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Which elements did Sir Humphry Davy isolate in 1807?
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Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, detail of an oil painting after Sir Thomas Lawrence; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
In 1807, the English chemist Sir Humphry Davy successfully isolated the chemical elements sodium and potassium from their respective compounds.1
Davy achieved these discoveries by utilizing electrolysis, a method he reasoned would be the most effective way to decompose substances into their constituent elements based on his research into the chemical effects of electricity. This work was a direct result of his earlier theoretical research, for which he had been awarded the Napoleon Prize by the Institut de France in the same year.1