The British chemist Sir Humphry Davy (born 1778) liked dangerous experiments. He was fired from his job as an apothecary for causing constant explosions. Later, as a chemist, he enjoyed inhaling the gases he worked with. This helped him discover that nitrous oxide (laughing gas) was a potent anaesthetic. “Unfortunately,” notes a short guide to his career from Oxford University Press, “the same habit led him to nearly kill himself on many occasions and the frequent poisonings left him an invalid for the last two decades of his life.” It was probably worth it: Davy isolated substances including calcium and strontium, identified the element iodine and made the first electric light.
英國化學家漢弗萊•戴維爵士（Sir Humphry Davy，出生於1778年）喜歡危險的實驗。由於老是引起爆炸，他在擔任藥劑師時被解僱了。後來，作爲化學家，他很喜歡吸入自己在工作中產生的氣體。他也因此發現，一氧化二氮（笑氣）是一種效果強大的麻醉藥。「遺憾的是，」牛津大學出版社(Oxford University Press)關於戴維爵士生平的簡介中寫道，「同樣的習慣導致他有很多次差點兒害死自己，經常中毒讓在他生命中的最後20年裏成了個病患。」這個代價很可能是值得付出的：戴維分離出了鈣和鍶等物質，發現碘元素，並製造出了第一個電燈。