The year 1847 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Astronomy

• A new edition of the astrometric star catalogue Histoire C leste Fran aise is published, from which the Lalande star reference numbers which continue in use are derived.^[1]

Chemistry

• Nitroglycerin, at first called pyroglycerine, first synthesized by Ascanio Sobrero.

Mathematics

• George Boole formalizes symbolic logic in the pamphlet The Mathematical Analysis of Logic (published in Cambridge), defining what is now called Boolean algebra.
• Johann Benedict Listing publishes Vorstudien zur Topologie in G ttingen, first introducing the term Topology in print.^[2][3]

Medicine

• Ignaz Semmelweis studies and prevents the transmission of puerperal fever.
• The journal Archiv f r pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und f r klinische Medizin is founded by Rudolf Virchow and Benno Reinhardt.
• Joseph-Fran ois Malgaigne publishes Trait des fractures et des luxations in Paris.

Physics

• Hermann von Helmholtz formally states the law of conservation of energy.

Technology

• January 27 - Institution of Mechanical Engineers founded in the Queen's Hotel next to Curzon Street railway station in Birmingham, England, by George Stephenson and others.^[4]
• May 24 - The Dee bridge disaster: a cast iron girder bridge across the river Dee at Chester, England, designed by Robert Stephenson for the Chester and Holyhead Railway, collapses under a Shrewsbury and Chester Railway train with five fatalities.^[5]
• July 24 - Richard March Hoe patents a rotary printing press in the United States.^[6]

Awards

• Copley Medal: John Herschel.
• Wollaston Medal for Geology: Ami Bou .

Births

• January 21 - Joseph Le Bel, French stereochemist (died 1930)
• February 11 - Thomas Edison, American inventor (died 1931)
• March 3 - Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born inventor (died 1922)

Deaths

• March 9 - Mary Anning, English paleontologist (born 1799)
• November 11 - Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach, German plastic surgeon (born 1792)
• December 7 - Robert Liston, Scottish-born surgeon (born 1794)

References

fr:1847 en science he:1847 mk:1847 no:Vitenskaps ret 1847 nn:Vitskap i 1847 sv:Vetenskaps ret 1847