Editing 1820 in science

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The year '''1820 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.
[[File:Geological Map of England and Wales by Greenough, 1820.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Greenough's Geological map of England & Wales published by the Geological Society 1819|Geological Map of England & Wales by G.B Greenough, published by the Geological Society, 1819]]

==Astronomy==
*  March 10 – [[Royal Astronomical Society|Astronomical Society of London]] is founded.<ref>{{cite web|title=A brief history of the RAS|url=http://www.ras.org.uk/about-the-ras/a-brief-history|publisher=Royal Astronomical Society|accessdate=2011-08-16}}</ref>
* October 20 – [[Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope]], is founded.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of Scientific Endeavour in South Africa: A Collection of Essays Published on the Occasion of the Centenary of the Royal Society of South Africa|editor1-last=Brown|editor1-first=Alexander Claude|publisher=Royal Society of South Africa|year=1977|location=Cape Town|author=Royal Society of South Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-X4IAAAAMAAJ&q=founded+1820|page=60}}</ref>

==Biology==
* [[Christian Friedrich Nasse]] formulates Nasse's law: [[hemophilia]] occurs only in males and is transmitted by [[asymptomatic]] females.
* Ground is set aside for establishment of the [[United States Botanic Garden]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]

==Chemistry==
* May – [[John Herapath]] draws up a partial account of the [[kinetic theory of gases]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Herapath|first=J.|year=1821|title=A Mathematical Inquiry into the Causes, Laws and Principal Phæenomena of Heat, Gases, Gravitation, &c|journal=[[Annals of Philosophy]]|volume=9|pages=273–293|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nCsAAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA273|accessdate=2011-10-28}}</ref>
* [[Joseph Bienaimé Caventou]] and [[Pierre Joseph Pelletier]] isolate the [[alkaloid]]s [[cinchonine]] and [[quinine]] from ''[[Cinchona]]'' bark.
* [[Solanine]] is first isolated from the berries of the European black nightshade (''[[Solanum nigrum]]'').<ref>{{cite journal|author=Desfosses|title=Extrait d'une lettre de M. Desfosses, pharmacien, à Besançon, à M. Robiquet|journal=Journal de Pharmacie|year=1820|volume=6|pages=374–376|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015062276103&view=1up&seq=468&skin=2021|series=2nd series|trans-title=Extract of a letter from Mr. Desfosses, pharmacist in Besançon, to Mr. Robiquet}}</ref>
* [[Friedrich Accum]]'s ''A Treatise on Adulterations of Food and Culinary Poisons'' is published in London.

==Computing==
* [[Charles Xavier Thomas|Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar]] makes his "Arithmometer", the first mass-produced calculator.

==Exploration==
* January 27 ([[Old Style and New Style dates|NS]]) – The [[Antarctic ice sheet]] is sighted for the first time by [[Imperial Russian Navy]] captain [[Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen]].<ref name=Jones>{{cite book|first=A. G. E.|last=Jones|year=1982|title=Antarctica Observed: Who Discovered the Antarctic Continent?|publisher=Caedmon of Whitby|isbn=0-905355-25-3}}</ref>
* January 30 – Antarctica is sighted for the second time by [[Irish people|Irish]]-born British [[Royal Navy]] captain [[Edward Bransfield]] in the ''Williams''.<ref name=Jones/>
* July – Botanist [[Edwin James (scientist)|Edwin James]] becomes the first recorded person to reach the summit of [[Pikes Peak]] in [[Colorado]].
* November 17 – Antarctica is sighted for the third time by [[United States]] [[Seal hunting|seal hunter]] [[Nathaniel Palmer]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Sample Entries for Four Explorers|url=http://www.antarctic-circle.org/encyclopediaentries.htm|publisher=The Atlantic Circle|accessdate=2011-12-06}}</ref>

==Geology==
* May – [[The Geological Society]] publishes a ''Geological Map of England & Wales'' by [[George Bellas Greenough|G. B. Greenough]] (dated 1819) as an alternative to [[William Smith (geologist)|William Smith]]'s famous [[geological map]] of 1815. Greenough's map is produced from a collaborative effort that is skilfully edited and generally acknowledged to be more accurate than Smith's.<ref>Conybeare (1822) in [[iarchive:outlinesgeology00philgoog|Conybeare & Phillips]] p. xlvii.</ref>

==Physics==
* April – [[Hans Christian Ørsted]] discovers the relationship between [[electricity]] and [[magnetism]].
* Laws of [[electrodynamics]] are established by [[André-Marie Ampère]].
* [[Jean-Baptiste Biot]] and [[Félix Savart]] demonstrate the [[Biot–Savart law]] in [[electromagnetism]].

==Technology==
* July 26 – Opening of [[Union Bridge (Tweed)|Union Chain Bridge]] across the [[River Tweed]] between [[England]] and [[Scotland]], designed by [[Captain Samuel Brown]]. Its span of 449&nbsp;ft (137 metres) is the longest in the [[Western world]] at this time, and it is the first [[wrought iron]] vehicular [[suspension bridge]] of its type in [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/amemoirsuspensi01drewgoog|title=A Memoir of Suspension Bridges: Comprising The History Of Their Origin And Progress|chapter=Section III|last=Drewry|first=Charles Stewart|year=1832|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/amemoirsuspensi01drewgoog/page/n55 37]–41|accessdate=2011-08-16}}</ref>
* [[English people|English]] inventor [[Thomas Hancock (inventor)|Thomas Hancock]] [[patent]]s the production of fastenings using rubberized fabrics and invents the "pickling machine" (masticator) for recycling [[rubber]] scraps.
* [[French people|French]] engineer [[Jean-Victor Poncelet]] develops an inward-flow [[water turbine]].

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]] – [[Hans Christian Ørsted]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |accessdate=22 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

==Births==
* January 20 – [[Alexandre-Émile Béguyer de Chancourtois]] (died [[1886 in science|1886]]), French [[mineralogist]].
* March 24 – [[Edmond Becquerel]] (died [[1891 in science|1891]]), French [[physicist]].
* April 4 – [[David Kirkaldy]] (died [[1897 in science|1897]]), Scottish engineer, pioneer of materials testing.
* April 5 – [[Charles Harrison Blackley]] (died [[1900 in science|1900]]), English [[allergist]].
* April 16 – [[Victor Puiseux]] (died [[1883 in science|1883]]), French [[mathematician]].
* May 12 – [[Florence Nightingale]] (died [[1910 in science|1910]]), Italian-born English [[nurse]].
* July 5 – [[William John Macquorn Rankine]] (died [[1872 in science|1872]]), Scottish physicist.
* August 2 – [[John Tyndall]] (died [[1893 in science|1893]]), Irish physicist.
* November 8 – [[Birdsill Holly]] (died [[1894 in science|1894]]), American [[hydraulic engineer]].

==Deaths==
* April 15 – [[John Bell (surgeon)|John Bell]] (born [[1763 in science|1763]]), Scottish-born [[surgeon]].
* June 19 – [[Joseph Banks]] (born [[1743 in science|1743]]), English [[naturalist]].
* August – [[Ralph Smith O’bré]], Irish surgeon.
* October 4 – [[Claudine Picardet]] (born [[1735 in science|1735]]), French chemist, mineralogist, meteorologist and scientific translator.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1820 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1820s in science]]