1843 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1843 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.
Astronomy
- February 5–April 19 - "Great March CometGreat Comet of 1843The Great Comet of 1843 formally designated C/1843 D1 and 1843 I, was a long-period comet which became very bright in March 1843 . It was discovered on February 5, 1843 and rapidly brightened to become a great comet...
" observed. - Heinrich SchwabeHeinrich SchwabeSamuel Heinrich Schwabe a German astronomer remembered for his work on sunspots.Schwabe was born at Dessau. At first an apothecary, he turned his attention to astronomy, and in 1826 commenced his observations on sunspots. Schwabe was trying to discover a new planet inside the orbit of Mercury...
reports a periodic change in the number of sunspotSunspotSunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. They are caused by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection by an effect comparable to the eddy current brake, forming areas of reduced surface temperature....
s: they wax and wane in number according to a ten-year cycle.
Chemistry
- Carl Mosander discovers TerbiumTerbiumTerbium is a chemical element with the symbol Tb and atomic number 65. It is a silvery-white rare earth metal that is malleable, ductile and soft enough to be cut with a knife...
and ErbiumErbiumErbium is a chemical element in the lanthanide series, with the symbol Er and atomic number 68. A silvery-white solid metal when artificially isolated, natural erbium is always found in chemical combination with other elements on Earth...
. - John J. WaterstonJohn James WaterstonJohn James Waterston was a Scottish physicist, a neglected pioneer of the kinetic theory of gases.-Early life:Waterston's father, George, was an Edinburgh sealing wax manufacturer and stationer, a relative of the Sandeman family Robert and his brother, George...
produces an account of the kinetic theory of gases.
Mathematics
- October 16 - William Rowan HamiltonWilliam Rowan HamiltonSir William Rowan Hamilton was an Irish physicist, astronomer, and mathematician, who made important contributions to classical mechanics, optics, and algebra. His studies of mechanical and optical systems led him to discover new mathematical concepts and techniques...
discovers the calculus of quaternions and deduces that they are non-commutative. - Arthur CayleyArthur CayleyArthur Cayley F.R.S. was a British mathematician. He helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics....
and James Joseph SylvesterJames Joseph SylvesterJames Joseph Sylvester was an English mathematician. He made fundamental contributions to matrix theory, invariant theory, number theory, partition theory and combinatorics...
found the algebraic invariant theoryInvariant theoryInvariant theory is a branch of abstract algebra dealing with actions of groups on algebraic varieties from the point of view of their effect on functions...
. - John T. GravesJohn T. GravesJohn Thomas Graves was an Irish jurist and mathematician. He was a friend of William Rowan Hamilton, and is credited both with inspiring Hamilton to discover the quaternions and with personally discovering the octonions, which he called the octaves...
discovers the octonionOctonionIn mathematics, the octonions are a normed division algebra over the real numbers, usually represented by the capital letter O, using boldface O or blackboard bold \mathbb O. There are only four such algebras, the other three being the real numbers R, the complex numbers C, and the quaternions H...
s. - Pierre-Alphonse Laurent discovers and presents the Laurent expansion theorem.
- Ada LovelaceAda LovelaceAugusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace , born Augusta Ada Byron, was an English writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine...
translates and expands MenabreaFederico Luigi, Conte MenabreaFederico Luigi, 1º Conte Menabrea, 1st Marquis of Valdora was an Italian general, statesman and mathematician.-Biography:Menabrea was born at Chambéry, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia....
’s notes on Charles BabbageCharles BabbageCharles Babbage, FRS was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer...
's 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...
, including an algorithmAlgorithmIn mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers, regarded as the world's first computer programComputer programA computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
.
Technology
- March 25 - Completion of the Thames TunnelThames TunnelThe Thames Tunnel is an underwater tunnel, built beneath the River Thames in London, United Kingdom, connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping. It measures 35 feet wide by 20 feet high and is 1,300 feet long, running at a depth of 75 feet below the river's surface...
, the first bored underwater tunnel in the world (engineer: Marc Isambard BrunelMarc Isambard BrunelSir Marc Isambard Brunel, FRS FRSE was a French-born engineer who settled in England. He preferred the name Isambard, but is generally known to history as Marc to avoid confusion with his more famous son Isambard Kingdom Brunel...
). - July 19 - Launch of SS Great BritainSS Great BritainSS Great Britain was an advanced passenger steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company's transatlantic service between Bristol and New York. While other ships had previously been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller, Great Britain was the first...
, the first iron-hulled, propeller-driven ship to cross the Atlantic OceanAtlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
(designer: Isambard Kingdom BrunelIsambard Kingdom BrunelIsambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
). - November 21 - Thomas HancockThomas Hancock (inventor)Thomas Hancock , elder brother of inventor Walter Hancock, was an English inventor who founded the British rubber industry...
patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s the vulcanisation of rubberRubberNatural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
using sulphur in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... - The rotary printing pressRotary printing pressA rotary printing press is a printing press in which the images to be printed are curved around a cylinder. Printing can be done on large number of substrates, including paper, cardboard, and plastic. Substrates can be sheet feed or unwound on a continuous roll through the press to be printed and...
is invented by Richard March HoeRichard March HoeRichard March Hoe , was an American inventor who designed an improved printing press.-Biography:Hoe was born in New York City. He was the son of Robert Hoe , an English-born American mechanic who, with his brothers-in-law, Peter and Matthew Smith, established a steam-run manufactory of printing...
. - Robert StirlingRobert StirlingThe Reverend Dr Robert Stirling was a Scottish clergyman, and inventor of the stirling engine.- Biography :Stirling was born at Cloag Farm near Methven, Perthshire, the third of eight children...
and his brother James convert a steam engine at a DundeeDundeeDundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
factory to operate as a Stirling engineStirling engineA Stirling engine is a heat engine operating by cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas, the working fluid, at different temperature levels such that there is a net conversion of heat energy to mechanical work....
. - The first public telegraph line in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
is laid between PaddingtonPaddingtonPaddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
and SloughSloughSlough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...
.
Awards
- Copley MedalCopley MedalThe Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society of London for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science, and alternates between the physical sciences and the biological sciences"...
: Jean-Baptiste DumasJean-Baptiste DumasJean Baptiste André Dumas was a French chemist, best known for his works on organic analysis and synthesis, as well as the determination of atomic weights and molecular weights by measuring vapor densities... - Wollaston MedalWollaston MedalThe Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London.The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831...
for Geology: Jean-Baptiste Elie de BeaumontJean-Baptiste Élie de BeaumontJean-Baptiste Armand Louis Léonce Élie de Beaumont was a French geologist.-Biography:Élie de Beaumont was born at Canon, in Calvados...
; Pierre Armand Dufrenoy
Births
- January 13 - David FerrierDavid FerrierSir David Ferrier, FRS was a pioneering Scottish neurologist and psychologist.-Life:Ferrier was born in Woodside, Aberdeen and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School before studying for an MA at Aberdeen University...
(d. 19281928 in scienceThe year 1928 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* January - Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA....
), neurologistNeurologistA neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
. - June 12 - David GillDavid Gill (astronomer)Sir David Gill FRS was a Scottish astronomer who is known for measuring astronomical distances, for astrophotography, and for geodesy. He spent much of his career in South Africa.- Life and work :...
(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....
), 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...
. - July 24 - William de Wiveleslie AbneyWilliam de Wiveleslie AbneyWilliam de Wiveleslie Abney FRS was an English astronomer, chemist, and photographer.-Biography:Abney was born in Derby, England, the son of Edward Abney vicar of St Alkmund's Derby, and owner of the Firs Estate...
(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:...
), astronomer. - August 17 - Alexandre LacassagneAlexandre LacassagneAlexandre Lacassagne was a French physician and criminologist who was a native of Cahors. He was the founder of the Lacassagne school of criminology, based in Lyon and influent from 1885 to 1914, and main rival to Lombroso's Italian school.- Biography :He studied at the military school in...
(d. 19241924 in scienceThe year 1924 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* December 30 - Edwin Hubble announces the existence of other galaxies....
), forensic scientist. - December 11 - Robert KochRobert KochHeinrich Hermann Robert Koch was a German physician. He became famous for isolating Bacillus anthracis , the Tuberculosis bacillus and the Vibrio cholerae and for his development of Koch's postulates....
(d. 19101910 in scienceThe year 1910 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Albert Einstein and Marian Smoluchowski find the Einstein-Smoluchowski formula for the attenuation coefficient due to density fluctuations in a gas...
), physicianPhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, famous for the discovery of the tubercle bacillusTuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
(18821882 in scienceThe year 1882 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Robert Koch isolates the Tuberculosis bacillus.* Élie Metchnikoff discovers phagocytosis.-Chemistry:...
) and the choleraCholeraCholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
bacillusBacillusBacillus is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria and a member of the division Firmicutes. Bacillus species can be obligate aerobes or facultative anaerobes, and test positive for the enzyme catalase. Ubiquitous in nature, Bacillus includes both free-living and pathogenic species...
(18831883 in scienceThe year 1883 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Geology:* August 26 - Krakatoa begins its final phase of eruptions at 1:06pm local time. These produce a number of tsunami, mainly in the early hours of the next day, which result in about 36,000 deaths on the...
) and for his development of Koch's postulatesKoch's postulatesKoch's postulates are four criteria designed to establish a causal relationship between a causative microbe and a disease. The postulates were formulated by Robert Koch and Friedrich Loeffler in 1884 and refined and published by Koch in 1890...
; awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
in 19051905 in scienceThe year 1905 in science and technology involved some significant events, particularly in physics, listed below.-Astronomy:* January 2 - Charles Dillon Perrine at Lick Observatory discovers Elara, one of Jupiter's natural satellites....
Deaths
- July 25 - Charles Macintosh (b. 17661766 in scienceThe year 1766 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Biology:* Moses Harris publishes The Aurelian, or, natural history of English insects; namely, moths and butterflies.-Chemistry:...
), inventor of a waterproof fabric. - September 19 - Gaspard-Gustave CoriolisGaspard-Gustave CoriolisGaspard-Gustave de Coriolis or Gustave Coriolis was a French mathematician, mechanical engineer and scientist. He is best known for his work on the supplementary forces that are detected in a rotating frame of reference. See the Coriolis Effect...
(b. 17921792 in scienceThe year 1792 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach publishes The Tables of the Sun, an essential work for navigation....
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and discoverer of the Coriolis effectCoriolis effectIn physics, the Coriolis effect is a deflection of moving objects when they are viewed in a rotating reference frame. In a reference frame with clockwise rotation, the deflection is to the left of the motion of the object; in one with counter-clockwise rotation, the deflection is to the right...
. - September 30 - Richard HarlanRichard HarlanRichard Harlan was an American naturalist, zoologist, physicist and paleontologist....
(b. 17961796 in scienceThe year 1796 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Pierre-Simon Laplace publishes Exposition du système du monde, his work on astronomy following Newton and Lagrange...
), zoologist. - November 16 - Abraham CollesAbraham CollesAbraham Colles was professor of Anatomy, Surgery and Physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Descended from a Worcestershire family, some of whom had sat in Parliament, he was born to William Colles and Mary Anne Bates of Woodbroak, Co. Wexford...
(b.17731773 in scienceThe year 1773 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* October 13 - French astronomer Charles Messier discovers the Whirlpool Galaxy , an interacting, grand-design spiral galaxy located at a distance of approximately 23 million light-years in the constellation Canes...
), 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...
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