1850 In Science
The year 1850 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below. Biology * May 25 – The young Hippopotamous Obaysch arrives at London Zoo from Egypt, the first seen in Europe since Roman times. * Rewilding of Ascension Island begins. Chemistry * October 17 – James Young patents a method of distilling kerosene from coal. * Rev. Levi Hill invents a color photography process, "helicromy", capable of basic rendering of reds and blues. Mathematics * July 2 – William Thomson communicates Stoke's theorem to George Stokes. Stokes presents a paper on the numerical calculation of a class of definite integrals and infinite series. * Thomas Kirkman proposes Kirkman's schoolgirl problem. * Victor Puiseux distinguishes between poles and branch points and introduces the concept of essential singular points. * J. J. Sylvester originates the term ''matrix'' in mathematics. Medicine * March – Dr Benjamin Guy Babington founds the London Epidemiological Society ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for scientific reasoning is tens of thousands of years old. The earliest written records in the history of science come from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 BCE. Their contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine entered and shaped Greek natural philosophy of classical antiquity, whereby formal attempts were made to provide explanations of events in the physical world based on natural causes. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, knowledge of Greek conceptions of the world deteriorated in Western Europe during the early centuries (400 to 1000 CE) of the Middle Ages, but was preserved in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age and later by the efforts of Byzantine Greek scholars who brought Greek ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, (26 June 182417 December 1907) was a British mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer born in Belfast. Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years, he did important work in the mathematical analysis of electricity and formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and did much to unify the emerging discipline of physics in its contemporary form. He received the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1883, was its president 1890–1895, and in 1892 was the first British scientist to be elevated to the House of Lords. Absolute temperatures are stated in units of kelvin in his honour. While the existence of a coldest possible temperature ( absolute zero) was known prior to his work, Kelvin is known for determining its correct value as approximately −273.15 degrees Celsius or −459.67 degrees Fahrenheit. The Joule–Thomson effect is also named in his honour. He worked closely with mathematics ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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International Journal Of Epidemiology
The ''International Journal of Epidemiology'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering research in epidemiology. It is the official journal of the International Epidemiological Association and is published by Oxford University Press. The journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics. The editor-in-chief is Stephen Leeder (University of Sydney). History The journal was established in 1972 by the International Epidemiological Association to facilitate communication among its members and all those engaged in research, teaching and the application of epidemiology. The first editor-in-chief, Walter W. Holland, hoped to "overcome some of the problems of publication of epidemiological work in local journals, which often tend to be unavailable to workers outside that country" and to "create an international viewpoint of health problems." Editors The following persons are or have been editors-in-chief: *1972–1977: Walter W. Holland *1978–1981: A.E. Bennett ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Benjamin Guy Babington
Benjamin Guy Babington (5 March 1794 – 8 April 1866) was an English physician and epidemiologist. Life He was born on 5 March 1794, the son of the physician and mineralogist William Babington (1756–1833) and his wife, Martha Elizabeth (née Hough) Babington. After serving as a midshipman and studying at Charterhouse School from 1803 to 1807 and then the East India Company College at Haileybury until 1812, he worked in government at Madras, India. Returning to England, he studied medicine at Guy's Hospital and Cambridge, receiving his doctorate in 1831. He then became Assistant Physician at Guy's but resigned after a disagreement in 1855. During his career, he invented several medical instruments (including the first laryngoscope) and techniques. He performed the first laryngoscopy with his ''glottiscope'' in 1829. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. According to Henry Morley, he also "distinguished himself by inquiries into the cholera epidemic in 1832". ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a comprehensive resource to scholars and academic researchers, as well as describing usage in its many variations throughout the world. Work began on the dictionary in 1857, but it was only in 1884 that it began to be published in unbound fascicles as work continued on the project, under the name of ''A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles; Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philological Society''. In 1895, the title ''The Oxford English Dictionary'' was first used unofficially on the covers of the series, and in 1928 the full dictionary was republished in 10 bound volumes. In 1933, the title ''The Oxford English Dictionary'' fully replaced the former name in all occurrences in its reprinting as 12 volumes with a one-v ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Matrix (mathematics)
In mathematics, a matrix (plural matrices) is a rectangular array or table of numbers, symbols, or expressions, arranged in rows and columns, which is used to represent a mathematical object or a property of such an object. For example, \begin1 & 9 & -13 \\20 & 5 & -6 \end is a matrix with two rows and three columns. This is often referred to as a "two by three matrix", a "-matrix", or a matrix of dimension . Without further specifications, matrices represent linear maps, and allow explicit computations in linear algebra. Therefore, the study of matrices is a large part of linear algebra, and most properties and operations of abstract linear algebra can be expressed in terms of matrices. For example, matrix multiplication represents composition of linear maps. Not all matrices are related to linear algebra. This is, in particular, the case in graph theory, of incidence matrices, and adjacency matrices. ''This article focuses on matrices related to linear algebra, and, unle ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Singularity (mathematics)
In mathematics, a singularity is a point at which a given mathematical object is not defined, or a point where the mathematical object ceases to be well-behaved in some particular way, such as by lacking differentiability or analyticity. For example, the real function : f(x) = \frac has a singularity at x = 0, where the numerical value of the function approaches \pm\infty so the function is not defined. The absolute value function g(x) = , x, also has a singularity at x = 0, since it is not differentiable there. The algebraic curve defined by \left\ in the (x, y) coordinate system has a singularity (called a cusp) at (0, 0). For singularities in algebraic geometry, see singular point of an algebraic variety. For singularities in differential geometry, see singularity theory. Real analysis In real analysis, singularities are either discontinuities, or discontinuities of the derivative (sometimes also discontinuities of higher order derivatives). There are four kinds of discon ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Victor Puiseux
Victor Alexandre Puiseux (; 16 April 1820 – 9 September 1883) was a French mathematician and astronomer. Puiseux series are named after him, as is in part the Bertrand–Diquet–Puiseux theorem. His work on algebraic functions and uniformization theorem, uniformization makes him a direct precursor of Bernhard Riemann, for what concerns the latter's work on this subject and his introduction of Riemann surfaces. He was also an accomplished amateur mountaineer. A Mont Pelvoux, peak in the French alps, which he climbed in 1848, is named after him. A species of Israeli gecko, ''Ptyodactylus puiseuxi'', is named in his honor.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Puiseux", p. 212). Life He was born in 1820 in Argenteuil, Val-d'Oise. He occupied the chair of celestial mechanics at the University of Paris, Sorbonne. Excelling in mathematical analysis, he introdu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Lady's And Gentleman's Diary
''The Lady's and Gentleman's Diary'' was a recreational mathematics magazine formed as a successor of ''The Ladies' Diary'' and ''Gentleman's Diary'' in 1841. It was published annually between 1841 and 1871 by the Company of Stationers; its editor from 1844 to 1865 was Wesley S. B. Woolhouse. It consisted mostly of problems posed by its readers, with their solutions given in later volumes, though it also contained word puzzles and poetry. The magazine was based in London. It ceased publication in 1871. This should not be confused with ''Ladies and Gentlemens Diary, or Royal Almanack'' (1775 to 1786) which was printed by Thomas Carnan and edited by Reuben Burrow and was a short lived competitor to ''The Ladies' Diary''. Kirkman's schoolgirl problem Kirkman's schoolgirl problem is a problem in combinatorics proposed by Rev. Thomas Penyngton Kirkman in 1850 as Query VI in '' The Lady's and Gentleman's Diary'' (pg.48). The problem states: Fifteen young ladies in a school walk o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kirkman's Schoolgirl Problem
Kirkman's schoolgirl problem is a problem in combinatorics proposed by Rev. Thomas Penyngton Kirkman in 1850 as Query VI in ''The Lady's and Gentleman's Diary'' (pg.48). The problem states: Fifteen young ladies in a school walk out three abreast for seven days in succession: it is required to arrange them daily so that no two shall walk twice abreast. Solutions A solution to this problem is an example of a ''Kirkman triple system'', which is a Steiner triple system having a ''parallelism'', that is, a partition of the blocks of the triple system into parallel classes which are themselves partitions of the points into disjoint blocks. Such Steiner systems that have a parallelism are also called ''resolvable''. There are exactly seven non-isomorphic solutions to the schoolgirl problem, as originally listed by Frank Nelson Cole in ''Kirkman Parades'' in 1922. The seven solutions are summarized in the table below, denoting the 15 girls with the letters A to O. From the numbe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thomas Kirkman
Thomas Penyngton Kirkman FRS (31 March 1806 – 3 February 1895) was a British mathematician and ordained minister of the Church of England. Despite being primarily a churchman, he maintained an active interest in research-level mathematics, and was listed by Alexander Macfarlane as one of ten leading 19th-century British mathematicians... In the 1840s, he obtained an existence theorem for Steiner triple systems that founded the field of combinatorial design theory, while the related Kirkman's schoolgirl problem is named after him. Early life and education Kirkman was born 31 March 1806 in Bolton, in the north west of England, the son of a local cotton dealer. In his schooling at the Bolton Grammar School, he studied classics, but no mathematics was taught in the school. He was recognised as the best scholar at the school, and the local vicar guaranteed him a scholarship at Cambridge, but his father would not allow him to go. Instead, he left school at age 14 to work in his fat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Infinite Series
In mathematics, a series is, roughly speaking, a description of the operation of adding infinitely many quantities, one after the other, to a given starting quantity. The study of series is a major part of calculus and its generalization, mathematical analysis. Series are used in most areas of mathematics, even for studying finite structures (such as in combinatorics) through generating functions. In addition to their ubiquity in mathematics, infinite series are also widely used in other quantitative disciplines such as physics, computer science, statistics and finance. For a long time, the idea that such a potentially infinite summation could produce a finite result was considered paradoxical. This paradox was resolved using the concept of a limit during the 17th century. Zeno's paradox of Achilles and the tortoise illustrates this counterintuitive property of infinite sums: Achilles runs after a tortoise, but when he reaches the position of the tortoise at the beginning of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |