Editing 1846 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1846|science}}
{{Science year nav|1846}}

The year '''1846 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* February 20 – [[Francesco de Vico]] discovers [[comet]] [[122P/de Vico]].
* June 1 – [[Urbain Le Verrier]] predicts the existence and location of [[Neptune]] from irregularities in the orbit of [[Uranus]].
* August 8 – Neptune observed but not recognised by [[James Challis]].
* August 31 – Urbain Le Verrier publishes full details of the predicted orbit and the mass of the new planet.
* September 23 – [[Johann Galle]] [[Discovery of Neptune|discovers Neptune]].
* October 10 – [[William Lassell]] discovers [[Triton (moon)|Triton]], Neptune's largest [[natural satellite|moon]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Beer enthusiast discovers a new moon |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/only-in-britain/william-lassell-discovers-triton/ |website=The Telegraph |accessdate=16 February 2020 |date=10 October 2016}}</ref>

==Biology==
* [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne]], established in [[Australia]].

==Chemistry==
* [[Abraham Pineo Gesner]] develops a process to refine a liquid fuel, which he calls [[kerosene]], from [[coal]], [[bitumen]] or [[oil shale]].

==Mathematics==
* [[Augustin-Louis Cauchy]] publishes [[Green's theorem]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=A.|last=Cauchy|year=1846|url=https://archive.org/stream/ComptesRendusAcademieDesSciences0023/ComptesRendusAcadmieDesSciences-Tome023-Juillet-dcembre1846#page/n254/mode/1up|title=Sur les intégrales qui s'étendent à tous les points d'une courbe fermée [On integrals that extend over all of the points of a closed curve]|journal=[[Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences]]|volume=23|pages=251–255}}</ref>
* [[James Clerk Maxwell]]'s first scientific paper describes a mechanical means of drawing mathematical [[curve]]s with a piece of twine, and the properties of [[ellipse]]s, [[Cartesian ovals]] and related curves with more than two [[Focus (geometry)|foci]]. It has to be read on his behalf to the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] as he is a 14-year-old schoolboy at this time.<ref>{{cite journal|title=On the description of oval curves and those having a plurality of foci|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh|volume=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Harman|first=Peter M.|title=The Natural Philosophy of James Clerk Maxwell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v4xjVtszqssC|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-00585-X|page=506}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Key dates in the life of James Clerk Maxwell|url=http://www.clerkmaxwellfoundation.org/html/key_facts_about_maxwell.html|publisher=[[James Clerk Maxwell Foundation]]|access-date=2023-12-08|archive-date=2020-03-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200305045153/http://www.clerkmaxwellfoundation.org/html/key_facts_about_maxwell.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Mahon|first=Basil|title=The Man Who Changed Everything – the Life of James Clerk Maxwell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mGo_jtHwL0sC|year=2003|publisher=Wiley|isbn=0-470-86171-1|page=16}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Gardner|first=Martin|author-link=Martin Gardner|title=The Last Recreations: Hydras, Eggs, and Other Mathematical Mystifications|url=https://archive.org/details/lastrecreationsh00gard_0|url-access=registration|year=2007|publisher=Springer-Verlag|isbn=978-0-387-25827-0|pages=46-9}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* October 16 – Dentist [[William T. G. Morton]] becomes the first person ''publicly'' to demonstrate the use of [[diethyl ether]] as a general [[anesthetic]] in what becomes known as the [[Ether Dome]] of [[Massachusetts General Hospital]].<ref>{{cite book|first=W. T. G.|last=Morton|year=1847|title=Remarks on the Proper Mode of Administering Sulphuric Ether by Inhalation|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bookres.fcgi/history/pdf_morton.pdf|location=Boston|publisher=Button and Wentworth|oclc=14825070|accessdate=2010-09-13}}</ref>
* December 21 – [[British people|British]] surgeon [[Robert Liston]] carries out the first operation under anesthesia in Europe.<ref>{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref>
* [[Édouard Séguin]] publishes ''Traitement moral, hygiène et éducation des idiots et des autres enfants arriérés'' in [[Paris]], the earliest systematic textbook dealing with the [[special needs]] of children with [[developmental disabilities]];<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> his views will be influential on both sides of the Atlantic.
* Dr [[John Collis Browne|J. Collis Browne]] formulates his [[laudanum]]-based pain-relieving [[Chlorodyne]] compound while serving in the [[British Indian Army]].

==Technology==
[[File:Whipple-truss.svg|thumb]]
* January 13 – Opening of the [[Milan–Venice railway]]'s {{convert|3.2|km|mi|abbr=on}} bridge over the [[Venetian Lagoon]] between [[Mestre]] and [[Venice]] in [[Italy]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?id=s0007311|title=Venice Railroad Bridge|work=[[Structurae]]|accessdate=2012-02-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Italian Railways|first=P. M.|last=Kalla-Bishop|year=1971|publisher=David & Charles|location=Newton Abbot|isbn=0-7153-5168-0|page=20}}</ref> the world's longest since 1151.
* June 28 – [[Adolphe Sax]] [[patent]]s the [[saxophone]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Hugh|last=Hart|title=June 28, 1846: Parisian Inventor Patents Saxophone|url=https://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/06/0628saxophone-patent|work=Wired|date=2010-06-28|accessdate=2011-12-07}}</ref>
* September 10 – [[Elias Howe]] is awarded the first [[United States]] patent for a [[sewing machine]] using a [[lockstitch]] design.<ref>{{US patent|4750}}</ref>
* Scottish-born engineer [[Robert William Thomson]] is granted his first patent for a [[pneumatic tyre]], in France.
* [[William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong|William Armstrong]]'s first [[Hydraulic machinery|hydraulic]] [[Crane (machine)|crane]] is erected at [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] in England.
* [[Squire Whipple]] introduces the trapezoidal [[Whipple truss]] for bridges in the United States.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Urbain Le Verrier]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |accessdate=23 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Wollaston Medal]]: [[William Lonsdale]]

==Births==
* February 10 – [[Ira Remsen]] (died [[1927 in science|1927]]), [[Americans|American]] [[chemist]].
* March 1 – [[Vasily Dokuchaev]] (died [[1903 in science|1903]]), [[Russians|Russian]] [[geologist]].
* September 16 – [[Anna Kingsford]] (died [[1888 in science|1888]]), [[English people|English]] [[physician]], [[anti-vivisection]]ist and [[vegetarian]].
* October 3 – [[Samuel Jean de Pozzi]] (murdered [[1918 in science|1918]]), [[French people|French]] [[gynaecologist]].
* December 12 – [[Eugen Baumann]] (died [[1896 in science|1896]]), [[Germans|German]] chemist.
* December 21 ([[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]] 2 January 1847) – [[Julia Lermontova]] (died [[1919 in science|1919]]), Russian chemist.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Annette |first1=Lykknes |last2=Brigitte |first2=Van Tiggelen |title=Women In Their Element: Selected Women's Contributions To The Periodic System |date=2019 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-981-12-0630-6 |page=117 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ZmxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA117 |language=en}}</ref>

==Deaths==
* January 30 – [[Joseph Constantine Carpue|Joseph Carpue]] (born [[1764 in science|1764]]) English [[surgeon]].
* March 17 – [[Friedrich Bessel]] (born [[1784 in science|1784]]), German [[mathematician]].
* August 6 – [[John Bostock (physician)|John Bostock]] (born [[1773 in science|1773]]), English physician and geologist (died of [[cholera]]).
* October 2 – [[Benjamin Waterhouse]] (born [[1754 in science|1754]]), [[Americans|American]] physician.
* [[Maria Medina Coeli]] (born [[1764 in science|1764]]), Italian physician.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1846 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1840s in science]]