Editing 1854 in science

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{{Science year nav|1854}}

The year '''1854 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* July 22 – Discovery of the asteroid [[30 Urania]] by [[John Russell Hind]].
* October c. – [[George Airy]] calculates the mean density of the [[Earth]] by measuring the gravity in a coal mine in [[South Shields]].

==Chemistry==
* [[Benjamin Silliman]] of [[Yale University]] is the first person to [[Fractionation|fractionate]] [[petroleum]] into its individual components by [[distillation]].

==Exploration==
* January 4 – First definite sighting of [[Heard Island and McDonald Islands|McDonald Islands]] in the Antarctic.

==Mathematics==
* March 26 – [[Playfair cipher]] first demonstrated, by [[Charles Wheatstone]].
* [[George Boole]]'s work on [[algebraic logic]], ''[[The Laws of Thought|An Investigation of the Laws of Thought on Which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities]]'', published in [[London]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|url=https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will|url-access=registration|location=London|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8}}</ref>
* [[Arthur Cayley]] states the original version of [[Cayley's theorem]] and produces the first [[Cayley table]].<ref>{{citation|last=Cayley|first=Arthur|title=On the theory of groups as depending on the symbolic equation θ<sup>n</sup>=1|journal=[[Philosophical Magazine]]|volume=7|issue=4|pages=40–47|year=1854}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Tony|last=Crilly|title=50 Mathematical Ideas you really need to know|location=London|publisher=Quercus|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84724-008-8|page=152}}</ref>
* [[Bernhard Riemann]], a [[German people|German]] mathematician, submits his [[habilitation]] thesis {{Lang|de|Ueber die Darstellbarkeit einer Function durch eine trigonometrische Reihe}} ("About the representability of a function by a trigonometric series"), in which he describes the [[Riemann integral]]. It is published by [[Richard Dedekind]] in [[1867 in science|1867]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/People/Riemann/Trig/|title=Riemann's ''Habilitationsschrift''|accessdate=2008-05-19|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080520085248/http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/People/Riemann/Trig/|archivedate=2008-05-20|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* April–May – [[John Snow (physician)|Dr John Snow]] traces the source of one outbreak of [[cholera]] in [[London]] (which kills 500) to a single [[pump|water pump]], validating his theory that [[cholera]] is water-borne, and forming the starting point for [[epidemiology]].
* November – [[Florence Nightingale]] and her team of trained volunteer [[nurse]]s arrive at [[Selimiye Barracks]] in [[Üsküdar|Scutari]] in the [[Ottoman Empire]] to care for [[British Army]] troops invalided from the [[Crimean War]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Baly|first1=Monica E.|authorlink1=Monica Baly|first2=H. C. G.|last2=Matthew|authorlink2=Colin Matthew|title=Nightingale, Florence (1820–1910)|work=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35241?docPos=2|accessdate=2011-06-20}}  {{ODNBsub}}</ref>
* [[Spain|Spanish]]-born [[Vocal pedagogy|vocal pedagogist]] [[Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García|Manuel García]] observes his own functioning [[glottis]] using a form of [[laryngoscope]] incorporating mirrors.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Garcia|first=Manuel|title=Observations on the Human Voice|pages=399–410|volume=7|year=1855|jstor=111815|journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society of London]]|doi=10.1098/rspl.1854.0094|pmc=5180321}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=Teresa|last=Radomski|title=Manuel García (1805–1906): a bicentenary reflection|journal=Australian Voice|volume=11|pages=25–41|year=2005|format=PDF|url=http://www.harmonicorde.com/Radomski%20Australian%20Voice.pdf|accessdate=2012-02-07}}</ref>
* [[Claude Bernard]] introduces the term ''[[Milieu intérieur]]'' in [[physiology]].

==Microbiology==
* [[Filippo Pacini]], an Italian anatomist, discovers ''[[Vibrio cholerae]]'', the [[bacterium]] that causes cholera.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ph.ucla.edu/EPI/snow/firstdiscoveredcholera.html |title=Who first discovered ''Vibrio cholera''? |author=Frerichs, Ralph R. |date=2001-08-05 |publisher=UCLA School of Public Health |accessdate=30 December 2007 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119141216/http://www.ph.ucla.edu/EPI/snow/firstdiscoveredcholera.html |archivedate=19 January 2008 |url-status=live }} Pacini's 1854 publication was titled "Osservazioni microscopiche e deduzioni patologiche sul cholera asiático" ("Microscopical observations and pathological deductions on cholera").</ref>
* [[Louis Pasteur]] begins studying [[fermentation (biochemistry)|fermentation]] at the request of [[brewer]]s.

==Technology==
[[File:Bridges 20.png|thumb|Fink truss]]
* May 9 – [[Albert Fink]] [[patent]]s the [[Truss bridge#Fink truss|Fink truss]] in the [[United States]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Frank|last=Griggs|title=The Inspirations of a German Immigrant: Albert Fink|url=http://bridgeworld.net/wordpress/archives/docs/20060522.pdf|journal=Structure|publisher=National Council of Structural Engineers Associations |pages=52–4|accessdate=2011-08-16|date=May 2006}}</ref>
* May 17 – Deck of [[Wheeling Suspension Bridge]] in the United States destroyed through torsional movement and vertical undulations in a severe windstorm.
* June 13 – Anthony Faas patents improvements to the [[accordion]] in the United States.<ref>Patent no. 11062.</ref>
* July – First voyage by a seagoing [[steamship]] fitted with a [[compound steam engine]], the [[Propeller|screw]] steamer ''Brandon'', built on the [[River Clyde]] in [[Scotland]] by [[John Elder (shipbuilder)|John Elder]].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/mlemen/mlemen031.htm|page=118|accessdate=2011-06-16|title=Memoirs and portraits of one hundred Glasgow men|chapter=John Elder, 1824-1869|year=1886|location=Glasgow|publisher=James MacLehose & Sons}}</ref>
* September 19 – [[Thaddeus Hyatt]] patents a practical [[pavement light]].<ref>{{cite patent|inventor-last=Hyatt|inventor-first=Thaddeus|issue-date=1854-09-19.|title=[http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=11,695 Vault cover]|country=US|number=11695|url=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=11,695}}</ref>
* November 27 – [[André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri]] patents a method of producing ''[[carte de visite]]'' photographs in France.
* December 20 – In the case of ''[[Talbot v. Laroche]]'', pioneer of [[photography]] [[Henry Fox Talbot]] fails in asserting that the [[collodion]] process infringes his [[calotype]] [[patent]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Calotype Patent Lawsuit of Talbot v. Laroche 1854|author=Wood, R. D.|publisher=privately published|location=Bromley, Kent|year=1975|url=http://www.midleykent.fsnet.co.uk/laroche/TalbotvLaroche.htm|isbn=0-9504377-0-0|accessdate=2010-10-18<!--DASHBot-->|archive-date=2008-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102053045/http://www.midleykent.fsnet.co.uk/laroche/TalbotvLaroche.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[James Ambrose Cutting]] takes out three [[United States]] [[patent]]s for improvements to the [[wet plate]] [[collodion process]] ([[Ambrotype]] photography).
* [[Elisha Otis]] completes work on the safety [[elevator]].
* [[Joseph Whitworth]] patents [[polygonal rifling]] for ordnance in the United Kingdom.

==Events==
* 10 June – [[The Crystal Palace]] reopens in [[Sydenham, London|Sydenham]], [[South London]]<ref name="Pocket On This Day">{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref> with life-size [[dinosaur]] models in the grounds.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Johannes Peter Müller]]<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: [[Richard John Griffith]]

==Births==
* January 27 – [[George Alexander Gibson]] (died [[1913 in science|1913]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[physician]] and [[geologist]].
* January 29 – [[Fred Baker (physician)|Fred Baker]] (died [[1938 in science|1938]]), [[Americans|American]] physician and naturalist.
* February 9 – [[Aletta Jacobs]] (died [[1929 in science|1929]]), [[Dutch people|Dutch]] physician and women's suffrage activist.
* March 4 – [[Napier Shaw]] (died [[1945 in science|1945]]), [[English people|English]] [[meteorologist]].
* March 15 – [[Emil Adolf von Behring]] (died [[1917 in science|1917]]), [[German people|German]] [[physiologist]], winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] in 1901.
* March 31 – [[Dugald Clerk]] (died [[1932 in science|1932]]), Scottish [[mechanical engineer]].
* April 28 – [[Hertha Marks Ayrton|Phoebe Marks, ''later'' Hertha Ayrton]] (died [[1923 in science|1923]]), English [[electrical engineer]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Catharine M. C.|last=Haines|title=International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950|location=Santa Barbara|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2001|isbn=978-1-57607-090-1|page=12}}</ref>
* April 29 – [[Henri Poincaré]] (died [[1912 in science|1912]]),  [[French people|French]] [[mathematician]].
* May 11 – [[Ottmar Mergenthaler]] (died [[1899 in science|1899]]), German-born inventor.
* June 13 – [[Charles Algernon Parsons]] (died [[1931 in science|1931]]), [[British people|British]] inventor of the [[steam turbine]].
* July 12 – [[George Eastman]] (suicide 1932), [[Americans|American]] [[Photography|photographic]] inventor.
* July 23 – [[Birt Acres]] (died [[1918 in science|1918]]), [[United States|American]]-born cinematographic inventor.
* July 28 – [[Victor Babeș]] (died [[1926 in science|1926]]), Austrian-born [[Romanians|Romanian]] physician and [[bacteriologist]].
* October 3 – [[Hermann Struve]] (died [[1920 in science|1920]]), [[Russia]]n-born [[astronomer]].

==Deaths==
* January 16 – [[Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré]] (born [[1789 in science|1789]]), French botanist.
* April 15 – [[Arthur Aikin]] (born [[1773 in science|1773]]), English chemist and mineralogist.
* July 6 – [[Georg Ohm]] (born 1789), German [[physicist]].
* September 28 – [[George Field (chemist)|George Field]] (born c.1777), English colour chemist.
* October 27 – [[Golding Bird]] (born [[1814 in science|1814]]), English physician.
* November 18 – [[Edward Forbes]] (born [[1815 in science|1815]]), [[Manx people|Manx]] naturalist.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1854 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1850s in science]]