Editing 1848 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1848|science}}
{{Science year nav|1848}}

The year '''1848 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Events==
* September 20 – The [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] is set up in [[Pennsylvania]] by re-formation of the [[Association of American Geologists and Naturalists]], with [[William Charles Redfield]] as its first president.

==Astronomy==
* September 16 – [[William Cranch Bond]] and [[William Lassell]] discover [[Hyperion (moon)|Hyperion]], [[Saturn]]'s [[natural satellite|moon]].
* [[William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse|Lord Rosse]] studies [[Messier object|M1]] and names it the [[Crab Nebula]].
* [[Édouard Roche]] calculates the [[Roche limit]], the limiting radius of tidal destruction and tidal creation for a body held together only by its own gravity, which explains why the [[rings of Saturn]] do not condense into a satellite.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/saturn/faq.html#roche|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991105133931/http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/saturn/faq.html#roche|url-status=dead|archive-date=1999-11-05|title=What is the Roche limit?|work=Frequently Asked Questions About Saturn's Rings|first=Ron|last=Baalke|accessdate=2013-02-18|publisher=[[JPL]]}}</ref>
* [[Rudolf Wolf]] (in [[Zürich]]) devises a way of quantifying [[sunspot]] activity, the [[Wolf number]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Sun – History|url=http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/whsun.html|date=2001-11-25|accessdate=2012-01-08}}</ref>

==Botany==
* April 16 – [[Joseph Dalton Hooker]] arrives at [[Darjeeling]] to begin the first [[Europe]]an [[plant collecting]] expedition in the [[Himalayas]].

==Chemistry==
* [[Edward Frankland]], working in [[Germany]], discovers the [[Organometallic chemistry|organometallic]] [[Chemical compound|compound]] [[diethylzinc]].

==Exploration==
* [[Admiral]] [[Gennadi Nevelskoi|Nevelskoi]] demonstrates that the [[Strait of Tartary]] is a [[strait]].

==Medicine==
* September 13 – [[Vermont]] railroad worker [[Phineas Gage]] survives a 3-foot-plus (1 m) iron rod being driven through his head, providing a demonstration of the effects of damage to the brain's [[frontal lobe]].
* November 1 – The first [[medical school]] for women, The Boston Female Medical School, opens in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]].
* [[Alfred Baring Garrod]] recognises that excess [[uric acid]] in the blood is the cause of [[gout]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Storey|first=G. D.|title=Alfred Baring Garrod (1819-1907)|journal=[[Rheumatology (journal)|Rheumatology]]|location=Oxford|volume=40|issue=10|pages=1189–90|pmid=11600751|doi=10.1093/rheumatology/40.10.1189|date=October 2001|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Rudolf Virchow]] produces a [http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/full/96/12/2102 Report on the Typhus Epidemic in Upper Silesia] advocating broad social as well as public health measures to counter such outbreaks.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Silver|first=George A. |title=Virchow, the heroic model in medicine: health policy by accolade|journal=[[American Journal of Public Health]]|volume=77|pages=82–88|pmid=3538915|pmc=1646803 |date=January 1987 |issue=1 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.77.1.82}}</ref>

==Physics==
* [[Lord Kelvin]] establishes concept of [[absolute zero]], the temperature at which all molecular motion ceases.<ref>{{cite web|last=Weisstein|first=Eric W.|title=Kelvin, Lord William Thomson (1824–1907)|work=Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography|publisher=Wolfram Research Products|year=1996|url=http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Kelvin.html|accessdate=2007-03-12}}</ref>
* [[Nicholas Callan]] of [[Maynooth College]] invents an improved form of [[Battery (electric)|battery]].<ref>''Year-book of Facts''. 1848.</ref>
* [[Hippolyte Fizeau]] and [[John Scott Russell]] present studies of the [[Doppler effect]] in [[electromagnetic waves|electromagnetic]] and [[sound wave]]s respectively.<ref>Fizeau, Hippolyte. "Acoustique et optique". Unpublished lecture to Société Philomathique (Paris), 29 December 1848; {{cite journal|last=Scott Russell|first=John|url=http://www.ma.hw.ac.uk/~chris/doppler.html|title=On certain effects produced on sound by the rapid motion of the observer|journal=Report of the Eighteen Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science|year=1848|volume=18|issue=7|pages=37–38|publisher=John Murray|location=London|accessdate=2013-07-29}}</ref>

==Technology==
* August 15 – [[James Warren (engineer)|James Warren]] submits a U.K. [[patent]] application for the [[Warren truss]].
* [[James Bogardus]] erects the first free-standing [[Cast-iron architecture|cast-iron architectural]] façade, the Milhau Pharmacy Building in [[New York City]].
* French civil engineer A. Boucher promotes the ribbed ("false") [[skew arch]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Boucher, A.|year=1848|title=Note sur la construction des voûtes biaises au moyen d'une série d'arcs droits accolés les uns aux autres|trans-title=Notes on the construction of skewed vaults by means of a series of right arches built one against the other|journal=Annales des Ponts et Chaussées|location=Paris|pages=234–243}}</ref>
* Completion of [[palm house]]s at [[Kew Gardens]], [[London]], and the [[National Botanic Gardens (Ireland)|National Botanic Gardens]], [[Glasnevin]], by [[Richard Turner (iron-founder)|Richard Turner]] of [[Dublin]].
* Jonathan J. Couch of Philadelphia, PA, invents a "percussion drill" ([[jackhammer]]).<ref>{{cite book|first=Henry S.|last=Drinker|title=Tunneling, explosive compounds and rock drills|location=New York|publisher=Wiley|year=1878|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CJ0gAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA153 153–157]}}</ref>
* [[Walter Hunt (inventor)|Walter Hunt]] of New York patents his "Volition" [[repeating rifle]], although it is not practicable at this time.
* [[Joseph-Louis Lambot]] constructs the first [[ferrocement]] boat, in France.
* [[Linus Yale Sr.]], invents the modern [[pin tumbler lock]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Geek Atlas: 128 Places Where Science and Technology Come Alive|date=21 May 2009|publisher=O'Reilly Media, Inc.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HhEC0q-O1ewC&q=Linus+Yale%2C+Sr.+modern+pin+tumbler+lock&pg=PA445|page=445|isbn=9780596555627}}</ref>
* [[John Stringfellow]] flies a steam-powered monoplane model for a short distance in a powered glide in England.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200212.html|title=Henson and Stringfellow|journal=[[Flight magazine|Flight]]|date=1956-02-24|via=Flight Global}}</ref>

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[John Couch Adams]]<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]] for Geology: [[William Buckland]]

==Births==
* March 8 – [[LaMarcus Adna Thompson]] (died [[1919 in science|1919]]), [[Americans|American]] inventor.
* April 9 – [[Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti]] (died [[1930 in science|1930]]), [[British people|British]]-born electrical engineer and inventor
* May 23 – [[Otto Lilienthal]] (died [[1896 in science|1896]]), [[Germans|German]] [[aviation]] pioneer.
* June 12 – [[Albertina Carlsson]] (died [[1930 in science|1930]]) Swedish zoologist.
* June 22 – [[William Macewen]] (died [[1924 in science|1924]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[surgeon]].
* July 7 – [[Cuthbert Hilton Golding-Bird]] (died [[1939 in science|1939]]), [[English people|English]] surgeon.
* July 27 – [[Loránd Eötvös]] (died 1919), [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] [[physicist]].
* August 14 – [[Margaret Lindsay Huggins|Margaret Lindsay]] (died [[1915 in science|1915]]), [[Irish people|Irish]] [[astronomer]].
* November 1 – [[Caroline Still Anderson]] (died [[1919 in science|1919]]), African American physician, educator and activist.
* November 8 – [[Gottlob Frege]] (died [[1925 in science|1925]]), German [[mathematician]].
* November 27 – [[Henry A. Rowland]] (died [[1901 in science|1901]]), American physicist.

==Deaths==
* January 9 – [[Caroline Herschel]] (born [[1750 in science|1750]]), German [[astronomer]].
* January 12 – [[Christophe-Paulin de La Poix de Fréminville]] (born [[1787 in science|1787]]), [[French people|French]] [[explorer]] and [[naturalist]].
* January 24 – [[Horace Wells]], American dentist, pioneer of the use of anesthesia, suicide (born [[1815 in science|1815]]).
* August 7 – [[Jöns Jakob Berzelius]] (born [[1779 in science|1779]]), [[Swedes|Swedish]] [[chemist]].
* August 12 – [[George Stephenson]] (born [[1781 in science|1781]]), [[English people|English]] [[locomotive]] [[engineer]].
* December 18 – [[Bernard Bolzano]] (born [[1781 in science|1781]]), [[Bohemia]]n [[mathematician]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1848 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1840s in science]]