1847 in science
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The year 1847 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.
Astronomy
- October 1 - American astronomer Maria Mitchell discovers comet C/1847 T1; it is independently discovered two days later by Francesco de Vico from Rome.
- A new edition of the astrometric star catalogue Histoire Céleste Française is published, from which the Lalande star reference numbers which continue in use are derived.[1]
Chemistry
- Nitroglycerin, at first called pyroglycerine, first synthesized by Ascanio Sobrero.
- Hermann Kolbe obtains acetic acid from completely inorganic sources, further disproving vitalism.[2]
Mathematics
- George Boole formalizes symbolic logic in the pamphlet The Mathematical Analysis of Logic (published in Cambridge), defining what is now called Boolean algebra.
- Johann Benedict Listing publishes Vorstudien zur Topologie in Göttingen, first introducing the term Topology in print.[3][4]
Medicine
- November 4–8 - James Young Simpson discovers the anesthetic properties of chloroform and first uses it, successfully, on a patient, in an obstetric case in Edinburgh.[5][6]
- Ignaz Semmelweis studies and prevents the transmission of puerperal fever.
- The journal Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medizin is founded by Rudolf Virchow and Benno Reinhardt.
- Joseph-François Malgaigne publishes Traité des fractures et des luxations in Paris.
Physics
- Hermann von Helmholtz formally states the law of conservation of energy.
Technology
- January 27 - Institution of Mechanical Engineers founded in the Queen's Hotel next to Curzon Street railway station in Birmingham, England, by George Stephenson and others.[7]
- May 24 - The Dee bridge disaster: a cast iron girder bridge across the river Dee at Chester, England, designed by Robert Stephenson for the Chester and Holyhead Railway, collapses under a Shrewsbury and Chester Railway train with five fatalities.[8]
- July 24 - Richard March Hoe patents a rotary printing press in the United States.[9]
- Squire Whipple publishes A Work on Bridge Building in the United States.
Awards
- Copley Medal: John Herschel.
- Wollaston Medal for Geology: Ami Boué.
Births
- January 21 - Joseph Le Bel, French stereochemist (died 1930)
- February 11 - Thomas Edison, American inventor (died 1931)
- March 3 - Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born inventor (died 1922)
- May 1 - Hildegard Björck, Swedish-born pioneer of women's medical education (died 1920)
- Sydney Mary Thompson, Irish-born geologist and botanist (died 1923)
Deaths
- March 9 - Mary Anning, English paleontologist (born 1799)
- November 11 - Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach, German plastic surgeon (born 1792)
- December 7 - Robert Liston, Scottish-born surgeon (born 1794)
References
- ^ Baily, F. (1847), A catalogue of those stars in the Histoire Celeste Francaise of J. De Lalande for which tables of reduction to the session define format EPOCH1 = 1800 have been published by Professor Schumacher, London: British Association for the Advancement of Science
- ^ "Kolbe, Adolph Wilhelm Hermann". 100 Distinguished European Chemists. European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences. 2005. Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
- ^ Reprint
- ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. (2000). "Johann Benedict Listing". MacTutor History of Mathematics archive. University of St Andrews. Retrieved 2011-10-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ First communicated to the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, November 10, and published in a pamphlet, Notice of a New Anæsthetic Agent, in Edinburgh, November 12.
- ^ Gordon, H. Laing (2002). Sir James Young Simpson and Chloroform (1811–1870). Minerva Group, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4102-0291-8. Retrieved 2011-11-11.
- ^ Cragg, Roger (1997). Civil Engineering Heritage: Wales and West Central England (2nd ed.). London: Thomas Telford. p. 194. ISBN 0-7277-2576-9.
- ^ Lewis, Peter R. (2007). Disaster on the Dee: Robert Stephenson's Nemesis of 1847. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7524-4266-2.
- ^ #5199. "Improvement in Rotary Printing-Presses".