1838 in science
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The year 1838 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.
Contents |
[edit] Astronomy
- Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel makes the first accurate measurement of distance to a star, 61 Cygni, using parallax. Thomas Henderson (Alpha Centauri) and Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve (Vega) announce their measurements using parallax shortly afterwards.
- Claude Servais Mathias Pouillet makes the first quantitative measurements of the heat emitted by the Sun.
- Peter Andreas Hansen publishes a revision of the lunar theory, Fundamenta nova investigationis orbitae verae quam luna perlustrat.
[edit] Biology
- Proteins discovered by Gerardus Johannes Mulder[1] and named by Jöns Jakob Berzelius.[2]
- Matthias Schleiden discovers that all living plant tissue is composed of cells.
- Royal Agricultural Society of England established.
[edit] Chemistry
- Bulat steel alloy developed by Pavel Petrovich Anosov.
[edit] Exploration
- August 18 - The United States Exploring Expedition under U.S. Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes sets sail for a four-year circumnavigation westabout.
- In Australia, Charles Sturt proves that the Hume and Murray are the same river.
[edit] Mathematics
- Augustus De Morgan introduces the term 'mathematical induction'.[3]
- S. D. Poisson publishes Recherches sur la probabilité des jugements en matière criminelle et en matière civile, containing his work on probability theory and introducing Poisson distribution.
[edit] Medicine
- Jean Esquirol publishes Des maladies mentales considerées sous le rapport médicale, hygiènique et médico-legal in Paris. This includes the first description of what will later become known as Down syndrome.[4]
- John Gorrie experiments with cooling the hospital wards of malarial patients in Apalachicola, Florida.[5]
[edit] Technology
- January 6 - Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrates the electrical telegraph.
- April 4–22 - The paddle steamer SS Sirius (1837) makes the Transatlantic Crossing to New York from Cork, Ireland, in eighteen days, though not using steam continuously.[6]
- April 8–23 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel's paddle steamer SS Great Western (1838) makes the Transatlantic Crossing to New York from Avonmouth, England, in fifteen days, inaugurating a regular steamship service.[7]
- Liverpool-built barque Ironsides becomes the first large ocean-going iron ship.[8]
- David Bruce, Jr., invents the Pivotal Typecaster, which replaces hand typecasting in printing.
- The first screw-pile lighthouse is built by Alexander Mitchell on Maplin Sands in the Thames Estuary.
- David Brewster orginates the stereoscope.
[edit] Awards
[edit] Births
- January 5 - Camille Jordan (d. 1922), mathematician.
- January 29 - Edward Morley (d. 1923), chemist.
- February 18 - Ernst Mach (d. 1916), physicist.
- March 3 - George William Hill (d. 1914), astronomer.
- March 12 - William Perkin (d. 1907), chemist.
- April 8 - Ferdinand von Zeppelin (d. 1917), founder of the Zeppelin airship company.
- April 16 - Ernest Solvay, (d. 1922) chemist.
- April 21 - John Muir (d. 1914), naturalist.
- June 4 - John Grigg (d. 1920), astronomer.
[edit] Deaths
- July 5 - Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (b. 1774), otorhinolaryngologist.
- August 21 - Adelbert von Chamisso (b. 1781), botanist.
- September 27 - Bernard Courtois (b. 1777), chemist.
[edit] References
- ^ Mulder, G. J. (1838). "Over Proteine en hare Verbindingen en Ontledingsproducten". Natuur- en scheikundig Archief 6: 87–162.
- ^ Vickery, Hubert Bradford (1950). "The Origin of the Word Protein". Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 22 (5): 387–93. PMC 2598953. PMID 15413335. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2598953. Retrieved 2011-11-10.
- ^ Crilly, Tony (2007). 50 Mathematical Ideas you really need to know. London: Quercus. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-84724-008-8.
- ^ "Down's syndrome". Whonamedit?. http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/322.html. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
- ^ Burke, James (1978). Connections. London: Macmillan. p. 239. ISBN 0-333-24827-9.
- ^ "Steamship Curaçao". http://www.vrcurassow.com/2dvrc/sscuracao/sscuracao.html. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
- ^ "Icons, a portrait of England 1820-1840". http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/icons-timeline/1820-1840. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
- ^ Grantham, John (1859). On Iron Ship Building (2nd ed.). London: Lockwood. pp. 13–14.
