1834 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1834 in science
and technology
involved some significant events, listed below.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
involved some significant events, listed below.
Events
- March - William WhewellWilliam WhewellWilliam Whewell was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.-Life and career:Whewell was born in Lancaster...
(anonymously) first publishes the term scientistScientistA scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
in the Quarterly ReviewQuarterly ReviewThe Quarterly Review was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by the well known London publishing house John Murray. It ceased publication in 1967.-Early years:...
, but notes it as "not generally palatable".
Astronomy
- Hermann Helmholtz proposes gravitational contraction as the energyEnergyIn physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
source for the SunSunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
. - Johann Heinrich von MädlerJohann Heinrich von MädlerJohann Heinrich von Mädler was a German astronomer.He was orphaned at age 19 by an outbreak of typhus, and found himself responsible for raising three younger sisters...
and Wilhelm Beer publish Mappa Selenographica, the most complete map of the moonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
up until that time. - Thomas HendersonThomas James HendersonThomas James Alan Henderson was a Scottish astronomer noted for being the first person to measure the distance to Alpha Centauri, the major component of the nearest stellar system to Earth, and for being the first Astronomer Royal for Scotland.-Early life:Born in Dundee, Scotland, he was educated...
appointed first astronomer-royal for ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Biology
- James PagetJames PagetSir James Paget, 1st Baronet was a British surgeon and pathologist who is best remembered for Paget's disease and who is considered, together with Rudolf Virchow, as one of the founders of scientific medical pathology. His famous works included Lectures on Tumours and Lectures on Surgical Pathology...
discovers in human muscle the parasitic worm that causes trichinosisTrichinosisTrichinosis, also called trichinellosis, or trichiniasis, is a parasitic disease caused by eating raw or undercooked pork or wild game infected with the larvae of a species of roundworm Trichinella spiralis, commonly called the trichina worm. There are eight Trichinella species; five are...
. - Félix DujardinFélix Dujardin-External sources:* @ Encyclopædia Britannica Online...
proposes that single-cell animals should be classified in a group by themselves.
Geology
- The TriassicTriassicThe Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
is named by Friedrich August von AlbertiFriedrich August von AlbertiDr. Friedrich August von Alberti was a German geologist whose ground-breaking 1834 publication recognized the unity of the three characteristic strata that compose the sedimentary deposits of the Triassic period in Northern Europe...
for the three distinct layers of redbeds, capped by chalkChalkChalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
, followed by black shaleShaleShale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
s that are found throughout GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Northwest EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, called the 'Trias'.
Mathematics
- Charles BabbageCharles BabbageCharles Babbage, FRS was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer...
begins the conceptual design of an "analytical engineAnalytical engineThe Analytical Engine was a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer designed by English mathematician Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837 as the successor to Babbage's difference engine, a design for a mechanical calculator...
", a mechanical forerunner of the modern computerComputerA computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
. It will not be built in his lifetime.
Mechanics
- Carl Gustav Jakob JacobiCarl Gustav Jakob JacobiCarl Gustav Jacob Jacobi was a German mathematician, widely considered to be the most inspiring teacher of his time and is considered one of the greatest mathematicians of his generation.-Biography:...
discovers his uniformly rotating self-gravitating ellipsoids. - John Scott RussellJohn Scott RussellJohn Scott Russell was a Scottish naval engineer who built the Great Eastern in collaboration with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and made the discovery that gave birth to the modern study of solitons.-Personal life:John Scott Russell was born John Russell on 9 May 1808 in Parkhead, Glasgow, the son of...
observes a nondecaying solitary water wave (solitonSolitonIn mathematics and physics, a soliton is a self-reinforcing solitary wave that maintains its shape while it travels at constant speed. Solitons are caused by a cancellation of nonlinear and dispersive effects in the medium...
) in the Union Canal near EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and uses a water tank to study the dependence of solitary water wave velocities on wave amplitude and water depth.
Physics
- Émile Clapeyron presents a formulation of the second law of thermodynamics.
- Heinrich LenzHeinrich LenzHeinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz was a Russian physicist of Baltic German ethnicity. He is most noted for formulating Lenz's law in electrodynamics in 1833....
discovers Lenz's lawLenz's lawLenz's law is a common way of understanding how electromagnetic circuits must always obey Newton's third law and The Law of Conservation of Energy...
. - Jean-Charles-Athanase Peltier discovers the Peltier effect.
- Michael FaradayMichael FaradayMichael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....
publishes "On Electrical Decomposition" in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, in which he coins the words electrodeElectrodeAn electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit...
, anodeAnodeAn anode is an electrode through which electric current flows into a polarized electrical device. Mnemonic: ACID ....
, cathodeCathodeA cathode is an electrode through which electric current flows out of a polarized electrical device. Mnemonic: CCD .Cathode polarity is not always negative...
, anion, cation, electrolyteElectrolyteIn chemistry, an electrolyte is any substance containing free ions that make the substance electrically conductive. The most typical electrolyte is an ionic solution, but molten electrolytes and solid electrolytes are also possible....
and electrolyze.
Technology
- Joseph ChaleyJoseph ChaleyJoseph Chaley was a French civil engineer and a pioneer designer of suspension bridges in the 19th century. He was a medical officer in the army before becoming a bridge designer....
’s Grand Pont Suspendu in FribourgFribourgFribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
is the first suspension bridgeSuspension bridgeA suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. Outside Tibet and Bhutan, where the first examples of this type of bridge were built in the 15th century, this type of bridge dates from the early 19th century...
with cables assembled in mid-air.
Births
- January 7 – Johann Philipp ReisJohann Philipp ReisJohann Philipp Reis was a self-taught German scientist and inventor. In 1861, he constructed the first make-and-break telephone, today called the Reis telephone.- Early life and education :...
(d. 18741874 in scienceThe year 1874 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* December 9 - A transit of Venus across the Sun is observed in Muddapur, India, by an astronomical expedition led by Pietro Tacchini.-Chemistry:...
), physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and inventor. - January 15 – Frederick DuCane GodmanFrederick DuCane GodmanFrederick DuCane Godman D.C.L., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., F.R.G.S., F.E.S., F.Z.S., M.R.I., F.R.H.S., M.B.O.U. was an English lepidopterist, entomologist and ornithologist....
(d. 19191919 in scienceThe year 1919 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* June 1 - The term covalence in relation to chemical bonding models is first used by Irving Langmuir.-History of science:...
), lepidopteristLepidopteristA lepidopterist is a person who specialises in the study of Lepidoptera, members of an order encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
, entomologist and ornithologist. - January 17 – August WeismannAugust WeismannFriedrich Leopold August Weismann was a German evolutionary biologist. Ernst Mayr ranked him the second most notable evolutionary theorist of the 19th century, after Charles Darwin...
(d. 19141914 in scienceThe year 1914 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* Sinope, the outermost known moon of Jupiter, is discovered by Seth Barnes Nicholson at Lick Observatory....
), biologistBiologistA biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
. - February 7 – Dmitri MendeleevDmitri MendeleevDmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev , was a Russian chemist and inventor. He is credited as being the creator of the first version of the periodic table of elements...
(d. 19071907 in scienceThe year 1907 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Emil Fischer artificially synthesizes peptide amino acid chains and thereby shows that amino acids in proteins are connected by amino group-acid group bonds....
), chemistChemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
. - February 16 – Ernst HaeckelErnst HaeckelThe "European War" became known as "The Great War", and it was not until 1920, in the book "The First World War 1914-1918" by Charles à Court Repington, that the term "First World War" was used as the official name for the conflict.-Research:...
(d. 19191919 in scienceThe year 1919 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* June 1 - The term covalence in relation to chemical bonding models is first used by Irving Langmuir.-History of science:...
), zoologist. - February 20 (O.S. February 8) - Nikolai Kaufman (d. 18701870 in scienceThe year 1870 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* January 18 - Gerhardt Krefft first describes the Queensland lungfish, in The Sydney Morning Herald....
), botanist. - March 17 – Gottlieb DaimlerGottlieb DaimlerGottlieb Daimler was an engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf , in what is now Germany. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development...
(d. 19001900 in scienceThe year 1900 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Aeronautics:* July 2 - The first airship flight is made by the LZ1 designed by Ferdinand von Zeppelin.-Chemistry:...
), engineerEngineerAn engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and automotive pioneer. - April 30 – John LubbockJohn LubbockJohn Lubbock is the name of:*Sir John Lubbock, 1st Baronet *Sir John Lubbock, 2nd Baronet , English banker*Sir John Lubbock, 3rd Baronet , English banker, barrister, mathematician and astronomer...
(d. 19131913 in scienceThe year 1913 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Protactinium is first identified by Kasimir Fajans and O. H...
), naturalistNatural historyNatural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
and archaeologist. - June – William Chester MinorWilliam Chester MinorWilliam Chester Minor, also known as W. C. Minor was an American army surgeon who, later, was one of the largest contributors of quotations to the Oxford English Dictionary...
(d. 19201920 in scienceThe year 1920 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-History of science and technology:* Newcomen Society founded in the United Kingdom for the study of the history of engineering and technology.-Medicine:...
), surgeonSurgeonIn medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
and lexicographer. - August 5 – Ewald HeringEwald HeringKarl Ewald Konstantin Hering was a German physiologist who did much research into color vision and spatial perception...
(d. 19181918 in scienceThe year 1918 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* Kiyotsugu Hirayama identifies several groups of main belt asteroids, now known as Hirayama families....
), physiologist. - August 22 – Samuel Pierpont LangleySamuel Pierpont LangleySamuel Pierpont Langley was an American astronomer, physicist, inventor of the bolometer and pioneer of aviation...
(d. 19061906 in scienceThe year 1906 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Charles Barkla discovers that each element has a characteristic X-ray and that the degree of penetration of these X-rays is related to the atomic weight of the element.* Mikhail Tsvet first names the...
), astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
. - September 30 - Carl SchorlemmerCarl SchorlemmerCarl Schorlemmer FRS was a German chemist who did research on hydrocarbons and contributed to the study of the history of chemistry.- Life and work :...
(d. 18921892 in scienceThe year 1892 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* William Ramsay discovers argon.* approx...
), organic chemistOrganic chemistryOrganic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...
. - December 15 – Charles Augustus YoungCharles Augustus YoungCharles Augustus Young was an American astronomer.He graduated from Dartmouth and later became a professor there in 1865, remaining until 1877 when he went to Princeton....
(d. 19081908 in scienceThe year 1908 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Archaeology:* A 40,000-year-old Neanderthal boy skeleton is found at Le Moustier in southwest France....
), astronomer.
Deaths
- January 8 – Jacques LabillardièreJacques LabillardièreJacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière was a French naturalist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the La Pérouse expedition...
(b. 17551755 in scienceThe year 1755 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Chemistry:* Joseph Black describes his discovery of carbon dioxide and magnesium in a paper to the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh.-Earth sciences:...
), naturalistNaturalistNaturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
. - January 17 – Giovanni AldiniGiovanni AldiniGiovanni Aldini , Italian physicist born at Bologna, was a brother of the statesman Count Antonio Aldini and nephew of Luigi Galvani, whose treaties on muscular electricity he edited with notes in 1791....
(b. 17621762 in scienceThe year 1762 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Mathematics:* September – Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorships is established in London, pioneering mutual insurance using a method of actuarial science devised by mathematician James Dodson.* Johann...
), physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
. - February 16 – Lionel LukinLionel LukinLionel Lukin Lionel Lukin Lionel Lukin (18 May 1742 (Great Dunmow, Essex, England) - 16 February 1834 (Hythe, Kent, England) is considered by some to have been the inventor of the lifeboat (although see William Wouldhave for the competing claim)....
(b. 17421742 in scienceThe year 1742 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Technology:* Benjamin Robins publishes his in London, containing a description of his ballistic pendulum and the results of his scientific experiments into improvements in ballistics.-Births:* May 18 - Lionel Lukin, English...
), inventor. - February 26 – Alois SenefelderAlois SenefelderJohann Alois Senefelder was a German actor and playwright who invented the printing technique of lithography in 1796.-Actor, playwright:...
(b. 17711771 in scienceThe year 1771 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Events:* Society of Civil Engineers first meets , the world's oldest engineering society.-Exploration:...
), inventor. - August 7 – Joseph Marie JacquardJoseph Marie JacquardJoseph Marie Charles dit Jacquard played an important role in the development of the earliest programmable loom , which in turn played an important role in the development of other programmable machines, such as computers.- Early life :Jean Jacquard’s name was not really...
(b. 17521752 in scienceThe year 1752 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Chemistry:* Thomas Melvill delivers a lecture entitled Observations on light and colours to the Medical Society of Edinburgh, a precursor of flame emission spectroscopy....
), inventor. - October 10 – Thomas SayThomas SayThomas Say was an American naturalist, entomologist, malacologist, herpetologist and carcinologist. A taxonomist, he is often considered to be the father of descriptive entomology in the United States. He described more than 1,000 new species of beetles and over 400 species of insects of other...
(b. 17871787 in scienceThe year 1787 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* January 11 - William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, the first moons of Uranus found.-Biology:...
), naturalist.