Editing 1868 in science

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{{Year topic navigation|1868|science}}
{{Science year nav|1868}}

The year '''1868 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Biology==
* January 30 – Publication of [[Charles Darwin]]'s ''[[The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication]]'' (by [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] in [[London]]), including his theory of [[heredity]], which he calls [[pangenesis]].
* [[Jules-Emile Planchon]] and colleagues propose ''[[Phylloxera]]'' as the cause of the [[Great French Wine Blight]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.wampumkeeper.com/wineblight.html|title=The Great French Wine Blight|journal=Wine Tidings|volume=96 |accessdate=2011-08-01| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110717235415/http://www.wampumkeeper.com/wineblight.html| archivedate= 17 July 2011 | url-status= usurped |date=July–August 1986}}</ref>
* [[Roland Trimen]] reads a paper to the [[Linnaean Society]] explaining [[Batesian mimicry]] in [[Africa]]n [[Butterfly|butterflies]].<ref>Published in ''Transactions'' '''26'''(3) (1870): 497.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Roland Trimen, 1840-1916|jstor=80995|journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society B]]|volume=91|issue=641|year=1920|pages=xviii–xxvii|doi=10.1098/rspb.1920.0020|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Thomas Henry Huxley|T. H. Huxley]] discovers what he thinks is primordial matter and names it ''[[Bathybius haeckelii]]''. He admits his mistake in 1871.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ley|first=Willy|authorlink=Willy Ley|year=1959|title=Exotic Zoology|location=New York|publisher=Viking Press|title-link=Exotic Zoology (book)}}</ref>
* The [[Granny Smith]] [[apple]] [[cultivar]] originates in [[Eastwood, New South Wales]], [[Australia]], from a [[chance seedling]] [[Fruit tree propagation|propagated]] by Maria Ann Smith (née Sherwood, 1799–1870).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smith-maria-ann-13199|first=Megan|last=Martin|title=Smith, Maria Ann (1799–1870)|work=[[Australian Dictionary of Biography]]|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|location=Canberra|year=2005|accessdate=2012-01-27}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* August 18 – The element later named as [[helium]] is first detected in the [[Emission spectrum|spectrum]] of the [[Sun]]'s [[chromosphere]] by [[French people|French]] [[astronomer]] [[Pierre Janssen|Jules Janssen]] during a total [[solar eclipse|eclipse]] in [[Guntur]], [[British Raj|India]], but assumed to be [[sodium]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=French astronomers in India during the 17th&nbsp;–19th centuries|journal=Journal of the British Astronomical Association|volume=101|issue=2|pages=95–100|bibcode=1991JBAA..101...95K|last=Kochhar|first=R. K.|year=1991}}</ref>
* October 20 – [[English people|English]] astronomer [[Norman Lockyer]] observes and names the D<sub>3</sub> [[Fraunhofer line]] in the solar spectrum and concludes that it is caused by a hitherto unidentified [[Chemical element|element]] which he later names [[helium]].<ref>{{cite book|title= The Encyclopedia of the Chemical Elements|pages=256–268|first=Clifford A.|last=Hampel|location=New York|isbn=0-442-15598-0|year=1968|publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold}}</ref>
* [[Louis Arthur Ducos du Hauron]] [[patent]]s methods of [[color photography]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Coe|first=Brian|title=Colour Photography: the first hundred years 1840-1940|year=1978|location=London|publisher=Ash & Grant|isbn=0-904069-24-9}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* [[Jean-Martin Charcot]] describes and names [[multiple sclerosis]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/19.html|title=Jean-Martin Charcot|work=[[Who Named It?|Whonamedit?]]|last=Enerson|first=Ole Daniel|accessdate=2011-04-11| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110514000108/http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/19.html| archivedate= 14 May 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Charcot, J.-M.|title= Histologie de la sclerose en plaques|journal=Gazette des Hopitaux|location=Paris|year=1868|volume=41|pages= 554–55}}</ref>
* [[Adolph Kussmaul]] performs the first [[esophagogastroduodenoscopy]] on a living human.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Killian|first1=Gustvan|title=The history of bronchoscopy and esophagoscopy|journal=The Laryngoscope|volume=21|pages=891–7|year=1911|doi=10.1288/00005537-191109000-00001|issue=9|s2cid=73388145|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1448736}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Modlin|first1=Irvin M.|last2=Kidd|first2=Mark|last3=Lye|first3=Kevin D.|title=From the Lumen to the Laparoscope|url=http://archsurg.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/139/10/1110|journal=[[Archives of Surgery]]|volume=139|issue=10|pages=1110–26|year=2004|pmid=15492154|doi=10.1001/archsurg.139.10.1110|accessdate=2011-10-17|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Elewaut|first1=A.|last2=Cremer|first2=M.|chapter=The History of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy — The European Perspective|editor1-last=Classen|editor1-first=Meinhard|editor2-last=Tytgat|editor2-first=Guido N.J.|editor3-last=Lightdale|editor3-first=Charles J.|title=Gastroenterological endoscopy|publisher=Thieme|location=Stuttgart|year=2002|page=17|isbn=978-1-58890-013-5|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4X5c7NVo-gkC&q=%22The%20History%20of%20Gastrointestinal%20Endoscopy%E2%80%94The%20European%20Perspective%22.&pg=PA17|accessdate=2010-09-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=F.|last=Vilardell|title=Digestive endoscopy in the second millennium: from the Lichtleiter to echoendoscopy|chapter=Rigid gastroscopes|publisher=Thieme|location=Stuttgart|year=2006|pages=32–5|isbn=978-3-13-139671-6|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bu1l1yS156oC&dq=%22Rigid+gastroscopes%22.+Digestive+endoscopy+in+the+second+millenium:+from+the+lichtleiter+to+echoendoscopy.&pg=PT71|accessdate=2010-09-06}}</ref>

==Paleontology==
* March – French [[geologist]] [[Louis Lartet]] discovers the first identified skeletons of [[Cro-Magnon]], the first [[anatomically modern humans]] (early ''Homo sapiens sapiens''), at Abri de Crô-Magnon, a rock shelter at [[Les Eyzies]], [[Dordogne]], France.

==Technology==
* June 23 – The [[Sholes and Glidden typewriter]] is [[patent]]ed in the United States.<ref>{{US patent|79265|US79265}}.</ref>
* October 28 – [[Americans|American]] inventor [[Thomas Edison]] applies for his first patent, for a form of electronic [[voting machine]].
* Ernest and Auguste Bollée first patent the [[Éolienne Bollée]] [[wind turbine]] in France.<ref>No 79985.</ref>
* Scottish physicist [[James Clerk Maxwell]]'s paper on [[Centrifugal governor|governor]]s<ref>{{cite journal|last=Maxwell|first=James Clerk|title=On Governors|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society|location=London|volume=16|issue=100|year=1868|pages=270–283|doi=10.1098/rspl.1867.0055|jstor=112510}}</ref> is a landmark in the mathematics of [[feedback]] and in [[control theory]].
* [[Pendulum-and-hydrostat control]] for the [[Whitehead torpedo]] developed by [[Robert Whitehead (engineer)|Robert Whitehead]].

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Charles Wheatstone]]<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: [[Carl Friedrich Naumann]]

==Births==
* January 9 – [[S. P. L. Sørensen]] (died [[1939 in science|1939]]), Danish [[chemist]].
* January 31 – [[Theodore William Richards]] (died [[1928 in science|1928]]), American chemist, recipient of [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].
* February 7 – [[Aleen Cust]] (died [[1937 in science|1937]]), Anglo-Irish [[veterinary surgeon]].
* March 15 – [[Grace Chisholm Young]] (died [[1944 in science|1944]]), English [[mathematician]].
* March 22 – [[Robert Andrews Millikan]] (died [[1953 in science|1953]]), American [[physicist]], recipient of [[Nobel Prize in Physics]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert A. Millikan - Biographical |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1923/millikan-bio.html |website=www.nobelprize.org}}</ref>
* April 4 
** [[Philippa Fawcett]] (died [[1948 in science|1948]]), English mathematician.
** [[Henrietta Swan Leavitt]] (died [[1921 in science|1921]]), American astronomer<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0705/p15s01-bogn.html |title=Before computers, there were these humans... |publisher=Christian Science Monitor |first=Gregory M. |last=Lamb |date=July 5, 2005 |access-date=January 1, 2020}}</ref>
* April 5 – [[Percy Furnivall]] (died [[1938 in science|1938]]), English [[surgeon]].
* April 8 – [[Herbert Spencer Jennings]] (died [[1947 in science|1947]]), American [[zoologist]].
* April 14 – [[Annie S. D. Maunder]], née Russell (died [[1947 in science|1947]]), Irish [[astronomer]].
* April 28 – [[Georgy Voronoy]] (died [[1908 in science|1908]]), Ukrainian mathematician.
* April 30 – [[John Brian Christopherson|J. B. Christopherson]] (died 1955), English [[physician]].
* May 2 – [[Robert W. Wood]] (died [[1955 in science|1955]]), American optical physicist.
* June 6 – [[Robert Falcon Scott]] (died [[1912 in science|1912]]), English [[List of explorers|explorer]].
* June 7 – [[John Sealy Townsend]] (died [[1957 in science|1957]]), Irish mathematical physicist.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Von Engel | first1 = A. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1957.0018 | title = John Sealy Edward Townsend. 1868-1957 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 3 | pages = 256–272| year = 1957 | doi-access =  }}</ref>
* June 14 – [[Karl Landsteiner]] (died [[1943 in science|1943]]), Austrian [[physiologist]].
* July 4 – [[Henrietta Swan Leavitt]] (died [[1921 in science|1921]]), American astronomer.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Deborah|last1=Todd|first2=Joseph|last2=Angelo|title=A to Z of Scientists in Space and Astronomy|location=New York|publisher=Facts of File|year=2003|page=200|isbn=978-0-81604-639-3}}</ref>
* October 23 – [[Frederick W. Lanchester]] (died [[1946 in science|1946]]), English [[Automotive engineering|automotive engineer]].
* November 8 – [[Felix Hausdorff]] (died [[1942 in science|1942]]), German mathematician.
* November 14 – [[Karl Landsteiner]] (died [[1943 in science|1943]]), Austrian-born physiologist, recipient of [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]].<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Rous | first1 = P.| title = Karl Landsteiner. 1868–1943 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1947.0002 | journal = Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 5 | issue = 15 | pages = 294–324| year = 1947 |jstor=769085| s2cid = 161789667}}</ref>
* November 15 – [[Emil Racoviță]] (died [[1947 in science|1947]]), Romanian biologist, [[speleologist]] and explorer.
* November 17 – [[Korbinian Brodmann]] (died [[1918 in science|1918]]), German [[neurologist]].
* December 5 – [[Arnold Sommerfeld]] (died [[1951 in science|1951]]), German theoretical physicist.<ref>Born, Max, ''Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld, 1868–1951'', ''Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society'' Volume 8, Number 21, pp. 274–296 (1952)</ref>
* December 9 – [[Fritz Haber]] (died [[1934 in science|1934]]), German chemist.<ref>{{cite book | last=Goran | first=Morris | title=The Story of Fritz Haber | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press | year=1967 | isbn=978-0-8061-0756-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=im24AAAAIAAJ | access-date=30 April 2021 | page=38}}</ref>

==Deaths==
* February 10 – Sir [[David Brewster]], Scottish physicist (born [[1781 in science|1781]])<ref>{{cite book|author=Gordon, Margaret Maria |title=The home life of sir David Brewster|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_sG4BAAAAQAAJ|access-date=18 September 2011|year=1881|publisher=D. Douglas|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_sG4BAAAAQAAJ/page/n238 231]–236}}</ref> 
* February 11 – [[Léon Foucault]] (born [[1819 in science|1819]]), French physicist.<ref>{{cite book|author1=John Guy Porter|author2=Patrick Moore|title=Yearbook of Astronomy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kbc7AAAAMAAJ|year=1967|publisher=W. W. Norton|page=47}}</ref>
* February 24 – [[John Herapath]] (born [[1790 in science|1790]]), English physicist.
* May 22 – [[Julius Plücker]] (born [[1801 in science|1801]]), German mathematician and physicist.
* June 25 – [[Alexander Mitchell (engineer)|Alexander Mitchell]] (born [[1780 in science|1780]]), Irish engineer and [[inventor]] of the [[screw-pile lighthouse]].
* June 29 – [[John Scott Lillie|Sir John Lillie]], British army officer, entrepreneur and inventor (born [[1790 in science|1790]])
* July 15 – [[William T. G. Morton]] (born [[1819 in science|1819]]), American dentist.
* August 29 – [[Christian Friedrich Schönbein]], German chemist and inventor of the fuel cell (born [[1799 in science|1799]])<ref>{{cite book | last = Partington | first = J. R. | title = History of Chemistry | publisher = Macmillan Education, Limited | location = London | year = 1964 | isbn = 9781349005543 | page=190}}</ref>
* September 26 – [[August Ferdinand Möbius]] (born [[1790 in science|1790]]), German mathematician and astronomer<ref>{{cite book | last = Franceschetti | first = Donald | title = Biographical encyclopedia of mathematicians | publisher = Marshall Cavendish | location = New York | year = 1999 | isbn = 9780761470717 | page=377}}</ref>
* December 25 – [[Linus Yale, Jr.]] (born [[1821 in science|1821]]), American engineer and inventor.<ref>{{cite book | last = Day | first = Lance | title = Biographical dictionary of the history of technology | publisher = Routledge | location = London New York | year = 1996 | isbn = 9781134650194 | page=1345}}</ref>
* December 31 – [[James David Forbes]] (born [[1809 in science|1809]]), Scottish-born physicist, glaciologist and seismologist.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1868 In Science}}
[[Category:1868 in science| ]]
[[Category:1860s in science]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]