1828 in science

The year 1828 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Astronomy

* Félix Savary computes the first orbit of a visual double star when he calculates the orbit of the double star Xi Ursae Majoris.

Biology

* Karl Ernst von Baer lays the foundations of the science of comparative embryology with his book "Über Entwickelungsgeschichte der Thiere"
* Friedrich Woehler synthesizes urea; first synthesis of an organic compound

Chemistry

* Biochemistry: Urea becomes the first organic compound to be artificially synthesised, by Friedrich Wöhler, disproving a cornerstone of vitalism: The belief that life was not subject to the laws of science the way nonlife was.
* Jöns Jakob Berzelius discovers thorium

Mathematics

* George Green proves Green's theorem

Palaeontology

* Adolphe Theodore Brongniart publishes "Prodrome d'une histoire des Végétaux Fossils", a study of fossil plants.
* Mary Anning discovers Britain's first pterosaur fossil at Lyme Regis

Physics

* William Rowan Hamilton publishes "Theory of Systems of Rays"

Awards

* Copley Medal: not awarded

Births

* March 24 - Jules Verne (d. 1905), science fiction author.
* October 31 - Joseph Swan (d. 1914), physicist.

Deaths

* March 17 - James Edward Smith (b. 1759), English botanist.
* August 8 - Carl Peter Thunberg (b. 1743), Swedish botanist.
* December 22 - William Hyde Wollaston (b. 1766), chemist.