Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
1813 in science
open-in-new
<h2 id="biology">Biology</h2> <ul><li>April – <a href="/facts/William_Charles_Wells/G5J5bLFy">William Charles Wells</a> reads a paper to the <a href="/facts/Royal_Society/KI5yXCuV">Royal Society</a> of <a href="/facts/London/KozCCsy9">London</a> making the first clear statement about <a href="/facts/Natural_selection/JXTte6en">natural selection</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Charles_Waterton/Mjzaroe0">Charles Waterton</a> begins the process of turning his estate at <a href="/facts/Walton_Hall,_West_Yorkshire/r9TAfsGw">Walton Hall, West Yorkshire</a>, <a href="/facts/England/U9mE5bGL">England</a>, into what is, in effect, the world's first <a href="/facts/Nature_reserve/hUsA3dQ5">nature reserve</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="chemistry">Chemistry</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Mathieu_Orfila/Gct8MLmr">Mathieu Orfila</a> publishes his groundbreaking <i>Traité des poisons</i>, formalizing the field of <a href="/facts/Toxicology/L6XHRIJH">toxicology</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Louis_Jacques_Th%C3%A9nard/Le32ptEm">Louis Jacques Thénard</a> commences publication of his textbook <i>Traité de chimie élémentaire, théorique et pratique</i> in <a href="/facts/Paris/DrNHpwnA">Paris</a>.</li> <li><a href="/facts/Edward_Charles_Howard/sPS4gu73">Edward Howard</a> invents the enclosed vacuum pan for <a href="/facts/Refining/ppbrMkLe">refining</a> <a href="/facts/Sugar/jb5KXRHT">sugar</a>.</li></ul> <h2 id="exploration">Exploration</h2> <ul><li>May 11 – <a href="/facts/Gregory_Blaxland/GlL20Ygb">Gregory Blaxland</a>, <a href="/facts/William_Lawson_(explorer)/nUHtJWSz">William Lawson</a> and <a href="/facts/William_Wentworth/4GoRlCU6">William Wentworth</a> leave on an expedition to cross the <a href="/facts/Blue_Mountains_(New_South_Wales)/Sl2j4T7o">Blue Mountains (New South Wales)</a>.</li></ul> <h2 id="mathematics">Mathematics</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Sim%C3%A9on_Denis_Poisson/zmsDITrY">S. D. Poisson</a> publishes <a href="/facts/Poisson%27s_equation/Pr8zkCXB">Poisson's equation</a>, his correction of <a href="/facts/Laplace/6ktp0txb">Laplace</a>'s second order <a href="/facts/Partial_differential_equation/DyPsBlv7">partial differential equation</a> for potential.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="medicine">Medicine</h2> <ul><li>English physician <a href="/facts/Thomas_Sutton_(physician)/wDWAHoXQ">Thomas Tutton</a> publishes <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/tractsondelirium00sutt/page/n7/mode/2up">Tracts on Delirium Tremens, on Peritonitis, and on Some other Internal Inflammatory Affections, and on the Gout</a></i> in London, providing case studies of <a href="/facts/Delirium_tremens/shzpMIfP">delirium tremens</a>.</li></ul> <h2 id="physics">Physics</h2> <ul><li>British engineer <a href="/facts/Peter_Ewart/gvP3lw34">Peter Ewart</a> supports the idea of the <a href="/facts/Conservation_of_energy/12CdN4Ik">conservation of energy</a> in his paper "On the measure of moving force".</li></ul> <h2 id="sociology">Sociology</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Henri_de_Saint-Simon/zoEzkx9x">Henri de Saint-Simon</a> publishes <i>Physiologie sociale</i>.</li></ul> <h2 id="technology">Technology</h2> <ul><li><i>Probable date</i> – <a href="/facts/George_E._Clymer/Dcs8qN2Y">George E. Clymer</a> invents the <a href="/facts/Columbian_press/JIfk49sl">Columbian press</a>.</li></ul> <h2 id="institutions">Institutions</h2> <ul><li>March 1 – Sir <a href="/facts/Humphry_Davy/aDNRfNou">Humphry Davy</a> employs <a href="/facts/Michael_Faraday/NDcc3lyt">Michael Faraday</a> as "chemical assistant" at the <a href="/facts/Royal_Institution/6uT4MCUV">Royal Institution</a> of Great Britain in London.</li></ul> <h2 id="awards">Awards</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Copley_Medal/bBwd6QzN">Copley Medal</a>: <a href="/facts/William_Thomas_Brande/XAgLqFQE">William Thomas Brande</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="births">Births</h2> <ul><li>January 19 – <a href="/facts/Henry_Bessemer/qk4H48en">Henry Bessemer</a>, <a href="/facts/English_people/IeI9c7BK">English</a> inventor (died <a href="/facts/1898_in_science/fdxwBTSM">1898</a>)</li> <li>February 18 – <a href="/facts/Karl_Weltzien/btaqyHCT">Karl Weltzien</a>, <a href="/facts/Russia/jfkCwyxn">Russian</a>-born <a href="/facts/Germans/F7mBCrJ4">German</a> <a href="/facts/Inorganic_chemist/ErD6ypnb">inorganic chemist</a>, an organizer of the <a href="/facts/Karlsruhe_Congress/DtkrH84k">Karlsruhe Congress</a> (died <a href="/facts/1870_in_science/o4uJznAF">1870</a>)</li> <li>March 19 – <a href="/facts/David_Livingstone/3qqLHQ4q">David Livingstone</a>, <a href="/facts/Scottish_people/0rp2bd12">Scottish</a> missionary and explorer (died <a href="/facts/1873_in_science/Cz0weAdA">1873</a>)</li> <li>April 16 - <a href="/facts/Justin_Beno%C3%AEt/cnPpa9KU">Justin Benoît</a>, <a href="/facts/French_people/984axQ8y">French</a> <a href="/facts/Surgeon/Hm0R9t6n">surgeon</a> and <a href="/facts/Anatomist/p8TCWJuV">anatomist</a> (died <a href="/facts/1893_in_science/N2wKwyPt">1893</a>)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a></li> <li>July 12 – <a href="/facts/Claude_Bernard/eAhbMVwS">Claude Bernard</a>, <a href="/facts/French_people/984axQ8y">French</a> <a href="/facts/Physiologist/fh25y2pQ">physiologist</a> (died <a href="/facts/1878_in_science/MQME3dqx">1878</a>)</li> <li>October 17 – <a href="/facts/Georg_B%C3%BCchner/u9NGfQM0">Georg Büchner</a>, <a href="/facts/Grand_Duchy_of_Hesse/4dfR2lvh">Hessian</a>-born writer and anatomist (died <a href="/facts/1837_in_science/gPd7datI">1837</a>)</li> <li>December 19 – <a href="/facts/Thomas_Andrews_(scientist)/SAnsXm85">Thomas Andrews</a>, <a href="/facts/Irish_people/6Ykz2Dxl">Irish</a> chemist (died <a href="/facts/1885_in_science/UH5qqvQA">1885</a>)</li> <li>December 29 – <a href="/facts/Alexander_Parkes/Y4gySH30">Alexander Parkes</a>, English chemist (died <a href="/facts/1890_in_science/psoT8gKJ">1890</a>)</li> <li><a href="/facts/William_Bullock_(inventor)/sVUuBsbx">William Bullock</a>, American inventor (died <a href="/facts/1867_in_science/W9300Kyo">1867</a>)</li></ul> <h2 id="deaths">Deaths</h2> <ul><li>April 10 – <a href="/facts/Joseph_Louis_Lagrange/bTQUaSTv">Joseph Louis Lagrange</a>, <a href="/facts/Piedmont/K6f2ELPS">Piedmont</a>-born <a href="/facts/Mathematician/eaFSR8Fx">mathematician</a> (born <a href="/facts/1736_in_science/NIhF05X2">1736</a>)</li> <li>April 19 – <a href="/facts/Benjamin_Rush/xpE1Cw6g">Benjamin Rush</a>, <a href="/facts/Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States/2QxuFllb">Founding Father of the United States</a>, <a href="/facts/Chemist/N09K7Bdm">chemist</a> and <a href="/facts/Physician/qJ3woFvG">physician</a> (born <a href="/facts/1746_in_science/9dd8kNKE">1746</a>)</li> <li>April 27 – General <a href="/facts/Zebulon_Pike/2Bv5xyV6">Zebulon Pike</a>, American <a href="/facts/List_of_explorers/83eyR34D">explorer</a> (born <a href="/facts/1779_in_science/1odCQDI1">1779</a>)</li> <li>May – <a href="/facts/Johann_Karl_Wilhelm_Illiger/bXXguvmn">Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger</a>, German <a href="/facts/Zoologist/6Kj13mBt">zoologist</a> (born <a href="/facts/1775_in_science/KeKM5Ww9">1775</a>)</li> <li>July 22 – <a href="/facts/George_Shaw_(biologist)/4qkHMjgS">George Shaw</a>, English <a href="/facts/Naturalist/pSlAvbTX">naturalist</a> (born <a href="/facts/1751_in_science/oqCPpo0N">1751</a>)</li> <li>August 23 – <a href="/facts/Alexander_Wilson_(ornithologist)/LLfqgUJG">Alexander Wilson</a>, <a href="/facts/Scottish_American/BR6p6yx4">Scottish American</a> <a href="/facts/Ornithologist/5reEUbx1">ornithologist</a> (born <a href="/facts/1766_in_science/uGvnd6T6">1766</a>)</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Published posthumously in 1818 in his Two Essays. <a href="https://archive.org/details/anessayondewand00stragoog" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/anessayondewand00stragoog</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Green, J. H. S. (1957). "William Charles Wells FRS (1757–1817)". Nature. 179 (4568): 997–99. Bibcode:1957Natur.179..997G. doi:10.1038/179997a0. PMID 13430768. <a href="/wiki/Nature_(journal)" target="_blank">/wiki/Nature_(journal)</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Darwin, Charles (1866). "Historical Sketch". On the Origin of Species by means of natural selection (4th & subsequent ed.). London: Murray. [Wells] distinctly recognises the principle of natural selection, and this is the first recognition which has been indicated. <a href="/wiki/Charles_Darwin" target="_blank">/wiki/Charles_Darwin</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Glass, Bentley; et al., eds. (1959). Forerunners of Darwin, 1745-1859. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. p. 369. <a href="https://archive.org/details/forerunnersofdar0000glas" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/forerunnersofdar0000glas</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Blackburn, Julia (1989). Charles Waterton, 1782-1865: traveller and conservationist. London: The Bodley Head. pp. 52–9. ISBN 978-0-370-31248-4. <a href="978-0-370-31248-4" target="_blank">978-0-370-31248-4</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Bertomeu-Sánchez, José Ramón; Nieto-Galan, Agustí, eds. (2006). Chemistry, Medicine and Crime: Mateu J. B. Orfila (1787–1853) and his times. Sagamore Beach, MA: Science History Publications. ISBN 978-0-88135-275-7. <a href="978-0-88135-275-7" target="_blank">978-0-88135-275-7</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Bulletin de la société philomatique. <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>"Copley Medal | British scientific award". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 July 2020. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal" target="_blank">https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>"Notice no. LH/181/49". Base Léonore (in French). <a href="https://www.leonore.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr" target="_blank">https://www.leonore.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>