1859 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1859 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
- August 28–September 2 - The solar storm of 1859Solar storm of 1859The solar storm of 1859, also known as the Solar Superstorm, or the Carrington Event, which occurred during solar cycle 10, was the most powerful solar storm in recorded history, and the largest flare, observed by Richard Christopher Carrington, became known as the Carrington Super...
, the largest geomagnetic solar storm on record, causes the Northern lightsAurora (astronomy)An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...
auroraAurora (astronomy)An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...
to be visible as far south as Cuba and knocks out telegraph communication. This is also called the Carrington event, Richard CarringtonRichard Christopher CarringtonRichard Christopher Carrington was an English amateur astronomer whose 1859 astronomical observations demonstrated the existence of solar flares as well as suggesting their electrical influence upon the Earth and its aurorae; and whose 1863 records of sunspot observations revealed the differential...
being the first known person to observe solar flareSolar flareA solar flare is a sudden brightening observed over the Sun surface or the solar limb, which is interpreted as a large energy release of up to 6 × 1025 joules of energy . The flare ejects clouds of electrons, ions, and atoms through the corona into space. These clouds typically reach Earth a day...
s, due to this storm. It is also the first major solar radiation storm to be recorded. - Attempting to explain MercuryMercury (planet)Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
's solar orbit, 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...
mathematician Urbain Le Verrier proposes the existence of a hypothetical planet, VulcanVulcan (hypothetical planet)Vulcan was a small planet proposed to exist in an orbit between Mercury and the Sun. In an attempt to explain peculiarities of Mercury's orbit, in the 19th-century French mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier hypothesized that they were the result of another planet, which he named Vulcan...
, inside its orbit and amateur astronomer Edmond Modeste LescarbaultEdmond Modeste LescarbaultEdmond Modeste Lescarbault , was a French doctor and an amateur astronomer, best remembered for his 1859 observation of Vulcan....
claims to have observed it during March.
Biology
- March 21 - The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issues the charter establishing the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, the first organization of its kind in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and founder of the nation's first zooZooA zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
. - November 24 - 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...
publishes On the Origin of Species. - Isidore Geoffroy Saint-HilaireIsidore Geoffroy Saint-HilaireIsidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a French zoologist and an authority on deviation from normal structure. He coined the term ethology.He was born in Paris, the son of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire...
, in the second volume of Histoire naturelle générale des Règnes organiques, introduces the term ethologyEthologyEthology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
. - Rudolf VirchowRudolf VirchowRudolph Carl Virchow was a German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician, known for his advancement of public health...
publishes Vorlesungen über Cellularpathologie in ihrer Begründung auf physiologischer und pathologischer Gewebelehre, a major textbook on cellular pathology.
Chemistry
- Aleksandr ButlerovAleksandr ButlerovAleksandr Mikhailovich Butlerov was a Russian chemist, one of the principal creators of the theory of chemical structure , the first to incorporate double bonds into structural formulas, the discoverer of hexamine , and the discoverer of the formose reaction.The...
discovers hexamineHexamineHexamethylenetetramine is a heterocyclic organic compound with the formula 6N4. This white crystalline compound is highly soluble in water and polar organic solvents. It has a cage-like structure similar to adamantane. It is useful in the synthesis of other chemical compounds, e.g. plastics,...
. - August 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...
isolates sorbic acidSorbic acidSorbic acid, or 2,4-hexadienoic acid, is a natural organic compound used as a food preservative. It has the chemical formula C6H8O2. It is a colourless solid that is slightly soluble in water and sublimes readily...
. - Gustav Robert Kirchhoff and Robert BunsenRobert BunsenRobert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium and rubidium with Gustav Kirchhoff. Bunsen developed several gas-analytical methods, was a pioneer in photochemistry, and did early work in the field of organoarsenic...
invent an improved spectroscope.
Mathematics
- Arthur CayleyArthur CayleyArthur Cayley F.R.S. was a British mathematician. He helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics....
produces the first Cayley–Klein metricCayley–Klein metricIn mathematics, a Cayley–Klein metric is a metric on the complement of a fixed quadric in projective space defined using a cross-ratio. The first example was given by , and they were studied further by ....
. - Bernhard RiemannBernhard RiemannGeorg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann was an influential German mathematician who made lasting contributions to analysis and differential geometry, some of them enabling the later development of general relativity....
publishes his paper on number theoryNumber theoryNumber theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers. Number theorists study prime numbers as well...
, die Anzahl der Primzahlen unter einer gegebenen ("On the Number of Primes Less Than a Given MagnitudeOn the Number of Primes Less Than a Given Magnitudedie Anzahl der Primzahlen unter einer gegebenen is a seminal 8-page paper by Bernhard Riemann published in the November 1859 edition of the Monatsberichte der Königlich Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin.Although it is the only paper he ever published on number theory, it...
") including the Riemann zeta function and Riemann hypothesisRiemann hypothesisIn mathematics, the Riemann hypothesis, proposed by , is a conjecture about the location of the zeros of the Riemann zeta function which states that all non-trivial zeros have real part 1/2...
.
Medicine
- Florence NightingaleFlorence NightingaleFlorence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...
publishes Notes on Nursing: What it is and What it is NotNotes on NursingNotes on Nursing: What it is and What it is Not is a book first published by Florence Nightingale in 1859. A 136-page volume, it was intended to give hints on nursing to those entrusted with the health of others...
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...
. - District nursingDistrict nurseDistrict Nurses are senior nurses who manage care within the community, leading teams of community nurses and support workers. Typically much of their work involves visiting house-bound patients to provide advice and care, for example, palliative care, wound management, catheter and continence...
begins in 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...
, 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...
, when philanthropist William RathboneWilliam Rathbone VIWilliam Rathbone VI was an English merchant and businessman noted for his philanthropic and public work...
employs Mary Robinson to nurse the sick poor in their own homes.
Technology
- May 2 - 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 Royal Albert BridgeRoyal Albert BridgeThe Royal Albert Bridge is a railway bridge that spans the River Tamar in the United Kingdom between Plymouth, on the Devon bank, and Saltash on the Cornish bank. Its unique design consists of two lenticular iron trusses above the water, with conventional plate-girder approach spans. This gives...
for the Cornwall RailwayCornwall RailwayThe Cornwall Railway was a broad gauge railway from Plymouth in Devon to Falmouth in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The section from Plymouth to Truro opened in 1859, the extension to Falmouth in 1863...
at SaltashSaltashSaltash is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a population of 14,964. It lies in the south east of Cornwall, facing Plymouth over the River Tamar. It was in the Caradon district until March 2009 and is known as "the gateway to Cornwall". Saltash means ash tree by...
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...
is officially opened. - Thomas AvelingAveling and PorterAveling and Porter was a British agricultural engine and steam roller manufacturer. Thomas Aveling and Richard Thomas Porter entered into partnership in 1862, developed a steam engine three years later in 1865 and produced more steam rollers than all the other British manufacturers combined.-The...
of Rochester, Kent, England, produces the first traction engineTraction engineA traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...
, by modification of an existing machine.
Awards
- February 23 - William Armstrong created a Knight BachelorKnight BachelorThe rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
- 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"...
: Wilhelm WeberWilhelm Eduard WeberWilhelm Eduard Weber was a German physicist and, together with Carl Friedrich Gauss, inventor of the first electromagnetic telegraph.-Early years:... - Wollaston Medal for geologyWollaston 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...
: 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...
Births
- February 14
- Henry Valentine KnaggsHenry Valentine KnaggsHenry Valentine Knaggs was an English doctor and author who was a notable practitioner of nature cure methods .- Early life :He was the second son of Henry Guard Knaggs and Ellen Mares...
(d. 19541954 in scienceThe year 1954 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* November 30 - In Sylacauga, Alabama, an 8.5 pound sulfide meteorite crashes through a roof and hits Mrs...
), 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...
practioner of naturopathic medicineNaturopathic medicineNaturopathy, or Naturopathic Medicine, is a form of alternative medicine based on a belief in vitalism, which posits that a special energy called vital energy or vital force guides bodily processes such as metabolism, reproduction, growth, and adaptation...
. - George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr.George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr.George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. was an American engineer. He is most famous for creating the original Ferris Wheel for the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.-Early life:...
(d. 18961896 in scienceThe year 1896 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Mathematics:* The prime number theorem on the distribution of primes is proved.* Charles L...
), AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
civil engineerCivil engineerA civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
.
- Henry Valentine Knaggs
- February 19 - Svante ArrheniusSvante ArrheniusSvante August Arrhenius was a Swedish scientist, originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, and one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry...
(d. 19271927 in scienceThe year 1927 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Mathematics:* Publication of the 2nd edition of Principia Mathematica by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell, one of the most important and seminal works in mathematical logic and philosophy.-Physics:*...
), SwedishSwedesSwedes are a Scandinavian nation and ethnic group native to Sweden, mostly inhabiting Sweden and the other Nordic countries, with descendants living in a number of countries.-Etymology:...
winner of the Nobel Prize in ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
. - February 28 - Florian CajoriFlorian CajoriFlorian Cajori was one of the most celebrated historians of mathematics in his day.- Biography :...
(d. 19301930 in scienceThe year 1930 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* February 18 - Pluto is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh.* Bernhard Schmidt invents the Schmidt Camera.-Atmospheric chemistry:...
), Swiss historian of mathematics. - March 4 - Alexander Stepanovich PopovAlexander Stepanovich PopovAlexander Stepanovich Popov was a Russian physicist who was the first person to demonstrate the practical application of electromagnetic waves....
(d. 1906), RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n 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...
. - April 7 - Jacques LoebJacques LoebJacques Loeb was a German-born American physiologist and biologist.-Biography:...
(d. 19241924 in scienceThe year 1924 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* December 30 - Edwin Hubble announces the existence of other galaxies....
), German physiologist. - May 15 - Pierre CuriePierre CuriePierre Curie was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity and radioactivity, and Nobel laureate. He was the son of Dr. Eugène Curie and Sophie-Claire Depouilly Curie ...
(d. 19061906 in scienceThe year 1906 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Charles Barkla discovers that each element has a characteristic X-ray and that the degree of penetration of these X-rays is related to the atomic weight of the element.* Mikhail Tsvet first names the...
), 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...
winner of the Nobel Prize in PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
. - May 28 - Edward HopkinsonEdward HopkinsonEdward Hopkinson was a British electrical engineer and Conservative politician.He was the fourth son of John Hopkinson, an engineer who was mayor of Manchester in 1882/83. Hopkinson was educated at Owen's College, Manchester and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He graduated from Emmanuel in 1881 and...
(d. 19221922 in scienceThe year 1922 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Archaeology:* November 4 - British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to King Tutankhamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings of Egypt.-Biology:...
), English electrical engineer. - June 25 - Gerhard HeilmannGerhard HeilmannGerhard Heilmann was a Danish artist and paleontologist who created artistic depictions of Archeopteryx, Proavis and other early bird relatives apart from writing The Origin of Birds, a pioneering and influential account of bird evolution...
(d. 19461946 in scienceThe year 1946 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* November 10 - Peter Scott opens the Slimbridge Wetland Reserve in England.* Karl von Frisch publishes "Die Tänze der Bienen" ....
), DanishDanesDanish people or Danes are the nation and ethnic group that is native to Denmark, and who speak Danish.The first mention of Danes within the Danish territory is on the Jelling Rune Stone which mentions how Harald Bluetooth converted the Danes to Christianity in the 10th century...
paleo-ornithologist.
Deaths
- May 1 - John WalkerJohn Walker (inventor)John Walker was an English chemist who invented the friction match.-Life and work:Walker was born in Stockton-on-Tees in 1781. He went to the local grammar school and was afterwards apprenticed to Watson Alcock, the principal surgeon of the town serving him as an assistant-surgeon...
(b. 17811781 in scienceThe year 1781 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* William Herschel discovers Uranus.* Charles Messier publishes final catalogue of Messier objects.* March 20 - Pierre Méchain discovers dwarf galaxy NGC 5195.-Biology:...
), 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...
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 5 - Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune DirichletJohann Peter Gustav Lejeune DirichletJohann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet was a German mathematician with deep contributions to number theory , as well as to the theory of Fourier series and other topics in mathematical analysis; he is credited with being one of the first mathematicians to give the modern formal definition of a...
(b. 18051805 in scienceSignificant events in 1805 in science and technology are listed.-Biology:* Jean Henri Jaume Saint-Hilaire publishes Exposition des Familles naturelles et de la Germination des Plantes, contentant la description de 2337 genres et d'environ 4000 espèces, 112 planches dont les figures ont ete...
), German mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - May 6 - 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...
(b. 17691769 in scienceThe year 1769 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* June 3 - Transit of Venus is observed from many places in order to obtain data for measuring the distance from the Earth to the Sun...
), German 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...
and explorer. - September 10 - Thomas NuttallThomas NuttallThomas Nuttall was an English botanist and zoologist, who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841....
(b. 17861786 in scienceThe year 1786 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Births:* January 5 - Thomas Nuttall, English naturalist * February 26 - François Arago, French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer -Deaths:...
), English naturalist. - September 15 - 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...
(b. 18061806 in scienceThe year 1806 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Botany:* Publication begins in London of the Flora Graeca collected by John Sibthorp.-Mathematics:* Jean-Robert Argand introduces the Argand diagram....
), BritishBritish peopleThe British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
civil engineer. - October 12 - Robert StephensonRobert StephensonRobert Stephenson FRS was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.-Early life :He was born on the 16th of...
(b. 18031803 in scienceThe year 1803 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* April 26 - A meteorite shower falls on L'Aigle in Normandy; Jean Baptiste Biot demonstrates that they are of extraterrestrial origin.-Botany:...
), English railway engineer.