Editing 1808 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1808|science}}
{{Science year nav|1808}}

The year '''1808 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* December 9 (20:34 UTC) – [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] [[occultation|occults]] [[Saturn]] (not known at this time).

==Chemistry==
* [[Barium]], [[calcium]], [[magnesium]], and [[strontium]] isolated by [[Humphry Davy]].
* [[Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac]] formulates the [[law of combining volumes]] for gases.<ref name=JLGL>{{cite web |title=December 6 Births |work=Today in Science History |publisher=Today in Science History |year=2007 |url=http://www.todayinsci.com/12/12_06.htm |accessdate=2007-03-12}}</ref>
* [[John Dalton]] begins publication of ''A New System of Chemical Philosophy'', explaining his atomic theory of chemistry and including a list of [[atomic weight]]s.<ref name="CHF">{{Cite web |title=John Dalton |website=Science History Institute |date=June 2016 |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/john-dalton |access-date=20 March 2018}}</ref><ref name=Bowden>{{cite book|last1=Bowden|first1=Mary Ellen|title=Chemical achievers : the human face of the chemical sciences|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/chemicalachiever0000bowd/page/48|chapter-url-access=registration|date=1997|publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|isbn=9780941901123|chapter=John Dalton|pages=[https://archive.org/details/chemicalachiever0000bowd/page/48 48-51,53]}}</ref>
* [[Jöns Jakob Berzelius]] publishes ''Lärbok i Kemien'' in which he proposes modern [[chemical symbols]] and notation, and of the concept of relative [[atomic weight]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Jöns Jakob Berzelius|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/j%C3%B6ns-jakob-berzelius|website=Science History Institute|accessdate=20 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Bowden|first1=Mary Ellen|title=Chemical achievers : the human face of the chemical sciences|url=https://archive.org/details/chemicalachiever0000bowd|url-access=registration|date=1997|publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|isbn=9780941901123|chapter=Jöns Jakob Berzelius|pages=[https://archive.org/details/chemicalachiever0000bowd/page/26 26-28]}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* French mathematician [[Christian Kramp]] introduces the notation ''n''<nowiki>!</nowiki> in [[factorial]]s.<ref>''Elements d'arithmétique universelle.'' {{citation|title=Number Story: From Counting to Cryptography|last=Higgins|first=Peter|year=2008|publisher=Copernicus|location=New York|isbn=978-1-84800-000-1|page=12}}</ref>
* German mathematician [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]] publishes ''Theorematis arithmetici demonstratio nova'', introducing [[Gauss's lemma (number theory)|Gauss's lemma]] in the third proof of [[quadratic reciprocity]].
* [[Irish American]] mathematician [[Robert Adrain]] produces a formulation of the method of [[least squares]].<ref>Published in his own journal, ''The Analyst, or, Mathematical Museum'' '''1'''(4), probably issued in 1809. {{cite ODNB|first=Stephen M.|last=Stigler|title=Adrain, Robert (1775–1843)|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/172|accessdate=2012-01-23|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/172}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* The term "[[psychiatry]]" is first coined (as ''psychiatrie'') by German physician [[Johann Christian Reil]].<ref>In his journal ''Beytrage zur Beforderung einer Curmethode auf psychischem Wege'' p. 169.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1192/bjp.bp.108.051367|title=Psychiatry's 200th birthday|year=2008|last1=Marneros|first1=Andreas|journal=British Journal of Psychiatry|volume=193|issue=1 |pages=1–3|pmid=18700209|s2cid=28365371|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://academic.oup.com/neurosurgery/article-abstract/61/5/1091/2558437/The-Seminal-Contributions-of-Johann-Christian-Reil?redirectedFrom=fulltext|doi=10.1227/01.neu.0000303205.15489.23|title=The Seminal Contributions of Johann-Christian Reil to Anatomy, Physiology, and Psychiatry|year=2007|last1=Binder|first1=Devin K.|last2=Schaller|first2=Karl|last3=Clusmann|first3=Hans|journal=Neurosurgery|volume=61|issue=5 |pages=1091–1096 |pmid=18091285|s2cid=8152708|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
* The early medical journal ''Bibliotek for Læger'' begins publication in Denmark.

==Natural history==
* January 12 – Organizational meeting leading to creation of the [[Wernerian Natural History Society]] is held in [[Edinburgh]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scholarly-societies.org/history/1808wnhs.html|title=Wernerian Natural History Society|work=Scholarly Societies Project|accessdate=2012-01-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204044020/http://www.scholarly-societies.org/history/1808wnhs.html|archive-date=2012-02-04|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Sweet|first=Jessie M.|title=The Wernerian Natural History Society in Edinburgh|journal=Freiberger Forschungshefte, Reihe C|year=1967|volume=223|pages=205–218}}</ref>
* [[Alexander von Humboldt]] publishes his ''Ansichten der Natur''.

==Technology==
* February 11 – [[Anthracite]] coal is first burned as fuel by [[Jesse Fell]] in [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania]]; the discovery leads to the use of coal as a key fuel source of the [[Industrial Revolution]] in the United States.
* August 24 – [[Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet|William Congreve]] [[patent]]s the [[Congreve clock]] with a rolling ball regulator.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marcdatabase.com/~lemur/rbc-congreve.html|title=Oscillating Path ("Congreve") Rolling Ball Clocks|publisher=The Rolling Ball Web|first=David M.|last=MacMillan|date=2000-10-15|accessdate=2017-04-15|display-authors=etal|archive-date=2017-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425070502/http://www.marcdatabase.com/~lemur/rbc-congreve.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Bryan Donkin]] patents a steel nib pen in England.
* [[John Heathcoat]] is granted his first patent for a [[bobbinet]] [[lace machine]] in England.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[William Henry (chemist)|William Henry]]<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>
* [[Joseph-Louis Lagrange]] is appointed by [[Napoleon]] as a Grand Officer of the [[Legion of Honour]] and a [[Count of the Empire|Comte]] of the [[First French Empire|French Empire]].

==Births==
* February 29 – [[Hugh Falconer]], [[Scotland|Scottish]]-born [[geologist]], [[botanist]], [[paleontologist]] and [[paleoanthropologist]] (died [[1865 in science|1865]]).
* April 13 – [[Antonio Meucci]], Italian-born inventor (died [[1889 in science|1899]]).
* May 9 – [[John Scott Russell]], Scottish-born naval architect and shipbuilder (died [[1882 in science|1882]]).
* July 8 – [[George Robert Gray]], English [[zoologist]] (died [[1872 in science|1872]]).
* July 25 – [[Johann Benedict Listing]], German [[mathematician]] (died [[1882 in science|1882]]).
* August 4 – [[Johann Ritter von Oppolzer]], Austrian [[physician]] (died [[1871 in science|1871]]).
* October 29 – [[Caterina Scarpellini]], Italian [[astronomer]] (died [[1873 in science|1873]]).
* November 6 – [[Friedrich Julius Richelot]], German mathematician (died [[1875 in science|1875]]).
* [[Anne Elizabeth Ball]], Irish|Irish [[phycologist]] (died [[1872 in science|1872]]).

==Deaths==
* March 3 – [[Johan Christian Fabricius]], [[Denmark|Danish]] [[entomologist]] (born [[1745 in science|1745]]).
* May 18 – Rev. [[Elijah Craig]], American inventor of [[bourbon whiskey]] (birth date uncertain).
* October 8 – [[John Sheldon (anatomist)|John Sheldon]], English [[anatomist]] (born [[1752 in science|1752]]).
* October 21 – [[Maria Christina Bruhn]], [[Swedes|Swedish]] inventor (born [[1732 in science|1732]]).
* December 24 – [[Thomas Beddoes]], reforming English physician (born [[1760 in science|1760]]).

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1808 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1800s in science]]