Davy’s safety lamp, and electric batteries

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The Royal Institution of Great Britain was founded in London in 1799 as an ’institution for diffusing the knowledge, and facilitating the general introduction, of useful mechanical inventions and improvements; and for teaching, by courses of philosophical lectures and experiments, the application to the purposes of common life.’

Davy’s safety lamp, and electric batteries

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Its purpose was to promote the application of science to agriculture and industry; it was also to disseminate science to a wide public through lectures and demonstrations. The members were landowners, officers and members of Parliament as well as scientists and inventors such a Rumford; it was housed in Albemarle Street, where it has remained to this day, and where the laboratories with their scientific apparatus may be visited.

The Chemical Laboratory in 1819

Interior of the Laboratory of the Royal Institution
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To carry out the demonstrations, the Royal Institution appointed Humphry Davy (1778-1822) in 1801; Davy has started his scientific experiments in Bristol, and in 1802 he became Professor of Chemistry. He is now famous for his invention of the miners’ safety lamp (1815-16). He recruited Faraday (1791-1867), an apprentice bookbinder who attended his lectures, as chemical assistant in 1813; Faraday became one of the best-known scientists of the Royal Institution.

Lecture hall

A later image (1846) showing the lecture hall during a demonstration by Faraday; the lecture hall dates from 1802.
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The Royal Institution became a centre of experimentation, with a laboratory and a library. It also has a lecture hall for public demonstrations.

Its present PDA tour (tablet for the visitors) has a section on Rumford’s experiments which has served as a model for the interactive on gaslighting in this course.