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Davy public talk and workshop at the Lit and Phil, Wednesday 3 May 2017

Sharon Ruston will be giving a public talk on 'Letters and the Lamp: Sir Humphry Davy, 1778-1829' at the Lit and Phil, Newcastle upon Tyne, on Wednesday 3 May 2017. The talk will be followed by a workshop, led by Andrew Lacey. The event will take place between 2-5pm. There is no charge, but places should be booked in advance. For more information and to book tickets, click here.

Humphry Davy Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, Thursday 4 May 2017

Sharon Ruston and Andrew Lacey will be running a Humphry Davy Wikipedia edit-a-thon at Lancaster University on Thursday 4 May 2017. The event will run from 11am-3pm, and lunch will be provided. It's entirely free to attend and participate, but places should be booked in advance. For more information and to book a place, click here.

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This website has been funded by the British Academy, the Wellcome Trust, the British Society for the History of Science, and the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry. It is the first stage in the publication of the first ever edition of the Collected Letters of Humphry Davy and his Circle, edited by a team of Davy scholars.

These letters document Davy’s work on electrochemistry and electromagnetism, mineralogy and geology, and his collaborations with other chemists such as J. G. Children and W. H. Pepys. They illuminate the controversy that initially followed his identification of chlorine as an element, and his experiments on fluorine and iodine. The experimental work leading to the development of the safety lamp and the subsequent dispute concerning credit for that invention are also covered. The Collected Letters of Davy and his Circle promises to reveal much about Davy himself, his wife and brother, and the milieu in which they lived.

We present here as yet unedited and incomplete transcriptions of Davy's letters: the database is a work-in-progress, the first stage of what will become a collected edition of Humphry Davy's letters, with selected letters from his wife, Jane, and his brother, John. The transcriptions will be updated continuously as the editorial team continues work: they are not at present to be regarded as definitive. We welcome comments from scholars.