1802 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1802 in science
and technology
involved some significant events, listed below.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
involved some significant events, listed below.
Astronomy
- March 28 - H. W. Olbers discovers the second asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
Pallas2 PallasPallas, formally designated 2 Pallas, is the second asteroid to have been discovered , and one of the largest. It is estimated to constitute 7% of the mass of the asteroid belt, and its diameter of 530–565 km is comparable to, or slightly larger than, that of 4 Vesta. It is however 20%...
. - Sir William HerschelWilliam HerschelSir Frederick William Herschel, KH, FRS, German: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was a German-born British astronomer, technical expert, and composer. Born in Hanover, Wilhelm first followed his father into the Military Band of Hanover, but emigrated to Britain at age 19...
first uses the term binary starBinary starA binary star is a star system consisting of two stars orbiting around their common center of mass. The brighter star is called the primary and the other is its companion star, comes, or secondary...
to refer to a star which revolves around another star.
Biology
- George Montagu publishes his Ornithogical Dictionary; or Alphabetical Synopsis of British Birds.
- In the history of evolutionary thoughtHistory of evolutionary thoughtEvolutionary thought, the conception that species change over time, has roots in antiquity, in the ideas of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese as well as in medieval Islamic science...
- Jean-Baptiste LamarckJean-Baptiste LamarckJean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de la Marck , often known simply as Lamarck, was a French naturalist...
publishes Recherches sur l'Organisation des Corps Vivants, proposing that all life is organized in a vertical chain of progressive complexity. - Gottfried Reinhold TreviranusGottfried Reinhold TreviranusGottfried Reinhold Treviranus was a German naturalist. He was a proponent of the theory of the transmutation of species, a theory of evolution held by some biologists prior to the work of Charles Darwin...
begins publication of Biologie; oder die Philosophie der lebenden Natur, proposing a theory of the transmutation of species.
- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Chemistry
- July - William Hyde WollastonWilliam Hyde WollastonWilliam Hyde Wollaston FRS was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering two chemical elements and for developing a way to process platinum ore.-Biography:...
notes the discovery of the noble metal palladiumPalladiumPalladium is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pd and an atomic number of 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself named after the epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired...
. - Charles's lawCharles's lawCharles' law is an experimental gas law which describes how gases tend to expand when heated. It was first published by French natural philosopher Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac in 1802, although he credited the discovery to unpublished work from the 1780s by Jacques Charles...
(the "law of volumes"), describing how gasGasGas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
es tend to expand when heated, is first published in FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
by Joseph Louis Gay-LussacJoseph Louis Gay-Lussac- External links :* from the American Chemical Society* from the Encyclopædia Britannica, 10th Edition * , Paris...
. - Thomas WedgwoodThomas Wedgwood (1771-1805)Thomas Wedgwood , son of Josiah Wedgwood, the potter, was an early experimenter with Humphry Davy in photography.-Life:...
discovers a method of creating photographs using silver nitrateSilver nitrateSilver nitrate is an inorganic compound with chemical formula . This compound is a versatile precursor to many other silver compounds, such as those used in photography. It is far less sensitive to light than the halides...
.
Ecology
- Civil engineer and geographer François Antoine Rauch publishes Harmonie hydro-végétale et météorologique: ou recherches sur les moyens de recréer avec nos forêts la force des températures et la régularité des saisons par des plantations raisonnées in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, arguing against deforestationDeforestationDeforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....
.
Geology
- James SmithsonJames SmithsonJames Smithson, FRS, M.A. was a British mineralogist and chemist noted for having left a bequest in his will to the United States of America, to create "an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men" to be called the Smithsonian Institution.-Biography:Not much is known...
proves that zinc carbonates are true carbonateCarbonateIn chemistry, a carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, . The name may also mean an ester of carbonic acid, an organic compound containing the carbonate group C2....
minerals and not zinc oxideZinc oxideZinc oxide is an inorganic compound with the formula ZnO. It is a white powder that is insoluble in water. The powder is widely used as an additive into numerous materials and products including plastics, ceramics, glass, cement, rubber , lubricants, paints, ointments, adhesives, sealants,...
s, as was previously thought. - John PlayfairJohn PlayfairJohn Playfair FRSE, FRS was a Scottish scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is perhaps best known for his book Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth , which summarized the work of James Hutton...
publishes Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth in EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, popularising James HuttonJames HuttonJames Hutton was a Scottish physician, geologist, naturalist, chemical manufacturer and experimental agriculturalist. He is considered the father of modern geology...
's theory of geology.
Medicine
- June - The first pediatric hospital, the Hôpital des Enfants MaladesNecker-Enfants Malades HospitalThe Hôpital Necker – Enfants Malades is a French teaching hospital, located in Paris, France. It is an hospital of the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris group, and is affiliated to the University of Paris Descartes...
, opens in Paris, on the site of a previous orphanageOrphanageAn orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them...
. - London Fever HospitalLondon Fever HospitalThe London Fever Hospital was a voluntary hospital founded in 1802 in London. Originally established in Gray's Inn Road, it moved to Liverpool Road, Islington in 1848. In 1948, the hospital was amalgamated with the Royal Free Hospital.-References:...
founded. - Charles BellCharles BellSir Charles Bell was a Scottish surgeon, anatomist, neurologist and philosophical theologian.His three older brothers included John Bell , also a noted surgeon and writer; and the advocate George Joseph Bell .-Life:...
publishes The Anatomy of the Brain, Explained in a Series of Engravings.
Technology
- November 5 - Marc Isambard BrunelMarc Isambard BrunelSir Marc Isambard Brunel, FRS FRSE was a French-born engineer who settled in England. He preferred the name Isambard, but is generally known to history as Marc to avoid confusion with his more famous son Isambard Kingdom Brunel...
begins installation of his blockmakingBlock (sailing)In sailing, a block is a single or multiple pulley. One or a number of sheaves are enclosed in an assembly between cheeks or chocks. In use a block is fixed to the end of a line, to a spar or to a surface...
machinery at Portsmouth Block MillsPortsmouth Block MillsThe Portsmouth Block Mills form part of the Portsmouth Dockyard at Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and were built during the Napoleonic Wars to supply the British Royal Navy with pulley blocks. They started the age of mass-production using all-metal machine tools and are regarded as one of the...
in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. - George Bodley of ExeterExeterExeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
in England patents the first enclosed kitchen stoveKitchen stoveA kitchen stove, cooking stove, cookstove, or cooker is a kitchen appliance designed for the purpose of cooking food. Kitchen stoves rely on the application of direct heat for the cooking process and may also contain an oven, used for baking.In the industrialized world, as stoves replaced open...
. - Joseph BramahJoseph BramahJoseph Bramah , born Stainborough Lane Farm, Wentworth, Yorkshire, England, was an inventor and locksmith. He is best known for having invented the hydraulic press...
of LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
patents the hydraulic pressHydraulic pressA hydraulic is a machine using a hydraulic cylinder to generate a compressive force. It uses the hydraulic equivalenta mechanical lever, and was also known as a Bramah press after the inventor, Joseph Bramah, of England. He invented and was issued a patent on this press in 1795...
.
Publications
- January 2 - Rev. Abraham ReesAbraham ReesAbraham Rees was a Welsh nonconformist minister, and compiler of Rees's Cyclopaedia .- Life :He was the second son of Lewis Rees, by his wife Esther, daughter of Abraham Penry, and was born at born in Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire. Lewis Rees Abraham Rees (1743 – 9 June 1825) was a Welsh...
begins publication in London of The New Cyclopædia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences.
Births
- February 6 - Charles WheatstoneCharles WheatstoneSir Charles Wheatstone FRS , was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope , and the Playfair cipher...
, inventor (died 18751875 in scienceThe year 1875 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Gallium is discovered spectroscopically by French chemist Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran. Later this year he obtains the free metal by electrolysis of its hydroxide and names it...
) - August 5 - Niels Henrik AbelNiels Henrik AbelNiels Henrik Abel was a Norwegian mathematician who proved the impossibility of solving the quintic equation in radicals.-Early life:...
, mathematician (died 18291829 in scienceThe year 1829 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Isaac Holden produces a form of friction match.-Mathematics:...
) - October 10 - Hugh MillerHugh MillerHugh Miller was a self-taught Scottish geologist and writer, folklorist and an evangelical Christian.- Life and work :Born in Cromarty, he was educated in a parish school where he reportedly showed a love of reading. At 17 he was apprenticed to a stonemason, and his work in quarries, together with...
, geologist (died 18561856 in scienceThe year 1856 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Archaeology:* First remains of Neanderthal Man found in the Neandertal Valley of Germany.-Biology:* Gregor Mendel starts his research on genetics....
) - December 15 - Janos BolyaiJános BolyaiJános Bolyai was a Hungarian mathematician, known for his work in non-Euclidean geometry.Bolyai was born in the Transylvanian town of Kolozsvár , then part of the Habsburg Empire , the son of Zsuzsanna Benkő and the well-known mathematician Farkas Bolyai.-Life:By the age of 13, he had mastered...
, mathematician (died 18601860 in scienceThe year 1860 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* June 30 - Debate about evolution at the Oxford University Museum.* John Curtis publishes in Glasgow.-Botany:...
)
Deaths
- April 18 - Erasmus DarwinErasmus DarwinErasmus Darwin was an English physician who turned down George III's invitation to be a physician to the King. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave trade abolitionist,inventor and poet...
, author of ZoonomiaZoönomiaZoonomia; or the Laws of Organic Life is a two-volume medical work by Erasmus Darwin dealing with pathology, anatomy, psychology, and the functioning of the body...
(born 17311731 in scienceThe year 1731 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Agriculture:* Jethro Tull publishes The New Horse-Houghing Husbandry; or, an essay on the principles of tillage and vegetation in England.-Astronomy:...
) - November 16 - André MichauxAndré MichauxAndré Michaux was a French botanist and explorer.-Biography:Michaux was born in Satory, now part of Versailles, Yvelines. After the death of his wife within a year of their marriage he took up the study of botany and was a student of Bernard de Jussieu...
, French botanist (born 17461746 in scienceThe year 1746 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Chemistry:* John Roebuck invents the lead-chamber process for the manufacture of sulfuric acid....
)