Editing 1871 in science (section)

==Physics==
* November 17 – [[George Biddell Airy]] presents his discovery that [[astronomical aberration]] is independent of the local medium.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Airy, G.B.|title=On the Supposed Alteration in the Amount of Astronomical Aberration of Light, Produced by the Passage of the Light through a Considerable Thickness of Refracting Medium|journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society]]|volume=20|issue=130–138|year=1871|pages=35–39|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k56114d/f79|bibcode=1871RSPS...20...35A|doi=10.1098/rspl.1871.0011|accessdate=2015-01-03|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[James Clerk Maxwell]] makes public the [[thought experiment]] which will become known as [[Maxwell's demon]] in the [[philosophy of thermal and statistical physics]], in his book ''Theory of Heat''<ref>{{cite book|editor1=Leff, Harvey S. |editor2=Rex, Andrew F. |year=2002|title=Maxwell's Demon 2: Entropy, Classical and Quantum Information, Computing|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-0-7503-0759-8|page=370}}</ref> and establishes [[Maxwell relations]], statements of equality among the second derivatives of the [[thermodynamic potentials]] with respect to different thermodynamic variables.
* [[John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh|John Strutt]] publishes his first papers on the theory of [[acoustic resonance]] and on the phenomenon now called [[Rayleigh scattering]], explaining why the sky is blue.<ref>{{cite ODNB|first=Kostas|last=Gavroglu|title=Strutt, John William, third Baron Rayleigh (1842–1919)|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36359|accessdate=2011-11-03|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/36359}} </ref>