1818 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1818 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
- January 3 (21:52 UTC) - VenusVenusVenus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
occultsOccultationAn occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer. The word is used in astronomy . It can also refer to any situation wherein an object in the foreground blocks from view an object in the background...
JupiterJupiterJupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
, last occultation of one planetPlanetA planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
by another before 22 November 2065.
Exploration
- John RossJohn Ross (Arctic explorer)Sir John Ross, CB, was a Scottish rear admiral and Arctic explorer.Ross was the son of the Rev. Andrew Ross, minister of Inch, near Stranraer in Scotland. In 1786, aged only nine, he joined the Royal Navy as an apprentice. He served in the Mediterranean until 1789 and then in the English Channel...
sets sail in search of the Northwest PassageNorthwest PassageThe Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
.
Medicine
- September 25 - 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...
, Dr James BlundellJames Blundell (physician)James Blundell English obstetrician who performed the first successful transfusion of blood to a patient for treatment of a haemorrhage.-Early years:...
carries out the first blood transfusionBlood transfusionBlood transfusion is the process of receiving blood products into one's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood...
using human blood. - Jean Esquirol produces reports urging greater medicalizationMedicalizationMedicalization is the process by which human conditions and problems come to be defined and treated as medical conditions and problems, and thus come under the authority of doctors and other health professionals to study, diagnose, prevent or treat...
in the treatment of insanityInsanityInsanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
in FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. - Carl Ferdinand von Graefe publishes his pioneering work on rhinoplastyRhinoplastyRhinoplasty , also nose job, is a plastic surgery procedure for correcting and reconstructing the form, restoring the functions, and aesthetically enhancing the nose, by resolving nasal trauma , congenital defect, respiratory impediment, and a failed primary rhinoplasty...
, Rhinoplastik.
Meteorology
- John HowardJohn HowardJohn Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
begins publication of The Climate of London, the first book on urban climatologyUrban climatologyUrban Climatology refers to a specific branch of climatology, it is the branch of climatology concerned with the interactions between urban areas and the atmosphere; the impacts they have on one another; and examines these processes at various scales see also: urban climate- History :Luke Howard...
in EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, presenting new thinking on atmospheric electricityAtmospheric electricityAtmospheric electricity is the regular diurnal variations of the Earth's atmospheric electromagnetic network . The Earth's surface, the ionosphere, and the atmosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit...
and the causes of precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
.
Physics
- Augustin-Jean FresnelAugustin-Jean FresnelAugustin-Jean Fresnel , was a French engineer who contributed significantly to the establishment of the theory of wave optics. Fresnel studied the behaviour of light both theoretically and experimentally....
presents a memoir on diffractionDiffractionDiffraction refers to various phenomena which occur when a wave encounters an obstacle. Italian scientist Francesco Maria Grimaldi coined the word "diffraction" and was the first to record accurate observations of the phenomenon in 1665...
of light to the Académie des SciencesFrench Academy of SciencesThe French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...
.
Technology
- January 2 - Institution of Civil EngineersInstitution of Civil EngineersFounded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150...
inaugurated 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...
. - 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...
builds the first practical version of his 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....
. - First Chubb detector lockChubb detector lockA Chubb detector lock is a type of lever tumbler lock with an integral security feature which frustrates unauthorised access attempts and indicates to the lock's owner that it has been interfered with...
produced.
Publications
- Benjamin SillimanBenjamin SillimanBenjamin Silliman was an American chemist, one of the first American professors of science , and the first to distill petroleum.-Early life:...
begins publishing the American Journal of ScienceAmerican Journal of ScienceThe American Journal of Science is the United States of America's longest-running scientific journal, having been published continuously since its conception in 1818 by Professor Benjamin Silliman, who edited and financed it himself...
, concentrating on geologyGeologyGeology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
; by the 21st century it will be the longest-running scientific journalScientific journalIn academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
issued in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Births
- April 8 - August Wilhelm von HofmannAugust Wilhelm von HofmannAugust Wilhelm von Hofmann was a German chemist.-Biography:Hofmann was born at Gießen, Grand Duchy of Hesse. Not intending originally to devote himself to physical science, he first took up the study of law and philology at Göttingen. But he then turned to chemistry, and studied under Justus von...
(d. 18921892 in scienceThe year 1892 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* William Ramsay discovers argon.* approx...
), 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...
. - May 1 - Lyon PlayfairLyon Playfair, 1st Baron PlayfairLyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair GCB, PC, FRS was a Scottish scientist and Liberal politician.-Background and education:...
(d. 18981898 in scienceThe year 1898 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* William Ramsay and Morris Travers discover Neon, Krypton and Xenon ....
), ScottishScottish peopleThe Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
chemist. - September 27 - Hermann KolbeAdolph Wilhelm Hermann KolbeAdolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe was a German chemist. He never used the first two of his given names, preferring to be known as Hermann Kolbe.-Life:...
(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....
), German chemist. - December 24 - James Prescott JouleJames Prescott JouleJames Prescott Joule FRS was an English physicist and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire. Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work . This led to the theory of conservation of energy, which led to the development of the first law of thermodynamics. The...
(d. 18891889 in scienceThe year 1889 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Walter Heape successfully breeds rabbits from fertilised ova transferred from the biological mother to the uterus of an animal of a different breed....
), 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...
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...
.
Deaths
- July 28 - Gaspard MongeGaspard MongeGaspard Monge, Comte de Péluse was a French mathematician, revolutionary, and was inventor of descriptive geometry. During the French Revolution, he was involved in the complete reorganization of the educational system, founding the École Polytechnique...
(b. 17461746 in scienceThe year 1746 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Chemistry:* John Roebuck invents the lead-chamber process for the manufacture of sulfuric acid....
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - August 11 - Ivan Petrovich KulibinIvan KulibinIvan Petrovich Kulibin was a Russian mechanic and inventor. He was born in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a trader. From childhood, Kulibin displayed an interest in constructing mechanical tools. Soon, clock mechanisms became a special interest of his...
(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:...
), inventor. - Bryan HigginsBryan HigginsBryan Higgins was a natural philosopher in chemistry.He was born in Collooney, County Sligo, Ireland. His father was also called Dr. Bryan Higgins. Higgins entered the University of Leiden in 1765, from whence he qualified as a doctor of physics...
(b. 17411741 in scienceThe year 1741 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Medicine:* Nicolas Andry publishes Orthopédie, giving a name to the discipline of orthopedics.-Births:...
), chemist.