1863 in science

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The year 1863 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Chemistry[]

August 1 – Friedrich Bayer founds the chemical manufacturing company of Bayer at Barmen in Germany.
Teerfarbenfabrik Meister, Lucius & Co. of Höchst (Frankfurt) in Germany produce a green dye from coal tar.^[1]

German military officer Friedrich Kasiski publishes Die Geheimschriften und die Dechiffrir-Kunst ("Secret writing and the Art of Deciphering"), the first published general method for cryptanalysis of polyalphabetic ciphers, especially the Vigenère cipher.

Max Schultze advances cell theory with the observation that animal and vegetable protoplasm are identical.^[2]
The first outbreak of phylloxera on the European mainland is observed, in the vineyards of the southern Rhône region of France.
Henry Walter Bates publishes The Naturalist on the River Amazons.

February 17 – First meeting of what will become the International Committee of the Red Cross is held in Geneva, Switzerland, following the lead of humanitarian Henry Dunant.^[3]
William Banting publishes Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public in London, the first popular low-carbohydrate diet.^[4]
Ivan Sechenov publishes Refleksy golovnogo mozga ("Reflexes of the brain").^[5]

Richard Owen publishes the first description of a fossilised bird, Archaeopteryx.^[6]

January – John Tyndall first explains the workings of the greenhouse effect.^[7]

February 10 – Alanson Crane patents a fire extinguisher.
Spring – John Jonathon Pratt builds a practical form of typewriter in the United States.^[8]
July – The tiny Confederate States of America hand-propelled submarine H. L. Hunley is first tested successfully (although thirteen crew – including her inventor Horace Lawson Hunley – are lost in two sinkings later in the year).^[9]
October 23 – The Ffestiniog Railway in North Wales introduces steam locomotives into general service, the first time this has been done anywhere in the world on a public railway of such a narrow gauge (2 ft (60 cm)).^[10]
December 19 – Linoleum patented in the United Kingdom.^[6]

March 3 – National Academy of Sciences incorporated in the United States.
Summer – The Chōshū Five leave Japan secretly to study Western science and technology in Britain, at University College London, part of the ending of sakoku.
November 29 – Polytechnic University of Milan founded as the Istituto Tecnico Superiore.

January 31 – The first of Jules Verne's scientifically inspired Voyages Extraordinaires, the novel Cinq semaines en ballon (Five Weeks in a Balloon), is published in Paris.

March 25 – Simon Flexner (d. 1946), American pathologist and bacteriologist.
April 7 – André Rochon-Duvigneaud (d. 1952), French ophthalmologist.
April 29 – Signe Häggman (d. 1911), Finnish pioneer of physical education of the disabled.
May 14 – John Charles Fields (d. 1932), Canadian mathematician.
July 12
- Albert Calmette (d. 1933), French physician, bacteriologist and immunologist.
- Paul Drude (d. 1906), German physicist.
October 16 – Beverly Thomas Galloway (d. 1938), American plant pathologist.
November 25 – Ioan Cantacuzino (d. 1934), Romanian microbiologist.
December 5 – Paul Painlevé (d. 19333), mathematician and statesman, 62nd Prime Minister of France.
December 11 – Annie Jump Cannon (d. 1941), American astronomer and academic.^[12]
Undated – Cuthbert Christy (d. 1932), English medical investigator, zoologist and explorer.

March 7 – Charles Wilkins Short (b. 1794), American botanist.
June 25 – Thomas Evans Blackwell (b. 1819), English civil and hydraulic engineer.
July 21 – Josephine Kablick (b. 1787), Czech botanist and paleontologist.
December 8 – Jacques Etienne Chevalley de Rivaz (b. 1801), Swiss-born physician

^ Burke, James (1978). Connections. London: Macmillan. p. 205. ISBN 0-333-24827-9.
^ Das Protoplasma der Rhizopoden und der Pflanzenzellen; ein Beiträg zur Theorie der Zelle.
^ Boissier, Pierre (1985). History of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Volume I: From Solferino to Tsushima. Geneva: Henry Dunant Institute. ISBN 2-88044-012-2.
^ Groves, Barry (2002). "William Banting: The Father of the Low-Carbohydrate Diet". Second Opinions. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
^ Meditsinsky vestnik 47–48.
^ ^a ^b Everett, Jason M., ed. (2006). "1863". The People's Chronology. Thomson Gale.
^ In a public lecture, "On Radiation Through The Earth's Atmosphere", reprinted in his book Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat (1872).
^ "Centre Man Invented First Typewriter". The Coosa River News. Centre, Alabama. 1951-11-30. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com .
^ Chaffin, Tom (2008). The H. L. Hunley: the Secret Hope of the Confederacy. New York: Hill and Wang. ISBN 978-0-8090-9512-4.
^ Ransom, P. J. G. (1996). Narrow Gauge Steam: its origins and world-wide development. Sparkford: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 0-86093-533-7.
^ "Copley Medal | British scientific award". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^ Reynolds, Moira Davison (2004). American Women Scientists: 23 Inspiring Biographies, 1900-2000. Jefferson NC: McFarland. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-78642-161-9.