Online archive of Humphry Davy’s notebooks opens to the public
Humphry Davy was renowned for discovering more elements than any other person. In all, he can lay claim to discovering potassium, sodium, calcium, strontium, barium, magnesium and boron
A new online archive allows members of the public to browse Humphry Davy’s lab notebooks. As well as recording Davy’s numerous scientific experiments, the notebooks contain poems, shopping lists and gossip – providing unique insights into the mind of one of chemistry’s influential figures.
The archive is hosted on Lancaster University’s Digital Collections platform and is the result of a years-long citizen-science project led by Lancaster’s Sharon Ruston. Since 2019, almost 4000 volunteers have helped to transcribe over 13,000 pages of lecture notes and notebooks.
Speaking to Chemistry World earlier this year, Ruston noted that as well as highlighting quirks of Davy’s character, the project had also revealed a darker side to his legacy. Further research stemming from the Notebooks project uncovered ‘derogatory language’ used by Davy about African people and has highlighted his family links to the slave trade.
