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]
Cryptography[]
- 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.
Life sciences[]
- 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.
Medicine[]
- 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]
Meteorology[]
- The Paris Observatory begins to publish weather maps.
Paleontology[]
- Richard Owen publishes the first description of a fossilised bird, Archaeopteryx.[6]
Physics[]
- January – John Tyndall first explains the workings of the greenhouse effect.[7]
Technology[]
- 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]
Events and institutions[]
- 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.
Publications[]
- 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.
Awards[]
- Copley Medal: Adam Sedgwick[11]
- Wollaston Medal for Geology: Gustav Bischof
Births[]
- 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.
Deaths[]
- 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
References[]
- ^ 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.
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