1809 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1809 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
- Carl Friedrich GaussCarl Friedrich GaussJohann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician and scientist who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, geophysics, electrostatics, astronomy and optics.Sometimes referred to as the Princeps mathematicorum...
publishes Theoria motus corporum coelestium in sectionibus conicis solem ambientum in HamburgHamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, introducing the Gaussian gravitational constantGaussian gravitational constantThe Gaussian gravitational constant is an astronomical constant first proposed by German polymath Carl Friedrich Gauss in his 1809 work Theoria motus corporum coelestium in sectionibus conicis solem ambientum , although he had already used the concept to great success in predicting the...
and containing an influential treatment of the least squaresLeast squaresThe method of least squares is a standard approach to the approximate solution of overdetermined systems, i.e., sets of equations in which there are more equations than unknowns. "Least squares" means that the overall solution minimizes the sum of the squares of the errors made in solving every...
method. - S. D. PoissonSiméon Denis PoissonSiméon Denis Poisson , was a French mathematician, geometer, and physicist. He however, was the final leading opponent of the wave theory of light as a member of the elite l'Académie française, but was proven wrong by Augustin-Jean Fresnel.-Biography:...
publishes Sur les inégalités séculaires des moyens mouvements des planètes and Sur la variation des constantes arbitraires dans les questions de mécanique in the Journal of the École PolytechniqueÉcole PolytechniqueThe École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...
, extending LagrangeLagrangeLa Grange literally means the barn in French. Lagrange may refer to:- People :* Charles Varlet de La Grange , French actor* Georges Lagrange , translator to and writer in Esperanto...
's theory of planetary orbitPlanetary orbitIn physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
s.
Biology
- Jean-Baptiste LamarckJean-Baptiste LamarckJean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de la Marck , often known simply as Lamarck, was a French naturalist...
publishes Philosophie ZoologiquePhilosophie ZoologiquePhilosophie zoologique ou exposition des considérations relatives à l'histoire naturelle des animaux is an 1809 book by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in which he outlines his theory of evolution now known as Lamarckism.Lamarck proposed that :“as new modifications will necessarily continue...
, outlining his theory of evolutionEvolutionEvolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
.
Geography
- William MaclureWilliam MaclureWilliam Maclure, American - British social experimenter on new types of community life together with British social reformer Robert Owen, , in Indiana State, U. S. A....
publishes the first geological map of the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with accompanying memoir.
Medicine
- Philippe PinelPhilippe PinelPhilippe Pinel was a French physician who was instrumental in the development of a more humane psychological approach to the custody and care of psychiatric patients, referred to today as moral therapy...
publishes accounts of what would later be regarded as schizophreniaSchizophreniaSchizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
.
Technology
- February 11 - Robert FultonRobert FultonRobert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat...
patents the steamboatSteamboatA steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. - Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring invents a water voltameterVoltameterA Voltameter is a scientific instrument used for measuring quantity of electricity. It should not be confused with a voltmeter which measures electric potential...
electrical telegraphElectrical telegraphAn electrical telegraph is a telegraph that uses electrical signals, usually conveyed via telecommunication lines or radio. The electromagnetic telegraph is a device for human-to-human transmission of coded text messages....
.
Births
- January 4 - Louis BrailleLouis BrailleLouis Braille was the inventor of braille, a system of reading and writing used by people who are blind or visually impaired...
(d. 18521852 in scienceThe year 1852 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Aeronautics:* September 24 - French engineer Henri Giffard makes the first airship trip, from Paris to Trappes.-Medicine:...
), inventor. - February 12 - Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
(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:...
), 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...
. - February 15 - Cyrus McCormickCyrus McCormickCyrus Hall McCormick, Sr. was an American inventor and founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which became part of International Harvester Company in 1902.He and many members of the McCormick family became prominent Chicagoans....
(d. 18841884 in scienceThe year 1884 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* J. H. van 't Hoff proposes the Arrhenius equation for the temperature dependence of the reaction rate constant, and therefore, rate of a chemical reaction....
), inventor. - April 15 - Hermann Günther Grassmann (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,...
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - November 22 - Bénédict MorelBénédict MorelBénédict Augustin Morel , was a French physician born in Vienna, Austria. He was an influential figure in the field of psychiatry during the mid-19th century....
(d. 18731873 in scienceThe year 1873 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Mathematics:* Charles Hermite proves that the mathematical constant e is a transcendental number....
), psychiatristPsychiatristA psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
. - Date unknown - Marie DurocherMarie DurocherMarie Josefina Mathilde Durocher , was a Brazilian obstetrician, midwife and physician. She was the first female doctor in Latin America....
(d. 18931893 in scienceThe year 1893 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Henry Luke Bolley discovers a method of treating smut with formaldehyde.-Exploration:...
), 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...
.
Deaths
- August 18 - Matthew BoultonMatthew BoultonMatthew Boulton, FRS was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the...
, engineer (b. 17281728 in scienceThe year 1728 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* James Bradley uses stellar aberration to calculate the speed of light to be approximately 301 000 km/s....
). - October 11 - Meriwether LewisMeriwether LewisMeriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark...
, explorer (b. 17741774 in scienceThe year 1774 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Chemistry:* August 1 - Joseph Priestley, working at Bowood House, Wiltshire, England, isolates oxygen in the form of a gas, which he calls "dephlogisticated air"....
). - December 16 - Antoine François, comte de FourcroyAntoine François, comte de FourcroyAntoine François, comte de Fourcroy was a French chemist and a contemporary of Antoine Lavoisier. Fourcroy collaborated with Lavoisier, Guyton de Morveau, and Claude Berthollet on the Méthode de nomenclature chimique, a work that helped standardize chemical nomenclature.-Life and work:Fourcroy...
, chemist (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:...
)