a series of classic English biographies, edited and introduced by Richard Holmes. In this series, Richard Holmes sets out to recover the great forgotten tradition of English biography writing, and reaffirms the enduring excitement of classic non-fiction. Humphrey Davy was that strange amalgam - a Romantic Scientist. He was fond of composing verses, sketching, making fireworks, fishing, shooting and collecting minerals. While still a youth, Davy had plans for a volume of poems, but when he began the serious study of science in 1797, these visions "fled before the voice of truth". Amongst many other achievements he went on to discover several chemical elements (including sodium and potassium) and compounds, he invented the miner's safety lamp, found the Zoological Society and ran the Royal Society, becoming in the process one of the greatest exponents of the scientific method. This memoir, written by his son, vividly brings both man and scientist to life, set against a backdrop of political and cultural revolution.
"Holmes's Lives" is a series of classic English biographies, edited and introduced by Richard Holmes. In this series, Richard Holmes sets out to recover the great forgotten tradition of English biography writing, and reaffirms the enduring excitement of classic non-fiction. Humphrey Davy was that strange amalgam - a Romantic Scientist. He was fond of composing verses, sketching, making fireworks, fishing, shooting and collecting minerals. While still a youth, Davy had plans for a volume of poems, but when he began the serious study of science in 1797, these visions "fled before the voice of truth". Amongst many other achievements he went on to discover several chemical elements (including sodium and potassium) and compounds, he invented the miner's safety lamp, found the Zoological Society and ran the Royal Society, becoming in the process one of the greatest exponents of the scientific method. This memoir, written by his son, vividly brings both man and scientist to life, set against a backdrop of political and cultural revolution.
"Holmes's Lives" is a series of classic English biographies, edited and introduced by Richard Holmes. In this series, Richard Holmes sets out to recover the great forgotten tradition of English biography writing, and reaffirms the enduring excitement of classic non-fiction. Humphrey Davy was that strange amalgam - a Romantic Scientist. He was fond of composing verses, sketching, making fireworks, fishing, shooting and collecting minerals. While still a youth, Davy had plans for a volume of poems, but when he began the serious study of science in 1797, these visions "fled before the voice of truth". Amongst many other achievements he went on to discover several chemical elements (including sodium and potassium) and compounds, he invented the miner's safety lamp, found the Zoological Society and ran the Royal Society, becoming in the process one of the greatest exponents of the scientific method. This memoir, written by his son, vividly brings both man and scientist to life, set against a backdrop of political and cultural revolution.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 130 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-00-711178-7 (9780007111787)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Richard Holmes was born in London in 1945 and educated at Downside School and Churchill College, Cambridge. In 1974 he published "Shelley: The Pursuit" which won the Somerset Maugham Award and was described by Stephen Spender as 'surely the best biography of Shelley ever written'. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 1992 was awarded an OBE. He lives in London and Norwich with the novelist Rose Tremain.
Richard Holmes was born in London in 1945 and educated at Downside School and Churchill College, Cambridge. In 1974 he published "Shelley: The Pursuit" which won the Somerset Maugham Award and was described by Stephen Spender as 'surely the best biography of Shelley ever written'. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 1992 was awarded an OBE. He lives in London and Norwich with the novelist Rose Tremain.
Richard Holmes was born in London in 1945 and educated at Downside School and Churchill College, Cambridge. In 1974 he published "Shelley: The Pursuit" which won the Somerset Maugham Award and was described by Stephen Spender as 'surely the best biography of Shelley ever written'. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 1992 was awarded an OBE. He lives in London and Norwich with the novelist Rose Tremain.