See also: 1839 in science, other events of 1840, 1841 in science and the list of years in science.

Table of contents

1 Astronomy 2 Exploration 3 Geology 4 Technology 5 Awards 6 Births 7 Deaths

Astronomy

• John William Draper invents astronomical photography and photographs the Moon

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

• Louis Agassiz publishes his Studies on Glaciers

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

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

• February 4 - Hiram Maxim, inventor of the machine gun († 1916)
• February 5 - John Boyd Dunlop, inventor († 1921)
• February 10 - Per Teodor Cleve, chemist († 1905)
• March 28 - Emin Pasha, explorer († 1892)