1827 in science

The year 1827 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Chemistry

• Aluminium isolated by Friedrich Wöhler.^[1]
• William Prout classifies the components of food into the three main divisions of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.^[2]
• Zeise's salt is the first platinum/olefin complex, an early example of organometallic chemistry.
• John Walker first offers friction matches for sale.

Exploration

• William Edward Parry reaches 82°45'N, which will remain for 49 years the highest latitude attained.^[3][4]

Geology

• G. Poulett Scrope publishes his Memoir on the Geology of Central France, including the volcanic formations…, extending by detailed observation his work on volcanology.^[5]

History of science

• John Farey publishes A Treatise on the Steam Engine, historical, practical and descriptive in London.

Medicine

• Robert Adams first describes the cardiac condition which will become known as Adams-Stokes syndrome.^[6][7]
• Richard Bright first describes the renal condition which will become known as Bright's disease.^[8]

Physics

• Robert Brown observes the phenomenon of Brownian motion.^[9]
• Joseph Fourier first proposes existence of the greenhouse effect.^[10]
• Georg Ohm published his results of Ohm's law in 1827 in the book Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet ("The galvanic circuit investigated mathematically").

Technology

• April 26–May 24 – The Royal Netherlands Navy's British-built paddle steamer Curaçao makes the first Transatlantic Crossing by steam, from Hellevoetsluis to Paramaribo.^[11]
• c. July – Robert Wilson of Dunbar in Scotland demonstrates a screw propeller.
• Completion of Ozimek Suspension Bridge in Poland, designed by Karl Schottelius, possibly the oldest surviving wrought iron suspension bridge in continental Europe.

Zoology

• John James Audubon begins publication of The Birds of America in the United Kingdom.
• Three giraffes, the first to be seen in Europe for over three centuries, are presented by the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt, Mehmet Ali Pasha. Zarafa is presented to King Charles X of France in Paris on 9 July having walked from Marseilles (landed 31 October 1826). The others are presented to King George IV of the United Kingdom in London and Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, in Vienna.^[12]

Higher Education

• Royal Institute of Technology (originally named 'Technological Institute') founded in Stockholm, Sweden.

Awards

• Copley Medal: William Prout; Henry Foster.

Births

• January 13 (O.S. January 1) – Nikolay Beketov (died 1911), Russian chemist.
• January 7 – Sandford Fleming (died 1915), Scottish-born Canadian engineer and surveyor known as the "father of time zones".
• April 5 – Joseph Lister (died 1912), British inventor of antiseptic.
• May 31 – Kusumoto Ine (born Shiimoto Ine, died 1903), pioneering Japanese woman physician.
• August 27 – Henry Edwards (died 1891), English-born entomologist and actor.
• November 30 – George Jackson Mivart (died 1900), English biologist.
• December 29 – Bernhard Sigmund Schultze (died 1919), German obstetrician.

Deaths

• March 5
  • Pierre-Simon Laplace (born 1749), mathematician.
  • Alessandro Volta (born 1745), physicist.
• April 3 – Ernst Chladni (born 1756), physicist.
• July 14 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel (born 1788), physicist.

References