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1838 in science
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{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] --> {{Year nav topic5|1838|science}} {{Science year nav|1838}} The year '''1838 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below. ==Astronomy== * [[Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel]] makes the first accurate measurement of distance to a star, [[61 Cygni]], using [[parallax]]. [[Thomas James Henderson|Thomas Henderson]] ([[Alpha Centauri]]) and [[Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve]] ([[Vega]]) announce their measurements using parallax shortly afterwards. * [[Claude Servais Mathias Pouillet]] makes the first quantitative measurements of the [[heat]] emitted by the [[Sun]]. * [[Peter Andreas Hansen]] publishes a revision of the [[lunar theory]], ''Fundamenta nova investigationis orbitae verae quam luna perlustrat''. ==Biology== * May 9 – [[Royal Agricultural Society of England]] established. * [[Protein]]s discovered by [[Gerardus Johannes Mulder]]<ref>{{cite journal|first=G. J.|last=Mulder|journal=Natuur- en Scheikundig Archief|volume=6|title=Over Proteine en hare Verbindingen en Ontledingsproducten|year=1838|pages=87–162}}</ref> and named by [[Jöns Jakob Berzelius]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Origin of the Word Protein|first=Hubert Bradford|last=Vickery|journal=Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine|pages=387–93|volume=22|year=1950|pmc=2598953|pmid=15413335|issue=5}}</ref> * [[Matthias Schleiden]] discovers that all living plant tissue is composed of cells. * [[Andrew Smith (zoologist)|Andrew Smith]] begins publication of ''Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa''. ==Chemistry== * [[Bulat steel]] [[alloy]] developed by [[Pavel Petrovich Anosov]]. * [[Electrotyping]] is invented by [[Moritz von Jacobi]] in Russia.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Heinrich |first=Herbert |title=The Discovery of Galvanoplasty and Electrotyping |journal=[[Journal of Chemical Education]] |pages=565–575 |url=http://www.jce.divched.org/journal/issues/1938/Dec/jceSubscriber/JCE1938p0565.pdf |accessdate=2012-06-21 |date=December 1938 |doi=10.1021/ed015p565 |volume=15 |issue=12 |bibcode=1938JChEd..15..565H }}{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> ==Exploration== * August 18 – The [[United States Exploring Expedition]] under [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] [[Lieutenant]] [[Charles Wilkes]] sets sail for a four-year [[circumnavigation]] westabout. * In [[Australia]], [[Charles Sturt]] proves that the Hume and [[Murray River|Murray]] are the same river. ==Mathematics== * [[Augustus De Morgan]] introduces the term '[[mathematical induction]]'.<ref>{{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|page=69}}</ref> * [[Siméon Denis Poisson|S. D. Poisson]] publishes ''Recherches sur la probabilité des jugements en matière criminelle et en matière civile'', containing his work on [[probability theory]] and introducing [[Poisson distribution]]. ==Medicine== * [[Jean Esquirol]] publishes ''Des maladies mentales considerées sous le rapport médicale, hygiènique et médico-legal'' in [[Paris]]. This includes the first description of what will later become known as [[Down syndrome]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Down's syndrome|url=http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/322.html|work=[[Who Named It?|Whonamedit?]]|accessdate=2011-04-13}}</ref> * [[John Gorrie]] experiments with cooling the hospital wards of [[malaria]]l patients in [[Apalachicola, Florida]].<ref>{{cite book|authorlink=James Burke (science historian)|first=James|last=Burke|title=Connections|location=London|publisher=Macmillan|year=1978|isbn=978-0-333-24827-0|page=239}}</ref> ==Technology== * January 6/11 – [[Samuel Morse]] first publicly demonstrates the [[electrical telegraph]], at [[Morristown, New Jersey]]. * April 4–22 – The [[paddle steamer]] [[SS Sirius (1837)|SS ''Sirius'' (1837)]] makes the [[Transatlantic Crossing]] to [[New York City|New York]] from [[Cork (city)|Cork]], [[Ireland]], in eighteen days, though not using steam continuously.<ref>{{cite web|title=Steamship Curaçao|url=http://www.vrcurassow.com/2dvrc/sscuracao/sscuracao.html|accessdate=2011-02-02| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20101224202256/http://vrcurassow.com/2dvrc/sscuracao/sscuracao.html| archivedate= 24 December 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> * April 8–23 – [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]]'s paddle steamer {{SS|Great Western}} (1838) makes the Transatlantic Crossing to New York from [[Avonmouth]], [[England]], in fifteen days, inaugurating a regular steamship service.<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> * [[Liverpool]]-built [[barque]] ''Ironsides'' becomes the first large ocean-going iron ship.<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Grantham|title=On Iron Ship Building|location=London|publisher=Lockwood|edition=2nd|year=1859|pages=13–14}}</ref> * [[William Barnett (engineer)|William Barnett]] obtains a United Kingdom [[patent]] for an [[History of the internal combustion engine|internal combustion engine]], the first with compression of the gas/air mixture in the cylinder.<ref>Patent No. 7615, ''Obtaining motive power from inflammable gases by compression and explosion''.</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Dugald|last=Clerk|authorlink=Dugald Clerk|title=Gas and Oil Engines|url=https://archive.org/details/gasoilenginecler00clerrich|location=London|publisher=Longman Green & Co|year=1897}}</ref> * [[David Bruce (inventor)|David Bruce]], Jr., invents the Pivotal Typecaster, which replaces hand typecasting in printing. * [[Moritz von Jacobi|Boris Semyonovich Yakobi]] invents [[electrotyping]], which is used in printing and reproduction of art objects.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Heinrich|first=Herbert|title=The Discovery of Galvanoplasty and Electrotyping|journal=Journal of Chemical Education|date=December 1938|pages=566–575|volume=15|issue=12}}</ref> * The first [[screw-pile lighthouse]] is built by [[Alexander Mitchell (engineer)|Alexander Mitchell]] on [[Maplin Sands]] in the [[Thames Estuary]]. * [[Charles Wheatstone]] originates the [[stereoscope]]. ==Events== * A statue of English chemist and physicist [[John Dalton]] (in marble by [[Francis Leggatt Chantrey|Sir Francis Chantrey]]) is erected in [[Manchester]] during the scientist's lifetime. ==Awards== * [[Copley Medal]]: [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]]; [[Michael Faraday]]<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]]: [[Richard Owen]] ==Births== * January 5 – [[Camille Jordan]] (died [[1922 in science|1922]]), [[French people|French]] [[mathematician]]. * January 29 – [[Edward W. Morley]] (died [[1923 in science|1923]]), [[Americans|American]] [[chemist]]. * February 18 – [[Ernst Mach]] (died [[1916 in science|1916]]), [[Austrians|Austrian]] [[physicist]]. * March 3 – [[George William Hill]] (died [[1914 in science|1914]]), American [[astronomer]]. * March 12 – [[William Henry Perkin|William H. Perkin]] (died [[1907 in science|1907]]), [[English people|English]] chemist. * March 15 – [[Alice Cunningham Fletcher]] (died [[1923 in science|1923]]), Cuban-born American [[ethnologist]], [[anthropologist]] and [[social scientist]]. * April 8 – [[Ferdinand von Zeppelin]] (died [[1917 in science|1917]]), [[Germans|German]] founder of the [[Zeppelin]] [[airship]] company. * April 16 – [[Ernest Solvay]] (died [[1922 in science|1922]]), [[Belgians|Belgian]] chemist. * April 18 – [[Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran]] (died [[1912 in science|1912]]), French chemist. * April 21 – [[John Muir]] (died [[1914 in science|1914]]), Scottish-born American [[Natural history|naturalist]]. * May 6 – [[Alexandra Smirnoff]] (died [[1913 in science|1913]]), [[Finns|Finnish]] [[pomologist]]. * June 4 – [[John Grigg (astronomer)|John Grigg]] (died [[1920 in science|1920]]), New Zealand astronomer. * July 19 – [[Joel Asaph Allen]] (died [[1921 in science|1921]]), American [[zoologist]]. * August 6 – [[George James Symons]] (died [[1900 in science|1900]]), English [[meteorologist]]. * December 12 – [[Sherburne Wesley Burnham]] (died [[1921 in science|1921]]), American astronomer. ==Deaths== * March 16 – [[Nathaniel Bowditch]] (born [[1773 in science|1773]]), American mathematician. * April 6 – [[José Bonifácio de Andrada]] (born [[1763 in science|1763]]), [[Brazilians|Brazilian]] statesman and [[mineralogist]]. * May 11 – [[Thomas Andrew Knight]] (born [[1759 in science|1759]]), English horticulturalist. * July 5 – [[Jean Marc Gaspard Itard]] (born [[1774 in science|1774]]), French [[otorhinolaryngologist]]. * August 21 – [[Adelbert von Chamisso]] (born [[1781 in science|1781]]), German [[botanist]]. * September 1 – [[William Clark]] (born [[1770 in science|1770]]), American explorer. * September 27 – [[Bernard Courtois]] (born [[1777 in science|1777]]), French chemist. * October 1 – [[Charles Tennant]] (born [[1768 in science|1768]]), Scottish chemist and industrialist. ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:1838 in science| ]] [[Category:19th century in science]] [[Category:1830s in science]]
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