1800 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1800 in science
and technology
included many significant events.
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 ;...
included many significant events.
Astronomy
- The central star of the Ring NebulaRing NebulaThe famously named "Ring Nebula" appears in the northern constellation of Lyra and is located in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm...
is discovered by Fredrich von Hahn: the central star is a white dwarfWhite dwarfA white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a small star composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. They are very dense; a white dwarf's mass is comparable to that of the Sun and its volume is comparable to that of the Earth. Its faint luminosity comes from the emission of stored...
star with a temperature of between 100000 and 120000 K.
Chemistry
- BerylliumBerylliumBeryllium is the chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a divalent element which occurs naturally only in combination with other elements in minerals. Notable gemstones which contain beryllium include beryl and chrysoberyl...
is discovered by Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorff in beryl from SaxonySaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, a new earth; he calls it Agusterde ("Agust Earth"). - FulminateFulminateFulminates are chemical compounds which include the fulminate ion. The fulminate ion, is a pseudohalic ion, acting like a halogen with its charge and reactivity. Due to the instability of the ion, fulminate salts are friction-sensitive explosives. The best known is mercury fulminate, which has...
s are discovered by Edward HowardEdward Charles HowardEdward Charles Howard FRS the youngest son of Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk, was a British chemist who has been described as the first chemical engineer of any eminence....
.
Exploration
- The Antipodes IslandsAntipodes IslandsThe Antipodes Islands are inhospitable volcanic islands to the south of—and territorially part of—New Zealand...
, formerly the home of large herds of fur seals, are discovered by the crew of the British ship HMS RelianceHMS Reliance (1793)HMS Reliance was a discovery vessel of the Royal Navy. She became famous as one of the ships with the early explorations of the Australian coast and other the southern Pacific islands....
. - 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...
publishes Relation du Voyage à la Recherche de la PérouseRelation du Voyage à la Recherche de la PérouseRelation du Voyage à la Recherche de la Pérouse is a book , issued in 1800, that gives an account of the 1791-1793 d'Entrecasteaux expedition to Australasia. The title refers to the search for La Pérouse, who disappeared in the region in 1788, a popular, though unsuccessful, object of the mission...
in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Medicine
- Xavier BichatMarie François Xavier BichatMarie François Xavier Bichat , French anatomist and physiologist, was born at Thoirette .Bichat is best remembered as the father of modern histology and pathology. Despite the fact that he worked without a microscope he was able to advance greatly the understanding of the human body...
publishes Traité sur les membranes and Recherches physiologiques sur la vie et la mort, pioneering texts in histologyHistologyHistology is the study of the microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues of plants and animals. It is performed by examining cells and tissues commonly by sectioning and staining; followed by examination under a light microscope or electron microscope...
and pathologyPathologyPathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....
. - Company of Surgeons granted a royal charterRoyal CharterA royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
to become the Royal College of Surgeons in LondonRoyal College of Surgeons of EnglandThe Royal College of Surgeons of England is an independent professional body and registered charity committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients, regulating surgery, including dentistry, in England and Wales...
.
Physics
- Alessandro VoltaAlessandro VoltaCount Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Gerolamo Umberto Volta was a Lombard physicist known especially for the invention of the battery in 1800.-Early life and works:...
develops the so-called voltaic pileVoltaic pileA voltaic pile is a set of individual Galvanic cells placed in series. The voltaic pile, invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800, was the first electric battery...
, a forerunner of the electric battery. - InfraredInfraredInfrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
rays are discovered by William HerschelWilliam HerschelSir Frederick William Herschel, KH, FRS, German: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was a German-born British astronomer, technical expert, and composer. Born in Hanover, Wilhelm first followed his father into the Military Band of Hanover, but emigrated to Britain at age 19...
, an English astronomer of German origin.
Technology
- YeastYeastYeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
is discovered, as a new way to make beerBeerBeer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
ferment (beer made before 1800 was lambicLambicLambic is a very distinctive type of beer brewed only in the Pajottenland region of Belgium and in Brussels itself at the Cantillon Brewery and museum...
). - Henry MaudslayHenry MaudslayHenry Maudslay was a British machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool technology.-Early life:...
developes the first industrially practical screw-cutting latheScrew-cutting latheA screw-cutting lathe is a machine capable of cutting very accurate screw threads via single-point screw-cutting, which is the process of guiding the linear motion of the tool bit in a precisely known ratio to the rotating motion of the workpiece...
, allowing standardisation of screw threadScrew threadA screw thread, often shortened to thread, is a helical structure used to convert between rotational and linear movement or force. A screw thread is a ridge wrapped around a cylinder or cone in the form of a helix, with the former being called a straight thread and the latter called a tapered thread...
sizes for the first time, in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Births
- January 14 - Ludwig von Köchel, AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n musicologist and botanist (d. 18771877 in scienceThe year 1877 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Events:* June 19 - Eadweard Muybridge successfully produces a fast-motion sequence of photographs showing a horse in movement, Sallie Gardner at a Gallop, using multiple cameras at Palo Alto, California,...
) - February 2 - Melanie HahnemannMelanie HahnemannMarie Melanie d'Hervilly Gohier Hahnemann , was a French physician in homeopathy, married in 1835 to Samuel Hahnemann. She was the first female doctor in homeopathy....
, FrenchFrench peopleThe French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
homeopath (d. 18781878 in scienceThe year 1878 in science and technology involved many significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* British astronomer Richard Proctor describes the Zone of Avoidance, the area of the night sky that is obscured by our own galaxy, for the first time....
) - February 11 - Henry Fox Talbot, EnglishEnglish peopleThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
pioneer of photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
(d. 1877) - March 14 - James BogardusJames BogardusJames Bogardus was an American inventor and architect, the pioneer of American cast-iron architecture, for which he took out a patent in 1850...
, AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
inventor (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:...
) - July 31 - Friedrich Woehler, German 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...
(d. 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:...
) - December 29 - Charles GoodyearCharles GoodyearCharles Goodyear was an American inventor who developed a process to vulcanize rubber in 1839 -- a method that he perfected while living and working in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1844, and for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844Although...
, American inventor of the vulcanization process (d. 18601860 in scienceThe year 1860 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* June 30 - Debate about evolution at the Oxford University Museum.* John Curtis publishes in Glasgow.-Botany:...
)
Deaths
- January 1 - Louis-Jean-Marie DaubentonLouis-Jean-Marie DaubentonLouis-Jean-Marie Daubenton was a French naturalist.Daubenton was born at Montbard . His father, Jean Daubenton, a notary, intended him for the church, and sent him to Paris to study theology, but Louis-Jean-Marie was more interested in medicine...
, French naturalist (b. 17161716 in scienceThe year 1716 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Births:* January 12 - Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish explorer * March 6 - Pehr Kalm, Swedish botanist and explorer...
) - March 14 - Daines BarringtonDaines BarringtonDaines Barrington, FRS was an English lawyer, antiquary and naturalist.Barrington was the fourth son of the first Viscount Barrington. He was educated for the profession of the law, and after filling various posts, was appointed a Welsh judge in 1757 and afterwards second justice of Chester...
, English naturalist (b. 17271727 in scienceThe year 1727 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Maharaja Jai Singh II begins construction of the Jantar Mantar observatory at Jaipur.-Biology:* Rev...
) - November 5 - Jesse RamsdenJesse RamsdenJesse Ramsden FRSE was an English astronomical and scientific instrument maker.Ramsden was born at Salterhebble, Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. After serving his apprenticeship with a cloth-worker in Halifax, he went in 1755 to London, where in 1758 he was apprenticed to a...
, English scientific instrumentScientific instrumentA scientific instrument can be any type of equipment, machine, apparatus or device as is specifically designed, constructed and often, through trial and error, ingeniously refined to apply utmost efficiency in the utilization of well proven physical principle, relationship or technology to...
maker (b. 17351735 in scienceThe year 1735 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* July 11 - Pluto enters a fourteen year period inside the orbit of Neptune, which will not recur until 1979.-Chemistry:...
)