Editing 1840 in science

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Year nav topic5|1840|science}}
{{Science year nav|1840}}

The year '''1840 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Events==
* [[William Whewell]] publishes ''The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences'', introducing the terms ''[[scientist]]'' (for the second time) and ''[[physicist]]''.<ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Whewell|chapter=Introduction|title=The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, founded upon their history|location=London|publisher=J. W. Parker|year=1840|volume=1|pages=113, 71}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=scientist, ''n''.|work=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] online version|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/172698|accessdate=2011-12-02|date=September 2011}} {{OEDsub}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=physicist, ''n''.|work=Oxford English Dictionary online version|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/143131?redirectedFrom=Physicist#eid|accessdate=2011-12-02|date=September 2011}}</ref>
* [[Justus von Liebig]] publishes ''Die Organische Chemie in ihre Anwendung auf Agricultur und Physiologie'' in [[Braunschweig]], emphasising the importance of agricultural chemistry in crop production; it will go through at least eight editions.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Justus Liebig's Contribution to Agricultural Chemistry|first=George W.|last=Black|journal=[[Journal of Chemical Education]]|year=1978|volume=55|issue=1|page=33|doi=10.1021/ed055p33.1|bibcode=1978JChEd..55...33B}}</ref>
* The first known photograph of [[Niagara Falls]], a [[daguerreotype]], is taken by English chemist [[Hugh Lee Pattinson]].

==Astronomy==
* [[John William Draper]] invents [[astronomical photography]] and photographs the [[Moon]].

==Biology==
* [[John Gould]] begins publication of ''[[The Birds of Australia (Gould)|The Birds of Australia]]''.

==Chemistry==
* [[Germain Hess]] proposes [[Hess's law]], an early statement of the [[law of conservation of energy]], which establishes that energy changes in a chemical process depend only on the states of the starting and product materials and not on the specific pathway taken between the two states.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hess, Germain Henri |url=http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Biographies/MainBiographies/H/Hess/1.html |accessdate=2007-03-12 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070209062053/http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Biographies/MainBiographies/H/Hess/1.html |archivedate=2007-02-09 }}</ref>
* [[George Richards Elkington]] [[patent]]s the [[electroplating]] process invented by surgeon [[John Wright (inventor)|John Wright]] of [[Birmingham]] in England.

==Earth sciences==
* [[Louis Agassiz]] publishes his ''Etudes sur les glaciers'', the first major scientific work to propose that the Earth has seen an [[ice age]].
* [[Roderick Murchison]] identifies [[Devonian]] stratigraphy in Russia, ending [[the Great Devonian Controversy]].<ref>{{cite book|authorlink=Martin J. S. Rudwick|last=Rudwick|first=Martin J. S.|title=The Great Devonian Controversy: The Shaping of Scientific Knowledge among Gentlemanly Specialists|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1985}}</ref>

==Exploration==
* January 19 – Captain [[Charles Wilkes]]' [[United States Exploring Expedition]] sights [[Wilkes Land]], providing evidence that [[Antarctica]] is a complete continent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctica/exploration.shtml|title=Antarctic Exploration — Chronology|accessdate=2006-10-20|publisher=Quark Expeditions|year=2004|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908120017/http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/antarctica/exploration.shtml|archivedate=2006-09-08}}</ref>
* January 21 – [[Adélie Land]] first visited by [[Jules Dumont d'Urville]] in the [[French ship Astrolabe (1811)|French ship ''Astrolabe'']].<ref>{{cite book|last=Guillon|first=Jacques|title=Dumont d'Urville|publisher=France-Empire|year=1986|location=Paris|isbn=978-2-7048-0472-6}}</ref>
* The [[Nemesis (1839)|''Nemesis'' (1839)]] becomes the first iron ship to sail around the [[Cape of Good Hope]], aided by techniques to adjust the compass for the effect of an iron hull developed the year before by [[George Biddell Airy]], the [[Astronomer Royal]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Headrick|first=Daniel R.|year=1981|title=The Tools of Empire: Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-502832-4}}</ref>

==History of science==
* Publication begins in [[Paris]] of the ''Œuvres complètes d’[[Ambroise Paré]]'' edited by [[Joseph-François Malgaigne]].

==Medicine==
* April 15 – [[King's College Hospital]] opens in [[London]].
* July 23 – [[Vaccination Act 1840]] in the United Kingdom provides for free [[vaccination]] for the poor and prohibits [[variolation]].

==Metrology==
* [[Joseph Whitworth]] introduces his precision "end measurements" technique.

==Physics==
* [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]] publishes his ''Dioptrische Untersuchungen'',<ref>{{cite book|title=Gauss: a biographical study|url=https://archive.org/details/gaussbiographica0000bhle|url-access=registration|first=Walter Kaufmann|last=Bühler|publisher=Springer-Verlag|year=1987|isbn=978-0-387-10662-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/gaussbiographica0000bhle/page/144 144]–145}}</ref> in which he gives the first systematic analysis of the formation of images under a [[paraxial approximation]] ([[Gaussian optics]]).<ref>{{cite book|title=Optics|first=Eugene|last=Hecht|publisher=Addison Wesley|year=1987|isbn=978-0-201-11609-0|page=134}}</ref>

==Technology==
* [[Robert Bunsen]] invents the [[Bunsen cell]].
*[[British people|British]] inventor [[Warren De la Rue]] creates the first [[light bulb]] using a vacuum tube, although its use of a [[platinum]] coil makes it commercially unviable.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Justus Liebig]]; [[Charles-François Sturm]]<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]]: [[Andre Hubert Dumont]]

==Births==
* January 21 &ndash; [[Sophia Jex-Blake]] (died [[1912 in science|1912]]), [[English people|English]] [[physician]].
* February 5
** [[John Boyd Dunlop]] (died [[1921 in science|1921]]), Scottish-born [[inventor]].
** [[Hiram Maxim]] (died [[1916 in science|1916]]), [[United States|American]]-born inventor of the [[machine gun]].
* February 10 – [[Per Teodor Cleve]] (died [[1905 in science|1905]]), Swedish [[chemist]].
* March 28 – [[Emin Pasha]], born Isaak Schnitzer (died [[1892 in science|1892]]), Silesian-born [[List of explorers|explorer]].
* March 31 – [[Benjamin Baker (engineer)|Benjamin Baker]] (died [[1907 in science|1907]]), English [[civil engineer]].
* April 9 – [[Praskovya Uvarova]] (died [[1924 in science|1924]]), Russian archaeologist. 
* April 22 – [[Thomas Clouston (psychiatrist)|Thomas Clouston]] (died [[1915 in science|1915]]), Scottish [[psychiatrist]].
* July 28 – [[Edward Drinker Cope]] (died [[1897 in science|1897]]), [[Americans|American]] [[paleontologist]].
* August 4 – [[Richard von Krafft-Ebing]] (died [[1902 in science|1902]]), German [[sexologist]].
* November 24 – [[John Brashear]] (died [[1920 in science|1920]]), American [[astronomer]].
* November 29 – [[James Crichton-Browne]] (died [[1938 in science|1938]]), Scottish psychiatrist.

==Deaths==
* March 2 – [[Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers]] (born [[1758 in science|1758]]), German [[astronomer]].
* March 23 – [[William Maclure]] (born [[1763 in science|1763]]), Scottish American [[geologist]].
* April 25 – [[Siméon Denis Poisson]] (born [[1781 in science|1781]]), French [[mathematician]].
* April 29 – [[Pierre Jean Robiquet]] (born [[1780 in science|1780]]), French chemist.
* July 4 – [[Karl Ferdinand von Gräfe]] (born [[1787 in science|1787]]), German [[surgeon]].
* August 31 - [[Giuseppangelo Fonzi]], Italian dentist (born [[1768 in science|1768]])<ref>{{treccani|giuseppangelo-lucinto-fonzi_(Dizionario-Biografico)|Giuseppangelo Lucinto Fonzi|Luciano Bonuzzi|1997}}</ref>
* September 18 – [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque]] (born [[1783 in science|1783]]), French American [[polymath]].
* November 2 – Sir [[Anthony Carlisle]] (born [[1768 in science|1768]]), English surgeon.
* December 11 – [[Franz Bauer]] (born 1758), Moravian-born botanical illustrator.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1840 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1840s in science]]