The year 1800 in science and technology included many significant events.

Events

Royal Institution of Great Britain granted a Royal Charter.[1]

Astronomy

The central star of the Ring Nebula is discovered by Fredrich von Hahn: the central star is a white dwarf star with a temperature of between 100000 and 120000 K.

Chemistry

Beryllium is discovered by Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorff in beryl from Saxony, a new earth; he calls it Agusterde ("Agust Earth").
Fulminates are discovered by Edward Howard.[2][3][4]
Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, begins publication in Paris of the comprehensive chemistry textbook Système des connaissances chimiques et de leurs applications aux phénomènes de la nature et de l'art.

Exploration

The Antipodes Islands, formerly the home of large herds of fur seals, are discovered by the crew of the British ship HMS Reliance.
Jacques Labillardière publishes Relation du Voyage à la Recherche de la Pérouse in Paris.

Medicine

Xavier Bichat publishes Traité sur les membranes and Recherches physiologiques sur la vie et la mort, pioneering texts in histology and pathology.[5]
Company of Surgeons granted a royal charter to become the Royal College of Surgeons in London.[1]

Physics

Alessandro Volta develops the so-called voltaic pile, a forerunner of the electric battery.
Infrared rays are discovered by William Herschel, an English astronomer of German origin.[1]

Infrared rays discovered by Sir William Herschel

Technology

Yeast is discovered, as a new way to make beer ferment (beer made before 1800 was lambic).
Henry Maudslay develops the first industrially practical screw-cutting lathe, allowing standardisation of screw thread sizes for the first time, in London.[6][7]
The first design for a cast iron twin leaf swing bridge is produced by Ralph Walker for London Docks.[8]

Awards

Copley Medal: Edward Charles Howard

Births

January 14 - Ludwig von Köchel, Austrian musicologist and botanist (d. 1877)
February 2 - Melanie Hahnemann, French homeopath (d. 1878)
February 11 - H. Fox Talbot, English pioneer of photography (d. 1877)
February 12 - John Edward Gray, English taxonomist (d. 1875)
March 14 - James Bogardus, American inventor (d. 1874)
April 15 - James Clark Ross, English explorer of the Polar regions (d. 1862)
July 31 - Friedrich Woehler, German chemist (d. 1882)
December 29 - Charles Goodyear, American inventor of the vulcanization process (d. 1860)

1800 Birth of Thomas Grubb

Deaths

January 1 - Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French naturalist (b. 1716)
March 14 - Daines Barrington, English naturalist (b. 1727)
November 5 - Jesse Ramsden, English scientific instrument maker (b. 1735)

References

^ a b c Everett, Jason M., ed. (2006). "1800". The People's Chronology. Thomson Gale. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
^ Howard, Edward (1800). "On a New Fulminating Mercury". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 90 (1): 204–238. doi:10.1098/rstl.1800.0012.
^ Kurzer, F. (1999). "The Life and Work of Edward Charles Howard". Annals of Science 56: 113–141. doi:10.1080/000337999296445.
^ "Edward Charles Howard (1774-1816), Scientist and sugar refiner". National Portrait Gallery, London. 2005-01-05. Retrieved 2006-08-30.
^ Elaut, L. (July 1969). "The theory of membranes of F. X. Bichat and his predecessors". Sudhoffs Archiv (West Germany) 53 (1): 68–76. ISSN 0039-4564. PMID 4241888.
^ Rolt, L. T. C. (1962). Great Engineers. London: Bell.
^ Burke, James (1978). Connections. London: Macmillan. pp. 145–6. ISBN 0-333-24827-9.
^ Clarke, Mike (2009-01-05). "A Brief History of Movable Bridges". Retrieved 2012-02-09.