The year 1839 in
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
and
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scie ...
involved some significant events, listed below.
Astronomy
* January – The first
parallax
Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby object ...
measurement of the distance to
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri ( Latinized from α Centauri and often abbreviated Alpha Cen or α Cen) is a triple star system in the constellation of Centaurus. It consists of 3 stars: Alpha Centauri A (officially Rigil Kentaurus), Alpha Centau ...
is published by
Thomas Henderson.
* January 2 – The first photograph of the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...
is taken by
Louis Daguerre
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre ( , ; 18 November 1787 – 10 July 1851) was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photog ...
.
Biology
* January 29 – English naturalist
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
marries his cousin
Emma Wedgwood.
*
Theodor Schwann
Theodor Schwann (; 7 December 181011 January 1882) was a German physician and physiologist. His most significant contribution to biology is considered to be the extension of cell theory to animals. Other contributions include the discovery of ...
proposes that all living matter is made up of
cells
Cell most often refers to:
* Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life
Cell may also refer to:
Locations
* Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...
.
* The
beetle
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
subfamily
Oxyporinae
The Oxyporinae are a subfamily of the Staphylinidae discovered in 1839 by Erichson.Newton, A. F., Jr., M. K. Thayer, J. S. Ashe, and D. S. Chandler. 2001. 22. Staphylinidae Latreille, 1802. p. 272–418. In: R. H. Arnett, Jr., and M. C. Thomas (e ...
is discovered by
Wilhelm Ferdinand Erichson
Dr Wilhelm Ferdinand Erichson (26 November 1809 in Stralsund – 18 December 1848 in Berlin) was a trained medical doctor and a German entomologist.
He was the author of many articles about insects mainly in '' Archiv für Naturgeschichte''. When ...
.
Chemistry
*
Carl Mosander discovers
lanthanum
Lanthanum is a chemical element with the symbol La and atomic number 57. It is a soft, ductile, silvery-white metal that tarnishes slowly when exposed to air. It is the eponym of the lanthanide series, a group of 15 similar elements between lantha ...
.
Exploration
* May 1 – Start of
Eyre's expeditions to the interior of
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
.
* September 19 –
James Clark Ross
Sir James Clark Ross (15 April 1800 – 3 April 1862) was a British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer known for his explorations of the Arctic, participating in two expeditions led by his uncle Sir John Ross, John Ross, and four led b ...
sets off on the first scientific expedition to survey
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...
.
* Publication of
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
's ''
Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle under the Command of Captain FitzRoy, R.N., from 1832 to 1839''.
Geology
*
Roderick Murchison
Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, 1st Baronet, (19 February 1792 – 22 October 1871) was a Scottish geologist who served as director-general of the British Geological Survey from 1855 until his death in 1871. He is noted for investigating and d ...
publishes ''The Silurian System''.
* December 24 – An enormous
landslide
Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...
occurs at
Axmouth
Axmouth is a village, civil parish and former manor in the East Devon district of Devon, England, near the mouth of the River Axe. The village itself is about inland, on the east bank of the Axe estuary. The parish extends along the estuar ...
in the English county of
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, creating the
Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliff
The Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliffs, also often referred to in the singular as the Undercliff, is a long landscape feature, National Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest that connects Seaton and Axmouth with Lyme Regis o ...
. A report by geologists
William Daniel Conybeare
William Daniel Conybeare FRS (7 June 178712 August 1857), dean of Llandaff, was an English geologist, palaeontologist and clergyman. He is probably best known for his ground-breaking work on fossils and excavation in the 1820s, including impor ...
and
William Buckland
William Buckland DD, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian who became Dean of Westminster. He was also a geologist and palaeontologist.
Buckland wrote the first full account of a fossil dinosaur, which he named ' ...
is one of the earliest scientific descriptions of such an event.
Medicine
* June–September – Dr
John Conolly
John Conolly (27 May 1794 – 5 March 1866) was an English psychiatrist. He published the volume ''Indications of Insanity'' in 1830. In 1839, he was appointed resident physician to the Middlesex County Asylum where he introduced the princip ...
abolishes the physical restraint of the insane at
Middlesex County Asylum (at
Hanwell
Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing, in the historic County of Middlesex, England. It is about 1.5 miles west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post t ...
near London).
Technology
* January 9 – The
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at th ...
announces the
Daguerreotype
Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process.
Invented by Louis Daguerre ...
photography
Photography is the visual art, art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It i ...
process.
* January 25 –
H. Fox Talbot shows his "photogenic drawings" at the
Royal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...
.
* February 24 –
William Otis
William Smith Otis (September 20, 1813 – November 13, 1839) was an American inventor of the steam shovel. Otis received a patent for his creation on February 24, 1839.
In 1839 William Smith Otis, civil engineer of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ...
receives a
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling disclo ...
for the
steam shovel
A steam shovel is a large steam-powered excavating machine designed for lifting and moving material such as rock and soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, a ...
.
* April 9 – The world's first commercial electric
telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
line comes into operation alongside the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 mill ...
in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
.
* May 29 –
Mungo Ponton presents his discovery of the light-sensitive quality of
sodium dichromate
Sodium dichromate is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2 Cr2 O7. However, the salt is usually handled as its dihydrate Na2Cr2O7·2 H2O. Virtually all chromium ore is processed via conversion to sodium dichromate and virtually all compoun ...
as a method of permanent
photography
Photography is the visual art, art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It i ...
.
*
Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inductio ...
publishes ''Experimental Researches in Electricity'' clarifying the true nature of
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...
.
* Invention of the
Grove
Grove may refer to:
* Grove (nature), a small group of trees
Places
England
*Grove, Buckinghamshire, a village
* Grove, Dorset
* Grove, Herefordshire
* Grove, Kent
* Grove, Nottinghamshire, a village
* Grove, Oxfordshire, a village and civil ...
fuel cell by
William Grove.
* Development of vulcanized rubber by
Charles Goodyear
Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 – July 1, 1860) was an American self-taught chemist and manufacturing engineer who developed vulcanized rubber, for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 184 ...
.
* Development of
Babbitt metal
Babbitt metal or bearing metal is any of several alloys used for the bearing surface in a plain bearing.
The original Babbitt alloy was invented in 1839 by Isaac Babbitt in Taunton, Massachusetts, United States. He disclosed one of his alloy ...
by
Isaac Babbitt.
* Invention of the Polonceau
truss
A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure.
In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembla ...
for roof construction by
Camille Polonceau.
* Claimed invention of the rear-wheel driven bicycle by
Kirkpatrick Macmillan in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
.
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 ...
:
Robert Brown
*
Wollaston Medal
The 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. It was originally made of gold (1831–1845), t ...
:
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (19 April 1795 – 27 June 1876) was a German naturalist, zoologist, comparative anatomist, geologist, and microscopist. Ehrenberg was an evangelist and was considered to be of the most famous and productive sci ...
Births
* January 26 –
Rachel Lloyd
Rachel Elizabeth Lloyd (born 1975) is a British anti-trafficking advocate, author and the founder of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services. She is known for her work on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking ...
(d.
1900
As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), ...
), American chemist.
* January 27 –
Marie-Adolphe Carnot (died
1920
Events January
* January 1
** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20.
** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own m ...
),
French chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe ...
and mining engineer.
* February 11
**
Josiah Willard Gibbs
Josiah Willard Gibbs (; February 11, 1839 – April 28, 1903) was an American scientist who made significant theoretical contributions to physics, chemistry, and mathematics. His work on the applications of thermodynamics was instrumental in t ...
(died
1903
Events January
* January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India.
* January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having been ...
),
American theoretical physicist
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...
and chemist.
**
Almon Strowger (died
1902
Events
January
* January 1
** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's ...
), American
telecommunications engineer
Telecommunications Engineering is a subfield of electrical engineering which seeks to design and devise systems of communication at a distance. The work ranges from basic circuit design to strategic mass developments. A telecommunication enginee ...
.
* February 15 –
Hieronymus Georg Zeuthen
Hieronymus Georg Zeuthen (15 February 1839 – 6 January 1920) was a Danish mathematician.
He is known for work on the enumerative geometry of conic sections, algebraic surfaces, and history of mathematics.
Biography
Zeuthen was born in Grim ...
(died 1920),
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
.
* March 8 –
Josephine Cochrane
Josephine Garis Cochran (later Cochrane; March 8, 1839 – August 3, 1913) was an American inventor who was the inventor of the first commercially successful automatic dishwasher, which she designed in the shed behind her home; she then constructe ...
(died
1913
Events January
* January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not venture for the rest of the ...
), American inventor of the first commercially successful dishwasher.
* March 16 –
Sully Prudhomme
René François Armand "Sully" Prudhomme (; 16 March 1839 – 6 September 1907) was a French poet and essayist. He was the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901.
Born in Paris, Prudhomme originally studied to be an engineer, bu ...
(died
1907
Events
January
* January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000.
February
* February 11 – The French warship French cruiser Jean Bart ( ...
), French engineer and poet, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901 ...
.
* April 4 –
James Blyth (died
1906
Events
January–February
* January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, a ...
),
Scottish electrical engineer.
* April 12 –
Nikolai Przhevalsky
Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky (or Prjevalsky;; pl, Nikołaj Przewalski, . – ) was a Russian geographer of Polish descent (he was born in a Polish noble family), and a renowned explorer of Central and East Asia.
Although he never reac ...
(died
1888
In Germany, 1888 is known as the Year of the Three Emperors. Currently, it is the year that, when written in Roman numerals, has the most digits (13). The next year that also has 13 digits is the year 2388. The record will be surpassed as late ...
),
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
n-born
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
explorer
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
.
* May 8 –
George Miller Beard
George Miller Beard (May 8, 1839 – January 23, 1883) was an American Neurology, neurologist who popularized the term neurasthenia, starting around 1869.
Biography
Beard was born in Montville, Connecticut, on May 8, 1839, to Reverend Spence ...
(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 ...
), American
neurologist
Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...
.
* July 17 –
Ephraim Shay
Ephraim Shay (July 17, 1839 – April 19, 1916) was an American merchant, entrepreneur and self-taught railroad engineer who worked in the state of Michigan. He designed the first Shay locomotive and patented the type. He licensed it for manufact ...
(died
1916
Events
Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled.
* ...
), American steam locomotive engineer.
* September 10 –
Charles Sanders Peirce
Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American philosopher, logician, mathematician and scientist who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism".
Educated as a chemist and employed as a scientist for ...
(died
1914
This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It also saw the first airline to provide schedule ...
), American philosopher, logician, mathematician and scientist.
Deaths
* January 22 –
Christian Ramsay
Christian Ramsay, Countess of Dalhousie informally Lady Dalhousie, ''née'' Broun; (28 February 1786 – 22 January 1839) was a Scottish botanist and natural historian. She married George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie and travelled with him wh ...
, Lady Dalhousie (born
1786
Events
January–March
* January 3 – The third Treaty of Hopewell is signed, between the United States and the Choctaw.
* January 6 – The outward bound East Indiaman '' Halsewell'' is wrecked on the south coast of En ...
),
Scottish botanist.
* April 8 –
Pierre Prévost (born
1751
In Britain and its colonies (except Scotland), 1751 only had 282 days due to the British Calendar Act of 1751, which ended the year on 31 December (rather than nearly three months later according to its previous rule).
Events
January&n ...
),
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
*Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internati ...
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate ca ...
.
* June 27 –
Allan Cunningham (born
1791
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Austrian composer Joseph Haydn arrives in England, to perform a series of concerts.
* January 2 – Northwest Indian War: Big Bottom Massacre – The war begins in the Ohio Countr ...
),
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national id ...
botanist and
explorer
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
.
* August 28 –
William Smith (born
1769
Events
January–March
* February 2 – Pope Clement XIII dies, the night before preparing an order to dissolve the Jesuits.Denis De Lucca, ''Jesuits and Fortifications: The Contribution of the Jesuits to Military Architecture i ...
), English
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, alt ...
.
* August 10 –
Sir John St Aubyn, 5th Baronet
Sir John St Aubyn, 5th Baronet (17 May 1758 – 10 August 1839), was a British Member of Parliament, High Sheriff of Cornwall and Grand Master of the Freemasons. Born in London, he succeeded to the baronetcy on 12 October 1772, at which point he ...
(born
1758
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoological ...
), English fossil collector.
* September 29 –
Friedrich Mohs
Carl Friedrich Christian Mohs (; 29 January 1773 – 29 September 1839) was a German chemist and mineralogist. He was the creator of the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Mohs also introduced a classification of the crystal forms in crystal sys ...
(born
1773
Events
January–March
* January 1 – The hymn that becomes known as ''Amazing Grace'', at this time titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17", is first used to accompany a sermon led by curate John Newton in the town of Olney, Bucking ...
),
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
mineralogist
Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...
.
* October 24 – Sir
William Charles Ellis
Sir William Charles Ellis (10 March 1780 – 24 October 1839) was the superintendent of the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum. His ideas on the treatment of mental illness became widely influential.
Biography
Ellis was born in Alford, Lincolns ...
(born
1780
Events
January–March
* January 16 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cape St. Vincent: British Admiral Sir George Rodney defeats a Spanish fleet.
* February 19 – The legislature of New York votes to allo ...
), English psychiatric physician.
* November 15 –
William Murdoch
William Murdoch (sometimes spelled Murdock) (21 August 1754 – 15 November 1839) was a Scottish engineer and inventor.
Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten yea ...
(born
1754
Events January–March
* January 28 – Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word ''serendipity''.
* February 22 – Expecting an attack by Portuguese-speaking militias in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Pla ...
), Scottish-born
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an id ...
and
technician
A technician is a worker in a field of technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use ...
.
* December 24 –
Davies Gilbert
Davies Gilbert (born Davies Giddy, 6 March 1767 – 24 December 1839) was an English engineer, author, and politician. He was elected to the Royal Society on 17 November 1791 and served as President of the Royal Society from 1827 to 1830. He ...
(born
1767
Events
January–March
* January 1 – The first annual volume of '' The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris'', produced by British Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, gives navigators t ...
), English promoter of science.
References
{{reflist
19th century in science
1830s in science