1829 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1829 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.
Chemistry
- Isaac Holden produces a form of friction matchMatchA match is a tool for starting a fire under controlled conditions. A typical modern match is made of a small wooden stick or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface...
.
Mathematics
- Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune DirichletJohann Peter Gustav Lejeune DirichletJohann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet was a German mathematician with deep contributions to number theory , as well as to the theory of Fourier series and other topics in mathematical analysis; he is credited with being one of the first mathematicians to give the modern formal definition of a...
publishes a memoir giving the Dirichlet conditionsDirichlet conditionsIn mathematics, the Dirichlet conditions are sufficient conditions for a real-valued, periodic function f to be equal to the sum of its Fourier series at each point where f is continuous. Moreover, the behavior of the Fourier series at points of discontinuity is determined as well...
, showing for which functions the convergence of the Fourier seriesFourier seriesIn mathematics, a Fourier series decomposes periodic functions or periodic signals into the sum of a set of simple oscillating functions, namely sines and cosines...
holds; introducing Dirichlet's testDirichlet's testIn mathematics, Dirichlet's test is a method of testing for the convergence of a series. It is named after mathematician Johann Dirichlet who published it in the Journal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées in 1862.- Statement :...
for the convergence of series; the Dirichlet function as an example that not any function is integrable; and, in the proof of the theorem for the Fourier series, the Dirichlet kernel and Dirichlet integralDirichlet integralIn mathematics, there are several integrals known as the Dirichlet integral, after the German mathematician Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet.One of those isThis can be derived from attempts to evaluate a double improper integral two different ways...
. He also introduces a general modern concept for a functionFunction (mathematics)In mathematics, a function associates one quantity, the argument of the function, also known as the input, with another quantity, the value of the function, also known as the output. A function assigns exactly one output to each input. The argument and the value may be real numbers, but they can...
. - Nikolai Ivanovich LobachevskyNikolai Ivanovich LobachevskyNikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky was a Russian mathematician and geometer, renowned primarily for his pioneering works on hyperbolic geometry, otherwise known as Lobachevskian geometry...
publishes his work on hyperbolic non-Euclidean geometryNon-Euclidean geometryNon-Euclidean geometry is the term used to refer to two specific geometries which are, loosely speaking, obtained by negating the Euclidean parallel postulate, namely hyperbolic and elliptic geometry. This is one term which, for historical reasons, has a meaning in mathematics which is much...
. - S. D. PoissonSiméon Denis PoissonSiméon Denis Poisson , was a French mathematician, geometer, and physicist. He however, was the final leading opponent of the wave theory of light as a member of the elite l'Académie française, but was proven wrong by Augustin-Jean Fresnel.-Biography:...
publishes Sur l'attraction des sphéroides.
Palaeontology
- Jules DesnoyersJules DesnoyersJules Pierre François Stanislaus Desnoyers was a French geologist and archaeologist.-Life:Desnoyers was born at Nogent-le-Rotrou, in the department of Eure-et-Loir. Becoming interested in geology at an early age, he was one of the founders of the Geological Society of France in 1830...
names the QuaternaryQuaternaryThe Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
period. - Philippe-Charles SchmerlingPhilippe-Charles SchmerlingPhilippe-Charles Schmerling is a Belgian prehistorian, pioneer in paleontology, paleoanthropology, paleopathology and geologist. He is often considered the founder of paleontology....
discovers a Neandertal fossil, the partial cranium of a small child.
Technology
- May - A version of the accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
is patented by Cyrill Demian in ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. - June 30 - Henry Robinson PalmerHenry Robinson PalmerHenry Robinson Palmer was a British civil engineer who designed the world's first monorail system and the first elevated railsystem...
files a British patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
application for corrugated ironCorrugated galvanised ironCorrugated galvanised iron is a building material composed of sheets of hot-dip galvanised mild steel, cold-rolled to produce a linear corrugated pattern in them...
for use in buildings. - July 23 - In the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, William BurtWilliam Austin BurtWilliam Austin Burt was an American inventor, legislator, surveyor, and millwright. He was the inventor, maker and patentee of the first typewriter constructed in America...
obtains the first patent for a form of typewriterTypewriterA typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
. - October 6–14 - The Rainhill TrialsRainhill TrialsThe Rainhill Trials were an important competition in the early days of steam locomotive railways, run in October 1829 in Rainhill, Lancashire for the nearly completed Liverpool and Manchester Railway....
, a steam locomotiveSteam locomotiveA steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
competition, are run 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...
and won by Stephenson's RocketStephenson's RocketStephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built in Newcastle Upon Tyne at the Forth Street Works of Robert Stephenson and Company in 1829.- Design innovations :...
. - December 19 - 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...
patents the concertinaConcertinaA concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it...
in Britain. - Louis BrailleLouis BrailleLouis Braille was the inventor of braille, a system of reading and writing used by people who are blind or visually impaired...
publishes the first description of his method of embossed printing that allows the visually impaired to read.
Births
- February 2
- Alfred BrehmAlfred BrehmAlfred Edmund Brehm was aGerman zoologist, natural history illustrator and writer, the son ofChristian Ludwig Brehm....
(d. 18841884 in scienceThe year 1884 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* J. H. van 't Hoff proposes the Arrhenius equation for the temperature dependence of the reaction rate constant, and therefore, rate of a chemical reaction....
), zoologist. - William Stanley (d. 19091909 in scienceThe year 1909 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Summer - Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch first demonstrate the Haber process, the catalytic formation of ammonia from hydrogen and atmospheric nitrogen under conditions of high temperature and...
), inventorInventionAn invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...
.
- Alfred Brehm
- April 30 - Ferdinand von HochstetterFerdinand von HochstetterChristian Gottlieb Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter was a German geologist.He was born at Esslingen, Württemberg, the son of Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Hochstetter , a clergyman and professor at Bonn, who was also a botanist and mineralogist...
(d. 18841884 in scienceThe year 1884 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* J. H. van 't Hoff proposes the Arrhenius equation for the temperature dependence of the reaction rate constant, and therefore, rate of a chemical reaction....
), geologistGeologistA geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
. - August 13 (O.S. August 1) - Ivan SechenovIvan SechenovIvan Mikhaylovich Sechenov near Simbirsk, Russia – , Moscow), was a Russian physiologist, named by Ivan Pavlov as "The Father of Russian physiology"...
(d. 19051905 in scienceThe year 1905 in science and technology involved some significant events, particularly in physics, listed below.-Astronomy:* January 2 - Charles Dillon Perrine at Lick Observatory discovers Elara, one of Jupiter's natural satellites....
), "the father of Russian physiologyPhysiologyPhysiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
". - August 23 - Moritz CantorMoritz CantorMoritz Benedikt Cantor was a German historian of mathematics.He was born at Mannheim, Germany. He came from a family that had emigrated to the Netherlands from Portugal, another branch of which had established itself in Russia, where Georg Cantor was born...
(d. 19201920 in scienceThe year 1920 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-History of science and technology:* Newcomen Society founded in the United Kingdom for the study of the history of engineering and technology.-Medicine:...
), historian of mathematics. - September 7 - Friedrich August Kekulé von StradonitzFriedrich August Kekulé von StradonitzFriedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz was a German organic chemist. From the 1850s until his death, Kekule was one of the most prominent chemists in Europe, especially in theoretical chemistry...
(d. 18961896 in scienceThe year 1896 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Mathematics:* The prime number theorem on the distribution of primes is proved.* Charles L...
), chemistChemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
. - September 30 - Joseph WolstenholmeJoseph WolstenholmeJoseph Wolstenholme was an English mathematician.Wolstenholme was born in Eccles near Salford, Lancashire, England. He graduated from St John's College, Cambridge as Third Wrangler in 1850 and was elected a fellow of Christ's College in 1852...
(d. 18911891 in scienceThe year 1891 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* The New Zealand government sets aside Resolution Island in Fiordland as a nature reserve....
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
.
Deaths
- April 6 - Niels Henrik AbelNiels Henrik AbelNiels Henrik Abel was a Norwegian mathematician who proved the impossibility of solving the quintic equation in radicals.-Early life:...
(b. 18021802 in scienceThe year 1802 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* March 28 - H. W. Olbers discovers the second asteroid Pallas....
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - May 10 - Thomas YoungThomas Young (scientist)Thomas Young was an English polymath. He is famous for having partly deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics before Jean-François Champollion eventually expanded on his work...
(b. 17731773 in scienceThe year 1773 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* October 13 - French astronomer Charles Messier discovers the Whirlpool Galaxy , an interacting, grand-design spiral galaxy located at a distance of approximately 23 million light-years in the constellation Canes...
), physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
. - May 29 - Humphry DavyHumphry DavySir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet FRS MRIA was a British chemist and inventor. He is probably best remembered today for his discoveries of several alkali and alkaline earth metals, as well as contributions to the discoveries of the elemental nature of chlorine and iodine...
(b. 17781778 in scienceThe year 1778 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Geoscience:* James Rennell publishes a chart and memoir of the Agulhas Current, one of the first contributions to scientific oceanography.-Medicine:...
), chemistChemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
. - June 29 - 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...
(b. 17641764 in scienceThe year 1764 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Technology:* The spinning jenny, a multi-spool spinning wheel, is invented by James Hargreaves in Stanhill, near Blackburn, Lancashire, England.-Births:...
), mineralogist, chemist and benefactor. - November 14 - Louis Nicolas VauquelinLouis Nicolas VauquelinNicolas Louis Vauquelin , was a French pharmacist and chemist.-Early life:Vauquelin was born at Saint-André-d'Hébertot in Normandy, France. His first acquaintance with chemistry was gained as laboratory assistant to an apothecary in Rouen , and after various vicissitudes he obtained an introduction...
(b. 17631763 in scienceThe year 1763 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Publication of Nicolas Louis de Lacaille's Coelum australe stelliferum, cataloguing all his data from the southern hemisphere and including about 10,000 stars and a number of brighter star clusters and nebulae.*...
), chemist. - December 28 - Jean-Baptiste LamarckJean-Baptiste LamarckJean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de la Marck , often known simply as Lamarck, was a French naturalist...
(b. 17441744 in scienceThe year 1744 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Great Comet of 1744, first sighted in 1743, remains visible until April .-Births:...
), naturalistNatural historyNatural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
.