| 1803-1808 |
John Dalton develops his atomic theory, publishing New System of Chemical Philosophy. Dalton’s theory stipulated that all gases were made up of atoms, the heavier the gas, the heavier were its atoms, and that atoms of one type were attracted to one another. According to Dalton, chemical reactions separated or reunited these elementary particles; no new matter was created or destroyed. |
 |
| 1803 |
Giovanni Aldini, nephew of the Italian anatomical experimenter Luigi Galvani, published in London: An Account of the late Improvements in Galvanism, with a series of curious and interesting experiments performed before the Commissioners of the French National Institute, and Repeated lately in the Anatomical Theatres of London. To which is added an appendix containing experiments on the body of a malefactor executed at Newgate…
Galvani had developed techniques (galvanism) of applying electric currents to stimulate muscular movement in an effort to reanimate corpses. |
|
1809
1815-22
|
Lamarck publishes La Philosophie Zoologique
Lamarck publishes L’Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertèbres in seven volumes. His work is important in the development of theories of evolution. |
|
| 1831 |
Creation of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. |
|
| 1837-38 |
Physicist Michael Faraday undertakes ground-breaking research into electromagnetism and a theory of electricity. |
|
| 1848 |
Creation of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. |
|
| 1779-1848 |
Jöns Jakob Bezelius devises a shorthand for chemistry, whereby the atom of each element is represented by the first letter(s) of its name. |
|
| 1776-1856 |
Amedeo Avogadro’s research into atomics leads to the coining of the term ‘molecule’, used now to designate a group of atoms. |
|
| 1850s on |
In the second half of the 19th century the improvement of microscopes enabled the development of cellular theory (by which all tissues, organs, living matter are shown to be made up of cells) and the eventual discovery of the ‘chromosome’. |
|
| 1859 |
Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life appears at the end of November. All copies of the first edition are sold on the day of publication. |
|
| 1861 |
Pasteur publishes Mémoire sur les animalcules vivant sans oxygène libre et déterminant des fermentations, following research into the existence of micro-organisms in the air. The German scientist, Ferdinand Cohn, coins the term of ‘bacillus’ or “germ” for these micro-organisms. Pasteur’s work leads to the development of pasteurisation (by heating milk to 65 degrees any germs present are destroyed and the milk will not turn sour) as well as the discovery of vaccinations against certain bacterial infections. |
|
| 1867 |
Lister’s work on asepsis leads to the discovery that a vaporised solution of carbolic acid can destroy bacteria in the air, without damaging body tissues. The use of this technique in operating theatres leads to a significant drop in post-operatory death due to infection. |
|
| March 1818 |
The Shelleys leave England for Italy, where they will remain until Shelley's death. They visit Byron in Venice, but baby Clara dies during their stay there. |
|
| 1873 |
James Clerck Maxwell publishes his famous Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. |
|
| 1818-89 |
James Joule develops a modern theory of heat. |
|
| 1825-93 |
Jean Martin Charcot, founds the famous ‘Ecole de neurologie de la Salpêtrière’. His classes are followed by Freud amongst others. He demonstrates the link between lesions in certain parts of the brain and motor difficulties, as well as developing the use of hypnotism. |
|
| 1910 |
Sigmund Freud founds the International Psychoanalytical Association. |
Accueil >> Frankenstein >> Dossier pédagogique >> La science au XIXème siècle 
Science in the 19th Century
