Sir Humphry Davy (May 29^th) conducted the first successful test of his miners’ safety lamp which he reported to the Royal Society just over two weeks later on January 25^th 1816.
Until the introduction of the Miners’ Safety Lamp, miners wore a candle on a felt hat meaning that they effectively worked in the dark and were at risk from explosive gases.  The safety lamp comprised a wick lamp enclosed within a mesh in a metal frame, which greatly reduced the risk of explosions. Although Davy’s invention saved many thousands of lives, one, unintended, consequence of his idea was that miners were able to work deeper and further in the mine, which in itself was inherently even more unsafe.

The Ludgvan born Davy was already a renowned scientist and public speaker having discovered sodium, potassium, strontium, boron, calcium, barium, magnesium and boron and had determined the elemental nature of both chlorine and iodine.