1819 in science

The year 1819 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Exploration

• February 19 - Captain William Smith in British merchant brig Williams sights Williams Point, the northeast extremity of Livingston Island in the South Shetlands, the first land discovered south of latitude 60° S.
• A British Arctic expedition under William Edward Parry comprising HMS Hecla and HMS Griper reaches longitude 112°51' W in the Northwest Passage, the furthest west which will be attained by any single-season voyage for 150 years.^[1]

Geology

• The Geological Society publishes a Geological Map of England & Wales by G. B. Greenough
  

  

  Geological Map of England & Wales by G.B Greenough, published by the Geological Society, 1819
  to rival William Smith's famous geological map.

Medicine

• August - René Laennec publishes De l’Auscultation Médiate ou Traité du Diagnostic des Maladies des Poumons et du Coeur in Paris, describing his invention of the stethoscope.

Technology

• May 22 - SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, although only a fraction of the trip is made under steam. The ship arrives at Liverpool, England, on June 20.
• Invention of the M1819 breech-loading flintlock using interchangeable parts by Captain John H. Hall of Harpers Ferry Armory in the United States.

Awards

• Copley Medal: Not awarded

Births

• May 3 (O.S. April 21) - Nikolai Annenkov (died 1889), botanist.
• June 5 - John Couch Adams (died 1892), mathematician and astronomer.
• August 13 - George Gabriel Stokes (died 1903), mathematician and physicist.
• September 18 - Léon Foucault (died 1868), physicist.
• September 23 - Hippolyte Fizeau (died 1896), physicist.

Deaths

• August 19 - James Watt (born 1736), mathematician and engineer.

References