1815 in science

The year 1815 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Geology

* April 5 - Volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbava. About 92,000 people die as a direct consequence of this disaster, the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. The eruption sends so much volcanic ash into the atmosphere that weather patterns around the world are altered, causing the following year to be nicknamed the "Year Without A Summer."

Medicine

* Cholesterol is discovered by French chemist Michel E. Chevreul, who analyzed it in human gall stones, but its causal relationship with atherosclerosis was unknown.

Physics

* Experiments by French physicist Jean Baptist Biot (1774-1862) reveal polarimetry, in the polarization of light in liquids.
* Atomic decay is discovered by Swedish chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius in gadolinite, a radioactive mineral damaged by alpha particles released in its own activity.

Technology

* Dental floss is invented by Levi Spear Parmly.
* The Davy lamp is invented by Humphry Davy.

Awards

*Copley Medal: David Brewster

Births

* October 31 - Karl Weierstraß, mathematician (d. 1897)

Deaths

* Nicolas Desmarest, French naturalist (b. 1725)