The prediction of Neptune's position was the most brilliant moment in the history of astronomy. Le Verrier had been studying the exact orbits of the different planets, and that of Uranus had been out of kilter for some time. Astronomers wondered, whether this could be due to some further sphere, and if so could one hope to find where it was? Le Verrier was confident he could do this, and published two articles concerning its position in the sky, in July and August of 1846. Then he wrote a famous letter to the Berlin Observatory - as no-one in France was taking much notice of him - telling them just where it could be found, in the buttocks of Aquarius. Two astronomers there, Galle and D'Arrest, discovered it within hours of receiving the letter, on 23rd September, 1846 at 23hrs 06 minutes GMT (24h 0 min in Berlin), just before midnight. The prediction had been spot-on, within one degree. The planet was discovered as it wove a triple conjunction with Saturn. (1)

Leverrier's happiness was soon shattered by claims coming over from England, that someone there had done the calculations first. The British astronomers had nothing in writing dated to before the discovery in support of their claims, and it seems to have been very much a case of retrospective prediction on their part. There had been an intensive six-week sky-search conducted at Cambridge to find the new planet (by astronomer James Challis), and how come this had failed when the Germans managed to find it in half an hour? Leverrier and John Couch Adams (the young Englishman who had done the calculations) had a Saturn-Neptune synastry between them (2)

Then American astronomers chimed in, pointing out that the actual orbit of Neptune did not at all correspond with either of the predicted orbits, or only roughly did so for the brief interval when it was discovered. In that case, how had the maths worked so well? The matter was bafflingly obscure, and hinged upon a huge 2:1 resonance going on between Uranus and Neptune, due to one having twice the orbit period of the other. The Americans may have gone too far in claiming that the discovery was a mere 'happy accident.' Neptune had dissolved the credibility of Bode's law, which had worked perfectly well up till then. Both Adams and Leverrier had assumed this law, which put Neptune at twice the orbit-distance of Uranus, but instead it turned out to be much closer, having instead twice the orbit-period of Uranus. Why Bode's law had seemed to work so well was a mystery, but it failed for Neptune. (3)

Within weeks of its discovery, (4) anasthesia started to be used in medicine. The doctor's surgery and the torture-chamber finally parted company. In Britain, in December of that year, the first surgical operation using ether was performed (by James Robinson, who extracted a tooth), and the patient declared she had felt no pain, only 'a heavenly dream' (5)

Across Europe, idealistic revolutions broke out, having utopian goals. The revolutionaries wanted to break with the tired old traditions of the past. That in Paris, was described in Victor Hugo's play 'Les Miserables': it established a republic, with hardly any blood being shed, and promised wonderful things. Marx's 'Communist Manifesto' appeared in 1848, aiming to break the chains of oppression. Wagner was composing his opera, 'Lohengrin.' Also that year the painter Turner composed huge, vague images of sea and storm, an angel and an undine.