1844 lA 20-year-old German named Johann Dase correctly
computes the value of pi in his head to 205 decimal places,
without writing any of it down.1848 lSir William Thomson Kelvin creates the Kelvin scale to
measure absolute temperature.1850 lAmadee Mannheim, an officer of the French army, invents
a new design for the slide rule, which will remain the
standard design.1854 lGEORGE BOOLEpublishes An Investigation into the Laws of
Thought, on Which Are Founded the Mathematical Theories
of Logic and Probabilities,introducing the world to the
algebra of logic. Called BOOLEAN ALGEBRA, it will make the
invention of telephone switches and computers possible.1855 lFLORENCE NIGHTINGALEdevelops the Polar Area Diagram, a
GRAPHshe calls coxcombs, to show the mortality rates of
British soldiers based on statistics she gathers, and she
computes that the entire British army will be killed by
disease if hospital sanitation does not improve.1857 lEngland establishes the Royal Commission on Health for the
Army based on Nightingale’s statistics for sanitary hospital
reform. She will go on to advise Canada and the United
States on military medical care and ultimately reshape the
nature of the nursing profession.1858 lA papyrus is found in a ruin in Thebes, and is purchased by
Henry Rhind. It is the Ahmes papyrus (also called the Rhind
Papyrus) written nearly 4,000 years earlier by the scribe
Ahmes, and contains more than 80 mathematical exercises.lOn November 24, RICHARD DEDEKINDcomes up with the
concept of the Dedekind cut.lFlorence Nightingale becomes the first woman Fellow of the
Royal Statistical Society.1844 – 1858 CHRONOLOGY
1844 – 1858 CHRONOLOGY