Editing 1859 in science

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Year nav topic5|1859|science}}
{{Science year nav|1859}}

The year '''1859 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Archaeology==
* May 26 & June 2 – Geologist [[Joseph Prestwich]] and amateur archaeologist [[John Evans (archaeologist)|John Evans]] report (to the [[Royal Society]] and [[Society of Antiquaries of London]], respectively) the results of their investigations of gravel-pits in the [[Somme valley]] and elsewhere, extending [[human history]] back to what will become known as the [[Paleolithic]] Era.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Joseph |last=Prestwich |title=On the Occurrence of Flint-implements, associated with the Remains of Animals of Extinct Species in Beds of a late Geological Period, in France at Amiens and Abbeville, and in England at Hoxne |journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]] |volume=150 |pages=277–317 |doi=10.1098/rstl.1860.0018 |date=January 1860 |hdl=2027/chi.098241705 |s2cid=111126826 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=John |last=Evans |title=On the Occurrence of Flint Implements in undisturbed Beds of Gravel, Sand, and Clay |journal=[[Archaeologia (London)|Archaeologia]] |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=280–307 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1428686/files/article.pdf |access-date=2012-02-24 |archive-url= |archive-date= |url-status= |date=January 1860 |doi=10.1017/s0261340900001454 }}</ref>

==Astronomy==
* August 28–September 2 – The [[solar storm of 1859]], the largest geomagnetic solar storm on record, causes the [[Aurora (astronomy)|Northern lights aurora]] to be visible as far south as Cuba and knocks out [[telegraph]] communication. This is also called the Carrington event, [[Richard Christopher Carrington|Richard Carrington]] being the first known person to observe [[solar flare]]s, due to this storm. It is also the first major solar radiation storm to be recorded.<ref>{{cite book|first=Philip C.|last=Plait|author-link=Phil Plait|title=Death from the Skies! – these are the ways the world will end|location=New York|publisher=Viking Penguin|year=2008|isbn=978-0-670-01997-7|title-link=Death from the Skies}}</ref>
* [[Marian Albertovich Kowalski]] publishes the first usable method to deduce the [[rotation]] of the [[Milky Way]].<ref>''Recherches astronomiques de l'observatoire de Kasan''.</ref>
* English clergyman [[Thomas William Webb]] publishes the first edition of his popular amateur guide ''Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes''.
* Attempting to explain [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]]'s solar orbit, [[French people|French]] mathematician [[Urbain Le Verrier]] proposes the existence of a [[Vulcan (hypothetical planet)|hypothetical planet, Vulcan]], inside its orbit and amateur astronomer [[Edmond Modeste Lescarbault]] claims to have observed it on March 26.<ref>{{cite book|title=In Search of Planet Vulcan, the Ghost in Newton's Clockwork Machine|last1=Baum|first1=Richard|last2=Sheehan|first2=William|year=1997|publisher=Plenum Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-306-45567-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/insearchofplanet0000baum}}</ref>

==Biology==
[[Image:Origin of Species title page.jpg|right|200px]]
* March 21 – The [[Commonwealth of Pennsylvania]] issues the charter establishing the [[Zoological Society of Philadelphia]], the first organization of its kind in the [[United States]] and founder of the nation's first [[zoo]].
* November 3 – [[Alfred Russel Wallace]]'s paper "On the Zoological geography of the Malay Archipelago", introducing the [[Wallace Line]], is read by [[Charles Darwin]] to the [[Linnean Society of London]].<ref>Published in ''Journal of the Proceedings'' of the Society vol. '''IV''', Zoology, no. 16 (10 February 1860) p. 172.</ref>
* November 24 – [[Charles Darwin]] publishes ''[[On the Origin of Species]]''.
* December – [[Joseph Dalton Hooker]]'s ''Introductory Essay to the Flora Tasmaniae'' supports Darwin's theories.
* [[Pollen]] is identified as the cause of [[allergic rhinitis]] by [[Charles Harrison Blackley]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Justin|last=Parkinson|title=John Bostock: The man who 'discovered' hay fever|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28038630|access-date=2018-06-10|work=[[BBC News]] Magazine|date=2014-07-01|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150731221944/http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28038630|archive-date=2015-07-31}}</ref>
* [[Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire]], in the second volume of ''Histoire naturelle générale des Règnes organiques'', introduces the term ''[[ethology]]''.<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''.</ref>
* [[Wilhelm Peters]] first describes the [[guppy]] (fish ''Poecilia reticulata'') from Venezuela.
* [[Rudolf Virchow]] publishes ''Vorlesungen über Cellularpathologie in ihrer Begründung auf physiologischer und pathologischer Gewebelehre'', a major textbook on [[cellular pathology]].<ref>{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Virchow, Rudolf|year=1920}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* [[Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 2nd Baronet|Benjamin Collins Brodie]] reports the highly [[Lamella (materials)|lamellar]] structure of thermally reduced [[graphite oxide]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Brodie|first=B. C.|year=1859|title=On the Atomic Weight of Graphite|journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London]]|volume=149|pages=249–259|bibcode=1859RSPT..149..249B|jstor=108699|doi=10.1098/rstl.1859.0013|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Geim |first=A. K.|year=2012 |title=Graphene Prehistory|journal=[[Physica Scripta]]|volume=T146|pages=1–4|bibcode=2012PhST..146a4003G|doi=10.1088/0031-8949/2012/T146/014003|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Aleksandr Butlerov]] discovers [[hexamine]].
* [[August Wilhelm von Hofmann|August von Hofmann]] isolates [[sorbic acid]].
* [[Gustav Robert Kirchhoff]] and [[Robert Bunsen]] invent an improved [[spectroscope]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=The discovery of the elements. XIII. Some spectroscopic discoveries|pages=1413–1434|last=Weeks|first=Mary Elvira|author-link=Mary Elvira Weeks|doi=10.1021/ed009p1413|journal=[[Journal of Chemical Education]]|volume=9|issue=8|year=1932|bibcode=1932JChEd...9.1413W}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Robert Bunsen|url=http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/robertbunsen.html|work=infoplease|publisher=Pearson Education|year=2007|access-date=2011-11-21}}</ref>
* [[Pinacol]] is discovered through [[Pinacol coupling reaction]] by [[Wilhelm Rudolph Fittig]].

==Climatology==
* [[John Tyndall]] discovers that some gases block [[infrared radiation]]. He suggests that changes in the concentration of these gases could bring [[climate change]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aip.org/history/climate/timeline.htm|title=The Discovery of Global Warming|work=American Institute of Physics|date=February 2013|access-date=8 August 2013|archive-date=13 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113025916/https://www.aip.org/history/climate/timeline.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Geography==
* The [[Royal Geographical Society]] of [[London]] is granted a [[Royal Charter]] by [[Queen Victoria]].
* French mathematician [[Nicolas Auguste Tissot]] first proposes [[Tissot's indicatrix]] in [[cartography]].

==Mathematics==
* [[Emanoil Bacaloglu]] develops the "Bacaloglu [[pseudosphere]]".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Romanian Inventions|journal=The Reminder|issue=46|date=June 1983|page=3 (suppl.)}}</ref>
* [[Arthur Cayley]] produces the first [[Cayley–Klein metric]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Cayley|first=Arthur|title=A sixth memoir upon quantics|jstor=108690|id=Collected Math. Papers, volume 2|year=1859|journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London]]|issn=0080-4614|volume=149|pages=61–90|bibcode = 1859RSPT..149...61C|doi=10.1098/rstl.1859.0004|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1432432|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Bernhard Riemann]] publishes his paper on [[number theory]], ''{{sic|hide=y|Ueber}} die Anzahl der Primzahlen unter einer gegebenen {{sic|hide=y|Grösse}}'' ("[[On the Number of Primes Less Than a Given Magnitude]]")<ref>''Monatsberichte der Königlich Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin'' (November 1859).</ref> including the [[Riemann zeta function]] and [[Riemann hypothesis]].

==Medicine==
* [[Florence Nightingale]] publishes ''[[Notes on Nursing|Notes on Nursing: What it is and What it is Not]]'' in London.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.eb.com/women/article-9404148|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|title=Florence Nightingale: Notes on Nursing|work=300 Women Who Changed the World|access-date=2011-10-12}}</ref>
* [[District nurse|District nursing]] begins in [[Liverpool]], [[England]], when philanthropist [[William Rathbone VI|William Rathbone]] employs Mary Robinson to nurse the sick poor in their own homes.

==Technology==
* May 2 – [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]]'s [[Royal Albert Bridge]] for the [[Cornwall Railway]] at [[Saltash]] in [[England]] is officially opened.<ref>{{cite book|author=Binding, John|title=Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge|year=1997|publisher=[[Twelveheads Press]]|location=Truro|isbn=978-0-906294-39-0}}</ref>
* November 24 – [[French ironclad Gloire|French ironclad ''Gloire'']] launched, the first ocean-going [[ironclad]] [[battleship]].
* [[Thomas Aveling (engineer)|Thomas Aveling]] of [[Rochester, Kent]], England, produces the first [[traction engine]], by modification of an existing machine.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bonnett|first=Harold|title=Discovering Traction Engines|publisher=Shire Publications|location=Princes Risborough|edition=rev.|year=1975|page=5|isbn=978-0-85263-318-2}}</ref>
* [[Étienne Lenoir]], working in [[Paris]], produces the first single-cylinder [[Two-stroke engine|two-stroke]] [[Lenoir cycle]] [[gas engine]] with an electric [[ignition system]].<ref>[[Patent]]ed 1860. {{cite book|last=Wise|first=David Burgess|chapter=Lenoir: The Motoring Pioneer|editor=Ward, Ian|title=The World of Automobiles|location=London|publisher=Orbis Publishing|year=1974}}</ref>

== Physics ==
* [[Gustav Kirchhoff]] first states [[Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation]] in several papers.

==Awards==
* February 23 – [[William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong|William Armstrong]] created a [[Knight Bachelor]]
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Wilhelm Eduard Weber|Wilhelm Weber]]<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|Wollaston Medal for geology]]: [[Charles Darwin]]

==Births==
* January 8 – [[Fanny Bullock Workman]] (died [[1925 in science|1925]]), [[Americans|American]] mountaineer, explorer and cartographer.
* January 19 – [[Alice Eastwood]] (died [[1953 in science|1953]]), [[Canadians|Canadian]]-born botanist.
* February 14
** [[George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.]] (died [[1896 in science|1896]]), American [[civil engineer]], inventor of the [[Ferris wheel]].
** [[Henry Valentine Knaggs]] (died [[1954 in science|1954]]), [[English people|English]] practitioner of [[naturopathic medicine]].
* February 19 – [[Svante Arrhenius]] (died [[1927 in science|1927]]), [[Swedes|Swedish]] winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].
* February 28 – [[Florian Cajori]] (died [[1930 in science|1930]]), [[Swiss people|Swiss]] historian of mathematics.
* March 4 – [[Alexander Stepanovich Popov]] (died [[1906 in science|1906]]), [[Russia]]n [[physicist]].
* March 10 – [[Frank Leverett]] (died [[1943 in science|1943]]), American [[glaciologist]].
* March 14 – [[Dorothea Pertz]] (died [[1939 in science|1939]]), English [[botanist]].
* April 7 – [[Jacques Loeb]] (died [[1924 in science|1924]]), [[Germans|German]] [[physiologist]].
* May 15 – [[Pierre Curie]] (died 1906), [[French people|French]] winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]].
* May 18 – [[Harry Fielding Reid]] (died [[1944 in science|1944]]), American [[geophysicist]].
* May 28 – [[Edward Hopkinson]] (died [[1922 in science|1922]]), English [[electrical engineer]].
* June 25 – [[Gerhard Heilmann]] (died [[1946 in science|1946]]), [[Danes|Danish]] paleo-ornithologist.
* July 31 – [[Theobald Smith]] (died [[1934 in science|1934]]), American [[bacteriologist]].
* September 7 – [[Margaret Crosfield]] (died [[1952 in science|1952]]), British palaeontologist and geologist.
* November 22 – [[Cecilia Grierson]] (died [[1934 in science|1934]]), Argentine physician and reformer.

==Deaths==
* May 1 – [[John Walker (inventor)|John Walker]] (born [[1781 in science|1781]]), [[English people|English]] [[chemist]].
* May 5 – [[Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet]] (born [[1805 in science|1805]]), German [[mathematician]].
* May 6 – [[Alexander von Humboldt]] (born [[1769 in science|1769]]), German [[natural history|naturalist]] and [[List of explorers|explorer]].
* June 8 – [[Walter Hunt (inventor)|Walter Hunt]] (born [[1796 in science|1796]]), American inventor.
* July 8 &ndash; [[Charlotte von Siebold]] (born [[1788]]), German gynecologist. 
* September 10 – [[Thomas Nuttall]] (born [[1786 in science|1786]]), English naturalist.
* September 15 – [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]] (born [[1806 in science|1806]]), [[British people|British]] civil engineer.
* October 12 – [[Robert Stephenson]] (born [[1803 in science|1803]]), English railway engineer.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1859 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1850s in science]]