Editing 1878 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1878|science}}
{{Science year nav|1878}}

The year '''1878 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved many significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* English astronomer [[Richard A. Proctor]] describes the [[Zone of Avoidance]], the area of the night sky that is obscured by our own galaxy, for the first time.

==Biology==
* Death of last confirmed [[Cape Lion]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.novinky.cz/domaci/169450-v-muzeu-emila-holuba-se-ukryval-kapsky-lev.html|title=V muzeu Emila Holuba se ukrýval kapský lev|work=Novinky.cz|language=Czech|date=2009-05-22|accessdate=2011-08-26}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* The [[rare earth element]] [[holmium]] is identified in [[erbium]] by [[Marc Delafontaine]] and [[Jacques-Louis Soret]] in Geneva<ref>{{cite journal|title=Sur les spectres d'absorption ultra-violets des terres de la gadolinite|first=Jacques-Louis|last=Soret|journal=[[Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences]]|volume=87|page=1062|year=1878|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3043m/f1124.table}}</ref> and by [[Per Teodor Cleve]] in Sweden.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Sur deux nouveaux éléments dans l'erbine|first=Per Teodor|last=Cleve|journal=Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences|volume=89|page=478|year=1879|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3046j/f499.table}}</ref>

==Conservation==
* An [[Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom|Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom]] places [[Epping Forest]] in the care of the [[City of London Corporation]] to remain unenclosed.

==Exploration==
* June 22 – [[Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld]] sets out on the year-long first navigation of the [[Northern Sea Route]], the shipping lane from the [[Atlantic Ocean]] to the [[Pacific Ocean]] along the [[Siberian]] coast.
[[Image:Raising the obelisk.jpg|thumb|230px|August – [[Cleopatra's Needle (London)|Cleopatra's Needle]] (horizontal) being raised in [[London]].]]

==Geology==
* [[Clarence King]] publishes ''Systematic Geology''.
* [[Charles Lapworth]] publishes his analysis of the change in [[graptolite]] fossils through sequences of exposed [[shale]]s in southern [[Scotland]], establishing the importance of using graptolites to understand stratigraphic sequences.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dob's Linn |url=http://www.scottishgeology.com/outandabout/classic_sites/locations/dobs_linn.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110518035418/http://www.scottishgeology.com/outandabout/classic_sites/locations/dobs_linn.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-05-18 |work=Scottish Geology |accessdate=2011-04-07 }}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Belgians|Belgian]] mathematician [[Victor D'Hondt]] describes the [[D'Hondt method]] of voting.
* [[English people|English]] mathematician Rev. [[William Allen Whitworth]] is the first to publish [[Bertrand's ballot theorem]].<ref>{{citation|title=An Introduction to Probability Theory and its Applications|volume=1|first=William|last=Feller|authorlink=William Feller|edition=3rd|publisher=Wiley|year=1968|page=69}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* [[Cesare Lombroso]] publishes ''L'uomo delinquente'', setting out his theory of criminal atavism.
* [[Ádám Politzer]] publishes ''Lehrbuch der Ohrenheilkunde'', a major [[otology]] textbook.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mudry|first=A.|title=The Role of Adam Politzer in the History of Otology|journal=American Journal of Otology|volume=21|pages=753–763|year=2000}}</ref>
* Dentists Act in the [[United Kingdom]] limits the title of "dentist" and "dental surgeon" to qualified and registered practitioners.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gelbier|first=Stanley|title=125 Years of Developments in Dentistry|journal=British Dental Journal|year=2005|volume=199|pages=470|issue=7|doi=10.1038/sj.bdj.4812875|pmid=16215593|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Meteorology==
* February 11 – The first weekly weather report is published in the [[United Kingdom]].

==Paleontology==
* 31 ''[[Iguanodon]]'' skeletons are discovered in a [[coal mine]] at [[Bernissart]], [[Belgium]].
* The sauropod genus ''[[Diplodocus]]'' is first named by [[Othniel Charles Marsh]] as well as the Theropod genus [[Allosaurus]]. These are both from the Jurassic aged Morrison formation.

==Physics==
* January 18 – Romanian mathematician [[Spiru Haret]] defends his doctoral thesis,<ref>''Sur l’invariabilité des grandes axes des orbites planétaires'' ("On the invariability of the major axis of planetary orbits"), University of Paris.</ref> which proves a result fundamental to the [[n-body problem|''n''-body problem]] in [[celestial mechanics]].

==Technology==
* February 19 – The [[phonograph]] is patented by [[Thomas Edison]]. The oldest known audio recording is recovered from this device in 2012.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rosen|first=Rebecca J.|date=2012-10-26|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/10/scientists-recover-the-sounds-of-19th-century-music-and-laughter-from-the-oldest-playable-american-recording/264147/#.UJFzCnboreA.facebook|title=Scientists Recover the Sounds of 19th-Century Music and Laughter From the Oldest Playable American Recording|work=The Atlantic|accessdate=2013-06-15}}</ref>
* March – The 'basic' process, enabling the use of [[Phosphorus|phosphoric]] [[iron ore]] in [[steelmaking]], developed at [[Blaenavon Ironworks]] by [[Percy Gilchrist]] and [[Sidney Gilchrist Thomas]], is first made public.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://biography.wales/article/s-THOM-GIL-1850|first=William Llewelyn|last=Davies|title=Thomas, Sidney Gilchrist|work=Welsh Biography Online|year=2009|accessdate=2012-11-09}}</ref>
* May 22 – [[John Philip Holland]]'s experimental powered [[submarine]] ''[[Holland I]]'' is launched in [[Paterson, New Jersey]].
* June 15 – [[Eadweard Muybridge]] produces the sequence of stop-motion still photographs ''[[Sallie Gardner at a Gallop]]'' in [[California]], a predecessor of [[silent film]] (capable of being viewed as an animation on a [[zoopraxiscope]]) demonstrating that all four feet of a [[Horse gait#Gallop|galloping horse]] are off the ground at the same time.
* August – [[Cleopatra's Needle (London)|Cleopatra's Needle]] is raised onto its base in [[London]].
* October 14 – The world's first recorded floodlit football fixture is played at [[Bramall Lane]] in [[Sheffield]].
* December 18 – [[Joseph Swan]] of [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] in [[England]] announces his invention of an [[incandescent light bulb]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=van Dulken|title=Inventing the 19th Century: the great age of Victorian inventions|location=London|publisher=[[British Library]]|year=2001|isbn=978-0-7123-0881-6|page=80}}</ref>
* December 31 – [[Karl Benz]] produces a two-stroke [[gas engine]].
* [[William Crookes]] invents the [[Crookes tube]] which produces [[cathode ray]]s.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Hutchinson Factfinder|publisher=Helicon|year=1999|isbn=978-1-85986-000-7 }}</ref>
* Osbourn Dorsey obtains a [[patent]] in the [[United States]] for a "door-holding device".<ref>210,762.</ref>
* Gustav Kessel obtains a [[patent]] in [[Germany]] for an [[espresso machine]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Invention of the Espresso Machine|url=http://baristasroasting.com/page87.html|publisher=Barista's Roasting Co|accessdate=2012-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428183530/http://baristasroasting.com/page87.html|archive-date=2012-04-28|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Czech painter [[Karel Klíč]] perfects the [[photogravure]] process.
* [[Lester Allan Pelton]] produces the first operational [[Pelton wheel]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=12863|title=Miners Foundry – Allans Machine Shop Founded 1856|work=Historical Marker Database|accessdate=2011-09-03}}</ref>
* [[E. Remington and Sons|Remington]], in the United States, introduce their No. 2 [[typewriter]], the first with a [[shift key]] enabling production of [[Letter case|lower]] as well as upper case characters.

==Institutions==
* October 1 – [[Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University]] opens as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in the [[United States]].

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Jean Baptiste Boussingault]]<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: [[Thomas Wright (geologist)|Thomas Wright]]

==Births==
* January 1 – [[Agner Krarup Erlang|A. K. Erlang]], [[Danes|Danish]] [[mathematician]] (died [[1929 in science|1929]])
* January 7 – [[Samuel James Cameron]], [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[obstetrician]] (died [[1959 in science|1959]])
* January 25 – [[Ernst Alexanderson]], [[Sweden|Swedish]]-born television pioneer (died [[1975 in science|1975]])
* February 5 – [[André Citroën]], [[French people|French]] automobile manufacturer (died [[1935 in science|1935]])
* February 8 – [[Martin Buber]], [[Austria]]n philosopher (died [[1965 in science|1965]])
* February 10 – [[Jennie Smillie]], [[Canadians|Canadian]] [[gynecological]] [[surgeon]] (died [[1981 in science|1981]])
* February 28 – [[Pierre Fatou]], French mathematician (died [[1929 in science|1929]])
* March 4 – [[Peter D. Ouspensky]], [[Russia]]n philosopher (died [[1947 in science|1947]])
* April 11 – [[Percy Lane Oliver]], [[British people|British]] pioneer of voluntary [[blood donation]] (died [[1944 in science|1944]])
* April 16 – [[Owen Thomas Jones]], [[Welsh people|Welsh]] [[geologist]] (died [[1967 in science|1967]])
* June 3 – [[Barney Oldfield]], [[United States|American]] automobile racer and pioneer (died [[1946 in science|1946]])
* June 12 – [[James Oliver Curwood]], American novelist and [[conservation movement|conservationist]] (died [[1927 in science|1927]])
* July 12 – [[Peeter Põld]], [[Estonia]]n politician and pedagogical scientist (died [[1930 in science|1930]])
* August 28 – [[George Whipple]], American winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (died [[1976 in science|1976]])
* September 5 – [[Robert von Lieben]], Austrian [[physicist]] (died [[1913 in science|1913]])
* September 13 – [[Matilde Moisant]], American pilot (died [[1964 in science|1964]])
* October 1 – [[Helen Mayo]], Australian pediatrician (died [[1967 in science|1967]])
* November 7 – [[Lise Meitner]], Austrian-Swedish physicist (died [[1968 in science|1968]])<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bailey Ogilvie |first1=Marilyn |last2=Harvey| first2=Joy |title=The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z | location=London |publisher=Routledge| year=2000 |isbn=978-0-41592-040-7 |page=877}}</ref>
* November 8 – [[Dorothea Bate]], Welsh-born [[paleozoologist]] (died [[1951 in science|1951]])
* December 25 – [[Louis Chevrolet]], [[Switzerland|Swiss]]-born race driver and automobile builder (died [[1941 in science|1941]])
* December 25 – [[Joseph Schenck]], Russian-born film executive (died [[1961 in science|1962]])

==Deaths==
* January 18 – [[William Stokes (physician)|William Stokes]], [[Irish people|Irish]] [[physician]] (born [[1804 in science|1804]])
* January 18 – [[Antoine César Becquerel]], French scientist (born [[1788 in science|1788]])
* January 19 – [[Henri Victor Regnault]], French [[physical chemist]] (born [[1810 in science|1810]])
* February 8 – [[Elias Magnus Fries]], [[Swedes|Swedish]] [[botanist]] (born [[1794 in science|1794]])
* February 10 – [[Claude Bernard]], French [[physiologist]] (born [[1813 in science|1813]])
* February 26 – [[Angelo Secchi]], [[Italian people|Italian]] astronomer (born [[1818 in science|1818]])
* March 16 – [[William Banting]], [[English people|English]] [[undertaker]] and [[dietician]] (b. c.[[1796 in science|1796]])
* May 13 – [[Joseph Henry]], American physicist (born [[1797 in science|1797]])
* June 6 – [[Robert Stirling]], [[Scottish people|Scottish]] clergyman and inventor (born [[1790 in science|1790]])
* July 23 – [[Baron Carl von Rokitansky]], [[Bohemia]]n [[pathologist]] (born 1804)
* September 25 – [[August Heinrich Petermann]], [[Germans|German]] [[cartographer]] (born [[1822 in science|1822]])
* Friedrich Freese, German botanist (born 1794)

==References==
{{reflist}}

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[[Category:1878 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1870s in science]]