1804 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1804 in science
and technology
involved some significant events, listed below.
is isolated, and many elements are discovered, including cerium
, iridium
, osmium
, palladium
, and rhodium
:
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 and space science
- April 5 - High Possil meteoriteHigh Possil MeteoriteThe High Possil meteorite fell on the morning of Thursday, 5 April 1804, in a quarry near High Possil, on the northern outskirts of Glasgow. The High Possil meteorite is one of only four ever to have been found in Scotland - the others being the Perth meteorite of 1830, and the Strathmore...
falls in 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...
. - September 1 - Karl Ludwig HardingKarl Ludwig HardingKarl Ludwig Harding was a German astronomer notable for having discovered the asteroid 3 Juno.-Biography:...
discovers the asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
Juno3 JunoJuno , formal designation 3 Juno in the Minor Planet Center catalogue system, was the third asteroid to be discovered and is one of the larger main-belt asteroids, being one of the two largest stony asteroids, along with 15 Eunomia. Juno is estimated to contain 1% of the total mass of the asteroid...
.
Botany
- March 7 - John WedgwoodJohn Wedgwood (1766–1844)John Wedgwood , the eldest son of the potter Josiah Wedgwood, was a partner in the Wedgwood pottery firm from 1790-1793, and again 1800-1812....
founds the Horticultural Society of LondonRoyal Horticultural SocietyThe Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
. - Jacques-Julien 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...
begins publication of Novæ Hollandiæ Plantarum SpecimenNovae Hollandiae Plantarum SpecimenNovae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen is a two volume work describing the flora of Australia. The author was the French botanist Jacques Labillardière, who visited the region in 1792 with the d'Entrecasteaux expedition...
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...
, the first FloraFlora (book)A Flora is a book or other work which describes the plant species occurring in an area or time period, often with the aim of allowing identification. Some classic and modern floras are listed below....
of AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Chemistry
The drug morphineMorphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
is isolated, and many elements are discovered, including cerium
Cerium
Cerium is a chemical element with the symbol Ce and atomic number 58. It is a soft, silvery, ductile metal which easily oxidizes in air. Cerium was named after the dwarf planet . Cerium is the most abundant of the rare earth elements, making up about 0.0046% of the Earth's crust by weight...
, iridium
Iridium
Iridium is the chemical element with atomic number 77, and is represented by the symbol Ir. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum family, iridium is the second-densest element and is the most corrosion-resistant metal, even at temperatures as high as 2000 °C...
, osmium
Osmium
Osmium is a chemical element with the symbol Os and atomic number 76. Osmium is a hard, brittle, blue-gray or blue-blacktransition metal in the platinum family, and is the densest natural element. Osmium is twice as dense as lead. The density of osmium is , slightly greater than that of iridium,...
, palladium
Palladium
Palladium is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pd and an atomic number of 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself named after the epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired...
, and rhodium
Rhodium
Rhodium is a chemical element that is a rare, silvery-white, hard and chemically inert transition metal and a member of the platinum group. It has the chemical symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is composed of only one isotope, 103Rh. Naturally occurring rhodium is found as the free metal, alloyed...
:
- William Hyde WollastonWilliam Hyde WollastonWilliam Hyde Wollaston FRS was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering two chemical elements and for developing a way to process platinum ore.-Biography:...
discovers palladiumPalladiumPalladium is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pd and an atomic number of 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself named after the epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired...
, and how to make malleable platinumPlatinumPlatinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
. - Jöns Jakob BerzeliusJöns Jakob BerzeliusJöns Jacob Berzelius was a Swedish chemist. He worked out the modern technique of chemical formula notation, and is together with John Dalton, Antoine Lavoisier, and Robert Boyle considered a father of modern chemistry...
discovers ceriumCeriumCerium is a chemical element with the symbol Ce and atomic number 58. It is a soft, silvery, ductile metal which easily oxidizes in air. Cerium was named after the dwarf planet . Cerium is the most abundant of the rare earth elements, making up about 0.0046% of the Earth's crust by weight...
. - The element iridiumIridiumIridium is the chemical element with atomic number 77, and is represented by the symbol Ir. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum family, iridium is the second-densest element and is the most corrosion-resistant metal, even at temperatures as high as 2000 °C...
is discovered in the acid-insoluble residues of platinumPlatinumPlatinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
ores by English chemist Smithson TennantSmithson TennantSmithson Tennant FRS was an English chemist.Tennant is best known for his discovery of the elements iridium and osmium, which he found in the residues from the solution of platinum ores in 1803. He also contributed to the proof of the identity of diamond and charcoal. The mineral tennantite is...
. - The element rhodiumRhodiumRhodium is a chemical element that is a rare, silvery-white, hard and chemically inert transition metal and a member of the platinum group. It has the chemical symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is composed of only one isotope, 103Rh. Naturally occurring rhodium is found as the free metal, alloyed...
is discovered by William Hyde WollastonWilliam Hyde WollastonWilliam Hyde Wollaston FRS was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering two chemical elements and for developing a way to process platinum ore.-Biography:...
in crude platinum ore. - The element osmiumOsmiumOsmium is a chemical element with the symbol Os and atomic number 76. Osmium is a hard, brittle, blue-gray or blue-blacktransition metal in the platinum family, and is the densest natural element. Osmium is twice as dense as lead. The density of osmium is , slightly greater than that of iridium,...
is discovered by the English chemist Smithson TennantSmithson TennantSmithson Tennant FRS was an English chemist.Tennant is best known for his discovery of the elements iridium and osmium, which he found in the residues from the solution of platinum ores in 1803. He also contributed to the proof of the identity of diamond and charcoal. The mineral tennantite is...
.
- German pharmacist Friedrich SertürnerFriedrich SertürnerFriedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner was a German pharmacist, who discovered morphine in 1804.-Biography:He was born on 19 June 1783 in Neuhaus ....
isolates morphineMorphineMorphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
from opiumOpiumOpium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
for the first time.
Exploration
- May 14 - The Lewis and Clark ExpeditionLewis and Clark ExpeditionThe Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
departs from Camp Dubois and begin their historic journey by traveling up the Missouri RiverMissouri RiverThe Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
.
Geology
- Alexander von HumboldtAlexander von HumboldtFriedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
discovers that the Earth's magnetic field decreases from the poles to the equator.
Medicine
- Publication of The Anatomy of the Human Body, vol. 3, Nervous System by Charles BellCharles BellSir Charles Bell was a Scottish surgeon, anatomist, neurologist and philosophical theologian.His three older brothers included John Bell , also a noted surgeon and writer; and the advocate George Joseph Bell .-Life:...
. - Antonio ScarpaAntonio ScarpaAntonio Scarpa was an Italian anatomist and professor.-Biography:Antonio was born to an impoverished family in the frazione of Lorenzaga, Motta di Livenza, Veneto. An uncle, who was a member of the priesthood, gave him instruction until the age of 15, when he passed the entrance exam for the...
publishes Riflessioni ed Osservazione anatomico-chirugiche sull' Aneurisma, a classic text on aneurisms.
Meteorology
- Joseph Louis Gay-LussacJoseph Louis Gay-Lussac- External links :* from the American Chemical Society* from the Encyclopædia Britannica, 10th Edition * , Paris...
and Jean Baptiste Biot study the atmosphere from a hot-air balloon.
Paleontology
- James ParkinsonJames ParkinsonJames Parkinson was an English apothecary surgeon, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist. He is most famous for his 1817 work, An Essay on the Shaking Palsy in which he was the first to describe "paralysis agitans", a condition that would later be renamed Parkinson's disease by...
publishes the first volume of Organic Remains of a Former World, supporting belief in CatastrophismCatastrophismCatastrophism is the theory that the Earth has been affected in the past by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope. The dominant paradigm of modern geology is uniformitarianism , in which slow incremental changes, such as erosion, create the Earth's appearance...
.
Technology
- February 21 - The CornishmanCornwallCornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
Richard TrevithickRichard TrevithickRichard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from Cornwall. His most significant success was the high pressure steam engine and he also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive...
's newly-built "Penydarren" steam locomotiveSteam locomotiveA steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
operates on the Merthyr Tramroad between Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr TydfilMerthyr TydfilMerthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
and AbercynonAbercynonAbercynon is a small village in the Cynon Valley in Mid Glamorgan, Wales. The unitary authority is now known as Rhondda Cynon Taff. It is composed of the village of Abercynon itself,Carnetown,Glancynon,Park View and Pontcynon. However, in recent years the sign to show motorists they are entering...
in South WalesSouth WalesSouth Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
, following several trials since February 13, the world's first locomotive to work on rails.
Births
- February 12 - 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....
, 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...
(d. 18651865 in scienceThe year 1865 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Friedrich Kekulé proposes a ring structure for benzene.-Life sciences:* Louis Pasteur shows that the air is full of bacteria....
) - March 8 - Alvan ClarkAlvan ClarkAlvan Clark , born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, the descendant of a Cape Cod whaling family of English ancestry, was an American astronomer and telescope maker. He was a portrait painter and engraver , and at the age of 40 became involved in telescope making...
, AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
telescope manufacturer (d. 18871887 in scienceThe year 1887 in science and technology involved many significant events, listed below.-Events:* March 7 - North Carolina State University is established as North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts....
) - April 5 - Matthias Schleiden, 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...
(d. 18811881 in scienceThe year 1881 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* October - Charles Darwin publishes his last scientific book The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms.* L. S...
) - May 9 - Hewett WatsonHewett WatsonHewett Cottrell Watson was a phrenologist, botanist and evolutionary theorist. He was born in Firbeck, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, on 9 May 1804, and died at Thames Ditton, Surrey, on 27 July 1881, aged 77.-Biography:...
, 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...
biologist (d. 1881) - June 5 - Robert Schomburgk, explorer (d. 18651865 in scienceThe year 1865 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Friedrich Kekulé proposes a ring structure for benzene.-Life sciences:* Louis Pasteur shows that the air is full of bacteria....
) - July 20 - Richard OwenRichard OwenSir Richard Owen, FRS KCB was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist.Owen is probably best remembered today for coining the word Dinosauria and for his outspoken opposition to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection...
, anatomist and paleontologist (d. 18921892 in scienceThe year 1892 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* William Ramsay discovers argon.* approx...
) - September 14 - John GouldJohn GouldJohn Gould was an English ornithologist and bird artist. The Gould League in Australia was named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection...
, zoologist (d. 1881) - September 16 - Squire WhippleSquire WhippleSquire Whipple C.E. was a civil engineer born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, USA. His family moved to New York when he was thirteen. He studied at Fairfield Academy. He graduated from Union College after only one year...
, civil engineer (d. 18881888 in scienceThe year 1888 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* January 3 - The 91 cm refracting telescope at Lick Observatory is first used...
) - October 1 - William Stokes, physician (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....
) - October 24 - Wilhelm Eduard WeberWilhelm Eduard WeberWilhelm Eduard Weber was a German physicist and, together with Carl Friedrich Gauss, inventor of the first electromagnetic telegraph.-Early years:...
, physicist (d. 18911891 in scienceThe year 1891 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* The New Zealand government sets aside Resolution Island in Fiordland as a nature reserve....
) - December 10 - 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:...
, mathematician (d. 18511851 in scienceThe year 1851 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* February - First public exhibition of a Foucault pendulum, at the Meridian of the Paris Observatory, demonstrating the Earth's rotation...
)
Deaths
- February 6 - Joseph PriestleyJoseph PriestleyJoseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
, chemist (born 17331733 in scienceThe year 1733 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Physiology and medicine:* Rev. Stephen Hales publishes Hæmastaticks, the second volume of his Statical Essays, in London, containing the results of his experiments in measuring blood pressure.-Inventions:* May 26 - The flying...
) - August 30 - Thomas PercivalThomas PercivalThomas Percival FRS FRSE FSA was an English physician and author, best known for crafting perhaps the first modern code of medical ethics...
, reforming physician and medical ethicist (born 17401740 in scienceThe year 1740 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Physics:* Jacques-Barthélemy Micheli du Crest created a spirit thermometer, making use of two fixed points, 0 for "Temperature of earth" based on a cave at Paris Observatory and 100 for the heat of boiling water.* Émilie du...
) - September 20 - Pierre MéchainPierre MéchainPierre François André Méchain was a French astronomer and surveyor who, with Charles Messier, was a major contributor to the early study of deep sky objects and comets.-Life:...
, astronomer (born 17441744 in scienceThe year 1744 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Great Comet of 1744, first sighted in 1743, remains visible until April .-Births:...
) - October 2 - Nicolas-Joseph CugnotNicolas-Joseph CugnotNicolas-Joseph Cugnot was a French inventor. He is believed to have built the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle...
, engineer (born 17251725 in scienceThe year 1725 in science and technology involved some significant events.-History of science:* John Freind begins publication of The History of Physick, from the time of Galen to the beginning of the sixteenth century, chiefly with regard to practice, the first comprehensive history of medicine in...
)