1838 in science

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The year 1838 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Contents 1 Astronomy 2 Biology 3 Chemistry 4 Exploration 5 Mathematics 6 Medicine 7 Technology 8 Awards 9 Births 10 Deaths 11 References

Astronomy

• Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel makes the first accurate measurement of distance to a star, 61 Cygni, using parallax. Thomas Henderson (Alpha Centauri) and Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve (Vega) announce their measurements using parallax shortly afterwards.
• Claude Servais Mathias Pouillet makes the first quantitative measurements of the heat emitted by the Sun.
• Peter Andreas Hansen publishes a revision of the lunar theory, Fundamenta nova investigationis orbitae verae quam luna perlustrat.

Biology

• Proteins discovered by Gerardus Johannes Mulder^[1] and named by Jöns Jakob Berzelius.^[2]
• Matthias Schleiden discovers that all living plant tissue is composed of cells.
• Royal Agricultural Society of England established.

Chemistry

• Bulat steel alloy developed by Pavel Petrovich Anosov.

Exploration

• August 18 - The United States Exploring Expedition under U.S. Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes sets sail for a four-year circumnavigation westabout.
• In Australia, Charles Sturt proves that the Hume and Murray are the same river.

Mathematics

• Augustus De Morgan introduces the term 'mathematical induction'.^[3]
• S. D. Poisson publishes Recherches sur la probabilité des jugements en matière criminelle et en matière civile, containing his work on probability theory and introducing Poisson distribution.

Medicine

• Jean Esquirol publishes Des maladies mentales considerées sous le rapport médicale, hygiènique et médico-legal in Paris. This includes the first description of what will later become known as Down syndrome.^[4]
• John Gorrie experiments with cooling the hospital wards of malarial patients in Apalachicola, Florida.^[5]

Technology

• January 6 - Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrates the electrical telegraph.
• April 4–22 - The paddle steamer SS Sirius (1837) makes the Transatlantic Crossing to New York from Cork, Ireland, in eighteen days, though not using steam continuously.^[6]
• April 8–23 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel's paddle steamer SS Great Western (1838) makes the Transatlantic Crossing to New York from Avonmouth, England, in fifteen days, inaugurating a regular steamship service.^[7]
• Liverpool-built barque Ironsides becomes the first large ocean-going iron ship.^[8]
• David Bruce, Jr., invents the Pivotal Typecaster, which replaces hand typecasting in printing.
• The first screw-pile lighthouse is built by Alexander Mitchell on Maplin Sands in the Thames Estuary.
• David Brewster orginates the stereoscope.

Awards

• Copley Medal: Carl Friedrich Gauss
• Wollaston Medal: Richard Owen

Births

• January 5 - Camille Jordan (d. 1922), mathematician.
• January 29 - Edward Morley (d. 1923), chemist.
• February 18 - Ernst Mach (d. 1916), physicist.
• March 3 - George William Hill (d. 1914), astronomer.
• March 12 - William Perkin (d. 1907), chemist.
• April 8 - Ferdinand von Zeppelin (d. 1917), founder of the Zeppelin airship company.
• April 16 - Ernest Solvay, (d. 1922) chemist.
• April 21 - John Muir (d. 1914), naturalist.
• June 4 - John Grigg (d. 1920), astronomer.

Deaths

• July 5 - Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (b. 1774), otorhinolaryngologist.
• August 21 - Adelbert von Chamisso (b. 1781), botanist.
• September 27 - Bernard Courtois (b. 1777), chemist.

References