Editing 1839 in science (section)

==Technology==
* January 9 – The [[French Academy of Sciences]] announces the [[Daguerreotype]] [[photography]] process.
* January 25 – [[Henry Fox Talbot|H. Fox Talbot]] shows his "photogenic drawings" at the [[Royal Institution]].
* February 24 – [[William Otis]] receives a [[patent]] for the [[steam shovel]].
* April 9 – The world's first commercial electric [[Telegraphy|telegraph]] line comes into operation alongside the [[Great Western Railway]] in [[England]].
* May 29 – [[Mungo Ponton]] presents his discovery of the light-sensitive quality of [[sodium dichromate]] as a method of permanent [[photography]].<ref>''[[Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal]]''.</ref>
* November 24 – [[James Nasmyth]] makes his first sketch of a [[steam hammer]] design.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Boutmy|journal=Engineering News|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wsYhAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA59|date=1885-01-24|location=New York|title=Who Invented the Steam Hammer?|page=59|accessdate=2024-11-01}}</ref>
* [[Michael Faraday]] publishes ''Experimental Researches in Electricity''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14986|title=Experimental Researches in Electricity|accessdate=2007-09-12}}</ref> clarifying the true nature of [[electricity]].
* Invention of the [[Grove cell|Grove]] fuel cell by [[William Robert Grove|William Grove]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2967c/f503.table|title=Note sur une pile voltaïque d'une grande énergie, construite par M. Grove; communication de M. Becquerel|journal=[[Comptes Rendus]]|year=1839|volume=8|page=497}}</ref>
* Development of vulcanized rubber by [[Charles Goodyear]].
* Development of [[Babbitt metal]] by [[Isaac Babbitt]].
* Invention of the Polonceau [[truss]] for roof construction by [[Camille Polonceau]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Stefan M.|last=Holzer|title=The Polonceau Roof and Its Analysis|journal=International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology|publisher=Newcomen Society|volume=80|year=2010|pages=22–54|doi=10.1179/175812109X12547331530066|s2cid=110387074}}</ref>
* Claimed invention of the rear-wheel driven bicycle by [[Kirkpatrick Macmillan]] in [[Scotland]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Kirkpatrick Macmillan (1812-1878)|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/macmillan_kirkpatrick.shtml|work=Historic Figures|publisher=[[BBC]]|accessdate=2011-02-12}}</ref>