Editing 1852 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1852|science}}
{{Science year nav|1852}}

The year '''1852 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Aeronautics==
[[File:Giffard1852.jpg|thumb|Giffard airship]]
* September 24 – [[French people|French]] engineer [[Henri Giffard]] makes the first [[airship]] trip, from Paris to [[Trappes]].

==Astronomy==
* September 19 – [[Annibale de Gasparis]] discovers the asteroid [[20 Massalia]] from the north dome of the [[Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte]] in [[Naples]].

==Biology==
* October 5 – American apiarist [[L. L. Langstroth]] patents the [[Langstroth hive]] for the cultivation of honey bees.
* Last recognised sighting of a [[great auk]], on the [[Grand Banks of Newfoundland]].<ref>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International. |year=2016 |title=Pinguinus impennis |volume=2016 |page=e.T22694856A93472944 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22694856A93472944.en |access-date=20 December 2020}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* [[August Beer]] proposes [[Beer's law]], which explains the relationship between the composition of a mixture and the amount of light it will absorb. Based partly on earlier work by [[Pierre Bouguer]] and [[Johann Heinrich Lambert]], it establishes the [[analytical chemistry|analytical]] technique known as [[spectrophotometry]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Lambert-Beer Law|publisher=Sigrist-Photometer AG|date=2007-03-07|url=http://www.photometer.com/en/abc/abc_061.htm|accessdate=2007-03-12}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* October 23 – [[Francis Guthrie]] poses the [[four colour problem]] to [[Augustus De Morgan]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Robin|authorlink=Robin Wilson (mathematician)|title=Four Colors Suffice|place=London|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2002|isbn=0-691-11533-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/fourcolorssuffic00wils/page/18 18]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/fourcolorssuffic00wils/page/18}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Cayley|first=Arthur|title=On the colourings of maps|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society|volume=1|year=1879|pages=259–261|doi=10.2307/1799998|jstor=1799998|issue=4|publisher=Blackwell}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* January 15 – Nine representatives of [[Hebrew]] [[charitable organization]]s come together to form what will become the [[Mount Sinai Hospital, New York]].
* February 15 – The [[Great Ormond Street Hospital|Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children]], London, admits its first patient.<ref>{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref>

==Technology==
* March 2 – The first American experimental steam [[fire engine]], designed by [[Alexander Bonner Latta]], is tested.<ref>{{cite book|first=William T.|last=King|title=History of the American Steam Fire-Engine|year=1896}}</ref>
* August 23 – [[George Jennings]] receives a U.K. [[patent]] for improvements to the [[flush toilet]].<ref>No. 14,273. {{cite web|title=Innovations in toilet design|url=https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-topic/business-finance-and-innovation/toilet-design/|publisher=The National Archives|accessdate=2024-11-01}}</ref>
* The mechanical [[semaphore line]] in France is superseded by the [[electric telegraph]].
* Captain [[Edward Mounier Boxer|E. M. Boxer]] of the [[Royal Arsenal]] devises an improvement to the [[shrapnel shell]] by insertion of an iron diaphragm, preventing premature ignition.<ref>{{cite journal|first=A.|last=Marshall|title=The Invention and Development of the Shrapnel Shell|url=https://sill-www.army.mil/FAMAG/1920/JAN_FEB_1920/JAN_FEB_1920_PAGES_12_18.pdf|journal=The Field Artillery Journal|year=1920|pages=12–18|access-date=2012-03-08|archive-date=2011-06-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617051316/http://sill-www.army.mil/FAMAG/1920/JAN_FEB_1920/JAN_FEB_1920_PAGES_12_18.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
* French physicist [[Léon Foucault]] (1819–1868) makes [[History of the compass#Gyrocompass|the first gyroscope for scientific use]]

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Alexander von Humboldt]]<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 Henry Fitton]]

==Births==
* March 25 – [[Charles Loomis Dana]] (died [[1935 in science|1935]]), American [[neurologist]].
* April 10 – [[Arthur Vierendeel]] (died [[1940 in science|1940]]), Belgian [[civil engineer]].
* May 1 – [[Santiago Ramón y Cajal]] (died [[1934 in science|1934]]), Spanish neuroscientist, winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]].
* August 4 – [[Catharine van Tussenbroek]] (died [[1925 in science|1925]]), Dutch [[physician]].
* August 30 – [[Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff|Jacobus van 't Hoff]] (died [[1911 in science|1911]]), Dutch [[chemist]].
* September 9 – [[John Henry Poynting]] (died [[1914 in science|1914]]), English [[physicist]], discoverer of the [[Poynting–Robertson effect]] and the [[Poynting vector]].
* September 15 – [[Edward Bouchet]] (died [[1918 in science|1918]]), African American physicist.
* September 23 – [[William Stewart Halsted]] (died [[1922 in science|1922]]), American [[surgeon]].
* September 28 – [[Isis Pogson]] (died [[1945 in science|1945]]), English [[astronomer]] and [[meteorologist]].
* October 2 – [[William Ramsay]] (died [[1916 in science|1916]]), Scottish winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].
* October 6 – [[Bruno Abakanowicz]] (died [[1900 in science|1900]]), Polish [[mathematician]], inventor and electrical engineer.
* October 9 – [[Hermann Emil Fischer]] (died [[1919 in science|1919]]), German winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
* November 12 - [[Xavier Arnozan]] (died [[1928 in science|1928]]), French physician.<ref>{{Base Léonore|19800035/241/31985}}</ref>
* December 13 – [[Charles E. de M. Sajous]] (died [[1929 in science|1929]]), American [[endocrinologist]].
* December 15 – [[Henri Becquerel]] (died [[1908 in science|1908]]), French physicist.

==Deaths==
[[File:Ada Lovelace in 1852.jpg|thumb|[[Ada Lovelace]] shortly before her death in 1852]]
* January 1 – [[John George Children]] (born [[1777 in science|1777]]), English chemist, [[mineralogist]] and [[entomologist]].
* January 6 – [[Louis Braille]] (born [[1809 in science|1809]]), French [[inventor]].
* January 13 - [[Jean-Nicolas Gannal]] (born [[1791 in science|1791]]), French [[pharmacist]], chemist, and inventor.
* August 15 – [[Johan Gadolin]] (born [[1760 in science|1760]]), [[Finns|Finnish]] [[chemist]].
* August 24 – [[Sarah Guppy]] (born [[1770 in science|1770]]), English inventor.
* September 4 – [[William MacGillivray]] (born [[1796 in science|1796]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]] naturalist and ornithologist.
* September 8 – [[Anna Maria Walker]] (born [[1778 in science|1778]]), Scottish botanist. 
* October 9 – [[Thomas Frederick Colby]] (born [[1784 in science|1784]]), English [[cartographer]].
* November 10 – [[Gideon Mantell]] (born [[1790 in science|1790]]), English [[paleontologist]].
* November 27 – [[Ada Lovelace|Augusta Ada King (née Byron), Countess of Lovelace]] (born [[1815 in science|1815]]), English computing pioneer.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1852 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1850s in science]]