The year 1811 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Astronomy

* March 25 – Great Comet discovered by

Honoré Flaugergues Pierre-Gilles-Antoine-Honoré Flaugergues, usually known as Honoré Flaugergues (16 May 1755 in Viviers, Ardèche – 26 November 1835 or 20 November 1830different sources give different years of death) was a French astronomer. Biography Flauger ...

Biology

* Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger publishes ''Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium'', an updating of Linnean taxonomy and a major influence on the concept of the ' Family' in biology. He first defines the infraclass '' Marsupialia''. * Peter Simon Pallas begins publication of ''Zoographia rosso-Asiatica, sistens omnium animalium in extenso Imperio rossico, et adjacentibus maribus observatorum recensionem, domicilia, mores et descriptiones, anatomen atque icones plurimorum'' in Saint Petersburg.

Chemistry

* Bernard Courtois discovers

iodine Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid at standard conditions that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...

. * Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and

Louis Jacques Thénard Louis Jacques Thénard (4 May 177721 June 1857) was a French chemist. Life He was born in a farm cottage near Nogent-sur-Seine in the Champagne district the son of a farm worker. In the post-Revolution French educational system , most boys rec ...

publish ''Recherches Physico-Chimiques, faites sur la pile; sur la préparation chimique et les propriétés du potassium et du sodium; sur la décomposition de l'acide boracique; sur les acides fluorique, muriatique et muriatique oxigéné; sur l'action chimique de la lumière; sur l'analyse végétale et animale, etc.'' in Paris. * Amedeo Avogadro proposes Avogadro's law, that equal volumes of gases under constant temperature and pressure contain equal number of molecules.

Earth sciences

* June 10 – A volcanic eruption, observed from British

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

, briefly creates Sabrina Island (Azores).

Mathematics

* Carl Friedrich Gauss works with functions of complex number variables. * S. D. Poisson publishes ''Traité de mécanique'' (vol. 1).

Medicine

Charles Bell Sir Charles Bell (12 November 177428 April 1842) was a Scotland, Scottish surgeon, anatomist, physiologist, neurologist, artist, and philosophical theologian. He is noted for discovering the difference between sensory nerves and motor nerves in ...

publishes ''An Idea of a New Anatomy of the Brain'', starting to distinguish between

sensory Sensory may refer to: Biology * Sensory ecology, how organisms obtain information about their environment * Sensory neuron, nerve cell responsible for transmitting information about external stimuli * Sensory perception, the process of acquiri ...

and motor nerves. *

Abraham Colles Abraham Colles (23 July 1773 – 16 November 1843) was Professor of Anatomy, Surgery and Physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and the President of RCSI in 1802 and 1830. A prestigio ...

publishes ''A Treatise on Surgical Anatomy'' in Dublin. * Francis Place publishes ''Illustrations and Proofs of the Principles of Population, including an examination of the proposed remedies of Mr. Malthus, and a reply to the objections of Mr. Godwin and others'' in London, the first significant text in English to advocate contraception.

Paleontology

* Mary Anning discovers the fossilised remains of an

Ichthyosaur Ichthyosaurs (Ancient Greek for "fish lizard" – and ) are large extinct marine reptiles. Ichthyosaurs belong to the order known as Ichthyosauria or Ichthyopterygia ('fish flippers' – a designation introduced by Sir Richard Owen in 1842, altho ...

at Lyme Regis.

Physics

* Amedeo Avogadro proposes his hypothesis relating volumes and numbers of molecules of gases.

Technology

* Friedrich Koenig, with the assistance of Andreas Friedrich Bauer, produces the first steam printing press, in London.

Awards

Copley Medal The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society, for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science". It alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences. Given every year, the medal is t ...

: Benjamin Brodie

Births

* March 2 – Hugh Edwin Strickland, English geologist and

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

(died

1853 Events January–March * January 6 – Florida Governor Thomas Brown signs legislation that provides public support for the new East Florida Seminary, leading to the establishment of the University of Florida. * January 8 – Taiping Reb ...

) * March 11 ** Lady

Katherine Sophia Kane Lady Katherine Sophia Kane (''née'' Baily; 11 March 1811 – 25 February 1886) was an Irish botanist, best known for her book on Irish flowering plants ''The Irish Flora'' (1833). Life Katherine Sophia Baily was born 11 March 1811, the only c ...

née Baily, Irish botanist (died

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

) ** Urbain Le Verrier,

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

astronomer (died

1877 Events January–March * January 1 – Queen Victoria is proclaimed ''Empress of India'' by the ''Royal Titles Act 1876'', introduced by Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . * January 8 – Great Sio ...

) * March 30 – Robert Bunsen, German chemist (died

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a c ...

) * July 13 – James Young,

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

chemist (died

1883 Events January–March * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * Janua ...

) * September 14 –

William Budd William Budd (14 September 1811 – 9 January 1880) was an English physician and epidemiologist known for recognizing that infectious diseases were contagious. He recognized that the "poisons" involved in infectious diseases multiplied in the int ...

, English physician and epidemiologist (died

1880 Events January–March * January 22 – Toowong State School is founded in Queensland, Australia. * January – The international White slave trade affair scandal in Brussels is exposed and attracts international infamy. * February � ...

) * October 25 – Évariste Galois, French mathematician (died

1832 Events January–March * January 6 – Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison founds the New-England Anti-Slavery Society. * January 13 – The Christmas Rebellion of slaves is brought to an end in Jamaica, after the island's white plan ...

) *

John Waterston John James Waterston (1811 – 18 June 1883) was a Scottish physicist and a neglected pioneer of the kinetic theory of gases. Early life Waterston's father, George, was an Edinburgh sealing wax manufacturer and stationer, a relative of the Sande ...

, Scottish physicist and

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

(died

)

Deaths

* February 9 – Nevil Maskelyne, English Astronomer Royal (born

1732 Events January–March * January 21 – Russia and Persia sign the Treaty of Riascha at Resht. Based on the terms of the agreement, Russia will no longer establish claims over Persian territories. * February 9 – The Swedish ...

) * August 31 – Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French explorer (born

1729 Events January–March * January 8 – Frederick, the eldest son of King George II of Great Britain is made Prince of Wales at the age of 21, a few months after he comes to Britain for the first time after growing up in Hanover ...

) * September 8 – Peter Simon Pallas, German-born naturalist (born

1741 Events January–March * January 13 – Lanesborough, Massachusetts is created as a township. * February 13 – Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, popularizes the term "the balance of power" in a spe ...

)

References

{{reflist 19th century in science 1810s in science