1826 in science

• Mary Somerville presents a paper on "The Magnetic Properties of the Violet Rays of the Solar Spectrum" to the Royal Society in London.

• Otto Unverdorben first isolates aniline, by destructive distillation of indigo;{{cite journal|title=Ueber das Verhalten der organischen Körper in höheren Temperaturen|trans-title=On the behaviour of organic substances at high temperatures|first=Otto|last=Unverdorben|journal=Annalen der Physik und Chemie|volume=8|pages=397–410|year=1826|url=https://zenodo.org/records/1423512/files/article.pdf|doi=10.1002/andp.18260841109|bibcode=1826AnP....84..397U|issue=11}} he calls it Crystallin.
• Antoine Jerome Balard isolates bromine.
• Pierre Jean Robiquet isolates the dye alizarin.Robiquet, Pierre-Jean; Colin, Jean-Jacques (1826). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=uLk3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA407 Sur un nouveau principe immédiat des vègétaux (l’alizarin) obtenu de la garance]" [On a new substance from plants (alizarin) obtained from madder]. Journal de pharmacie et des sciences accessoires 2nd series, 12:407–412; Colin, Jean-Jacques; Robiquet, Pierre-Jean (1827). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=JZU5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA225 Nouvelles recherches sur la matierè colorante de la garance]" [New research into the coloring material of madder]. Annales de chimie et de physique 2nd series, 34:225–253.
• Michael Faraday determines the chemical formula of naphthalene.

• May 22 – {{HMS|Beagle}} departs on her first voyage from Plymouth for a hydrographic survey of the Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego regions of South America.
• Hyacinthe de Bougainville completes a three-year global circumnavigation.

• Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik is founded by August Leopold Crelle in Berlin.
• February 23 – Nikolai Lobachevsky first presents his system of non-Euclidean hyperbolic geometry.

• Johannes Peter Müller publishes his first important works, Zur vergleichenden Physiologie des Gesichtsinns ("On the comparative physiology of sight", Leipzig) and Über die phantastischen Gesichtserscheinungen ("On visual hallucination", Coblenz), making a first statement of the law of specific nerve energies.

• January 30 – The Menai Suspension Bridge, built by engineer Thomas Telford, is opened between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales.{{cite book|first=L. T. C.|last=Rolt|authorlink=L. T. C. Rolt|title=Thomas Telford|url=https://archive.org/details/thomastelford00rolt|url-access=registration|location=London|publisher=Longmans, Green|year=1958}}
• April 1 – American inventor Samuel Morey patents a compressionless internal combustion engine in the United States.{{US patent|X4378|X4,378 Gas Or Vapor Engine}}{{cite book|title=Samuel Morey and his atmospheric engine|first=Horst O.|last=Hardenberg|location=Warrendale, Pa.|publisher=Society of Automotive Engineers|year=1992|series=SP-922|isbn=1-56091-240-5}}{{cite web|last=Maurer |first=Leon |title=The Unsolved Mystery of Samuel Morey |url=https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/lnmaurer/web/SamuelMorey.htm |accessdate=2013-11-01 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103021201/https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/lnmaurer/web/SamuelMorey.htm |archivedate=2013-11-03 }}
• June – Nicéphore Niépce produces the first photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras.{{cite web|url=http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/wfp/|title=The First Photograph|publisher=Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin|accessdate=2013-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227215421/http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/wfp/|archive-date=2009-12-27|url-status=dead}}
• Benoit Fourneyron develops an efficient outward-flow water turbine.
• James Sharp of Northampton in England patents a practical form of gas stove.

• Karl Ernst von Baer discovers the mammalian ovum.Reported as "Ovi Mammalium et Hominis genesi" to the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg in 1827 (published at Leipzig).{{cite journal|first=Alexander|last=Petrunkevitch|title=Russia's Contribution to Science|journal=Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences|volume=23|year=1920|page=236}}{{cite web|url=http://www.allpersona.ru/people/72032.html|title=Биография Бэр Карл Максимович|work=AllPersona.Ru|accessdate=2011-05-18|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319143038/http://www.allpersona.ru/people/72032.html|archivedate=2008-03-19}}
• The Austrian zoologist Johann Nepomuk Meyer first describes the Asiatic lion under the name Felis leo persicus.Meyer, J. N. (1826). Dissertatio inauguralis anatomico-medica de genere felium. Doctoral thesis, University of Vienna.
• The Zoological Society of London is founded by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles.

• Copley Medal: James South{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |accessdate=22 July 2020 |language=en}}

• January 15 – Marie Pasteur (died 1910), French chemist.
• May 26 – Richard Carrington (died 1875), English astronomer.
• June 26 – Morgan Crofton (died 1915), Irish mathematician.
• July 7 – John Fowler (died 1864), English agricultural engineer.
• July 13 – Stanislao Cannizzaro (died 1910), Italian chemist.
• August 21 – Carl Gegenbaur (died 1903), German anatomist.{{cite web |title=Gegenbaur, Carl (1826-1903) |url=https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb103532093 |website=catalogue.bnf.fr |publisher=Bibliothèque Nationale de France |access-date=6 February 2021 |language=fr}}
• September 17 – Bernhard Riemann (died 1866), German mathematician.
• October 8 – Emily Blackwell (died 1910), American physician.
• Alphonse de Polignac (died 1863), French mathematician.

• January 3 – Marie Le Masson Le Golft (born 1750), French naturalist.
• January 6 – John Farey (born 1766), English geologist.
• March 28 - Jean-Baptiste Dumangin (born 1744), French physician.{{cite journal |last1=Corlieu |first1=Auguste |title=Le docteur Dumangin de Château-Thierry et le cœur de Louis XVII |journal=Annales de la Société historique et archéologique de Château-Thierry |date=1901 |pages=103–107 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k445664k/f118.item.r=DUMANGIN |language=fr}}
• June 7 – Joseph von Fraunhofer (born 1787), German physicist.
• June 30 - Clément Joseph Tissot (born 1747), French physician and physiotherapist.{{cite web |title=Tissot, Clément-Joseph (1747-1826) |url=https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb124625398 |website=catalogue.bnf.fr |publisher=Bibliothèque Nationale de France |access-date=6 February 2021 |language=fr}}
• July 4 – Thomas Jefferson (born 1743), Founding Father and 3rd President of the United States and inventor.
• July 22 – Giuseppe Piazzi (born 1746), Italian astronomer.
• August 13 - René Laennec (born 1781), French physician and musician.{{cite web |title=Laennec, René-Théophile-Hyacinthe (1781-1826) |url=https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb12462982h |website=catalogue.bnf.fr |publisher=Bibliothèque Nationale de France |access-date=6 February 2021 |language=fr}}
• September 6 - Andrea Vaccà Berlinghieri (born 1772), Italian surgeon.{{WhoNamedIt|doctor|1762|Andrea Vaccà Berlinghieri}}
• October 25 – Philippe Pinel (born 1745), French psychiatrist.
• November 23 – Johann Elert Bode (born 1747), German astronomer.
• November 24 - Clarke Abel (born 1780), British surgeon and naturalist.{{cite web |title=Abel, Clarke (1789-1826) |url=https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb10230696n |website=catalogue.bnf.fr |publisher=Bibliothèque Nationale de France |access-date=6 February 2021 |language=fr}}

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Category:19th century in science

Category:1820s in science