1846 in science

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The year 1846 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Astronomy

• February 20 - Francesco de Vico discovers comet 122P/de Vico.
• June 1 - Urbain Le Verrier predicts the existence and location of Neptune from irregularities in the orbit of Uranus.
• August 8 - Neptune observed but not recognised by James Challis.
• August 31 - Urbain Le Verrier publishes full details of the predicted orbit and the mass of the new planet.
• September 23 - Johann Galle discovers Neptune.
• October 10 - William Lassell discovers Triton, Neptune's moon.

Medicine

• December 21 - Surgeon Robert Liston carries out the first operation under anesthesia in Europe.
• Édouard Séguin publishes Traitement moral, hygiène et éducation des idiots et des autres enfants arriérés in Paris, the earliest systematic textbook dealing with the special needs of children with developmental disabilities; his views will be influential on both sides of the Atlantic.
• Dr J. Collis Browne formulates his laudanum-based pain-relieving Chlorodyne compound while serving in the British Indian Army.

Technology

• June 28 - Adolphe Sax patents the saxophone.
• September 10 - Elias Howe is awarded the first United States patent for a sewing machine using a lockstitch design.
• William Armstrong's first hydraulic crane is erected at Newcastle upon Tyne.

Awards

• Copley Medal: Urbain Le Verrier
• Wollaston Medal: William Lonsdale

Births

• December 12 - Eugen Baumann (d. 1896), chemist.

Deaths

• January 30 - Joseph Carpue (b. 1764) surgeon.
• March 17 - Friedrich Bessel (b. 1784), mathematician.