Editing 1844 in science

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{{Science year nav|1844}}

The year '''1844 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* August 10 – German astronomer [[Friedrich Bessel]] deduces from the motion of the [[List of brightest stars|bright stars]] [[Sirius]] and [[Procyon]] that they have dark companions.<ref>{{cite journal | bibcode=1844MNRAS...6R.136B | title=On the Variations of the Proper Motions of ''Procyon'' and ''Sirius'' | journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | volume=6 | issue=11 |date=December 1844 | pages=136–141 | doi=10.1093/mnras/6.11.136a| last1=Bessel | first1=F. W. | doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Biology==
* June 3 – The last definitely recorded pair of [[great auk]]s (''Pinguinus impennis'') are killed on the [[Iceland]]ic island of [[Eldey]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Great Auks Become Extinct |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/great-auks-become-extinct/ |website=National Geographic Education |access-date=2024-10-27 |date=July 3, 1844 |quote=On July 3, 1844, the last confirmed pair of great auks (Pinguinus impennis) were killed on Eldey Island, Iceland.}}</ref>
* August 1 – Opening of [[Berlin Zoological Garden]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zoo-infos.de/zoos-en/41.html|title=Zoologischer Garten Berlin|work=zoo-infos.de|publisher=Zoo-Infos.de|accessdate=2010-09-05}}</ref>
* [[Gabriel Gustav Valentin]] notes the digestive activity of [[pancreatic juice]].
* [[George Robert Gray]] begins publication in [[London]] of ''The Genera of Birds''.
* [[Joseph Dalton Hooker]] begins publication of ''The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships ''Erebus'' and ''Terror'' ... 1839–1843'' in [[London]].<ref>{{cite book|first=F. Bruce|last=Sampson|chapter=Botany of the Antarctic Voyage|url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-SamEarl-t1-body1-d5-d5-d5.html|title=Early New Zealand Botanical Art|publisher=Reed Methuen|year=1985|location=Auckland|page=76|accessdate=2011-04-05}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* [[Karl Ernst Claus|Karl Klaus]] discovers [[ruthenium]].
* Professor [[Gustaf Erik Pasch]] of [[Stockholm]] is granted the privilege of manufacturing a [[safety match]].
* French chemist [[Adolphe Wurtz]] reports the first synthesis of [[copper hydride]], a well-known reducing agent and catalyst in organic chemistry.

==Earth sciences==
* [[Robert Chambers (publisher born 1802)|Robert Chambers]]' anonymous ''[[Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation]]'', which paves the way for acceptance of [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]'s ''[[The Origin of Species]]'', is published in Britain.

==Mathematics==
* [[Joseph Liouville]] finds the first [[transcendental number]]
* [[Hermann Grassmann]] studies vectors with more than three dimensions.

==Medicine==
* [[Irish people|Irish]] [[physician]] Francis Rynd utilises a hollow [[hypodermic needle]] to make the first recorded [[subcutaneous injection]]s, specifically of a [[sedative]] to treat [[neuralgia]].

==Metrology==
* [[Joseph Whitworth]] introduces the [[Thou (length)|thou]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Edkins|first=Jo|title=Small units|work=Imperial Measures of Length|publisher=Jo Edkins|url=http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/units/length.htm#small|accessdate=2009-09-23|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091010091009/http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/units/length.htm#small|archivedate=10 October 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Physics==
* [[William Robert Grove]] publishes ''The Correlation of Physical Forces'', the first comprehensive account of the [[conservation of energy]].

==Technology==
* January 30 – [[Charles Goodyear]] [[patent]]s the [[vulcanisation]] of [[rubber]] in the [[United States]].
* May 11 – [[Samuel Morse]] sends the first message using [[Morse code]].
* June – [[Henry Fox Talbot]] commences publication of the first book illustrated with photographs from a camera, ''[[The Pencil of Nature]]''.
* [[Uriah A. Boyden]] develops an improved outward-flow [[water turbine]].
* [[Robert Bunsen]] invents the [[grease-spot photometer]].
* Thomas and Caleb Pratt design the Pratt [[truss bridge]].
* [[Dublin]] iron-founder [[Richard Turner (iron-founder)|Richard Turner]] begins assembling components for the [[Palm house]] at [[Kew Gardens]] in [[London]], the first large-scale structural use of [[wrought iron]].
* [[Egide Walschaerts]] of the [[Rail transport in Belgium|Belgian State Railways]] originates [[Walschaerts valve gear]] for the [[steam locomotive]].

==Events==
* July 27 – Death of English chemist and physicist [[John Dalton]] in [[Manchester]] where his body lies in honour in the [[Manchester Town Hall#Old Town Hall|Town Hall]] and more than 40,000 people file past his coffin.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Carlo Matteucci]]<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]] for Geology: [[William Conybeare (geologist)|William Conybeare]]

==Births==
* February 1 – [[G. Stanley Hall]] (died [[1924 in science|1924]]), [[United States|American]] [[psychologist]].
* February 7 – [[Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko]] (died [[1873 in science|1873]]), [[Russia]]n [[naturalist]].
* February 20 – [[Ludwig Boltzmann]] (died [[1906 in science|1906]]), [[Austria]]n [[physicist]] famous for the invention of [[statistical mechanics]].
* March 25 – [[Adolf Engler]] (died [[1930 in science|1930]]), [[German people|German]] [[botanist]].
* June 10 – [[Carl Hagenbeck]] (died [[1913 in science|1913]]), German [[zoologist]].
* July 1 – [[Henry Newell Martin|H. Newell Martin]] (died [[1896 in science|1896]]),  [[United Kingdom|British]] [[physiologist]].
* August 6 – [[James Henry Greathead]] (died [[1896 in science|1896]]), [[South Africa]]n-born [[English people|English]] [[civil engineer]].
* August 13 – [[Friedrich Miescher]] (died [[1895 in science|1895]]), [[Swiss people|Swiss]] [[biochemist]].
* August 22 – [[George W. DeLong]] (died [[1881 in science|1881]]), American [[Arctic]] explorer.
* September 11 – [[Henry Alleyne Nicholson]] (died [[1899 in science|1899]]), English [[paleontologist]] and zoologist.
* October 3 – [[Patrick Manson]] (died [[1922 in science|1922]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[parasitologist]], the "father of tropical medicine" .
* October 28 – [[Mary Katharine Brandegee]] née Layne (died [[1920 in science|1920]]), American botanist.
* November 25 – [[Karl Benz]] (died [[1929 in science|1929]]), German [[automotive engineer]].
* [[Varvara Rudneva]] (d. [[1899]]), Russian physician.

==Deaths==
* June 19 – [[Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire]] (born [[1772 in science|1772]]), [[France|French]] [[natural history|naturalist]].
* July 27 – [[John Dalton]] (born [[1766 in science|1766]]), [[England|English]] [[chemist]] and [[physicist]].
* August 30 – [[Francis Baily]] (born [[1774 in science|1774]]), English [[astronomer]].
* December 28 – [[Thomas James Henderson|Thomas Henderson]] (born [[1798 in science|1798]]), [[Scotland|Scottish]] astronomer.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1844 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1840s in science]]