1853 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1853 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.
Biology
- March 17 - Claude BernardClaude BernardClaude Bernard was a French physiologist. He was the first to define the term milieu intérieur . Historian of science I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science"...
presents his doctoral thesis describing the glycogeneticGlycogenesisGlycogenesis is the process of glycogen synthesis, in which glucose molecules are added to chains of glycogen for storage. This process is activated during rest periods following the Cori cycle, in the liver, and also activated by insulin in response to high glucose levels, for example after a...
function of the liverLiverThe liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
. - Anton de Bary publishes the first study demonstrating that rustRust (fungus)Rusts are plant diseases caused by pathogenic fungi of the order Pucciniales. About 7800 species are known. Rusts can affect a variety of plants; leaves, stems, fruits and seeds. Rust is most commonly seen as coloured powder, composed off tiny aeciospores which land on vegetation producing...
and smutSmut (fungus)The smuts are multicellular fungi, that are characterized by their large numbers of teliospores. The smuts get their name from a Germanic word for dirt because of their dark, thick-walled and dust-like teliospores. They are mostly Ustilaginomycetes and can cause plant disease...
fungi cause plant disease.
Exploration
- Alfred Russell Wallace publishes A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, with an account of the native tribes, and observations on the climate, geology, and natural history of the Amazon Valley.
Medicine
- William Little publishes a paper "On the Deformities of the Human Frame" in which he gives the first descripion of pseudo-hypertrophic muscular dystrophyMuscular dystrophyMuscular dystrophy is a group of muscle diseases that weaken the musculoskeletal system and hamper locomotion. Muscular dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue.In the 1860s, descriptions of boys who...
. - Charles PravazCharles PravazCharles Gabriel Pravaz was a French orthopedic surgeon and inventor of the hypodermic syringe.While the concept dated to Galen, the modern syringe is thought to have originated in Fifteenth Century Italy, although it took several centuries for the device to be developed...
and Alexander WoodAlexander Wood (physician)Alexander Wood , was a Scottish physician. He invented the first true hypodermic syringe.The son of Dr James Wood and his wife Mary, Alexander was born on 10 December 1817 in Cupar, Fife, and educated at Edinburgh Academy and Edinburgh University .In 1853 invented the first hypodermic needle that...
independently invent a practical hypodermic syringeSyringeA syringe is a simple pump consisting of a plunger that fits tightly in a tube. The plunger can be pulled and pushed along inside a cylindrical tube , allowing the syringe to take in and expel a liquid or gas through an orifice at the open end of the tube...
. - Antoine Desormeaux produces and names an endoscope illuminated by a kerosene lampKerosene lampThe kerosene lamp is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. This article refers to kerosene lamps that have a wick and a tall glass chimney. Kerosene lanterns that have a wick and a glass globe are related to kerosene lamps and are included here as well...
, using it to examine the urinary tract.
Awards
- Copley MedalCopley MedalThe Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society of London for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science, and alternates between the physical sciences and the biological sciences"...
: Heinrich Wilhelm DoveHeinrich Wilhelm DoveHeinrich Wilhelm Dove was a Prussian physicist and meteorologist. He was the father of Alfred and Richard Dove.-Early Years:... - Wollaston MedalWollaston MedalThe Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London.The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831...
for Geology: Adolphe d'ArchiacAdolphe d'ArchiacÉtienne Jules Adolphe Desmier de Saint-Simon, Vicomte d'Archiac was a French geologist and paleontologist.-Early life:...
; Edouard de VerneuilEdouard de VerneuilPhillippe Edouard Poulletier de Verneuil was a French paleontologist.He was born in Paris and educated in law, but being of independent means he was free to follow his own inclinations, and having attended lectures on geology by Jean-Baptiste Elie de Beaumont he was so attracted to the subject...
Births
- July 18 - Hendrik LorentzHendrik LorentzHendrik Antoon Lorentz was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect...
(d. 19281928 in scienceThe year 1928 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* January - Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA....
), DutchNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
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...
and Nobel laureate. - September 2 - Wilhelm OstwaldWilhelm OstwaldFriedrich Wilhelm Ostwald was a Baltic German chemist. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1909 for his work on catalysis, chemical equilibria and reaction velocities...
(d. 19321932 in scienceThe year 1932 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space sciences:* Estonian astronomer Ernst Öpik postulates that long-period comets originate in an orbiting cloud at the outermost edge of the Solar System.-Biology:* Geneticist J. B. S...
), Baltic GermanBaltic GermanThe Baltic Germans were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia. The Baltic German population never made up more than 10% of the total. They formed the social, commercial, political and cultural élite in...
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 9 - Pierre Marie (d. 19401940 in scienceThe year 1940 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biochemistry:* August 24 - Howard Florey and a team including Ernst Chain, Arthur Duncan Gardner, Norman Heatley, M. Jennings, J. Orr-Ewing and G...
), FrenchFrench peopleThe French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
neurologistNeurologistA neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
.
Deaths
- March 17 - Christian DopplerChristian DopplerChristian Andreas Doppler was an Austrian mathematician and physicist.-Life and work:Christian Doppler was raised in Salzburg, Austria, the son of a stonemason. Doppler could not work in his father's business because of his generally weak physical condition...
, AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and discoverer of the Doppler effectDoppler effectThe Doppler effect , named after Austrian physicist Christian Doppler who proposed it in 1842 in Prague, is the change in frequency of a wave for an observer moving relative to the source of the wave. It is commonly heard when a vehicle sounding a siren or horn approaches, passes, and recedes from...
(b. 18031803 in scienceThe year 1803 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* April 26 - A meteorite shower falls on L'Aigle in Normandy; Jean Baptiste Biot demonstrates that they are of extraterrestrial origin.-Botany:...
) - April 23 - Auguste LaurentAuguste LaurentAuguste Laurent was a French chemist who discovered anthracene, phthalic acid, and identified carbolic acid....
(b. 18071807 in scienceThe year 1807 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* March 29 - H. W. Olbers discovers the asteroid which Carl Friedrich Gauss names Vesta.-Chemistry:* Potassium and sodium are isolated by Sir Humphry Davy....
), 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...
. - October 2 - François AragoFrançois AragoFrançois Jean Dominique Arago , known simply as François Arago , was a French mathematician, physicist, astronomer and politician.-Early life and work:...
(b. 17861786 in scienceThe year 1786 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Births:* January 5 - Thomas Nuttall, English naturalist * February 26 - François Arago, French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer -Deaths:...
), mathematician, 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...
, and astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
. - October 18 - Johann Fischer von WaldheimJohann Fischer von WaldheimJohann Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim was a German anatomist, entomologist and paleontologist....
(b. 17711771 in scienceThe year 1771 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Events:* Society of Civil Engineers first meets , the world's oldest engineering society.-Exploration:...
), naturalistNaturalistNaturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
.