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1879 in science
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{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] --> {{Year nav topic5|1879|science}} {{Science year nav|1879}} The year '''1879 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below. ==Astronomy== * British children's writer and amateur astronomer [[Agnes Giberne]] publishes the popular illustrated book ''Sun, Moon and Stars: Astronomy for Beginners'' which sells 24,000 copies on both sides of the [[Atlantic]] in twenty years.<ref>{{cite book|first=Allan|last=Chapman|title=The Victorian Amateur Astronomer: Independent Astronomical Research in Britain 1820-1920|location=Chichester|publisher=John Wiley|year=1999|isbn=0-471-96257-0}}</ref> ==Biology== * April 26 – The National Park, later renamed the [[Royal National Park]], is declared in [[New South Wales]], [[Australia]], the world's second oldest purposed national park (after [[Yellowstone National Park|Yellowstone]] in the [[United States]]), and the first to use the term "[[national park]]". * [[Jean Henri Fabre]] publishes the first of his ''Souvenirs entomologiques''. * [[Heinrich Anton de Bary]] coins the term ''[[symbiosis]]'' in his monograph ''Die Erscheinung der Symbiose'' (Strasbourg).<ref>{{cite book|last=Bates|first=Marston|title=The Nature of Natural History|url=https://archive.org/details/natureofnaturalh0000unse|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/natureofnaturalh0000unse/page/125 125]|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|location=New York|year=1950}}</ref> ==Cartography== * [[Peirce quincuncial projection]] developed by [[Charles Sanders Peirce]]. ==Chemistry== * January 2 – Publication of first issue of ''[[Journal of the American Chemical Society]]''. * [[Per Teodor Cleve]] discovers the elements [[holmium]] and [[thulium]]. * [[Lars Fredrik Nilson]] discovers the element [[scandium]]. * [[Constantin Fahlberg]] working with [[Ira Remsen]] at [[Johns Hopkins University]] discovers [[saccharin]]. * [[Rodolphe Lindt]] invents the [[conching]] machine for use in chocolate manufacture.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/the-sweet-history-of-chocolate|date=2014-02-14|title=The Sweet History of Chocolate|first=Christopher|last=Klein|publisher=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History]]|access-date=2014-03-03}}</ref> * [[Otto Schott]] develops a glass containing [[lithium]]. It is the first glass type that has a [[Homogeneity (physics)|homogeneity]] allowing [[spectrometer|spectrometric measurements]].<ref>[[Florida State University|fsu.edu]]: [https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/schott.html ''Otto Schott''] (CV)</ref> ==Earth sciences== * [[Vasily Dokuchaev]] introduces the concept of [[pedology]], laying the foundations for the modern study of [[soil science]].<ref>Dokuchaev, V.V. (1879). Short Historical Description and Critical Analysis of the More Important Soil Classifications. ''Trav. Soc. Nat. St. Petersburg'' '''10''': 64-67 (In Russian); ''Tchernozeme (terre noire) de la Russie d‘Europe''. St. Petersburg: Société Impériale Libre Économique.</ref> * [[Ferdinand André Fouqué]] publishes ''[[Santorini|Santorin]] et ses éruptions'', a significant text in [[volcanology]]. ==History of science== * [[Carl Schorlemmer]] publishes [https://archive.org/details/riseanddevelopm01schogoog <!-- quote=The Rise and Development of Organic Chemistry. --> ''The Rise and Development of Organic Chemistry'']. ==Mathematics== * [[Lewis Carroll|Charles L. Dodgson]] publishes ''[[Euclid and his Modern Rivals]]'' in London.<ref>{{cite book|title=Lewis Carroll in Numberland|first=Robin|last=Wilson|authorlink=Robin Wilson (mathematician)|location=London|publisher=Allen Lane|year=2008| isbn=978-0-7139-9757-6|pages=91–95}}</ref> * [[Gottlob Frege]] publishes ''[[Begriffsschrift]], eine der arithmetischen nachgebildete Formelsprache des reinen Denkens'' ("Concept-Script: A Formal Language for Pure Thought Modeled on that of Arithmetic") in Halle, a significant text in the development of [[mathematical logic]]. * [[Felix Klein]] first describes the [[Grünbaum–Rigby configuration]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Klein|first=Felix|doi=10.1007/BF01677143|journal=[[Mathematische Annalen]]|pages=428–471|title=Ueber die Transformation siebenter Ordnung der elliptischen Functionen|url=https://eudml.org/doc/156835|volume=14|year=1879}}. Translated into English by Silvio Levy as {{citation|contribution=On the order-seven transformation of elliptic functions|mr=1722419|pages=287–331|publisher=Cambridge University Press|series=Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Publications|title=The Eightfold Way|volume=35|year=1999}}</ref> ==Medicine== * British psychiatrist [[James Crichton-Browne]] publishes "On the weight of the brain and its component parts in the insane",<ref>''[[Brain (journal)|Brain]]'' [https://archive.today/20120712111711/http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/1/4/504.full.pdf+html '''1''': 514-18]; [https://archive.today/20120711212116/http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/2/1/42.full.pdf+html '''2''': 42-67]</ref> a key paper in the [[neuropathology]] of [[insanity]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Alastair|last=Compston|title=On the weight of the brain and its component parts in the insane. By J. Crichton-Browne, MD, FRSE, Lord Chancellor's Visitor. Brain 1879: 1; 514–518 and 1879: 2; 42–67|journal=Brain|volume=130|year=2007|pages=599–601|doi=10.1093/brain/awm020|issue=3|doi-access=free}}</ref> * London physician [[William Murrell (physician)|William Murrell]] reports the successful use of [[Nitroglycerin (medication)|nitroglycerin]] as medication for [[angina]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Murrell|first=W.|title=Nitro-Glycerine as a Remedy for Angina Pectoris|date=1879|journal=[[The Lancet]]|volume=113|issue=2894|pages=225–27|url=http://site.hmc.org.qa/heartviews/vol8no3/PDF/HISTORYOFMEDICINE2.pdf|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(02)42573-1|s2cid=53436972|pmc=5901592}}</ref> * Viennese physician [[Felix von Winiwarter]] provides an early description of ''[[Thromboangiitis obliterans]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=von Winiwarter|first=F.|title=Ueber eine eigenthumliche Form von Endarteriitis und Endophlebitis mit Gangran des Fusses|journal=Archiv für Klinische Chirurgie|volume=23|pages=202–26|year=1879}}</ref> ==Meteorology== * [[Sir George Stokes, 1st Baronet|George Stokes]] perfects the [[Campbell–Stokes recorder]] (for sunshine). ==Paleontology== * ''[[Camptosaurus]] prestwichii'' found at [[Cumnor]], near [[Oxford]]. ==Pharmacology== * Vassili von Anrep of the [[University of Würzburg]] demonstrate the [[analgesic]] properties of [[cocaine]].<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Yentis, S. M. |author2=Vlassakov, K. V. |title=Vassily von Anrep, forgotten pioneer of regional anesthesia|journal=Anesthesiology|volume=90|issue=3|pages=890–5|year=1999|pmid=10078692|doi=10.1097/00000542-199903000-00033}}</ref> ==Physics== * [[Edwin Hall]] discovers the [[Hall Effect]]. * [[Joseph Stefan]] originates the [[Stefan–Boltzmann law]], stating that the total radiation from a [[black body]] is proportional to the fourth power of its [[thermodynamic temperature]].<ref>"Über die Beziehung zwischen der Wärmestrahlung und der Temperatur" in Bulletin of the Vienna Academy of Sciences.</ref> ==Psychology== * [[Wilhelm Wundt]] creates the first laboratory of experimental psychology at the [[University of Leipzig]]. ==Technology== * February 3 – Mosley Street in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] (England) becomes the world's first public highway to be lit by the electric [[incandescent light bulb]] invented by [[Joseph Swan]].<ref>{{cite web|title=1879|work=Co-Curate|url=https://co-curate.ncl.ac.uk/1879/history/|accessdate=2022-03-21}}</ref> * May 31 – [[Werner von Siemens]] demonstrates the first [[electric locomotive]] using an external power source at Berlin. * June 6 – [[William Denny and Brothers]] launch the world's first ocean-going ship to be built of [[mild steel]], the SS ''Rotomahana'', on the [[River Clyde]] in Scotland.<ref>{{cite web|title=SS Rotomahana|work=Clydebuilt|url=http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=10503|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050312163620/http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=10503|url-status=dead|archive-date=2005-03-12|accessdate=2014-04-14}}</ref> * October 22 – [[Thomas Edison]] successfully tests a [[carbon]] filament thread in an [[incandescent light bulb]]. * A [[heavy oil engine]] is built by Jacob Morrison of [[Norton, County Durham]], England.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Who Built the First Oil Engine?|journal=Stationary Engine|volume=190|date=December 1989|page=5}} Acquired for collection of [[The Henry Ford]].</ref> ==Awards== * [[Copley Medal]]: [[Rudolf Clausius]]<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]]: [[Bernhard Studer]] ==Births== * January 1 – [[Ernest Jones]] (died [[1958 in science|1958]]), [[Welsh people|Welsh]] [[psychoanalyst]]. * February 1 – [[Henri Chrétien]] (died [[1956 in science|1956]]), [[French people|French]] [[astronomer]] and optical inventor. * February 22 – [[J. N. Brønsted]] (died [[1947 in science|1947]]), [[Danes|Danish]] [[physical chemist]]. * March 8 – [[Otto Hahn]] (died [[1968 in science|1968]]), [[Germans|German]] [[physicist]] and winner of the 1944 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]]. * March 10 – [[Wu Lien-teh]] (died [[1960 in science|1960]]), Malayan Chinese [[physician]]. * March 14 – [[Albert Einstein]] (died [[1955 in science|1955]]), German-born physicist and winner of the 1921 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]]. * May 28 – [[Milutin Milanković]] (died [[1958 in science|1958]]), [[Serbians|Serbian]] [[geophysicist]]. * June 3 – [[Raymond Pearl]] (died [[1940 in science|1940]]), [[Americans|American]] [[biologist]]. * August 29 – [[May Smith (psychologist)|May Smith]] (died [[1968 in science|1968]]), [[English people|English]] [[experimental psychologist]]. * October 9 – [[Max von Laue]] (died [[1960 in science|1960]]), German physicist and winner of the 1914 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]]. * December 28 – [[Arthur O. Austin]] (died [[1964 in science|1964]]), American electrical engineer. ==Deaths== * January 24 – [[Heinrich Geißler]] (born [[1814 in science|1814]]), German scientific instrument maker. * March 3 – [[William Kingdon Clifford]] (born [[1845 in science|1845]]), English [[geometer]]. * April 4 – [[Heinrich Wilhelm Dove]] (born [[1803 in science|1803]]), [[Prussia]]n physicist and climatologist. * April 16 – [[Peter Kosler]] (born [[1824 in science|1824]]), [[Carniola]]n [[geographer]] and [[cartographer]]. * April 23 – [[Elisabetta Fiorini Mazzanti]] (born [[1799 in science|1799]]), Italian botanist. * May 4 – [[William Froude]] (born [[1810 in science|1810]]), English hydrodynamicist. * May 29 – [[Pierre Adolphe Piorry]] (born [[1794 in science|1794]]), French physician. * August 26 – [[Édouard Chassaignac]] (born [[1804 in science|1804]]), French surgeon. * November 5 – [[James Clerk Maxwell]] (born [[1831 in science|1831]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]]-born [[mathematician]] and [[physicist]]. ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:1879 in science| ]] [[Category:19th century in science]] [[Category:1870s in science]]
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