1837 in science
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| List of years in science (Table) |
|---|
| Related time period or subjects |
| Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Science more |
The year 1837 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.
Contents |
[edit] Astronomy
- August 9 - Edward C. Herrick, in New Haven, Connecticut, identifies the Perseids as an annual phenomenon.[1]
- Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander publishes the first major investigation of the Sun's motion through space.
- Wilhelm Beer and Johann Heinrich von Mädler publish a definitive description of the Moon, Der Mond nach seinen kosmischen und individuellen Verhältnissen.
- Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve publishes Stellarum Duplicium Mensurae Micrometricae.
[edit] Geology
- Louis Agassiz postulates his theory of glaciation.
[edit] Mathematics
- Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet publishes Dirichlet's theorem on arithmetic progressions, using mathematical analysis concepts to tackle an algebraic problem and thus creating the branch of analytic number theory. In proving the theorem, he introduces the Dirichlet characters and L-functions.[2][3] He also notes the difference between the absolute and conditional convergence of series and its impact in what will later be called the Riemann series theorem.
- Bernard Bolzano publishes Wissenschaftslehre.
- William Rowan Hamilton treats complex numbers as ordered pairs of real numbers.[4]
- Simeon Poisson's lectures on probability and decision theory are published.
- Pierre Wantzel proves that several ancient geometric problems (including doubling the cube and trisecting the angle) are impossible to solve using only compass and straightedge.[4][5]
[edit] Medicine
- William John Little produces his doctoral dissertation on tenotomy, the first description of this form of surgery.[6]
[edit] Technology
- February 25 - Thomas Davenport obtains the first United States patent on an electric motor.[7]
- May - Samuel Morse patents his telegraph and exhibits it to the United States Congress.
- June 12 - Cooke and Wheatstone file their patent for the electrical telegraph in the United Kingdom.[8]
- July 19 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel's steamship SS Great Western is launched in Bristol.[9]
- July - Godefroy Engelmann of Mulhouse patents chromolithography.[10]
- November 18 - William Crompton patents the cotton power loom in the United States.[11]
[edit] Publications
- Andrew Ure publishes his encyclopedia A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Awards
- Copley Medal: Antoine C. Becquerel; John Frederic Daniell
- Wollaston Medal: Proby Thomas Cautley; Hugh Falconer
[edit] Births
- January 16 – Ellen Russell Emerson (d. 1907), ethnologist.
- January 17 – François Lenormant (d. 1883), assyriologist and numismatist.
- January 19 – William Williams Keen (d. 1932), physician.
- January 27 – Eduard von Hofmann (d. 1897), forensic pathologist.
- March 7 – Henry Draper (d. 1882), doctor, astronomer.
- March 23 – Richard Anthony Proctor (d. 1888), astronomer.
- April 3 – John Burroughs (d. 1921), naturalist.
- May 26 – Washington Roebling (d. 1926), civil engineer.
- June 20 – Paul Bachmann (d. 1920), mathematician.
- September 8 – Raphael Pumpelly (d. 1923), geologist.
- October 23 – Moritz Kaposi (d. 1902), dermatologist.
- November 4 – James Douglas (d. 1918), metallurgist.
- November 14 – Lucas Barrett (d. 1862), naturalist.
- November 23 – Johannes Diderik van der Waals (d. 1923), physicist.
- November 28 – John Wesley Hyatt (d. 1920), inventor.
[edit] Deaths
- February 4 – John Latham (b. 1740), English physician, naturalist and "grandfather of Australian ornithology".
- February 16 – Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (b. 1776), German naturalist and advocate of transmutation.
[edit] References
- ^ Littmann, Mark (2005-05-17). "The Discovery of the Perseid Meteors". Sky & Telescope. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/meteors/3304116.html?c=y&page=1. Retrieved 2011-10-13.
- ^ Kanemitsu, Shigeru; Jia, Chaohua (2002). Number Theoretic Methods: future trends. Springer. pp. 271–274. ISBN 978-1402010804.
- ^ Gowers, Timothy; Barrow-Green, June; Leader, Imre (2008). The Princeton Companion to Mathematics. Princeton University Press. pp. 764–765. ISBN 978-0691118802.
- ^ a b Crilly, Tony (2007). 50 Mathematical Ideas you really need to know. London: Quercus. ISBN 978-1-84724-008-8.
- ^ Wantzel, L. (1837). "Recherches sur les moyens de reconnaître si un problème de géométrie peut se résoudre avec la règle et le compas". Journal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées 1: 366–372. http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/ConsulterElementNum?O=NUMM-16381&Deb=374&Fin=380&E=PDF.
- ^ Siegel, I. M. (1988). "Historical Vignette #9. Little big man: the life and genius of William John Little (1810-1894)". Orthopedic Review 17: 1156, 1161–6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3060808&dopt=Abstract.
- ^ U.S. Patent No. 132. "Improvement in Propelling Machinery by Magnetism And Electro-Magnetism". Google patents. http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=NM0-AAAAEBAJ&dq=%22Thomas+Davenport%22. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
- ^ van Dulken, Stephen (2001). Inventing the 19th Century. London: British Library. pp. 82–3. ISBN 0-7123-0881-4.
- ^ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ^ Ferry, Kathryn (2003). "Printing the Alhambra: Owen Jones and Chromolithography". Architectural History 46: 175–188.
- ^ U.S. Patent No. 491.
