Humphry Davy

Humphry Davy used electricity to isolate potassium and sodium and designed the miner's safety lamp, but in the early 1800s he was also London's most fashionable lecturer: his chemistry demonstrations at the Royal Institution drew such crowds that Albemarle Street became one of the first one-way streets. He showed that experiment could be public spectacle without losing rigour, and he hired a young Michael Faraday.