Editing 1864 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1864|science}}
{{Science year nav|1864}}

The year '''1864 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] included many events, some of which are listed here.

==Astronomy==
* May 14 – The [[Orgueil (meteorite)|Orgueil meteorite]], composed of [[carbonaceous chondrite]], falls in southwestern France.
* August 29 – [[William Huggins]] is the first to take the spectrum of a [[planetary nebula]] when he analyzes [[NGC 6543]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kwok|first=Sun|author-link=Sun Kwok|title=The Origin and Evolution of planetary Nebulae|chapter=History and overview|year=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=1–7|isbn=0-521-62313-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7NfqpZxO_o0C|accessdate=13 January 2012 <!--DASHBot-->}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==Botany==
* [[English people|English]] botanist [[Richard Spruce]] completes a 15-year expedition to the [[Andes]] and [[Amazon Basin]] during which he has collected more than 30,000 plant specimens.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Richard|last=Spruce|title=Hepaticae of the Amazon and the Andes of Peru and Ecuador|journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society|location=Edinburgh|year=1884|volume=15|issue=1-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor=Wallace, Alfred Russel|editor-link=Alfred Russel Wallace|last=Spruce|first=Richard|title=Notes of a botanist on the Amazon and the Andes... during the years 1849–1864|url=https://archive.org/details/b31360117_0004|publisher=Macmillan|location=London|year=1908}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Pearson|first=Michael|title=Richard Spruce: naturalist and explorer|publisher=Hudson History|location=Settle, Yorkshire|year=2004|isbn=1-903783-28-3}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* August 20 – [[John Alexander Reina Newlands]] produces the [[History of the periodic table#John Newlands|first periodic table]] of the [[chemical element|elements]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=On Relations Among the Equivalents|last=Newlands|first=John A. R.|journal=Chemical News|volume=10|pages=94–95|date=1864-08-20|url=http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/EA/NEWLANDSann.HTML#newlands3|accessdate=2011-08-30|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721050432/http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/EA/NEWLANDSann.HTML|archivedate=21 July 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>
* November 27 – [[Barbituric acid]] is first synthesized, by German chemist [[Adolf von Baeyer]].
* [[Lothar Meyer]] develops an early version of the periodic table, with 28 elements organized by [[Valence (chemistry)|valence]].<ref name="Profile">{{cite web|title=Julius Lothar Meyer and Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/julius-lothar-meyer-and-dmitri-ivanovich-mendeleev|website=Science History Institute|accessdate=21 March 2018|archive-date=21 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321130939/https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/julius-lothar-meyer-and-dmitri-ivanovich-mendeleev|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Bowden>{{cite book|last1=Bowden|first1=Mary Ellen|title=Chemical achievers : the human face of the chemical sciences|url=https://archive.org/details/chemicalachiever0000bowd|url-access=registration|date=1997|publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation|location=Philadelphia, PA|isbn=9780941901123|chapter=Julius Lothar Meyer and Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev|pages=[https://archive.org/details/chemicalachiever0000bowd/page/59 59-63]}}</ref>
* [[Cato Maximilian Guldberg]] and [[Peter Waage]], building on [[Claude Louis Berthollet]]'s ideas, propose the [[law of mass action]].<ref name="GW1">{{cite journal|author1=Guldberg, C. M. |author2=Waage, P. |year=1864|title=Studies Concerning Affinity|journal=Forhandlinger i Videnskabs-Selskabet i Christiana|page=35}}</ref><ref name="GW2">{{cite journal|author=Waage, P.|title=Experiments for Determining the Affinity Law|journal=Forhandlinger i Videnskabs-Selskabet i Christiania|year=1864|page=92}}</ref><ref name="GW3">{{cite journal|first=C. M.|last=Guldberg|title=Concerning the Laws of Chemical Affinity|journal=Forhandlinger i Videnskabs-Selskabet i Christiania|year=1864|page=111}}</ref>

==Conservation==
* June 30 – The [[Yosemite National Park#Yosemite Grant|Yosemite Grant]] is created in the [[United States]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Schaffer|first=Jeffrey P.|title=Yosemite National Park|edition=4th|page=48}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Alfred Enneper]] publishes his [[Parametrization (geometry)|parametrization]] of the [[Enneper surface]] in connection with [[minimal surface]] theory.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Enneper|first=A.|title=Analytisch-geometrische Untersuchungen|journal=Zeitschrift für mathematische Physik|volume=9|pages=96–125|year=1864}}</ref>

==Physics==
* December 8 – [[James Clerk Maxwell]] presents his paper ''[[A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field]]'' to the [[Royal Society]] in [[London]], treating light as an [[electromagnetic wave]] and presenting [[Maxwell's equations]].<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1098/rstl.1865.0008|last=Maxwell|first=J. Clerk|title=A dynamical theory of the electromagnetic field|url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/A_Dynamical_Theory_of_the_Electromagnetic_Field.pdf|format=PDF|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London|volume=155|pages=459–512|year=1865|accessdate=2011-08-30|archive-date=2011-07-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728140123/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/A_Dynamical_Theory_of_the_Electromagnetic_Field.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Technology==
* February 17 – In the [[American Civil War]], the tiny [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] hand-propelled [[submarine]] ''[[H. L. Hunley (submarine)|H. L. Hunley]]'' sinks the [[USS Housatonic (1861)|USS ''Housatonic'']] using a [[spar torpedo]] in [[Charleston Harbor]], becoming the first submarine to sink an enemy ship (although the submarine and her crew of eight are also lost).<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>
* December 8 – The [[Clifton Suspension Bridge]] across the [[River Avon, Bristol|Bristol Avon]] in [[England]], designed by [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]] and completed as a memorial to him, opens to traffic.<ref>{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref>
* [[Oriel Chambers]], [[Liverpool]], England, the world's first metal-framed glass [[curtain wall (architecture)|curtain walled]] building, designed by [[Peter Ellis (architect)]], is built.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orielchambers.co.uk/#/411|title=History|publisher=Oriel Chambers|accessdate=2009-07-27|archive-date=2011-02-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110208175443/http://www.orielchambers.co.uk/#/411|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Nicolaus Otto]] and [[Eugen Langen]] produce a free piston gas atmospheric engine.
* [[Henry Enfield Roscoe|Henry Roscoe]] and [[Robert Bunsen]] carry out what is reputed to be the first [[Flash (photography)|flashlight photography]], using [[magnesium]] as a light source.<ref>{{cite web|title=Henry Roscoe (1833-1915): flashlight photography|publisher=[[Museum of Science and Industry (Manchester)]]|year=2007|url=http://emu.msim.org.uk/htmlmn/collections/online/browsethemes/relatedobjects_lower.php?irn=2386|accessdate=2011-11-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302015509/http://emu.msim.org.uk/htmlmn/collections/online/browsethemes/relatedobjects_lower.php?irn=2386|archive-date=2012-03-02|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Possible date – [[Siegfried Marcus]] builds the first motorized cart, in Vienna.

==Zoology==
* The species ''[[Homo neanderthalensis]]'' is formally described by [[William King (geologist)|William King]].
* The [[Central Park Zoo]] opens in [[New York City]] as a menagerie.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Charles Darwin]]<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 |archive-date=24 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724101403/https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Wollaston Medal]] for Geology: [[Roderick Murchison]]

==Births==
* January ''(prob. date)'' – [[George Washington Carver]] (died [[1943 in science|1943]]), [[African American]] agricultural [[botanist]].
* January 13 – [[Wilhelm Wien]] (died [[1928 in science|1928]]), [[Germans|German]] [[physicist]].
* March 12 – [[W. H. R. Rivers]] (died [[1922 in science|1922]]), [[English people|English]] [[psychiatrist]].
* March 15 – [[Carl Edvard Johansson]] (died [[1943 in science|1943]]), [[Swedes|Swedish]] [[metrologist]].
* April 21 – [[Max Weber]] (died [[1920 in science|1920]]), German [[sociology|sociologist]].
* June 14 – [[Alois Alzheimer]] (died [[1915 in science|1915]]), German [[neuroscientist]].
* June 25 – [[Walther Nernst]] (died [[1941 in science|1941]]), German [[chemist]].
* June 22 – [[Hermann Minkowski]] (died [[1909 in science|1909]]), Lithuanian-German [[mathematician]].
* September 8 (O.S. August 27) – [[Jakob Johann von Uexküll]] (died [[1944 in science|1944]]), Baltic German pioneer of [[biosemiotics]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Carlo|last=Brentari|title=Jakob von Uexküll: The Discovery of the Umwelt between Biosemiotics and Theoretical Biology|publisher=Springer|year=2015}}</ref>
* December 1 – [[Carsten Borchgrevink]] (died [[1934 in science|1934]]), [[Norwegians|Norwegian]] [[Antarctic]] explorer.

==Deaths==
* January 14 – Father [[Nicholas Callan]] (born [[1799 in science|1799]]), [[Irish people|Irish]] [[physicist]].
* March 21 – [[Luke Howard]] (born [[1772 in science|1772]]), English [[meteorologist]] and manufacturing chemist.
* May 3 – [[William Lobb]] (born [[1809 in science|1809]]), English plant collector.
* May 5 – [[Elizabeth Andrew Warren]] (born [[1786 in science|1786]]), Cornish botanist and marine [[Phycology|algolologist]].  
* May 29 – [[Johann Georg Bodmer]] (born 1786), Swiss mechanical engineer and inventor.
* November 23 – [[Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve]] (born [[1793 in science|1793]]), Baltic German-born [[astronomer]].
* December 8 – [[George Boole]] (born [[1815 in science|1815]]), English-born [[mathematician]].
* December 12 – [[John Fowler (agricultural engineer)|John Fowler]] (born [[1826 in science|1826]]), English [[agricultural engineer]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1864 In Science}}
[[Category:1864 in science| ]]
[[Category:1860s in science]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]