Editing 1870 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1870|science}}
{{Science year nav|1870}}

The year '''1870 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Biology==
* January 18 – Gerhardt Krefft first describes the [[Queensland lungfish]], in ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]''.
* [[Charles Valentine Riley]] confirms ''[[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>
* [[Heinrich Wilhelm Gottfried von Waldeyer-Hartz]] postulates that the number of ova in the female is fixed.

==Chemistry==
* [[Norman Lockyer]] and [[Edward Frankland]] propose that the gas detected in solar observations should be called '[[helium]]'.<ref>Thomson, W. (1872) ''Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science'' '''99'''.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Discovery of Helium|url=http://www-solar.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~clare/Lockyer/helium.html|work=Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer|accessdate=2011-03-30|archive-date=2011-02-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226230800/http://www-solar.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~clare/Lockyer/helium.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Felix Klein]]  constructs a [[Mathematical model|model]] for [[hyperbolic geometry]] establishing its self-consistency and the logical independence of [[Euclid]]'s fifth postulate.  (Note: [[Eugenio Beltrami]] had previously given such a model in 1868.)
* [[William Stanley Jevons|W. Stanley Jevons]] publishes the popular textbook ''Elementary Lessons on Logic''.<ref>{{cite book|authorlink=Ivor Grattan-Guinness|last=Grattan-Guinness|first=Ivor|year=2000|title=The Search for Mathematical Roots, 1870–1940|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-05858-0}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* [[Louis Pasteur]] and [[Robert Koch]] establish the [[germ theory of disease]].
* [[Henry Maudsley]] publishes his lectures on ''Body and Mind: an Inquiry into their Connection and Mutual Influence''.
* [[Frances Hoggan|Frances Morgan]] becomes the first British woman to receive a [[Doctor of Medicine]] degree from a European university, the [[University of Zurich]].

==Meteorology==
* November 1 – In the United States, the newly created Weather Bureau (later renamed the [[National Weather Service]]) makes its first official [[Meteorology|meteorological]] [[weather forecast|forecast]]: "High winds at [[Chicago]] and [[Milwaukee]]... and along the Lakes".

==Paleontology==
* ''[[Eustreptospondylus oxoniensis]]'' juvenile dinosaur fossil found in [[Summertown, Oxford]].<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Phillips|authorlink=John Phillips (geologist)|title=Geology of Oxford and the Valley of the Thames|url=https://archive.org/details/geologyoxfordan00philgoog|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1871}} Display in [[Oxford University Museum of Natural History]].</ref>

==Physics==
* [[Clausius|Rudolf Clausius]] proves the scalar virial theorem.

==Psychology==
* [[Ludimar Hermann]] observes the Hermann [[grid illusion]].<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1007/BF01855743|last=Hermann|first=L.|year=1870|title=Eine Erscheinung simultanen Contrastes|journal=Pflügers Archiv für die gesamte Physiologie|volume=3|pages=13–15}}</ref>

==Technology==
* February 26 – The [[Beach Pneumatic Transit]] subway in New York City is opened.
* March 8 – [[Joy valve gear]] for [[steam locomotive]]s is [[patent]]ed in the United Kingdom by David Joy.
* August 2 – Official opening of the [[Tower Subway]] beneath the [[River Thames]] in London, first use of the cylindrical [[wrought iron]] [[tunnelling shield]] devised by [[Peter W. Barlow]] and [[James Henry Greathead]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Denis|title=Civil Engineering Heritage: London and the Thames Valley|publisher=Thomas Telford|year=2001|pages=22–23|isbn=0-7277-2876-8}}</ref> and of a permanent tunnel lining of [[cast iron]] segments.<ref>{{cite book|last=West|first=Graham|title=Innovation and the Rise of the Tunnelling Industry|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|pages=116–118|isbn=0-521-33512-4}}</ref>
* [[Svend Foyn]] receives a Norwegian patent for the grenade [[harpoon cannon]] for [[whaling]].
* Henry R. Heyl receives a [[United States patent law|United States patent]] for a [[magic lantern]] movie projector.
* A practical [[stock ticker]] is introduced by [[Thomas Edison]].
* First known use of weapons for [[anti-aircraft warfare]], at Paris during the [[Franco-Prussian War]].

==Institutions==
* [[Ellen Swallow Richards]] becomes the first woman admitted to study at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]].
* December 20 – [[Missouri University of Science and Technology]] established as the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[James Prescott Joule]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |accessdate=23 July 2020 }}</ref>
* [[Wollaston Medal|Wollaston Medal for geology]]: [[Gérard Paul Deshayes|Gerard Paul Deshayes]]

==Births==
* January 9 – [[Joseph Strauss (engineer)|Joseph Strauss]] (died [[1938 in science|1938]]), American bridge engineer.
* January 13 – [[Ross Granville Harrison]] (died [[1959 in science|1959]]), American [[physiologist]].
* February 7 – [[Alfred Adler]] (died [[1937 in science|1937]]), Austrian [[psychotherapist]].
* March 17 – [[Horace Donisthorpe]] (died [[1951 in science|1951]]), English [[entomologist]].
* May 20 – [[Arthur Korn]] (died [[1945 in science|1945]]), German inventor.
* May 27 – [[Anna Stecksén]] (died [[1904 in science|1904]]), Swedish scientist, physician and pathologist.
* June 21 – [[Clara Immerwahr]] (suicide [[1915 in science|1915]]), German [[chemist]].
* August 25 – [[Mihran Kassabian]] (died [[1910 in science|1910]]), American radiologist.
* October 23 – [[George Newman (doctor)|George Newman]] (died [[1948 in science|1948]]), English public health physician.

==Deaths==
* January 25 – [[Janet Taylor]] (born [[1804 in science|1804]]), English mathematician and navigational instrument maker.
* March 9 – 'Granny' [[Granny Smith|Maria Ann Smith]] (born [[1799 in science|1799]]), English-born Australian [[horticulturalist]].
* March 12 – [[Charles Xavier Thomas]] (born [[1785 in science|1785]]), French inventor of the first mass-produced calculator.
* July 12 – [[Alexander Henry Haliday]] (born [[1806 in science|1806]]), [[Anglo Irish]] entomologist.
* November 14 – [[Karl Weltzien]] (born [[1813 in science|1813]]), German [[inorganic chemist]].
* December 27 (O.S. December 15) – Nikolai N. Kaufman (born [[1834 in science|1834]]), Russian [[botanist]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1870 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1870s in science]]