Editing 1804 in science

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{{Science year nav|1804}}

The year '''1804 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy and space science==
* April 5 – [[High Possil meteorite]], the first recorded [[meteorite]] to fall in [[Scotland]] in modern times, falls at [[Possil]].
* September 1 – [[Karl Ludwig Harding]] discovers the [[asteroid]] [[3 Juno|Juno]].

==Botany==
* March 7 – [[John Wedgwood (1766–1844)|John Wedgwood]] founds the [[Royal Horticultural Society|Horticultural Society of London]].<ref name="Pocket On This Day">{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref>
* [[Jacques Labillardière|Jacques-Julien Labillardière]] begins publication of ''[[Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen|Novæ Hollandiæ Plantarum Specimen]]'' in [[Paris]], the first [[Flora (publication)|flora]] of [[Australia]].
* Publication in Paris of [[Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure]]'s collected papers ''Recherches chimiques sur la végétation'', outlining the basic reaction of [[photosynthesis]].
* Publication in London of [[Maria Elizabetha Jacson]]'s ''Botanical Lectures by a Lady''.

==Chemistry==
* June 21 – [[Smithson Tennant]] announces the discovery of the elements [[iridium]] and [[osmium]]; three days later, [[William Hyde Wollaston]] reveals to the Royal Society that he is the formerly anonymous discoverer of [[palladium]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Eighth Group of the Periodic System and Some of its Problems|first=James Lewis|last=Howe|journal=The Chemical News and Journal of Physical Science|date=1900-07-20|page=31}}</ref>
* German pharmacist [[Friedrich Sertürner]] first isolates [[morphine]] from [[opium]],<ref>Serturner, F. W. A. (1806) ''J. Pharm. f. Arzte. Apoth. Chem''. '''14''' 47–93.</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Klaus|last=Meyer|year=2004 |title=Dem Morphin auf der Spur|language=German|url=http://www.pharmazeutische-zeitung.de/index.php?id=26551|accessdate=2012-06-12|work=Pharmazeutischen Zeitung|publisher=GOVI-Verlag}}</ref> probably the first ever isolation of a natural plant [[alkaloid]].

==Exploration==
* May 14 – The [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] departs from Camp Dubois and begin their historic journey by traveling up the [[Missouri River]].

==Geology==
* [[Alexander von Humboldt]] discovers that the Earth's magnetic field decreases from the poles to the equator.

==Medicine==
* October 13 – In [[Japan]], [[Hanaoka Seishū]] (華岡 青洲) performs a partial [[mastectomy]] for [[breast cancer]] on a 60-year-old woman named Kan Aiya, using tsūsensan as a [[general anesthetic]], generally regarded as the first reliably documented operation performed under general anesthesia.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Izuo|first=M.|title=Medical history: Seishū Hanaoka and his success in breast cancer surgery under general anesthesia two hundred years ago|journal=Breast Cancer|volume=11|issue=4|pages=319–24|year=2004|doi=10.1007/BF02968037|pmid=15604985|s2cid=43428862}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Pain Clinic IV: proceedings of the fourth international symposium|chapter=Doctor S. Hanaoka, the world's-first success in providing general anesthesia|pages=3–12|author=Hyodo, M.|editor1=Hyodo, M. |editor2=Oyama, T. |editor3=Swerdlow, M. |publisher=VSP|location=Utrecht|year=1992|isbn=90-6764-147-2|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljBTn8HBBjcC&q=%22Doctor%20S.%20Hanaoka%2C%20the%20World's-First%20Success%20in%20Providing%20General%20Anesthesia%22&pg=PA3|accessdate=2010-09-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Giving up the gun: Japan's reversion to the sword, 1543-1879|last=Perrin|first=Noel|authorlink=Noel Perrin|publisher=David R. Godine|location=Boston|year=1979|page=[https://archive.org/details/givingupgun00noel/page/86 86]|isbn=0-87923-773-2|url=https://archive.org/details/givingupgun00noel|url-access=registration|quote=Giving up the gun Noel Perrin.|accessdate=2010-09-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Matsuki, A.|title=New studies on the history of anesthesiology – a new study on Seishū Hanaoka's "Nyugan chiken roku" (a surgical experience with breast cancer)|journal=Masui: The Japanese Journal of Anesthesiology|volume=49|issue=9|pages=1038–43|year=2000|issn=0021-4892|pmid=11025965|url=http://www.biomedsearch.com/nih/New-studies-history-anesthesiology-new/11025965.html|accessdate=2010-09-13|archive-date=2016-04-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423215313/http://www.biomedsearch.com/nih/New-studies-history-anesthesiology-new/11025965.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Publication of ''The Anatomy of the Human Body, vol. 3, Nervous System'' by [[Charles Bell]].<ref>{{cite ODNB|first=L. S.|last=Jacyna|title=Bell, Sir Charles (1774–1842)|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1999|accessdate=2011-04-06|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/1999}} </ref>
* English physician [[Joseph Mason Cox]] publishes ''Practical Observations on Insanity; in which some suggestions are offered towards and improved mode of treating diseases of the mind, and some rules proposed which it is hoped may lead to a more humane and successful method of cure''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Joseph Mason|last=Cox|url=https://wellcomecollection.org/works/w7gdnmef|title=Practical Observations on Insanity|edition=2nd|year=1806|location=London|publisher=Baldwin|via=Wellcome Collection|accessdate=2023-07-30}}.</ref>
* [[Antonio Scarpa]] publishes ''Riflessioni ed Osservazione anatomico-chirugiche sull' Aneurisma'', a classic text on [[aneurysm]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Benjamin Ward|last=Richardson|title=Antonio Scarpa, F.R.S., and Surgical Anatomy|journal=The Asclepiad|year=1886|volume=4|issue=16|pages=128–157|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-xVCQGjm3ZEC|accessdate=2008-06-10|publisher=Longmans, Green and Co.|location=London}}</ref>

==Meteorology==
* [[Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac]] and [[Jean Baptiste Biot]] study the atmosphere from a hot-air balloon.

==Paleontology==
* [[James Parkinson]] publishes the first volume of ''Organic Remains of a Former World'', supporting belief in [[catastrophism]].<ref>{{cite ODNB|first=Michael|last=Bevan|title=Parkinson, James (1755–1824)|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21371|accessdate=2010-04-11|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/21371}}</ref>

==Technology==
* February 21 – The [[Cornwall|Cornishman]] [[Richard Trevithick]]'s newly built "Penydarren" [[steam locomotive]] operates on the [[Merthyr Tramroad]] between [[Penydarren Ironworks]] in [[Merthyr Tydfil]] and [[Abercynon]] in [[South Wales]], following several trials since February 13, the world's first locomotive to work on rails.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rattenbury|first=Gordon|author2=Lewis, M. J. T.|title=Merthyr Tydfil Tramroads and their Locomotives|year=2004|publisher=[[Railway and Canal Historical Society]]|location=Oxford|isbn=0-901461-52-0}}</ref>
* The first [[Burr Truss]] bridge is built by [[Theodore Burr]] across the [[Hudson River]] in [[Waterford, New York]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Burr Truss |work=Truss Styles of Covered Bridges |publisher=New York State Covered Bridge Society |url=http://www.nycoveredbridges.org/page44.html |accessdate=2011-12-13 |date=January 2006 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908112144/http://www.nycoveredbridges.org/page44.html |archivedate=2006-09-08 }}</ref>
* [[Joseph Marie Jacquard]] [[patent]]s the [[Jacquard machine]] to automate the [[loom]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Programming patterns: the story of the Jacquard loom|url=https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/jacquard-loom|date=2019-06-15|access-date=2024-11-01|publisher=Science + Industry Museum}}</ref>
* [[Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet|William Congreve]] begins development of the solid-fuel [[Congreve rocket]] as an artillery weapon.
* The [[British Army]] first uses [[shrapnel shell]]s ("spherical case shot"), invented by Major [[Henry Shrapnel]], in action, against the Dutch in [[Suriname]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Hogg|first=O. F. G.|year=1970|title=Artillery: its origin, heyday and decline|location=London|publisher=Hurst|isbn=0-900966-43-2|page=180}}</ref>

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Smithson Tennant]]<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 12 – [[Heinrich Lenz]], Russian-born Baltic German [[physicist]] (died [[1865 in science|1865]])
* February 18 – [[Baron Carl von Rokitansky]], [[Bohemia]]n [[pathologist]] (died [[1878 in science|1878]])
* March 8 – [[Alvan Clark]], [[Americans|American]] telescope manufacturer (died [[1887 in science|1887]])
* April 5
** [[Mary Philadelphia Merrifield]], née Watkins, [[English people|English]] fashion writer and algologist (died [[1889 in science|1889]])
** [[Matthias Schleiden]], [[Germans|German]] [[botanist]] (died [[1881 in science|1881]])
* May 4 – [[Margaretta Riley]], English [[pteridologist]]  (died [[1899 in science|1899]]) 
* May 9 – [[Hewett Watson]], English biologist (died 1881)
* May 13 – [[Janet Taylor]], née Jane Ann Ionn, English mathematician and navigational instrument maker (died [[1870 in science|1870]])
* June 5 – [[Robert Schomburgk]], German-born explorer (died [[1865 in science|1865]])
* July 20 – [[Richard Owen]], English anatomist and paleontologist (died [[1892 in science|1892]])
* September 14 – [[John Gould]], English [[ornithologist]] (died 1881)
* September 16 – [[Squire Whipple]], American civil engineer (died [[1888 in science|1888]])
* October 1 – [[William Stokes (physician)|William Stokes]], [[Irish people|Irish]] physician (died 1878)
* October 24 – [[Wilhelm Eduard Weber]], German physicist (died [[1891 in science|1891]])
* December 10 – [[Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi]], German mathematician (died [[1851 in science|1851]])
* December 24 – [[Édouard Chassaignac]], French surgeon (died [[1879 in science|1879]])

==Deaths==
* February 6 – [[Joseph Priestley]], English chemist (born [[1733 in science|1733]])
* March 26 – [[Wolfgang von Kempelen]], [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] inventor (born [[1734 in science|1734]])
* August 30 – [[Thomas Percival]], English reforming physician and medical ethicist (born [[1740 in science|1740]])
* September 20 – [[Pierre Méchain]], French astronomer (born [[1744 in science|1744]])
* October 2 – [[Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot]], French mechanical engineer (born [[1725 in science|1725]])
* November 5 – [[Louis Lépecq de La Clôture]], French epidemiologist (born [[1736 in science|1736]])<ref name="BNF">{{cite web |url= https://data.bnf.fr/fr/17791340/louis_lepecq_de_la_cloture/|title=Louis Lépecq de La Clôture (1736-1804) |website=data.bnf.fr |publisher=BNF |access-date=21 October 2020}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1804 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1800s in science]]