Royal Institution frozen, he was not allowed to practise as a doctor, and Humphry Davy was appointed as his assistant, so he resigned. Humphry Davy was an even greater success, as was his assistant and successor Michael Faraday. Davy's immediate successor was William Thomas Brande. Thus the Institution has had an instrumental role in the advancement of science since its founding. Notable scientists who have worked there include Sir Humphry Davy (who discovered sodium and potassium), Michael Faraday, James Dewar, Sir William Henry Bragg and Sir William Lawrence Bragg (who jointly won the Nobel prize for their work on x-ray diffraction), Max
Richard Edmonds (scientist) as to the journals published by the Royal Cornwall Geological Society and to the Royal Institution of Cornwall. Edmonds left Cornwall shortly after 1870, and died in 1886. Richard Edmonds (scientist) Richard Edmonds (18 September 1801 – 12 March 1886) was a notable British scientific writer of the Victorian period. Edmonds, the eldest son of Richard Edmonds (town clerk and solicitor of Penzance), was born on 18 September 1801. He was educated in the grammar schools at Penzance and Helston. Articled as an attorney with his father in 1818, he qualified in 1823. He practised in Penzance until 1825 when