Editing 1855 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1855|science}}
{{Science year nav|1855}}

The year '''1855 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Biology==
* September – [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] publishes "On the Law which has Regulated the Introduction of New Species", which he has written while working in [[Sarawak]] on the island of [[Borneo]] in February;<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.wku.edu/%7Esmithch/wallace/S020.htm|title=On the Law Which Has Regulated the Introduction of New Species|first=Alfred Russel|last=Wallace|journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History |series=Second Series|volume=16}}</ref> in December, [[Edward Blyth]] brings it to the attention of [[Charles Darwin]].
* [[Robert Remak]] publishes ''Untersuchungen über die Entwickelung der Wirbelthiere'' in [[Berlin]], providing evidence for [[cell division]], which is supported (but not acknowledged) by [[Rudolf Virchow]].<ref>Virchow, R. ''Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medicin'' '''8''' (1855).</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=David|last=Lagunoff|title=A Polish, Jewish Scientist in 19th-Century Prussia|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|volume=298|page=2331|year=2002|doi=10.1126/science.1080726|issue=5602|pmid=12493897}}</ref>

==Cartography==
* September – Rev. [[James Patterson]] presents the [[Gall–Peters projection|Gall orthographic projection]] for [[Celestial cartography|celestial]] and terrestrial [[equal-area projection|equal-area]] cartography.<ref>At [[Glasgow]] meeting of [[British Association for the Advancement of Science]].</ref>

==Chemistry==
* May 10 – The [[Bunsen burner]] is invented by [[Robert Wilhelm Bunsen]].
* [[Friedrich Gaedcke]] first isolates the [[cocaine]] [[alkaloid]], which he names "erythroxyline".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Ueber das Erythroxylin, dargestellt aus den Blättern des in Südamerika cultivirten Strauches Erythroxylon Coca|last=Gaedcke|first=F.|journal=[[Archiv der Pharmazie]]|volume=132|issue=2|pages=141–150|year=1855|doi=10.1002/ardp.18551320208|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1424529/files/article.pdf}}</ref>
* [[William Odling]] proposes a [[methane]] type ([[tetravalent]]) for carbon.
* [[Charles-Adolphe Wurtz]] publishes the [[Wurtz reaction]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Sur une nouvelle classe de radicaux organiques|first=Adolphe|last=Wurtz|journal=[[Annales de chimie et de physique]]|volume=44|pages=275–312|year=1855|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k34785p/f274.table|access-date=2012-02-07}}</ref>
* [[Benjamin Silliman, Jr.]] pioneers methods of [[petroleum cracking]], which makes the entire modern [[petrochemical]] industry possible.<ref>{{cite web|title=Benjamin Silliman, Jr. (1816–1885) |work=Picture History |publisher=Picture History LLC |year=2003 |url=http://www.picturehistory.com/find/p/17879/mcms.html |access-date=2007-03-24  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070707023346/http://www.picturehistory.com/find/p/17879/mcms.html |archive-date=2007-07-07 }}</ref>

==Earth sciences==
* [[Famennian]] [[Stage (stratigraphy)|stage]] proposed by Belgian geologist [[André Dumont (geologist)|André Dumont]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Thorez|first1=Jacques|last2=Dreesen|first2=Roland|last3=Streel|first3=Maurice|year=2006|title=Frasnian|journal=Geologica Belgica|volume=9|pages=27–45|url=http://popups.ulg.ac.be/Geol/docannexe.php?id=1083|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140501035235/http://popups.ulg.ac.be/Geol/docannexe.php?id=1083|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 1, 2014|access-date=2013-03-16}}</ref>

==Exploration==
* November 17 – Dr [[David Livingstone]] becomes the first European to see the [[Victoria Falls, Zambia|Victoria Falls]].

==Medicine==
* March – [[Mary Seacole]] opens the British Hotel at [[Balaklava]], a nursing and [[convalescent]] establishment for [[Crimean War]] officers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Seacole|first=Mary|title=Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands|location=London|publisher=Blackwood|year=1858}}</ref>
* October – The [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel#Renkioi Hospital|Renkioi temporary hospital]], [[Prefabrication|prefabricated]] in wood to a design by [[I. K. Brunel]], is erected in [[Turkey]] to serve Crimean War invalids.<ref>{{cite book|title=Renkioi: Brunel's Forgotten Crimean War Hospital|first=Christopher|last=Silver|location=Sevenoaks|publisher=Valonia Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-9557105-0-6}}</ref>
* [[Thomas Addison]] describes [[Addison's disease]] in ''On the Constitutional and Local Effects of Disease of the Suprarenal Capsules''.
* The [[third plague pandemic]] breaks out in [[Yunnan]], China.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohn |first=Samuel Kline Jr. |title=The black death transformed: disease and culture in early Renaissance Europe |date=2002 |publisher=Arnold |isbn=978-0-340-70646-6 |location=London |oclc=50102269}}</ref> This [[bubonic plague]] [[pandemic]] eventually spreads to all inhabited continents, and ultimately leads to more than 12 million deaths in [[India]] and China<ref>{{Cite news |date=2019-05-07 |title=Plague deaths: Quarantine lifted after couple die of bubonic plague |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48182646 |access-date=2022-08-24}}</ref> (estimated 15 million worldwide)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frith |first=John |title="The History of Plague – Part 1. The Three Great Pandemics" |url=https://jmvh.org/article/the-history-of-plague-part-1-the-three-great-pandemics/ |journal=Journal of Military and Veterans' Health |volume=20 |issue=2 }}</ref> making it one of the [[List of epidemics|deadliest pandemics]] in history.<ref>Sanburn, Josh (2010-10-26). [https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2027479_2027486_2027498,00.html "Top 10 Terrible Epidemics: The Third Plague Pandemic"]. ''Time''. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] [[issn:0040-781X|0040-781X]]</ref> The pandemic is considered active until 1960.

==Paleontology==
* The first [[archaeopteryx]] fossil is found in [[Bavaria]], but will not be identified until 1970.<ref>{{cite book|first=Sean B.|last=Carroll|title=Remarkable Creatures: epic adventures in the search for the origins of species|location=London|publisher=Quercus|year=2009|pages=172–4}}</ref>

==Physics==
* [[James Clerk Maxwell]] unifies [[electricity]] and [[magnetism]] into a single theory, [[electromagnetism|classical electromagnetism]], thereby showing that [[light]] is an electromagnetic [[wave]].
* [[Heinrich Geißler]] designs a mercury pump capable of producing a significant [[vacuum]].

==Technology==
* August 27 – [[Alphonse Louis Poitevin]] patents the [[collotype]] photographic printing process in France.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://brevetsphotographiques.fr/englishluisnadeau.htm|title=The Poitevin Patents and the Importance of Using Primary Sources|website=BrevetsPhotographiques.fr|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130213104006/http://brevetsphotographiques.fr/englishluisnadeau.htm|archive-date=2013-02-13|access-date=2021-11-23}}</ref>
* October 17 – [[Henry Bessemer]] files his [[patent]] for the [[Bessemer process]] of [[steel]]making.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=van Dulken|title=Inventing the 19th Century: the great age of Victorian inventions|location=London|publisher=[[British Library]]|year=2001|isbn=978-0-7123-0881-6|pages=30–1}}</ref>
* [[William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong|William Armstrong]] produces the [[Rifled breech-loader|rifled breech-loading]] [[Armstrong Gun]].

==Institutions==
* c. February – Establishment of the Industrial Museum of Scotland in [[Edinburgh]], a predecessor of the [[National Museum of Scotland]], with chemist [[George Wilson (chemist)|George Wilson]] as its director. In August he is also appointed [[Regius Professor]] of Technology in the [[University of Edinburgh]], the first such post in Britain.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Geoffrey N.|last=Swinney|title=George Wilson's map of technology|journal=[[Journal of Scottish Historical Studies]]|volume=36|issue=2|year=2016|pages=165–90|doi=10.3366/jshs.2016.0184}}</ref> This year also he publishes ''Researches on Colour-Blindness''.
* Opening of [[ETH Zurich|Eidgenössische Polytechnische Schule]] in [[Zürich]], [[Switzerland]].

==Publications==
* [[Matthew Fontaine Maury]] publishes ''The Physical Geography of the Sea''.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Léon Foucault]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=23 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Wollaston Medal]] for Geology: [[Henry De la Beche]]

==Births==
* January 5 – [[King Camp Gillette]] (died [[1932 in science|1932]]), [[Americans|American]] [[inventor]].
* January 21 – [[John Browning]] (died [[1926 in science|1926]]), American inventor.
* January 28 – [[William Seward Burroughs I|William Seward Burroughs]] (died [[1898 in science|1898]]), American inventor of the [[adding machine]].
* March 13 – [[Percival Lowell]] (died [[1916 in science|1916]]), American [[astronomer]].
* May 12 – [[Oskar von Miller]] (died [[1934 in science|1934]]), [[Germans|German]] [[electrical engineer]] and founder of the [[Deutsches Museum]].
* May 29 – [[David Bruce (microbiologist)|David Bruce]] (died [[1931 in science|1931]]), Australian-born [[British people|British]] [[microbiologist]].
* November 5 – [[Léon Teisserenc de Bort]] (died [[1913 in science|1913]]), [[French people|French]] [[meteorologist]].
* November 7 – [[Edwin Hall]] (died [[1938 in science|1938]]), American [[physicist]], discoverer of the "[[Hall effect]]".
* [[Stephen Paget]] (died [[1926 in science|1926]]), English surgeon.

==Deaths==
* February 23 – [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]] (born [[1777 in science|1777]]), [[Germans|German]] [[mathematician]].
* February 27 – [[Bryan Donkin]] (born [[1768 in science|1768]]), [[English people|English]] engineer and inventor.
* March 20 – [[Joseph Aspdin]] (born [[1778 in science|1778]]), English inventor.
* April 13 – [[Henry De la Beche]] (born [[1796 in science|1796]]), English [[geologist]].
* June 7 – [[Friederike Lienig]] (born [[1790 in science|1790]]), [[Latvia]]n entomologist. 
* June 29 – [[John Gorrie]] (born [[1803 in science|1803]]), [[Scottish American]] [[physician]] and inventor.
* July 6 – [[Andrew Crosse]] (born [[1784 in science|1784]]), English 'gentleman scientist', pioneer experimenter in electricity.
* July 8 – [[William Parry (explorer)|William Parry]] (born [[1790 in science|1790]]), English [[Arctic]] [[List of explorers|explorer]].
* October 7 – [[François Magendie]] (born [[1783 in science|1783]]), French [[physiologist]].
* December 6 – [[William Swainson]] (born [[1789 in science|1789]]), English [[naturalist]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:1855 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1850s in science]]