1872 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1872 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.
Conservation
- March 1 - Yellowstone National ParkYellowstone National ParkYellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
is established in the United States, the world's first national parkNational parkA national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
.
Mathematics
- Richard DedekindRichard DedekindJulius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind was a German mathematician who did important work in abstract algebra , algebraic number theory and the foundations of the real numbers.-Life:...
publishes Stetigkeit und irrationale Zahlen, a theory of irrational numberIrrational numberIn mathematics, an irrational number is any real number that cannot be expressed as a ratio a/b, where a and b are integers, with b non-zero, and is therefore not a rational number....
s. - Felix KleinFelix KleinChristian Felix Klein was a German mathematician, known for his work in group theory, function theory, non-Euclidean geometry, and on the connections between geometry and group theory...
produces the Erlangen programErlangen programAn influential research program and manifesto was published in 1872 by Felix Klein, under the title Vergleichende Betrachtungen über neuere geometrische Forschungen...
on geometriesGeometryGeometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
.
Medicine
- Moritz Kaposi describes Kaposi's sarcomaKaposi's sarcomaKaposi's sarcoma is a tumor caused by Human herpesvirus 8 , also known as Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus . It was originally described by Moritz Kaposi , a Hungarian dermatologist practicing at the University of Vienna in 1872. It became more widely known as one of the AIDS defining...
. - Ferdinand Monoyer proposes the dioptreDioptreA dioptre, or diopter, is a unit of measurement of the optical power of a lens or curved mirror, which is equal to the reciprocal of the focal length measured in metres . It is thus a unit of reciprocal length. For example, a 3-dioptre lens brings parallel rays of light to focus at metre...
as a unit for measuring the optical powerOptical powerOptical power is the degree to which a lens, mirror, or other optical system converges or diverges light. It is equal to the reciprocal of the focal length of the device. The dioptre is the most common unit of measurement of optical power...
of a lens.
Technology
- John HopkinsonJohn HopkinsonJohn Hopkinson, FRS, was a British physicist, electrical engineer, Fellow of the Royal Society and President of the IEE twice in 1890 and 1896. He invented the three-wire system for the distribution of electrical power, for which he was granted a patent in 1882...
proposes the group flash system for distinguishing lighthouseLighthouseA lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
s.
Events
- October 1 - The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College begins its first academic session.
Publications
- May - The magazine Popular SciencePopular SciencePopular Science is an American monthly magazine founded in 1872 carrying articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. Popular Science has won over 58 awards, including the ASME awards for its journalistic excellence in both 2003 and 2004...
is first published in the United States. - 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...
publishes The Expression of the Emotions in Man and AnimalsThe Expression of the Emotions in Man and AnimalsThe Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals is a book by Charles Darwin, published in 1872, concerning genetically determined aspects of behaviour. It was published thirteen years after On The Origin of Species and is, along with his 1871 book The Descent of Man, Darwin's main consideration...
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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"...
: Friedrich Woehler - Wollaston Medal for geologyWollaston 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...
: James Dwight DanaJames Dwight DanaJames Dwight Dana was an American geologist, mineralogist and zoologist. He made pioneering studies of mountain-building, volcanic activity, and the origin and structure of continents and oceans around the world.-Early life and career:...
Births
- May 6 - Willem de SitterWillem de SitterWillem de Sitter was a Dutch mathematician, physicist and astronomer.-Life and work:Born in Sneek, De Sitter studied mathematics at the University of Groningen and then joined the Groningen astronomical laboratory. He worked at the Cape Observatory in South Africa...
(d. 19341934 in scienceThe year 1934 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* Richard Tolman shows that black-body radiation in an expanding universe cools but remains thermal....
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, 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 4 - Ernest FourneauErnest FourneauErnest Fourneau was a French medicinal chemist, who played a major role in the discovery of synthetic local anesthetics, as well as in the synthesis of suramin...
(d. 19491949 in scienceThe year 1949 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* June 14 - Albert II, a Rhesus Monkey, becomes the first mammal in space, in a U.S.-launched V2 rocket, reaching an altitude of 83 miles but dying on impact after a parachute...
), medicinal chemistMedicinal chemistryMedicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry are disciplines at the intersection of chemistry, especially synthetic organic chemistry, and pharmacology and various other biological specialties, where it is involved with design, chemical synthesis and development for market of pharmaceutical...
.
Deaths
- April 2 - Samuel F. B. MorseSamuel F. B. MorseSamuel Finley Breese Morse was an American contributor to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs, co-inventor of the Morse code, and an accomplished painter.-Birth and education:...
(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....
), inventor. - May 6 - George Robert GrayGeorge Robert GrayGeorge Robert Gray FRS was an English zoologist and author, and head of the ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, in London for forty-one years...
(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....
), zoologist. - December 24 - William John Macquorn RankineWilliam John Macquorn RankineWilliam John Macquorn Rankine was a Scottish civil engineer, physicist and mathematician. He was a founding contributor, with Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson , to the science of thermodynamics....
(b. 18201820 in scienceThe year 1820 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Christian Friedrich Nasse formulates Nasse's law: hemophilia occurs only in males and is transmitted by asymptomatic females.-Chemistry:...
), 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...
. - Pierre Charles Alexandre LouisPierre Charles Alexandre LouisPierre Charles Alexandre Louis was a French physician, known for introducing the use of the "numerical method" in the field of medicine — i.e., the concept that knowledge about a disease, its history, clinical presentation and treatment, could be derived from aggregated patient data.Louis became...
(b. 17871787 in scienceThe year 1787 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* January 11 - William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, the first moons of Uranus found.-Biology:...
), 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...
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