Editing 1876 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1876|science}}
{{Science year nav|1876}}

The year '''1876 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* December 7 – First recorded observation of the [[Great White Spot]] on [[Saturn]], made by American astronomer [[Asaph Hall]], who uses it to calculate the planet's rotation period.

==Biology==
* [[Robert Koch]] demonstrates that ''[[Bacillus anthracis]]'' is the source of [[anthrax]], the first [[bacterium]] conclusively shown to cause disease.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Koch|first=R.|year=1876|title=Die Ätiologie der Milzbrand-Krankheit, begründet auf die Entwicklungsgeschichte des Bacillus anthracis|journal=Cohns Beiträge zur Biologie der Pflanzen|volume=2|issue=2|url=http://edoc.rki.de/documents/rk/508-5-26/PDF/5-26.pdf|pages=277–310|accessdate=2011-05-31}}</ref>
* [[Koller's sickle]] in [[Bird|avian]] [[gastrulation]] is first described by [[August Rauber]].
* [[Francis Galton]] invents the silent [[dog whistle]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Galton|first=Francis|year=1883|url=http://www.galton.org/books/human-faculty/index.html|title=Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development|pages=26–27}}</ref>
* [[Meiosis]] is discovered and described for the first time in sea urchin eggs by the German biologist [[Oscar Hertwig]].

==Chemistry==
* [[Josiah Willard Gibbs]] publishes ''[[On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances]]'', a compilation of his work on thermodynamics and [[physical chemistry]] which lays out the concept of [[Thermodynamic free energy|free energy]] to explain the physical basis of chemical equilibria.<ref>{{cite web |last1=O'Connor |first1=J. J. |last2=Robertson |first2=E.F. |title=Josiah Willard Gibbs |work=MacTutor |publisher=School of Mathematics and Statistics University of St Andrews, Scotland |year=1997 |url =http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Gibbs.html |accessdate=2007-03-24}}</ref>

==Exploration==
* May 24 – End of the [[Challenger expedition|''Challenger'' expedition]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Rice|first=A. L.|title=Understanding the Oceans: Marine Science in the Wake of HMS Challenger|location=London|publisher=Routledge|year=1999|pages=27–48|chapter=The ''Challenger'' Expedition|isbn=978-1-85728-705-9|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5agn3NSzEoC&pg=PA27}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Édouard Lucas]] demonstrates that 127 is a [[Mersenne prime]], the largest that will be recorded for seventy-five years.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Largest Known Prime by Year: A Brief History|first=Chris|last=Caldwell|url=http://primes.utm.edu/notes/by_year.html|accessdate=2011-12-30}}</ref> He also shows that the Mersenne number 2<sup>67</sup>&nbsp;−&nbsp;1, or M<sub>67</sub>, must have [[Factorization|factors]].

==Medicine==
* February 22 – Swedish woman [[Karolina Olsson]] lapses into a form of [[hibernation]] for 32 years.
* [[David Ferrier]] publishes ''The Functions of the Brain''.
* [[William Macewen]] demonstrates clinical diagnosis of the site of [[brain tumor]]s and performs the first successful intercranial surgery.
* [[Patrick Manson]] begins studying [[filariasis]] infection in humans.
* [[Meharry Medical College]] founded in [[Nashville, Tennessee]] as the Medical Department of [[Central Tennessee College]]; it is the first medical school for [[African Americans]] in the [[Southern United States]].

==Technology==
* February 14 – [[Scottish American]] inventor [[Alexander Graham Bell]] and American electrical engineer [[Elisha Gray]] each file a [[patent]] for the [[telephone]], initiating the [[Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell telephone controversy]].
* March 7 – Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for the telephone.<ref>[[United States]] patent #174,466.</ref>
* March 10 – Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful bi-directional telephone call, saying "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you".
* April – [[Joseph Zentmayer]] makes his Centennial [[microscope]] in the United States.
* April 15 – Russian-born electrical engineer [[Pavel Yablochkov]] first publicly demonstrates the '[[Yablochkov candle]]', a form of [[arc lamp]], in London.<ref>{{cite web|first=Nathan|last=Brewer|title=Engineering Hall of Fame: Pavel Nikolayevich Yablochkov|url=https://insight.ieeeusa.org/articles/engineering-hall-of-fame-pavel-nikolayevich-yablochkov/|date=2012-03-01|accessdate=2024-07-27|work=IEEE USA InSight}}</ref>
* May 17 – [[Nicolaus Otto]] files his patent for the [[four-stroke engine]] using the [[Otto cycle]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=van Dulken|title=Inventing the 19th Century|location=London|publisher=[[British Library]]|year=2001|isbn=0-7123-0881-4|pages=104–5}}</ref>
* August 8 – [[Thomas Edison]] is granted a United States patent for his [[mimeograph]].
* [[Emile Berliner]] invents an improved form of [[microphone]] (the carbon-button type) which will be adopted for  [[Alexander Graham Bell]]'s telephone.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Birth of the Microphone: How Sound Became Signal|language=en-us|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/2011/01/birth-of-the-microphone/|access-date=2023-09-19|issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Early History of the Microphone|url=https://digilab.libs.uga.edu/scl/exhibits/show/steel_vintage_mics/mic_early_history|work=UGA Special Collections Library Online Exhibitions|access-date=2023-09-19}}</ref>
* [[Francis Edgar Stanley]] of [[Newton, Massachusetts]], patents an [[Atomizer nozzle|atomizing]] paint distributor, a form of [[airbrush]].<ref>United States patent #182,389.</ref>
* The Seth Thomas Clock Company is awarded a United States patent for an adjustable wind-up alarm clock.
* [[Thomas Hawksley]] first uses [[pressure grouting]] to control water leakage under an embankment dam at [[Tunstall Reservoir]] in [[Weardale]], County Durham, England.<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12691|title=Hawksley, Thomas|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/12691 |accessdate=2011-08-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=R. W.|last=Rennison|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bv2BrOMo8cIC&pg=PA81|title=Civil Engineering Heritage: Northern England|page=81|isbn=9780727725189|year=1996}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=A. Clive|last=Houlsby|title=Construction and Design of Cement Grouting; A Guide to Grouting in Rock Foundations|publisher=Wiley|year=1990|isbn=0-471-51629-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|authorlink=Rudolph Glossop|first=Rudolph|last=Glossop|title=The Invention and Development of Injection processes Part II: 1850-1960|publisher=British Geotechnical Association|journal=Géotechnique|volume=11|issue=4|year=1961|pages=255–279|doi=10.1680/geot.1961.11.4.255}}</ref>
* [[Melville Reuben Bissell]] files a United States patent for an improved [[carpet sweeper]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Baxter|first=Albert|year=1891|title=History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan|publisher=Munsell}}</ref>

==Institutions==
* October 4 – First classes begin at the [[Texas A&M University|Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Henry C|last=Dethloff|authorlink=Henry C. Dethloff|title=Texas A&M University|work=[[Handbook of Texas|The Handbook of Texas Online]]|publisher=[[Texas State Historical Association]]|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kct08|accessdate=2011-11-18}}</ref>
* Elizabeth Bragg becomes the first woman to graduate with a [[civil engineering]] degree in the [[United States]], from [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref>{{cite web|publisher=University of California, Berkeley |title=WEP Milestones |url=http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/bpi/jmep/milestones.html |work=Berkeley Engineering |accessdate=2011-11-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110020425/http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/bpi/jmep/milestones.html |archivedate=2012-01-10 }}</ref>

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Claude Bernard]]<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]]: [[Thomas Henry Huxley]]

==Births==
* January 5 – [[Lucien Bull]] (died [[1972 in science|1972]]), Irish-born pioneer in [[chronophotography]].
* January 23 – [[Otto Diels]] (died [[1954 in science|1954]]), German [[Nobel Prize]] winner in chemistry.
* February 15 – [[Ernest Henry Wilson|E. H. "Chinese" Wilson]] (died [[1930 in science|1930]]), English-born [[plant collector]].
* April 22 – [[Robert Bárány]] (died [[1936 in science|1936]]), Viennese-born Nobel Prize winner in medicine.
* June 13 – [[William Sealy Gosset]] (died [[1937 in science|1937]]), English [[statistician]].
* October 3 – [[Gabrielle Howard]] née Matthaei (died 1930), English-born [[Plant physiology|plant physiologist]].
* November 9 – [[Hideyo Noguchi]] (died [[1928 in science|1928]]), Japanese [[bacteriologist]].
* November 19 – [[Tatyana Afanasyeva]] (died [[1964 in science|1964]]), Russian-born [[mathematician]].
* November 25 – [[Paul Nitsche]] (executed [[1948 in science|1948]]) Nazi German [[psychiatrist]] and [[eugenicist]].

==Deaths==
* November 26 – [[Karl Ernst von Baer]] (born [[1792 in science|1792]]), Baltic German [[Natural history|naturalist]].
* Undated &ndash; [[Anna Volkova]] (born 1800), Russian chemist.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1876 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1870s in science]]