Editing 1837 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1837|science}}
{{Science year nav|1837}}

The year '''1837 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Biology==
* January 10 – [[John Gould]] reports to the [[Zoological Society of London]] that [[Darwin's finches|bird specimens]] brought by [[Charles Darwin]] from the [[Galápagos Islands]] which Darwin had thought were blackbirds, "gross-bills" and [[finch]]es are in fact "a series of ground Finches which are so peculiar" as to form "an entirely new group, containing 12 species", an important step in the [[inception of Darwin's theory]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Sulloway, F. J. |year=1982 |title=The ''Beagle'' collections of Darwin's finches (''Geospizinae'') |journal=Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology Series |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=49–94 |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/pdf/1982_SullowayFinches_A86.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516072905/http://darwin-online.org.uk/pdf/1982_SullowayFinches_A86.pdf |archivedate=2012-05-16 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Sulloway, F. J.|year=1982|title=Darwin and his finches: the evolution of a legend|journal=Journal of the History of Biology|volume=15|pages=1–53|url=http://www.sulloway.org/Finches.pdf| doi=10.1007/BF00132004|citeseerx=10.1.1.458.3975}}</ref>
* March–July – [[Charles Darwin]] begins privately to develop his theory of [[transmutation of species]].
* November 6 – Establishment of the [[Public Garden (Boston)|Public Garden]] in [[Boston]] (Massachusetts), as a [[botanical garden]],<ref>{{cite web|first=William P.|last=Marchione|title=Horace Gray: Father of the Boston Public Garden|url=http://www.bahistory.org/HoraceGray.html|publisher=Brighton Allston Historical Society|date=1998–2001|accessdate=2013-11-13}}</ref> the first in the [[United States]] to be open to the general public.

==Mathematics==
* [[Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet]] publishes [[Dirichlet's theorem on arithmetic progressions]], using [[mathematical analysis]] concepts to tackle an algebraic problem and thus creating the branch of [[analytic number theory]]. In proving the theorem, he introduces the [[Dirichlet character]]s and [[Dirichlet L-function|L-functions]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kanemitsu|first1=Shigeru|first2=Chaohua|last2=Jia|title=Number Theoretic Methods: future trends|year=2002|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-4020-1080-4|pages= 271–274}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Gowers|first=Timothy|author2=Barrow-Green, June|author3=Leader, Imre|title=The Princeton Companion to Mathematics|year=2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-11880-2|pages=764–765}}</ref> He also notes the difference between the [[Absolute convergence|absolute]] and [[conditional convergence]] of [[Series (mathematics)|series]] and its impact in what will later be called the [[Riemann series theorem]].
* [[Bernard Bolzano]] publishes ''Wissenschaftslehre''.
* [[William Rowan Hamilton]] treats [[complex number]]s as [[ordered pair]]s of [[real number]]s.<ref name=Crilly>{{cite book|first=Tony|last=Crilly|title=50 Mathematical Ideas you really need to know|location=London|publisher=Quercus|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84724-008-8}}</ref>
* [[Siméon Denis Poisson]]'s lectures on probability (introducing [[Poisson distribution]]) and decision theory are published.<ref>{{cite book|first=S.-D.|last=Poisson|title=Probabilité des jugements en matière criminelle et en matière civile, précédées des règles générales du calcul des probabilitiés|location=Paris|publisher=Bachelier|year=1837|url=https://archive.org/details/recherchessurla01poisgoog|quote=recherches sur la probabilité des jugements en matière criminelle.}}</ref>
* [[Pierre Wantzel]] proves that several ancient [[geometric]] problems (including [[doubling the cube]] and [[trisecting the angle]]) are impossible to solve using only [[compass and straightedge]].<ref name=Crilly/><ref>{{cite journal|first=L.|last=Wantzel|title=Recherches sur les moyens de reconnaître si un problème de géométrie peut se résoudre avec la règle et le compas|journal=Journal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées|year=1837|volume=1|pages=366–372|url=http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/ConsulterElementNum?O=NUMM-16381&Deb=374&Fin=380&E=PDF}}</ref>

==Physics==
* [[Michael Faraday]] introduces the concept of [[lines of force]].

==Technology==
* February 25 – [[Thomas Davenport (inventor)|Thomas Davenport]] obtains the first United States [[patent]] on an [[electric motor]].<ref>U.S. Patent No. 132. {{cite web|title=Improvement in Propelling Machinery by Magnetism And Electro-Magnetism|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US132|publisher=Google patents|access-date=2011-12-13}}</ref>
* May – [[Samuel Morse]] patents his telegraph and exhibits it to the [[United States Congress]].
* June 12 – [[William Fothergill Cooke|Cooke]] and [[Charles Wheatstone|Wheatstone]] file their patent for the [[electrical telegraph]] in the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=van Dulken|title=Inventing the 19th Century|location=London|publisher=[[British Library]]|year=2001|isbn=0-7123-0881-4|pages=82–3}}</ref>
* July 19 – [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]]'s paddle steamer {{SS|Great Western}} is launched in [[Bristol]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref>
* July – [[Godefroy Engelmann]] of [[Mulhouse]] [[patent]]s [[chromolithography]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ferry|first=Kathryn|title=Printing the Alhambra: Owen Jones and Chromolithography|journal=Architectural History|volume=46|year=2003|pages=175–188}}</ref>
* November 18 – [[William Crompton (inventor)|William Crompton]] patents the cotton [[power loom]] in the United States.<ref>U.S. Patent No. 491.</ref>
* [[Louis Daguerre]]'s [[daguerrotype]] ''[[:File:Daguerreotype Daguerre Atelier 1837.jpg|L’Atelier de l'artiste]]'' is said to be the earliest known photographic image successfully to undergo the full process of [[Exposure (photography)|exposure]], [[Photographic processing|development]] and fixation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Carlisle|first=Rodney P.|title=Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries: All the Milestones in Ingenuity – From the Discovery of Fire to the Invention of the Microwave Oven|location=New Jersey|publisher=Wiley|year=2004|isbn=0-471-24410-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/scientificameric0000carl}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Stokstad|first=Marilyn|authorlink=Marilyn Stokstad|author2=Cateforis, David|author3= Addiss, Stephen|title=Art History|publisher=Pearson Education|year=2005|location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey|pages=964–967|edition=2nd|isbn=0-13-145527-3}}</ref>
* [[Camille Polonceau]] patents the Polonceau [[truss]].
* The first [[electric locomotive]] built is a miniature [[battery locomotive]] constructed by chemist [[Robert Davidson (inventor)|Robert Davidson]] of [[Aberdeen]] in [[Scotland]], and  powered by [[galvanic cell]]s (batteries).

==Publications==
* [[Bernard Bolzano]] publishes his ''Wissenschaftslehre'' ("Theory of Science").
* [[Andrew Ure]] publishes his encyclopedia ''A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines'' in the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]].

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Antoine-César Becquerel]]; [[John Frederic Daniell]]<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]]: Proby Thomas Cautley; Hugh Falconer

==Births==
* January 16 – [[Ellen Russell Emerson]] (died [[1907 in science|1907]]), American [[ethnology|ethnologist]].
* January 17 – [[François Lenormant]] (died [[1883 in science|1883]]), French [[Assyriology|assyriologist]] and [[Numismatics|numismatist]].
* January 19 – [[William Williams Keen]] (died [[1932 in science|1932]]), American [[physician]].
* January 27 – [[Eduard von Hofmann]] (died [[1897 in science|1897]]), Austrian [[forensic pathologist]].
* March 7 – [[Henry Draper]] (died [[1882 in science|1882]]), American physician and [[astronomer]], pioneer of astrophotography.
* March 23 – [[Richard Anthony Proctor]] (died [[1888 in science|1888]]), English [[astronomer]].
* April 3 – [[John Burroughs]] (died [[1921 in science|1921]]), American [[natural history|naturalist]].
* April 27 – [[Paul Gordan]] (died [[1912 in science|1912]]), German Jewish [[mathematician]], "the king of [[invariant theory]]".
* May 26 – [[Washington Roebling]] (died [[1926 in science|1926]]), American [[civil engineer]].
* June 20 – [[Paul Bachmann]] (died [[1920 in science|1920]]), German mathematician.
* July 21 &ndash; [[Johanna Hedén]] (died 1912), Swedish midwife and surgeon.
* September 8 – [[Raphael Pumpelly]] (died [[1923 in science|1923]]), American [[geologist]] and explorer.
* October 23 – [[Moritz Kaposi]] (died [[1902 in science|1902]]), Hungarian [[dermatologist]].
* November 4 – [[James Douglas (businessman)|James Douglas]] (died [[1918 in science|1918]]), Canadian-born [[Metallurgy|metallurgist]].
* November 14 – [[Lucas Barrett]] (died [[1862 in science|1862]]), Canadian-born British [[Natural history|naturalist]].
* November 23 – [[Johannes Diderik van der Waals]] (died [[1923 in science|1923]]), Dutch theoretical [[physicist]].
* November 28 – [[John Wesley Hyatt]] (died [[1920 in science|1920]]), American [[inventor]] and industrial chemist.

==Deaths==
* February 1 – [[Edward Donovan]] (born [[1768 in science|1768]]), [[Anglo-Irish]] [[natural history|naturalist]].
* February 4 – [[John Latham (ornithologist)|John Latham]] (born [[1740 in science|1740]]), [[English people|English]] [[physician]], naturalist and "grandfather of Australian [[ornithology]]".
* February 16 – [[Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus]] (born [[1776 in science|1776]]), [[German people|German]] naturalist and advocate of [[Lamarckism|transmutation]].
* February 19 – [[Georg Büchner]] (born [[1813 in science|1813]]), German-born writer and anatomist ([[typhus]]).

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1837 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1830s in science]]