Editing 1823 in science

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The year '''1823 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* [[Olbers' paradox]] is described by the [[Germany|German]] [[astronomer]] [[Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers]].
* [[Cambridge Observatory]] established in [[England]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Stratton|first=F. J. M.|title=The History of the Cambridge Observatories|journal=Annals of the Solar Physics Observatory, Cambridge|volume=1|year=1949}}</ref>
* December 29 – [[Great Comet of 1823]] first observed.

==Chemistry==
* June 17 – [[Charles Macintosh]] [[patent]]s a method of rubberizing fabric to waterproof it.<ref>{{cite web|first=R. B.|last=Prosser|title=Macintosh, Charles (1766–1843)|work=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17541|accessdate=2011-04-23|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/17541}} {{ODNBsub}}</ref>

==Exploration==
* February 20 – [[James Weddell]]'s expedition to [[Antarctica]] reaches [[latitude]] 74°15'&nbsp;S and [[longitude]] 34°16'45"&nbsp;W, the most southerly position that will be attained for more than 80 years.

==Mathematics==
* [[János Bolyai]] completes a treatise on [[parallel lines]] that he calls [[absolute geometry]], although it will not be published until 1832.

==Medicine==
* After August – [[Philipp Franz von Siebold]] begins to introduce Western medicine to Japan.
* October 5 – ''[[The Lancet]]'' founded by [[Thomas Wakley]].
* [[Theodric Romeyn Beck]] publishes the first significant American book on [[forensic medicine]], ''Elements of Medical Jurisprudence'' in [[Albany, New York]].

==Paleontology==
* January 23 – In a cave on the [[Gower Peninsula]] of [[Wales]], [[William Buckland]] inspects the "[[Red Lady of Paviland]]", the first identification of a prehistoric (male) human burial. The bones, discovered on December 21 last, are with those of the woolly [[mammoth]], proving that the two had coexisted, although Buckland dates th human remains as Roman.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Stephen|last=Aldhouse-Green|title=Great Sites: Paviland Cave|journal=British Archaeology|issue=61|url=http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba61/feat3.shtml|accessdate=2010-07-16|date=October 2001|archive-date=2006-02-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060228141222/http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba61/feat3.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* December 10 – On the [[Jurassic Coast]] of southern England, [[Mary Anning]] finds the first complete ''[[Plesiosaurus]]'' skeleton.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Torrens|first=Hugh|year=1995|title=Mary Anning (1799–1847) of Lyme; 'The Greatest Fossilist the World Ever Knew'|journal=The British Journal for the History of Science|volume=25|issue=3|pages=257–284|doi=10.1017/s0007087400033161|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Physics==
* [[William Sturgeon]] invents the [[electromagnet]].

==Technology==
* December 6 – English inventor [[Samuel Brown (engineer)|Samuel Brown]] obtains his first [[patent]] for a hydrogen fuelled compressionless atmospheric gas vacuum engine,<ref>Gill, T. (1826). ''The Technical Repository'', p. 383.</ref> the first [[History of the internal combustion engine|internal combustion engine]] to be applied industrially.<ref>{{cite book|title=Samuel Morey and his atmospheric engine|first=Horst O.|last=Hardenberg|location=Warrendale, Pa.|publisher=Society of Automotive Engineers|year=1992|series=SP-922|isbn=1-56091-240-5}}</ref>
* First use of a [[Fresnel lens]] in a [[lighthouse]] optic, at the [[Cordouan lighthouse]] on the [[Gironde estuary]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Watson|first=Bruce|title=Science Makes a Better Lighthouse Lens|journal=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |volume=30|page=30 |date=August 1999}}</ref>
* First permanent [[wire]] [[Wire rope|cable]] [[suspension bridge]], Pont Saint Antoine in [[Geneva]], by [[Guillaume Henri Dufour]], of two 40 m spans.<ref>{{cite book|last=Peters|first=Tom F.|author2=Andrea L.|title=Transitions in Engineering: Guillaume Henri Dufour and the Early 19th Century Cable Suspension Bridges|location=Basel|publisher=Birkhauser|year=1987|isbn=3-7643-1929-1}}</ref>
* First [[cast iron]] framed [[greenhouse]] erected at [[Wollaton Park]] in England as a ''[[Camellia]]'' house.
* French officer [[Henri-Joseph Paixhans]] develops the [[Paixhans gun]], the first [[naval artillery]] to fire explosive [[Shell (projectile)|shells]].

==Publications==
* ''[[Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences]]'' first published.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[John Pond]]<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 3 – [[Robert Whitehead (engineer)|Robert Whitehead]] (died [[1905 in science|1905]]), [[English people|English]] inventor of the self-propelled [[torpedo]].
* January 8 – [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] (died [[1913 in science|1913]]), [[British people|British]] [[Natural history|naturalist]] who devises the theory of [[natural selection]] at the same time as [[Charles Darwin]].
* February 3 – [[Spencer Fullerton Baird]] (died [[1887 in science|1887]]), [[Americans|American]] [[ornithologist]] and [[ichthyologist]].
* March 21 – [[Jules Émile Planchon]] (died [[1888 in science|1888]]), [[French people|French]] [[botanist]].
* December 22 – [[Jean Henri Fabre]] (died [[1915 in science|1915]]), French [[entomologist]].
* December 23 – [[Thomas W. Evans]] (died [[1897 in science|1897]]), American-born [[dentist]].<ref>{{citation|editor-last=Johnson|editor-first=Rossiter|editor2-last=Brown|editor2-first=John Howard|title=The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans|publisher=The Biographical Society|volume=4|place=Boston, MA|year=1904|contribution=Thomas William Evans|contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1IDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT25#PPT24,M1|access-date=2009-06-12}}.</ref>

==Deaths==
* January 26 – [[Edward Jenner]] (born [[1749 in science|1749]]), English inventor of [[vaccine]].
* January 27 – [[Charles Hutton]] (born [[1737 in science|1737]]), English [[mathematician]].
* February 9 – [[Agnes Ibbetson]] (born [[1757 in science|1757]]), English plant physiologist.
* September 23 – [[Matthew Baillie]] (born [[1761 in science|1761]]), British [[pathologist]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1823 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1820s in science]]