1803 in science explained

The year 1803 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

• April 26 – A meteorite shower falls on L'Aigle in Normandy; Jean Baptiste Biot demonstrates that it is of extraterrestrial origin.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Botany

• Publication (posthumously) of André Michaux's Flora Boreali-Americana in Paris, the first flora of North America.
• University of Tartu Botanical Gardens established.

Chemistry

• January 1 – William Henry's formulation of his law on the solubility of gases first published.^[4]
• September 3 – English scientist John Dalton starts using symbols to represent the atoms of different chemical elements.
• October 21 – John Dalton's atomic theory and list of molecular weights first made known, at a lecture in Manchester.^{[5] [6]}
• William Hyde Wollaston discovers the chemical element rhodium.
• Smithson Tennant discovers the chemical elements iridium and osmium.
• Cerium is discovered in Bastnäs (Sweden) by Jöns Jakob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger, and independently in Germany by Martin Heinrich Klaproth.^[7]
• Claude Louis Berthollet publishes Essai de statique chimique in Paris.

Exploration

• June 9 – Matthew Flinders completes the first known circumnavigation of Australia.^[8]

Mathematics

• Gian Francesco Malfatti presents his conjecture regarding Malfatti circles.^{[9] [10] [11]}

Medicine

• Jean Marc Gaspard Itard first recognises pneumothorax.
• Dr Thomas Percival of Manchester publishes his Medical Ethics; or, a Code of Institutes and Precepts, Adapted to the Professional Conduct of Physicians and Surgeons, coining the expression medical ethics.^[12]

Meteorology

• Luke Howard publishes the basis of the modern classification and nomenclature of clouds.^{[13] [14]}

Technology

• Robert Ransome invents the self-sharpening chilled cast-iron ploughshare in Ipswich, England.
• The first Fourdrinier continuous papermaking machine is installed in Hertfordshire, England.

Transport

• January 4 – William Symington demonstrates his Charlotte Dundas, the "first practical steamboat", in Scotland.
• July 26 – The Surrey Iron Railway, a wagonway between Wandsworth and Croydon, is opened, being the first public railway line in England.
• Thomas Telford begins work on construction of the Caledonian Canal and improving roads in Scotland.^{[15] [16]}

Awards

• Copley Medal: Richard Chenevix^[17]

Births

• February 26 – Arnold Adolph Berthold, German physiologist (died 1861)
• February 28 – Christian Heinrich von Nagel, German geometer (died 1882)
• April 1 – Miles Joseph Berkeley, English cryptogamist (died 1889)
• May 12 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist (died 1873)
• May 24 – Charles Lucien Bonaparte, French naturalist (died 1857)
• June 8 – Amalia Assur, Swedish dentist (died 1889)
• July 31 – John Ericsson, Swedish-born mechanical engineer and inventor (died 1889)
• October 3 – John Gorrie, American physician and inventor (died 1855)
• October 6 – Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, Prussian physicist and climatologist (died 1879)
• October 16 – Robert Stephenson, English railway engineer (died 1859)
• November 29 – Christian Doppler, Austrian mathematician and discoverer of the Doppler effect (died 1853)
• December 21 – Joseph Whitworth, English mechanical engineer (died 1887)
• Choe Han-gi, Korean philosopher of science (died 1877)

Deaths

• May 8 – John Joseph Merlin, Liège-born English inventor (born 1735)
• October 14 – Ami Argand, Genevan physicist and chemist (born 1750)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni. Institute for Learning Technologies, Columbia University. May 8, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110514140121/http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/bluetelephone/html/chladni.html. May 14, 2011.
2. Book: 101. Oxford Dictionary of Scientists. limited. Oxford University Press. 1999. 1999ods..book.....D .
3. Web site: The meteorite fall at L'Aigle on April 26th 1803 and the Biot report. M.. Gounelle. 2003. August 18, 2011.
4. William. Henry. Experiments on the Quantity of Gases Absorbed by Water, at Different Temperatures, and under Different Pressures. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. London. January 1, 1803. 93. 29–274. 10.1098/rstl.1803.0004.

   File:William Henry-Experiments on the Quantity of Gases Absorbed by Water.pdf

   . free.
5. John. Dalton. On the Absorption of Gases by Water and Other Liquids. Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester . 2nd Series. 1. 1805. 271–87. April 27, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110611205519/http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/dalton52.html. June 11, 2011 .
6. John Dalton, the man and his legacy: the bicentenary of his Atomic Theory. 2003 . 10.1039/B307622A . February 17, 2008. Lappert . Michael F. . Murrell . John N. . Dalton Transactions . 20 . 3811–3820 .
7. Web site: Cerium. Visual Elements. 1999–2005. Royal Society of Chemistry. London. November 21, 2011.
8. Web site: British History Timeline. BBC History. February 17, 2008.
9. Book: Dörrie, H.. Malfatti's Problem. 100 Great Problems of Elementary Mathematics: their History and Solutions. registration. New York. Dover. 147–151. 1965. 0-486-61348-8.
10. Goldberg. M.. On the Original Malfatti Problem. Mathematics Magazine. 40. 5. 241–247. 1967. 10.2307/2688277. 2688277.
11. Web site: Malfatti's Problem. cut-the-knot. May 16, 2011.
12. Writing a Code of Ethics. Michael. Davis. Perspectives on the Professions. 19. 1. Fall 1999. 1–3. Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at IIT. Chicago. September 30, 2011. February 25, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210225045509/http://ethics.iit.edu/perspective/v19n1%20perspective.pdf. dead.
13. Luke. Howard. On the modifications of clouds, and on the principles of their production, suspension and destruction. Philosophical Magazine. 16. 62. 1803. 97–107, 344–57. 10.1080/14786440308676310.
14. Book: Thornes, John E.. John Constable's Skies. The University of Birmingham Press. 1999. 1-902459-02-4.
15. Book: Williams, Hywel. Cassell's Chronology of World History. registration. London. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2005. 0-304-35730-8. 354.
16. Book: Palmer. Alan. Palmer. Veronica. 1992. The Chronology of British History. Century Ltd. London. 239–240. 0-7126-5616-2.
17. Web site: Copley Medal British scientific award . Encyclopedia Britannica . 21 July 2020 . en.