Editing 1807 in science

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{{Science year nav|1807}}

The year '''1807 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* March 29 – [[Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers|H. W. Olbers]] discovers the [[asteroid]] which [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]] names [[4 Vesta|Vesta]].<ref>{{cite web|work=JPL Small-Body Database Browser|title=4 Vesta|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=4|publisher=[[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]]|accessdate=2011-08-09}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* [[Potassium]] and [[sodium]] are isolated by Sir [[Humphry Davy]].
* The use of [[fulminate]] in firearms is [[patent]]ed by [[Scottish people|Scottish]] clergyman [[Alexander John Forsyth]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/rifle-history.htm|title=Rifled Breech Loader|publisher=globalsecurity.org| accessdate= 22 September 2011 <!--Added by DASHBot-->}}</ref>

==Geology==
*  The [[Geological Society]] is founded in London; among the more prominent founders are [[William Babington (physician)|William Babington]], [[James Parkinson]], [[Humphry Davy]] and [[George Bellas Greenough]].

==Mathematics==
* [[William Wallace (mathematician)|William Wallace]] proves that any two simple [[polygon]]s of equal [[area]] are equidecomposable, later known as the [[Wallace–Bolyai–Gerwien theorem]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Ian|last=Stewart|title=From Here to Infinity|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1996|edition=3rd|isbn=978-0-19-283202-3|page=169}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* [[Samuel Hahnemann]] first introduces the term '[[homeopathy]]' in an essay, "Indications of the Homeopathic Employment of Medicines in Ordinary Practice", published in ''Versammlung der Hufelandische medicinisch-chirurgischen Gesellschaft''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Martin|last=Gumpert|title=Hahnemann: the Adventurous Career of a Medical Rebel|url=https://archive.org/details/hahnemannadventu0000gump|url-access=registration|edition=English-language|location=New York|publisher=Fischer|year=1945|page=[https://archive.org/details/hahnemannadventu0000gump/page/130 130]}}</ref>
* British Army surgeon [[John Vetch]] describes the [[keratoconjunctivitis]] ("Egyptian ophthalmia") suffered by troops returned from service overseas;<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Vetch|title=An Account of the Ophthalmia|location=London|publisher=Longman|year=1807}}</ref> he identifies it as epidemic.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Robert M.|last=Feibel|title=John Vetch and the Egyptian Ophthalmia|series=History of Ophthalmology|journal=Survey of Ophthalmology|volume=28|year=1983|pages=128–34|url=https://www.surveyophthalmol.com/article/0039-6257(83)90082-6/fulltext}}</ref>

==Technology==
* July 20 – French brothers [[Claude Niépce|Claude]] and [[Nicéphore Niépce]] receive a [[patent]] for their [[Pyréolophore]], an early [[internal combustion engine]], having demonstrated it powering a boat on the [[Saône]].
* August 17 – [[Robert Fulton]]'s [[North River Steamboat]] makes her first trip from New York City to [[Albany, New York|Albany]].
* November 19 – English inventor [[Lionel Lukin]] launches the world's first sailing self-righting [[Lifeboat (rescue)|rescue life-boat]], the ''Frances Anne'', at [[Lowestoft]].<ref>{{cite book|editor=Malster, Robert|title=The Minute Books of the Suffolk Humane Society... and the world's first sailing lifeboat|location=Woodbridge|publisher=Boydell Press|year=2013|series=Suffolk Records Society, vol. 56|isbn=978-1-84383-805-0}}</ref>
* [[William Cubitt]] patents [[Windmill sail#Patent sails|self-regulating sails]] for [[windmill]]s.<ref>{{cite web|first=Peter|last=Brown|title=Sir William Cubitt (1785-1861)|url=http://www.peter-quita.demon.co.uk/cubitt.htm|accessdate=2011-07-18|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716105157/http://www.peter-quita.demon.co.uk/cubitt.htm|archivedate=16 July 2011 <!--Added by DASHBot-->}}</ref>
* [[Henry Maudslay]] patents an improved [[table engine]].
* [[William Hyde Wollaston]] patents the [[camera lucida]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The camera lucida in art and science|year=1987|publisher=Taylor & Francis|last1=Hammond|first1=John|last2=Austin|first2=Jill}}</ref>

==Zoology==
* April 21 – The [[Tasmanian devil]] is first described, by [[George Prideaux Robert Harris]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Harris|first=G. P.|year=1807|title=Description of two new Species of Didelphis from Van Diemen's Land|journal=Transactions of the [[Linnean Society of London]]|volume=9|pages=174–78|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1818.tb00336.x|url=http://biostor.org/reference/5734|accessdate=2015-12-10}}</ref>

==Publications==
* [[Alexander von Humboldt]]'s {{Lang|fr|Le Voyage aux Régions equinoxiales du Nouveau Continent, fait en 1799–1804, par Alexandre de Humboldt et Aimé Bonpland}} begins publication.
* [[Thomas Young (scientist)|Thomas Young]]'s ''A Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts'' published.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Everard Home]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |accessdate=21 July 2020 }}</ref>

==Births==
* January 28 – [[Robert McClure]], Irish-born Arctic explorer (died 1873)
* May 28 – [[Louis Agassiz]], Swiss-born American zoologist and geologist (died [[1873 in science|1873]])
* November 14 – [[Auguste Laurent]], French chemist (died [[1853 in science|1853]])
* November 30 – [[William Farr]], English epidemiologist (died [[1883 in science|1883]])

==Deaths==
* February 27 – [[Louise du Pierry]], French astronomer (born [[1746 in science|1746]])
* April 4 – [[Jérôme Lalande]], French astronomer (born [[1732 in science|1732]])
* December 5 – [[Francis Willis (physician)|Francis Willis]], English physician specialising in mental disorders (born [[1718 in science|1718]])

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1807 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1800s in science]]