Sir Humphry Davy, Royal Institution
The Royal Institution website states:
Davy moved to London in 1801 to work at the Royal Institution as Assistant Lecturer, he proved to be an extremely gifted lecturer and was promoted to Professor of Chemistry the following year. Davy was famous for his lectures which were so popular that a one way system was put in place in Albemarle Street to cope with the traffic, but he was also interested in pursuing chemical research in the Ri laboratories. Using the latest electrochemical techniques he isolated several elements over the next ten years, including sodium, potassium and magnesium. He was later instrumental in identifying other elements such as chlorine and iodine, which had been discovered but were thought to be compounds.
His fame was such that he was granted special permission to travel to the continent to meet with other famous scientists (taking the young Michael Faraday along as an assistant). However, the political situation was fragile and the trip had to be cut short in 1815 on Napoleon's escape from Elba. On his return he developed a form of miners safety lamp and later, in the 1820s he advised the Admiralty on protection of ships' bottoms and on improving optical glass. He was made President of the Royal Society, but was not a success and after resigning due to ill health he again toured the Continent, dying in Geneva in 1829.
Princess Caroline moved back to the Continent in 1814 having made a financial settlement with her estranged husband, the Prince Regent. Touring Italy, she had an audience with the Pope, and soon after this ran into Sir Humphry, both being in Rome at the time. The Princess liberated after years of being one of the most controlled women in England was enjoying being one of the least controlled and wealthiest women in Europe. She became more than a little outrageous, informing Sir Humphry that he would be seeing the results of her interaction with the Pope in nine months time.
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