Editing 1803 in science

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2012}}
{{Year nav topic5|1803|science}}
{{Science year nav|1803}}

The year '''1803 in science''' and technology involved some significant events.

==Astronomy==
* April 26 – A [[meteorite]] shower falls on [[L'Aigle (meteorite)|L'Aigle]] in Normandy; [[Jean Baptiste Biot]] demonstrates that it is of extraterrestrial origin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/bluetelephone/html/chladni.html|title=Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni|publisher=Institute for Learning Technologies, [[Columbia University]]|accessdate=May 8, 2011<!--Added by DASHBot-->|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514140121/http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/bluetelephone/html/chladni.html|archivedate=May 14, 2011<!--Added by DASHBot-->}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryscient00dain/page/n208 101]|title=Oxford Dictionary of Scientists|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryscient00dain|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1999|bibcode=1999ods..book.....D }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/metsoc2003/pdf/5251.pdf|first=M.|last=Gounelle|title=The meteorite fall at L'Aigle on April 26th 1803 and the Biot report|year=2003|accessdate=August 18, 2011}}</ref>

==Botany==
* Publication (posthumously) of [[André Michaux]]'s ''Flora Boreali-Americana'' in Paris, the first [[Flora (publication)|flora]] of North America.
* [[University of Tartu Botanical Gardens]] established.

==Chemistry==
* January 1 – [[William Henry (chemist)|William Henry]]'s formulation of [[Henry's law|his law on the solubility of gases]] first published.<ref>{{cite journal|first=William|last=Henry|title=Experiments on the Quantity of Gases Absorbed by Water, at Different Temperatures, and under Different Pressures|journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]]|location=London|date=January 1, 1803|volume=93|pages=29–274|doi=10.1098/rstl.1803.0004|title-link=:File:William Henry-Experiments on the Quantity of Gases Absorbed by Water.pdf|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* September 3 – English scientist [[John Dalton]] starts using symbols to represent the atoms of different [[chemical elements]].
* October 21 – [[John Dalton]]'s [[atomic theory]] and list of [[molecular weight]]s first made known, at a lecture in [[Manchester]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=John|last=Dalton|title=On the Absorption of Gases by Water and Other Liquids|url=http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/dalton52.html|journal=Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester |series=2nd Series|volume=1|year=1805|pages=271–87| accessdate=April 27, 2011 <!--Added by DASHBot-->| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110611205519/http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/dalton52.html| archivedate= June 11, 2011 <!--Added by DASHBot-->}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.rsc.org/delivery/_ArticleLinking/DisplayArticleForFree.cfm?doi=b307622a&JournalCode=DT|title=John Dalton, the man and his legacy: the bicentenary of his Atomic Theory|year=2003 |doi=10.1039/B307622A |accessdate=February 17, 2008|last1=Lappert |first1=Michael F. |last2=Murrell |first2=John N. |journal=Dalton Transactions |issue=20 |pages=3811–3820 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* [[William Hyde Wollaston]] discovers the chemical element [[rhodium]].
* [[Smithson Tennant]] discovers the chemical elements [[iridium]] and [[osmium]].
* [[Cerium]] is discovered in [[Bastnäs]] ([[Sweden]]) by [[Jöns Jakob Berzelius]] and [[Wilhelm Hisinger]], and independently in Germany by [[Martin Heinrich Klaproth]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/visualelements/pages/data/cerium_data.html|work=Visual Elements|title=Cerium|year=1999–2005|publisher=[[Royal Society of Chemistry]]|location=London|accessdate=November 21, 2011}}</ref>
* [[Claude Louis Berthollet]] publishes ''[https://archive.org/details/essaidestatiquec01bert Essai de statique chimique]'' in Paris.

==Exploration==
* June 9 – [[Matthew Flinders]] completes the first known circumnavigation of Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/empireseapower_timeline_noflash.shtml|title=British History Timeline|publisher=BBC History|accessdate=February 17, 2008}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Gian Francesco Malfatti]] presents his conjecture regarding [[Malfatti circles]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Dörrie|first=H.|chapter=Malfatti's Problem|title=100 Great Problems of Elementary Mathematics: their History and Solutions|url=https://archive.org/details/100greatproblems0000dorr|url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=Dover|pages=[https://archive.org/details/100greatproblems0000dorr/page/147 147]–151|year=1965|isbn=0-486-61348-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Goldberg|first=M.|title=On the Original Malfatti Problem|journal=[[Mathematics Magazine]]|volume=40|issue=5|pages=241–247|year=1967|doi=10.2307/2688277|jstor=2688277}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Curriculum/Geometry/Malfatti.shtml|title=Malfatti's Problem|work=[[cut-the-knot]]|accessdate=May 16, 2011}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* [[Jean Marc Gaspard Itard]] first recognises [[pneumothorax]].
* Dr [[Thomas Percival]] of [[Manchester]] publishes his ''[[Medical Ethics (book)|Medical Ethics; or, a Code of Institutes and Precepts, Adapted to the Professional Conduct of Physicians and Surgeons]]'', coining the expression ''[[medical ethics]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Writing a Code of Ethics|first=Michael|last=Davis|journal=Perspectives on the Professions|volume=19|issue=1|date=Fall 1999|pages=1–3|url=http://ethics.iit.edu/perspective/v19n1%20perspective.pdf|publisher=Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at IIT|location=Chicago|accessdate=September 30, 2011|archive-date=February 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225045509/http://ethics.iit.edu/perspective/v19n1%20perspective.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Meteorology==
* [[Luke Howard]] publishes the basis of the modern classification and nomenclature of clouds.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Luke|last=Howard|title=On the modifications of clouds, and on the principles of their production, suspension and destruction|journal=[[Philosophical Magazine]]|volume=16|issue=62|year=1803|pages=97–107, 344–57|doi=10.1080/14786440308676310|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1430688}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Thornes|first=John E.|title=John Constable's Skies|publisher=The University of Birmingham Press|year=1999|isbn=1-902459-02-4}}</ref>

==Technology==
* [[Robert Ransome]] invents the self-sharpening chilled cast-iron [[ploughshare]] in [[Ipswich]], England.
* The first [[Henry Fourdrinier|Fourdrinier]] [[Paper machine#History of paper machines|continuous papermaking machine]] is installed in [[Hertfordshire]], England.

==Transport==
* January 4 – [[William Symington]] demonstrates his ''[[Charlotte Dundas]]'', the "first practical steamboat", in [[Scotland]].
* July 26 – The [[Surrey Iron Railway]], a [[wagonway]] between [[Wandsworth]] and [[Croydon]], is opened, being the first public railway line in England.
* [[Thomas Telford]] begins work on construction of the [[Caledonian Canal]] and improving roads in Scotland.<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|url=https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/354|url-access=registration|location=London|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/354 354]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Palmer|first1=Alan|last2=Palmer|first2=Veronica|year=1992|title=The Chronology of British History|publisher=Century Ltd|location=London|pages=239–240|isbn=0-7126-5616-2}}</ref>

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Richard Chenevix (chemist)|Richard Chenevix]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |accessdate=21 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

==Births==
* February 26 – [[Arnold Adolph Berthold]], German [[physiologist]] (died 1861)
* February 28 – [[Christian Heinrich von Nagel]], German [[geometer]] (died 1882)
* April 1 – [[Miles Joseph Berkeley]], English [[cryptogam]]ist (died 1889)
* May 12 – [[Justus von Liebig]], German [[chemist]] (died 1873)
* May 24 – [[Charles Lucien Bonaparte]], French [[naturalist]] (died 1857)
* June 8 – [[Amalia Assur]], [[Swedes|Swedish]] dentist (died [[1889]])
* July 31 – [[John Ericsson]], Swedish-born mechanical engineer and inventor (died 1889)
* October 3 – [[John Gorrie]], American physician and inventor (died 1855)
* October 6 – [[Heinrich Wilhelm Dove]], [[Prussia]]n physicist and climatologist (died 1879)
* October 16 – [[Robert Stephenson]], English railway engineer (died 1859)
* November 29 – [[Christian Doppler]], Austrian mathematician and discoverer of the [[Doppler effect]] (died 1853)
* December 21 – [[Joseph Whitworth]], English mechanical engineer (died 1887)
* [[Choe Han-gi]], Korean philosopher of science (died 1877)

==Deaths==

* May 8 – [[John Joseph Merlin]], Liège-born English inventor (born 1735)
* October 14 – [[Ami Argand]], [[Republic of Geneva|Genevan]] physicist and chemist (born 1750)

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

[[Category:1803 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1800s in science]]