1840 in science

The year 1840 in science and technology

Astronomy

• John William Draper invents astronomical photography and photographs the Moon

Exploration

• Adelie land first visited by Jules Dumont d'Urville and claimed for France

Geology

• Louis Agassiz publishes his Studies on Glaciers

Technology

• William Fox Talbot invented the positive / negative process of photography used in all modern photography. He refers to this as photogenic drawing

Awards

• Copley Medal: Justus Liebig
• Wollaston Medal: Andre Hubert Dumont

Births

• February 4 – Hiram Maxim (d. 1916), inventor of the machine gun.
• February 5 – John Boyd Dunlop (d. 1921), inventor.
• February 10 – Per Teodor Cleve (d. 1905), chemist.
• March 28 – Emin Pasha (d. 1892), explorer.
• August 4 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing (d. 1902), sexologist.

Deaths

• April 25 – Simeon Poisson (b. 1781), mathematician.
• March 2 – Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers (b. 1758), astronomer.