1871 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1871 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.
Medicine and physiology
- PorphyriaPorphyriaPorphyrias are a group of inherited or acquired disorders of certain enzymes in the heme bio-synthetic pathway . They are broadly classified as acute porphyrias and cutaneous porphyrias, based on the site of the overproduction and accumulation of the porphyrins...
is first explained biochemically by Felix Hoppe-Seyler. - Friedrich TrendelenburgFriedrich TrendelenburgFriedrich Trendelenburg was a German surgeon. He was son of the philosopher Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg, father of the pharmacologist Paul Trendelenburg and grandfather of the pharmacologist Ullrich Georg Trendelenburg.Trendelenburg was born in Berlin and studied medicine at the University of...
describes the first successful elective human tracheotomyTracheotomyAmong the oldest described surgical procedures, tracheotomy consists of making an incision on the anterior aspect of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea...
to be performed for the purpose of administering general anaesthesiaGeneral anaesthesiaGeneral anaesthesia is a state of unconsciousness and loss of protective reflexes resulting from the administration of one or more general anaesthetic agents...
.
Physics
- John Strutt publishes his first papers on the theory of acoustic resonanceAcoustic resonanceAcoustic resonance is the tendency of an acoustic system to absorb more energy when it is forced or driven at a frequency that matches one of its own natural frequencies of vibration than it does at other frequencies....
and on the phenomenon now called Rayleigh scatteringRayleigh scatteringRayleigh scattering, named after the British physicist Lord Rayleigh, is the elastic scattering of light or other electromagnetic radiation by particles much smaller than the wavelength of the light. The particles may be individual atoms or molecules. It can occur when light travels through...
, explaining why the sky is blue.
Publications
- Cosmos: A Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe by Alexander von HumboldtAlexander von HumboldtFriedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
, covering a large number of topics in scientific exploration and invention. - The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex by Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, outlining his theory for man's origins and his theory of sexual selectionSexual selectionSexual selection, a concept introduced by Charles Darwin in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, is a significant element of his theory of natural selection...
.
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"...
: Julius Robert von MayerJulius Robert von MayerJulius Robert von Mayer was a German physician and physicist and one of the founders of thermodynamics... - 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: Andrew RamsayAndrew RamsaySir Andrew Crombie Ramsay was a Scottish geologist.-Biography:Ramsay was born at Glasgow, being the son of William Ramsay, manufacturing chemist...
Births
- January 7 - Émile BorelÉmile BorelFélix Édouard Justin Émile Borel was a French mathematician and politician.Borel was born in Saint-Affrique, Aveyron. Along with René-Louis Baire and Henri Lebesgue, he was among the pioneers of measure theory and its application to probability theory. The concept of a Borel set is named in his...
(d. 19561956 in scienceThe year 1956 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Wesley K. Whitten reports developing eight-cell mouse ova to blastocyst stage in vitro.Computer science-...
), 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...
mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - October 19 - Walter Bradford CannonWalter Bradford CannonWalter Bradford Cannon, M.D. was an American physiologist, professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology at Harvard Medical School. He coined the term fight or flight response, and he expanded on Claude Bernard's concept of homeostasis...
(d. 19451945 in scienceThe year 1945 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Salvador Edward Luria and Alfred Day Hershey independently recognize that viruses undergo mutations.-Chemistry:...
), AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
physiologist.
Deaths
- March 18 - Augustus De MorganAugustus De MorganAugustus De Morgan was a British mathematician and logician. He formulated De Morgan's laws and introduced the term mathematical induction, making its idea rigorous. The crater De Morgan on the Moon is named after him....
(b. 18061806 in scienceThe year 1806 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Botany:* Publication begins in London of the Flora Graeca collected by John Sibthorp.-Mathematics:* Jean-Robert Argand introduces the Argand diagram....
), BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
logician. - April 16 - Johann Ritter von OppolzerJohann Ritter von OppolzerJohann Ritter von Oppolzer was an Austrian physician born in Nové Hrady, Bohemia. He was the father of the astronomer Theodor von Oppolzer ....
(b. 18081808 in scienceThe year 1808 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Barium, calcium, magnesium, and strontium isolated by Sir Humphry Davy.* Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac formulates the law of combining volumes for gases....
), 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 physicianPhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. - May 11 - John HerschelJohn HerschelSir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet KH, FRS ,was an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, and experimental photographer/inventor, who in some years also did valuable botanical work...
(b. 17921792 in scienceThe year 1792 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach publishes The Tables of the Sun, an essential work for navigation....
), EnglishEnglish peopleThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
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 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 - Charles BabbageCharles BabbageCharles Babbage, FRS was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer...
(b. 17911791 in scienceThe year 1791 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Biology:* Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard begins publication of Histoire des champignons de la France, a significant text in mycology....
), English 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 inventor of computing machines.