1819 in science
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The year 1819 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.
Astronomy and space science
- Johann Franz Encke computes the orbit of Comet Encke, identifying it as periodic.
- July 1 – Johann Georg Tralles discovers the Great Comet of 1819, (C/1819 N1). It is the first comet analyzed using polarimetry, by François Arago.
Chemistry
- Joseph Bienaimé Caventou and Pierre Joseph Pelletier isolate the alkaloid brucine from Strychnos nux-vomica.
Exploration
- February 19 – Captain William Smith in British merchant brig Williams sights Williams Point, the northeast extremity of Livingston Island in the South Shetlands, the first land discovered south of latitude 60° S.
- October 15 – Desolation Island in the South Shetland Islands of the Antarctic is discovered by Captain William Smith in the Williams.
- A British Arctic expedition under William Edward Parry comprising HMS Hecla and HMS Griper reaches longitude 112°51' W in the Northwest Passage, the furthest west which will be attained by any single-season voyage for 150 years.Journal of a Voyage to Discover a North-west Passage. 1821.
Geology
- G. B. Greenough publishes his book A critical examination of the first principles of geology in a series of essays in London.
Medicine
- August – René Laennec publishes De l’Auscultation Médiate ou Traité du Diagnostic des Maladies des Poumons et du Coeur in Paris, describing his invention of the stethoscope.
- English physician John Bostock publishes the first account of allergic rhinitis (in himself).Bostock, John. "Case of a Periodical Affection of the Eyes and Chest", presented to Medical and Chirurgical Society of London.{{cite web|title=The History of Allergy|publisher=Auckland Allergy Clinic|date=December 2001|url=http://www.allergyclinic.co.nz/guides/39.html|accessdate=2014-07-03|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014035353/http://www.allergyclinic.co.nz/guides/39.html|archivedate=2008-10-14}}{{cite web|title=John Bostock: The man who 'discovered' hay fever|first=Justin|last=Parkinson|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28038630|date=2014-07-01|accessdate=2014-07-03}}
- French physician Pierre Amable Jean-Baptiste Trannoy publishes one of the first epidemiology treatises in France: Traité élémentaire des maladies épidémiques ou populaires à l'usage des officiers de santé (Elementary Treatise on Epidemic or Popular Diseases for the use of health officers).{{cite book|first=Pierre Amable Jean Baptiste|last=Trannoy|title=Traité élémentaire des maladies épidémiques ou populaires |location=Amiens |publisher=Ledien-Canda |date=1819 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RDhbAAAAcAAJ&q=%22Pierre+Amable+Jean-Baptiste+Trannoy+%22|access-date=5 March 2021 |language=fr}}
Technology
- May 22 – {{SS|Savannah}} leaves port at Savannah, Georgia on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, although only a fraction of the trip is made under steam. The ship arrives at Liverpool, England, on June 20.
- Invention of the M1819 breech-loading flintlock using interchangeable parts by Captain John H. Hall of Harpers Ferry Armory in the United States.
Institutions
- Cambridge Philosophical Society founded as a scientific society at the University of Cambridge in England.
Awards
Births
- March 24 – Friedrich Theodor von Frerichs (died 1885), German medical pathologist.
- May 3 (O.S. April 21) – Nikolai Annenkov (died 1889), Russian botanist.
- June 5 – John Couch Adams (died 1892), Cornish-born mathematician and astronomer.
- July 17 – Eunice Newton Foote (died 1888), American physicist and women's rights campaigner.
- July 28 – Thomas Evans Blackwell (died 1863), English civil and hydraulic engineer.
- August 9 – William T. G. Morton (died 1868), American dentist.
- August 13 – George Gabriel Stokes (died 1903), Irish-born mathematician and physicist.
- September 18 – Léon Foucault (died 1868), French physicist.
- September 23 – Hippolyte Fizeau (died 1896), French physicist.
Deaths
- January – Elsa Beata Bunge (born 1734), Swedish botanist
- August 19 – James Watt (born 1736), Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer and mathematician{{cite web |title=James Watt {{!}} Biography, Inventions, Steam Engine, Significance, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Watt |website=www.britannica.com |access-date=14 May 2023 |language=en}}
- November 22 – John Stackhouse (born 1742), English botanist