Editing 1860 in science

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Year nav topic5|1860|science}}
{{Science year nav|1860}}

The year '''1860 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* July 18 – Total [[solar eclipse]]. [[Warren De La Rue]]'s photographs of this event, taken in [[Spain]], together with those of [[Angelo Secchi]], demonstrate the solar character of the prominences or red flames seen around the limb of the Moon during such an eclipse.<ref>[[Bakerian Lecture]]. ''[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]]'' (London) '''152''' pp.&nbsp;333–416.</ref>

==Biology==
[[File:Oxf-uni-mus-nh.jpg|thumb|Oxford University Museum]]
* June 30 – [[1860 Oxford evolution debate|Debate about evolution]] at the new [[Oxford University Museum of Natural History]].
* [[John Curtis (entomologist)|John Curtis]] publishes ''Farm Insects, being the natural history and economy of the insects injurious to the field crops of Great Britain and Ireland... with suggestions for their destruction'' in Glasgow.

==Botany==
* [[Joseph Dalton Hooker]] concludes publication of ''The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships ''Erebus'' and ''Terror'' ... 1839–1843'' with issue of the final part of ''Flora Tasmaniae'' in [[London]].<ref>{{cite book|first=F. Bruce|last=Sampson|chapter=Botany of the Antarctic Voyage|chapter-url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-SamEarl-t1-body1-d5-d5-d5.html|title=Early New Zealand Botanical Art|publisher=Reed Methuen|year=1985|location=Auckland|page=76|accessdate=2011-04-05}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* September 3–5 – [[Karlsruhe Congress]], the first international meeting of chemists.
* [[Marcellin Berthelot]] rediscovers and names [[acetylene]].
* [[Robert Bunsen]] and [[Gustav Kirchhoff]], using their newly improved [[spectroscope]], discover and name [[caesium]] in [[mineral water]] from [[Bad Dürkheim]], Germany.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The discovery of the elements. XIII. Some spectroscopic discoveries|pages=1413–1434|last=Weeks|first=Mary Elvira|authorlink=Mary Elvira Weeks|doi=10.1021/ed009p1413|journal=[[Journal of Chemical Education]]|volume=9|issue=8|year=1932|bibcode=1932JChEd...9.1413W}}</ref>
* [[Stanislao Cannizzaro]], resurrecting Avogadro's ideas regarding diatomic molecules, compiles a table of [[atomic weight]]s and presents it at the 1860 [[Karlsruhe Congress]], ending decades of conflicting atomic weights and molecular formulas, and leading to Mendeleev's discovery of the periodic law.<ref>Eric R. Scerri,''The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance'', Oxford University Press, 2006.</ref>
* [[Albert Niemann (chemist)|Albert Niemann]] makes a detailed analysis of the [[coca]] leaf, isolating and purifying the [[crystalline]] [[alkaloid]] which he calls [[cocaine]].<ref>Niemann, Albert. ''[[On a New Organic Base in the Coca Leaves]]'' ("Über eine neue organische Base in den Cocablättern", published version of Ph.D. dissertation); {{cite journal|volume=153|issue=2|pages=129–256|year=1860|title=Ueber eine neue organische Base in den Cocablättern|doi=10.1002/ardp.18601530202|journal=[[Archiv der Pharmazie]]|last1=Niemann|first1=Albert|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1424541}}</ref>
* The [[Erlenmeyer flask]] is created by German chemist [[Emil Erlenmeyer]].

==Mathematics==
* [[Carl Wilhelm Borchardt]] first discovers and proves [[Cayley's formula]] in [[graph theory]].

==Medicine==
* July 9 – The [[Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery|Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses]], the first [[nursing school]] based on the ideas of [[Florence Nightingale]], is opened at [[St Thomas' Hospital]] in [[London]].

==Psychology==
* [[Gustav Fechner]] publishes ''Elemente der Psychophysik'', establishing the discipline of [[psychophysics]] and introducing the [[Weber–Fechner law]] on the intensity of stimuli.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fancher|first=Raymond E.|year=1996|title=Pioneers of Psychology|edition=3rd|location=New York|publisher=W. W. Norton & Co|isbn=978-0-393-96994-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|pmid=15171801|last=Sheynin|first=Oscar |title=Fechner as a statistician|volume=57|issue=1|journal=[[British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology]]|pages=53–72|doi=10.1348/000711004849196 |date=May 2004}}</ref>

==Technology==
{{listen
|filename=Au Clair de la Lune (1860).ogg
|title=Au Clair de la Lune
|description= This 1860 [[phonautogram]] by Leon Scott is the earliest known recorded sound.
|format=[[Ogg]]}}
* April 9 – Earliest known decipherable [[sound recording]] of the human voice, a [[phonautogram]], produced by [[Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville]]. Playback is impossible at this time.<ref name=NYT2008>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/arts/27soun.html|title=Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison|first=Jody|last=Rosen|date=March 27, 2008|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>
* December 29 – Launch of [[HMS Warrior (1860)|HMS ''Warrior'']] by the [[Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company]], the first all-iron [[warship]], for the first time combining steam engines delivering high speed, [[rifling|rifled]] [[breech-loading gun]]s, iron frames and armoured cladding, and the [[propeller]], in the largest naval ship built to this date.<ref>{{cite book|title=Warrior: the First Modern Battleship|first=Walter|last=Brownlee|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1985|isbn=978-0-521-27579-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=Walter|last=Brownlee|title=HMS Warrior|journal=[[Scientific American]]|volume=257|issue=6|year=1987|pages=130–136|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1287-130|bibcode=1987SciAm.257f.130B}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The immortal Warrior, Britain's first and last battleship|last=Wells|first=John|year=1987|publisher=Kenneth Mason|location=Emsworth|isbn=978-0-85937-333-3}}</ref>
* [[Benjamin Tyler Henry]] [[patent]]s the [[Henry rifle]], a 16-shot [[.44 Henry|.44 caliber]] [[Rimfire ammunition|rimfire]] breech-loading [[lever action]] [[Magazine (firearms)#Tubular|tubular magazine]] model, predecessor of the [[Winchester rifle|Winchester]].<ref>Butler, David F. (1971). ''United States Firearms The First Century 1776-1875'' New York: Winchester Press. p.229.</ref>
* [[Edward Samuel Ritchie#Inventions and Innovations|Edward Samuel Ritchie]], considered to be the most innovative instrument maker in nineteenth-century America, receives a U.S. patent for the first successful and practicable liquid-filled marine [[compass]] suitable for general use.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Robert Wilhelm Bunsen]]<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|Wollaston Medal for geology]]: [[Searles Valentine Wood]]

==Births==
* February 29 – [[Herman Hollerith]] (died [[1929 in science|1929]]), American [[statistician]], [[Unit record equipment|punched card data processing]] inventor.
* May 2
** [[John Scott Haldane]] (died [[1936 in science|1936]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]] physiologist.
** [[D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson]] (died [[1948 in science|1948]]), Scottish biologist.
* May 25 – [[James McKeen Cattell]] (died [[1944 in science|1944]]), American [[psychologist]].
* June 8 – [[Alicia Boole Stott]] (died [[1940 in science|1940]]) Anglo-Irish mathematician.
* December 31 – [[John T. Thompson]] (died 1940), American inventor.

==Deaths==
* January 27 – [[János Bolyai]] (born [[1802 in science|1802]]), Hungarian [[mathematician]].
* January 27 – [[Thomas Brisbane]] (born [[1773 in science|1773]]), British [[astronomer]].
* April 1 – [[Joseph Guislain]] (born [[1797 in science|1797]]), [[Belgians|Belgian]] [[psychiatrist]].
* June 29 – [[Thomas Addison]] (born [[1793 in science|1793]]), English physician and scientist.
* July 1 – [[Charles Goodyear]] (born [[1800 in science|1800]]), American inventor of the [[vulcanization]] process.
* December 3 – [[Joseph Marie Élisabeth Durocher]] (born [[1817 in science|1817]]), French geologist.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

[[Category:1860 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]