Editing 1831 in science

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The year '''1831 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* January 7 – Great Comet of 1831 (C/1831 A1, 1830 II) first observed by [[John Herapath]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1831MNRAS...2....6H&amp;db_key=AST|title=SAO/NASA ADS Astronomy Abstract Service|bibcode=1831MNRAS...2....6H|accessdate=2011-02-06|last1=Herapath |first1=John |journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |year=1831 |volume=2 |page=6 }}</ref>
* March 7 – [[Royal Astronomical Society]] receives its [[Royal Charter]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ras.org.uk/about-the-ras/a-brief-history|title=A brief history of the RAS|publisher=Royal Astronomical Society|accessdate=2011-02-06| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110130164034/http://www.ras.org.uk/about-the-ras/a-brief-history| archivedate= 30 January 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>
* [[Heinrich Schwabe]] makes the first detailed drawing of the [[Great Red Spot]] on [[Jupiter]].
* [[Mary Somerville]] translates [[Laplace]]'s ''Mécanique céleste'' as ''The Mechanism of the Heavens''.

==Biology==
* September 1 – [[Dublin Zoo|Zoological Gardens, Dublin]], open in [[Ireland]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.familyfun.ie/dublin-zoo/|title=History Of Dublin Zoo|work=Family Fun|accessdate=2011-12-20}}</ref>
* [[Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)|Robert Brown]] names the [[cell nucleus]], in a paper to the [[Linnean Society of London]].

==Chemistry==
* [[Antoine Bussy|A. A. Bussy]] publishes his ''Mémoire sur le Radical métallique de la Magnésie '' describing his method of isolating [[magnesium]].
* The [[Kaliapparat]], a laboratory device for the analysis of carbon in organic compounds, is invented by [[Justus von Liebig]].

==Exploration==
* June 1 – British [[Royal Navy]] officer [[James Clark Ross]] locates the position of the [[North Magnetic Pole]] on the [[Boothia Peninsula]].
* December 27 – [[Charles Darwin]] starts his voyage on {{HMS|Beagle}} from [[Plymouth]].

==Medicine==
* May 16 – [[St Bernard's Hospital, Hanwell|Middlesex County Asylum]] for pauper lunatics opens at [[Hanwell]] near London under the humane superintendence of [[William Charles Ellis]].
* Dr [[Charles Thackrah|C. Turner Thackrah]] publishes ''The Effects of the Principal Arts, Trades, and Professions, and of Civic States and Habits of Living, on Health and Longevity, with a particular reference to the trades and manufactures of Leeds, and suggestions for the removal of many of the agents which produce disease and shorten the duration of life'', a pioneering study of [[Occupational health|occupational]] and [[public health]] in a newly industrialised English city.<ref>{{cite book|first=Tristram|last=Hunt|authorlink=Tristram Hunt|title=Building Jerusalem: the rise and fall of the Victorian city|location=London|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2004|isbn=0-297-60767-7}}</ref>

==Paleontology==
* [[Henry Witham]] publishes ''Observations on fossil vegetables, accompanied by representations of their internal structure, as seen through the microscope'' in [[Edinburgh]].

==Technology==
* April 12 – [[Broughton Suspension Bridge]] over the [[River Irwell]] in [[England]] [[List of bridge failures#Bridge failures|collapses]] under marching troops.<ref>{{cite book|first=R.E.D.|last=Bishop|title=Vibration|edition=2nd|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1979|isbn=0-521-22779-8}}</ref>
* August 29 – [[Michael Faraday]] demonstrates [[electromagnetic induction]] at the [[Royal Society]] of London.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/icons-timeline/1820-1840 |title=Icons, a portrait of England 1820-1840 |accessdate=2007-09-12 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070922055840/http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/icons-timeline/1820-1840 |archivedate=22 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Joseph Henry]] recognises it at about the same time.
* October 28 – Faraday develops the [[Faraday Wheel]], a [[homopolar generator]].<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>
* [[Joseph Henry]] invents the [[electric bell]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Scientific writings of Joseph Henry|volume=30 |issue=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w6cKAAAAIAAJ&q=%22joseph+henry%22+%22i+arranged+around+one+of+the+upper+rooms%22&pg=PA434|page=434|year=1886|publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref>
* [[James Meadows Rendel (engineer)|James Meadows Rendel]] erects the first [[bascule bridge]] with a [[hydraulic]] mechanism, on the [[Kingsbridge Estuary]] in England.<ref>{{cite web|first=Mike|last=Clarke|title=A Brief History of Movable Bridges|url=http://www.mikeclarke.myzen.co.uk/Movable%20Bridges.html|date=2009-01-05|accessdate=2012-02-09}}</ref>
* [[William Wallace (mathematician)|William Wallace]] invents the [[eidograph]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Waterston|first1=Charles D.|last2=Shearer|first2=A. Macmillan|title=Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783-2002: Biographical Index|url=http://www.rse.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|accessdate=2012-01-23|volume=2|page=964 |publisher=[[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]|isbn=978-0-902198-84-5 |date=July 2006}}</ref>

==Institutions==
* September 27 – [[British Association for the Advancement of Science]] first meets, in [[York]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=Alan|last2=Palmer |first2=Veronica|year=1992|title=The Chronology of British History|publisher=Century Ltd|location=London|pages=257–258|isbn=0-7126-5616-2}}</ref>

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[George Biddell Airy]]<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>
* [[Wollaston Medal]] (first award): [[William Smith (geologist)|William Smith]]

==Births==
* January 20 – [[Edward Routh]] (died [[1907 in science|1907]]), Canadian-born English [[mathematician]].
* January 26 – [[Heinrich Anton de Bary]] (died [[1888 in science|1888]]), [[Germans|German]] [[Surgery|surgeon]], [[botanist]], [[microbiologist]] and [[mycologist]].
* February 28 – [[Edward James Stone]] (died [[1897 in science|1897]]), English [[astronomer]].
* March 3 – [[George Pullman]] (died [[1897 in science|1897]]), American [[inventor]].
* May 16 – [[David E. Hughes]] (died [[1900 in science|1900]]), British inventor.
* June 13 – [[James Clerk Maxwell]] (died [[1879 in science|1879]]), Scottish-born mathematician.
* August 20 – [[Eduard Suess]] (died [[1914 in science|1914]]), Austrian [[geologist]].
* October 6 – [[Richard Dedekind]] (died [[1916 in science|1916]]), German mathematician.
* October 15 – [[Isabella Bird]] (died [[1904 in science|1904]]), English explorer, writer, photographer and naturalist.
* October 21 – [[Hermann Hellriegel]] (died [[1895 in science|1895]]), German [[agricultural chemist]], discoverer of the mechanism by which [[Leguminosae|leguminous plants]] assimilate the free [[nitrogen]] of the atmosphere.
* October 29 – [[Othniel Charles Marsh]] (died [[1899 in science|1899]]), American [[paleontologist]].
* December 5 – [[Hans Heinrich Landolt]] (died [[1910 in science|1910]]), Swiss-born chemist.

==Deaths==
* February 14 – [[Henry Maudslay]] (born [[1771 in science|1771]]), English mechanical engineer.
* March 26 - [[Pierre Amable Jean-Baptiste Trannoy]] (born [[1772 in science|1772]]),  French physician, hygienist and botanist.<ref>{{cite web |title=Date of death on the decennial table, page 191 |url=https://archives.somme.fr/ark:/58483/1d93k5tjs8vx/d16ccb72-569a-4d51-9d30-891a3d500277 |website=archives.somme.fr |access-date=5 March 2021 |language=fr}}</ref>
* June 27 – [[Sophie Germain]] (born [[1776 in science|1776]]), French [[mathematician]].
* October 14 – [[Jean-Louis Pons]] (born [[1761 in science|1761]], French astronomer.
* December 22 – [[François Huber]] (born [[1750 in science|1750]]), blind Swiss naturalist.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1831 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1830s in science]]