Editing 1863 in science

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{{Science year nav|1863}}

The year '''1863 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Chemistry==
* August 1 – [[Friedrich Bayer]] founds the chemical manufacturing company of [[Bayer]] at [[Barmen]] in [[Germany]].
* [[Hoechst AG|Teerfarbenfabrik Meister, Lucius & Co.]] of [[Höchst (Frankfurt)]] in Germany produce a green dye from [[coal tar]].<ref>{{cite book|authorlink=James Burke (science historian)|first=James|last=Burke|title=Connections|location=London|publisher=Macmillan|year=1978|isbn=0-333-24827-9|page=205}}</ref>
* French chemist [[Angelo Mariani (chemist)|Angelo Mariani]] produces the first commercially successful [[coca wine]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lestrange|first=Aymon de|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1029444492|title=Coca wine: Angelo Mariani's miraculous elixir and the birth of modern advertising|date=2018|isbn=978-1-62055-784-6|edition=Rev.|location=Rochester, VT|publisher=Park Street Press|oclc=1029444492}}</ref>

==Cryptography==
* German military officer [[Friedrich Kasiski]] publishes ''Die Geheimschriften und die Dechiffrir-Kunst'' ("Secret writing and the Art of Deciphering"), the first published general method for [[cryptanalysis]] of [[polyalphabetic cipher]]s, especially the [[Vigenère cipher]].

==Life sciences==
* August 7 – [[Amalie Dietrich]] arrives in [[Australia]] to begin a decade of collecting specimens in [[natural history]] and [[anthropology]].
* [[Max Schultze]] advances [[cell theory]] with the observation that animal and vegetable [[protoplasm]] are identical.<ref>''Das Protoplasma der Rhizopoden und der Pflanzenzellen; ein Beiträg zur Theorie der Zelle''.</ref>
* The first outbreak of [[phylloxera]] on the European mainland is observed, in the vineyards of the southern Rhône region of France.
* [[Henry Walter Bates]] publishes ''The Naturalist on the River Amazons''.

==Medicine==
* February 17 – First meeting of what will become the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] is held in [[Geneva]], [[Switzerland]], following the lead of humanitarian [[Henry Dunant]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Pierre|last=Boissier|title=History of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Volume I: From Solferino to Tsushima|publisher=Henry Dunant Institute|location=Geneva|year=1985|isbn=2-88044-012-2}}</ref>
* [[William Banting]] publishes ''Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public'' in [[London]], the first popular [[low-carbohydrate diet]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/banting.html|title=William Banting: The Father of the Low-Carbohydrate Diet|accessdate=2011-06-21|last=Groves|first=Barry|year=2002|work=Second Opinions|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611192236/http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/banting.html|archivedate=11 June 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Ivan Sechenov]] publishes ''Refleksy golovnogo mozga'' ("Reflexes of the brain").<ref>''Meditsinsky vestnik'' '''47'''–'''48'''.</ref>

==Meteorology==
* The [[Paris Observatory]] begins to publish [[weather map]]s.

==Paleontology==
* [[Richard Owen]] publishes the first description of a fossilised bird, ''[[Archaeopteryx]]''.<ref name="The People's Chronology">{{cite book|chapter=1863|title=The People's Chronology|editor=Everett, Jason M.|publisher=Thomson Gale|year=2006}}</ref>

==Physics==
* January – [[John Tyndall]] first explains the workings of the [[greenhouse effect]].<ref>In a public lecture, "On Radiation Through The Earth's Atmosphere", reprinted in his book ''Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat'' (1872).</ref>

==Technology==
* February 10 – Alanson Crane [[patent]]s a [[fire extinguisher]].
* April 14 – [[William Bullock (inventor)|William Bullock]] is granted a United States patent for improvements to the [[rotary printing press]] to use a continuous web or roll of paper to be printed on both sides, the first machine designed especially for curved stereotype plates.<ref>Patent 38,200. {{cite web|url=http://www.clpgh.org/research/pittsburgh/history/pghsts3.html|title=Pittsburgh World Firsts: By Event|publisher=Pennsylvania Department, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh|accessdate=2016-02-05|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113005156/http://www.clpgh.org/research/pittsburgh/history/pghsts3.html|archivedate=2016-01-13}}</ref>
* Spring – [[John Pratt (inventor)|John Pratt]] builds a practical form of [[typewriter]] in the United States.<ref>{{cite news|title=Centre Man Invented First Typewriter|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52526632/|work=The Coosa River News|page=1|location=Centre, Alabama|date=1951-11-30|via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}}}}</ref>
* July – The tiny [[Confederate States of America]] hand-propelled [[submarine]] ''[[H. L. Hunley (submarine)|H. L. Hunley]]'' is first tested successfully (although thirteen crew – including her inventor [[Horace Lawson Hunley]] – are lost in two sinkings later in the year).<ref>{{cite book|title=The H. L. Hunley: the Secret Hope of the Confederacy|first=Tom|last=Chaffin|location=New York|publisher=Hill and Wang|year=2008|isbn=978-0-8090-9512-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/hlhunleysecretho00chaf}}</ref>
* October 23 – The [[Ffestiniog Railway]] in [[North Wales]] introduces [[steam locomotive]]s into general service, the first time this has been done anywhere in the world on a public railway of such a [[Narrow-gauge railway|narrow gauge]] (2&nbsp;ft (60&nbsp;cm)).<ref>{{cite book|author=Ransom, P. J. G.|title=Narrow Gauge Steam: its origins and world-wide development|year=1996|publisher=Oxford Publishing Co|location=Sparkford|isbn=0-86093-533-7}}</ref>
* December 19 – [[Linoleum]] patented in the United Kingdom.<ref name="The People's Chronology"/>
* John W. Murphy builds a Whipple-type [[truss bridge]] across the [[Lehigh River]] at [[Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania]] for the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]] in the United States, the first known to have both tension and compression members in [[wrought iron]].<ref>{{cite book|title=American Railroad Bridges|first=Theodore|last=Cooper|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SwM5AAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Mauch+Chunk%22+truss+bridge&pg=PA18|year=1889|page=18|accessdate=2022-06-05}}</ref>

==Events and institutions==
* March 3 – [[National Academy of Sciences]] incorporated in the [[United States]].
* Summer – The [[Chōshū Five]] leave Japan secretly to study Western science and technology in Britain, at [[University College London]], part of the ending of ''[[sakoku]]''.
* November 29 – [[Polytechnic University of Milan]] founded as the ''Istituto Tecnico Superiore''.

==Publications==
* January 31 – The first of [[Jules Verne]]'s scientifically inspired ''[[Voyages Extraordinaires]]'', the novel ''Cinq semaines en ballon'' (''[[Five Weeks in a Balloon]]''), is published in [[Paris]].

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Adam Sedgwick]]<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: [[Gustav Bischof]]

==Births==
* March 25 – [[Simon Flexner]] (d. [[1946 in science|1946]]), [[Americans|American]] [[pathologist]] and [[bacteriologist]].
* April 7 – [[André Rochon-Duvigneaud]] (d. [[1952 in science|1952]]), [[French people|French]] [[ophthalmologist]].
* April 29 – [[Signe Häggman]] (d. [[1911 in science|1911]]), Finnish pioneer of physical education of the disabled. 
* May 14 – [[John Charles Fields]] (d. [[1932 in science|1932]]), [[Canadians|Canadian]] [[mathematician]].
* July 12
** [[Albert Calmette]] (d. [[1933 in science|1933]]), French [[physician]], [[bacteriologist]] and [[Immunology|immunologist]].
** [[Paul Drude]] (d. [[1906 in science|1906]]), [[Germans|German]] [[physicist]].
* October 16 – [[Beverly Thomas Galloway]] (d. [[1938 in science|1938]]), American [[plant pathologist]].
* November 25 – [[Ioan Cantacuzino]] (d. [[1934 in science|1934]]), [[Romanians|Romanian]] [[microbiologist]].
* December 5 – [[Paul Painlevé]] (d. [[1933 in science|19333]]), mathematician and statesman, 62nd [[Prime Minister of France]].
* December 11 – [[Annie Jump Cannon]] (d. [[1941 in science|1941]]), American astronomer and academic.<ref>{{cite book|first=Moira Davison|last=Reynolds|title=American Women Scientists: 23 Inspiring Biographies, 1900-2000|location=Jefferson NC|publisher=McFarland|year=2004|page=18|isbn=978-0-78642-161-9}}</ref>
* Undated – [[Cuthbert Christy]] (d. [[1932 in science|1932]]), [[English people|English]] medical investigator, [[zoologist]] and explorer.

==Deaths==
* March 7 – [[Charles Wilkins Short]] (b. [[1794 in science|1794]]), American [[botanist]].
* June 25 – [[Thomas Evans Blackwell]] (b. [[1819 in science|1819]]), English civil and hydraulic engineer.
* July 21 – [[Josephine Kablick]] (b. [[1787 in science|1787]]), Czech [[botanist]] and [[paleontologist]].
* December 8 – [[Jacques Etienne Chevalley de Rivaz]]  (b. [[1801 in science|1801]]), Swiss-born physician

==References==
{{reflist}}

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[[Category:1863 in science| ]]
[[Category:1860s in science]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]