1845 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1845 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.
Events
- January 14 – Physikalische Gesellschaft zu BerlinDeutsche Physikalische GesellschaftThe Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft is the world's largest organization of physicists. The DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 60,000, as of 2011...
established and begins publishing Fortschritte der Physik and Verhandlungen. - August 28 – The journal Scientific AmericanScientific AmericanScientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
begins publication. - 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...
's Kosmos: Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung begins publication.
Astronomy
- April – Lord RosseWilliam Parsons, 3rd Earl of RosseWilliam Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, Knight of the Order of St Patrick was an Irish astronomer who had several telescopes built. His 72-inch telescope "Leviathan", built 1845, was the world's largest telescope until the early 20th century.-Life:He was born in Yorkshire, England, in the city of...
discovers that the nebula M51Whirlpool GalaxyThe Whirlpool Galaxy is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy that is estimated to be 23 ± 4 million light-years from the Milky Way Galaxy. in the constellation Canes Venatici...
has a spiral structure. - Construction begins in IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
of the "Leviathan of ParsonstownLeviathan of ParsonstownLeviathan of Parsonstown is the unofficial name of the Rosse six foot telescope. This is a historic reflecting telescope of 72 in aperture, which was the largest telescope in the world from 1845 until the construction of the 100 in Hooker Telescope in 1917...
", a telescopeTelescopeA telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
built by Lord Rosse.
Biology
- August–September – Previously unknown Potato blight strikes the potatoPotatoThe potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
crop in irelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
: start of the Irish Potato Famine.
Chemistry
- March 17 - Stephen PerryStephen PerryStephen Perry was a 19th century British inventor and businessman. His corporation was the Messers Perry and Co, Rubber Manufacturers of London, which made early products from vulcanized rubber. On March 17, 1845, Perry received a patent for the rubber band.- See also :*Other people surnamed Perry...
patents the rubber bandRubber bandA rubber band is a short length of rubber and latex formed in the shape of a loop and is commonly used to hold multiple objects together...
in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. - Edmond FrémyEdmond FremyEdmond Frémy was a French chemist. He is perhaps best known today for Frémy's salt, a strong oxidizing agent which he discovered in 1845...
discovers the oxidizing agentOxidizing agentAn oxidizing agent can be defined as a substance that removes electrons from another reactant in a redox chemical reaction...
Frémy's saltFremy's saltFrémy's salt, discovered in 1845 by Edmond Frémy , is a chemical compound and a strong oxidizing agent. The formal name is disodium nitrosodisulfonate or Na2NO2, but the expression "Frémy's salt" refers equally well to potassium nitrosodisulfonate, also known as potassium peroxylamine disulfonate...
.
Exploration
- August - John FranklinJohn FranklinRear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
's expeditionFranklin's lost expeditionFranklin's lost expedition was a doomed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845. A Royal Navy officer and experienced explorer, Franklin had served on three previous Arctic expeditions, the latter two as commanding officer...
with HMS ErebusHMS Erebus (1826)HMS Erebus was a Hecla-class bomb vessel designed by Sir Henry Peake and constructed by the Royal Navy in Pembroke dockyard, Wales in 1826. The vessel was named after the dark region in Hades of Greek mythology called Erebus...
and HMS TerrorHMS Terror (1813)HMS Terror was a bomb vessel designed by Sir Henry Peake and constructed by the Royal Navy in the Davy shipyard in Topsham, Devon. The ship, variously listed as being of either 326 or 340 tons, carried two mortars, one and one .-War service:...
to find 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...
is last seen entering Baffin BayBaffin BayBaffin Bay , located between Baffin Island and the southwest coast of Greenland, is a marginal sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is connected to the Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea...
prior to its mysterious disappearance.
Medicine
- December 27 - AnesthesiaAnesthesiaAnesthesia, or anaesthesia , traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away...
is used in childbirthChildbirthChildbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
for the first time, by Dr Crawford LongCrawford LongCrawford Williamson Long was an American surgeon and pharmacist best known for his first use of inhaled diethyl ether as an anesthetic...
in Jefferson, GeorgiaJefferson, GeorgiaJefferson is a city in Jackson County, Georgia, United States. The population was 3,825 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Jackson County. Jefferson is known for its superior recreation department...
.
Physics
- September 13 – Michael FaradayMichael FaradayMichael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....
discovers that an intense magnetic fieldMagnetic fieldA magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
can rotate the plane of polarized light.
Transport
- July 26–August 10 – 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...
’s iron steamship 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...
makes the Transatlantic Crossing from LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
to New YorkNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the first screw propelledPropellerA propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
vessel to make the passage.
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"...
: Theodor SchwannTheodor SchwannTheodor Schwann was a German physiologist. His many contributions to biology include the development of cell theory, the discovery of Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system, the discovery and study of pepsin, the discovery of the organic nature of yeast, and the invention of the term... - 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: John PhillipsJohn Phillips (geologist)John Phillips FRS was an English geologist.- Life and work :Philips was born at Marden in Wiltshire...
Births
- March 3 - Georg CantorGeorg CantorGeorg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor was a German mathematician, best known as the inventor of set theory, which has become a fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor established the importance of one-to-one correspondence between the members of two sets, defined infinite and well-ordered sets,...
(d. 19181918 in scienceThe year 1918 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* Kiyotsugu Hirayama identifies several groups of main belt asteroids, now known as Hirayama families....
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - March 27 - Wilhelm Röntgen (d. 19231923 in scienceThe year 1923 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Aeronautics:* Juan de la Cierva invents the autogyro, a rotary-winged aircraft with an unpowered rotor.-Astronomy:...
), 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...
, discoverer of X-rays, Nobel laureate. - May 4 - William Kingdon CliffordWilliam Kingdon CliffordWilliam Kingdon Clifford FRS was an English mathematician and philosopher. Building on the work of Hermann Grassmann, he introduced what is now termed geometric algebra, a special case of the Clifford algebra named in his honour, with interesting applications in contemporary mathematical physics...
(d. 18791879 in scienceThe year 1879 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Jean Henri Fabre publishes the first of his Souvenirs entomologiques....
), geometer. - May 16 - Ilya Ilyich MechnikovIlya Ilyich MechnikovIlya Ilyich Mechnikov was a Russian biologist, zoologist and protozoologist, best remembered for his pioneering research into the immune system. Mechnikov received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1908, shared with Paul Ehrlich, for his work on phagocytosis...
(d. 19161916 in scienceThe year 1916 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Gilbert N. Lewis and Irving Langmuir formulate an electron shell model of chemical bonding....
), microbiologistMicrobiologistA microbiologist is a scientist who works in the field of microbiology. Microbiologists study organisms called microbes. Microbes can take the form of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists...
, Nobel laureate. - June 16 - Heinrich DresselHeinrich DresselHeinrich Dressel was a German archaeologist. He is best known for several books on Latin inscriptions, and he is the discoverer of the Duenos inscription, one of the oldest extant examples of Old Latin writing....
(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:...
), archaeologist. - July 4 - Thomas BarnardoThomas John BarnardoThomas John Barnardo was a philanthropist and founder and director of homes for poor children, born in Dublin. From the foundation of the first Barnardo's home in 1870 to the date of Barnardo’s death, nearly 100,000 children had been rescued, trained and given a better life.- Early life :Barnardo...
(d. 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....
), 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...
and philanthropistPhilanthropistA philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
. - September 11 - Emile BaudotÉmile BaudotJean-Maurice-Émile Baudot , French telegraph engineer and inventor of the first means of digital communication Baudot code, was one of the pioneers of telecommunications...
(d. 19031903 in scienceThe year 1903 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Aeronautics:* December 17 - First documented, successful, controlled, powered flight of an aircraft with a petrol engine by Orville Wright in the Wright Flyer at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.* Konstantin...
), telegraph engineer. - November 14 - Ulisse Dini (d. 19181918 in scienceThe year 1918 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* Kiyotsugu Hirayama identifies several groups of main belt asteroids, now known as Hirayama families....
), mathematician. - Vasily Dokuchaev (d. 19021902 in scienceThe year 1902 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Aeronautics:*May 15 - Lyman Gilmore claims to have flown his steam-powered fixed-wing aircraft, although his proof was supposedly destroyed in a 1935 fire.-Chemistry:...
), geologistGeologistA geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
.
Deaths
- March 13 - John Frederic DaniellJohn Frederic DaniellJohn Frederic Daniell was an English chemist and physicist.Daniell was born in London, and in 1831 became the first professor of chemistry at the newly founded King's College London. His name is best known for his invention of the Daniell cell , an electric battery much better than voltaic cells...
(b. 17901790 in scienceThe year 1790 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Armagh Observatory founded by Richard Robinson, 1st Baron Rokeby, Archbishop of Armagh.-Biology:...
), 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...
and 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...
. - October 18 - Dominique, comte de CassiniDominique, comte de CassiniThis article is about the French astronomer. For his Italian-born great-grandfather, see Giovanni Domenico Cassini.Jean-Dominique, comte de Cassini was a French astronomer, son of César-François Cassini de Thury....
(b. 17481748 in scienceThe year 1748 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Chemistry:* Thomas Frye of the Bow porcelain factory in London produces bone china.-Mathematics:...
), 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...
. - Jean Henri Jaume Saint-HilaireJean Henri Jaume Saint-HilaireJean Henri Jaume Saint-Hilaire was a French naturalist and artist, born in Grasse, France.-Biography:Born as Jaume, he added Saint-Hilaire later. Some biographers indicate that this addition was to distinguish himself from a family member, Henri-Honore Jaume, a Jacobin who had been involved in...
(b. 17721772 in scienceThe year 1772 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Cartography:* Johann Heinrich Lambert publishes seven new map projections, including the Lambert conformal conic, Transverse Mercator and Lambert azimuthal equal area.-Chemistry:...
), botanist.