1861 in science

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The year 1861 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Contents 1 Astronomy 2 Biology 3 Chemistry 4 Medicine and physiology 5 Paleontology 6 Technology 7 Publications 8 Awards 9 Births 10 Deaths 11 References

Astronomy

• May 13 - Comet C/1861 J1 (the "Great Comet of 1861") first observed from Australia by John Tebbutt.

Biology

• Anton de Bary publishes his first work on fungi, describing sexual reproduction in Peronospora.

Chemistry

• March 30 - William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.
• Rubidium is discovered by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff, in Heidelberg, Germany, in the mineral lepidolite through the use of their spectroscope.^[1][2]
• Aleksandr Butlerov is instrumental in creating the theory of chemical structure.^[3]
• Josef Loschmidt publishes Chemische Studien, proposing two-dimensional representations for over 300 molecules and recognising variations in atomic size.^[4]
• Ernest Solvay develops the Solvay process for the manufacture of soda ash (sodium carbonate).

Medicine and physiology

• Franciscus Donders introduces the term visual acuity.
• Ádám Politzer publishes the technique of Politzerization used in otorhinolaryngology.
• Ignaz Semmelweis publishes Die Ätiologie, der Begriff und die Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers, a treatment of his theory on sanitary conditions during childbirth.
• Paul Broca identifies the speeech production center of the brain.
• Guillaume Duchenne describes Duchenne muscular dystrophy.^[5]

Paleontology

• September - First complete identified skeleton of Archaeopteryx unearthed near Langenaltheim, Germany.^[6]

Technology

• January 1 - First steam-powered carousel recorded, in Bolton, England.^[7]
• William Froude publishes the first results of his research into ship hull design.^[8]
• Dr. Richard J. Gatling invents the Gatling gun.^[9]

Publications

• Michael Faraday's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures published as The Chemical History of a Candle.

Awards

• Copley Medal: Louis Agassiz
• Wollaston Medal for geology: Heinrich Bronn

Births

• February 15 - Alfred North Whitehead (d. 1947), English mathematician.
• June 9 - Pierre Duhem (d. 1916), French philosopher of science.
• December 17 - Arthur E. Kennelly (d. 1939), Irish American electrical engineer.

Deaths

• June 18 - Eaton Hodgkinson (b. 1789), English structural engineer.
• November 10 - Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (b. 1805), French zoologist.

References