1790 in science
The year 1790 in science and technology involved some significant events.
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Astronomy
- Armagh Observatory, founded in Ireland by Richard Robinson, 1st Baron Rokeby, Archbishop of Armagh, begins to function.
Biology
- English ornithologist John Latham publishes his Index Ornithologicus, including a scientific description of the black swan.
- English botanical illustrator James Sowerby begins publication of his English Botany, with text by James E. Smith.
Chemistry
- July 31 – Samuel Hopkins of Vermont is granted a patent for a potash production technique, the first issued under the 1st United States Congress's Patent Act of 1790.[1]
- Publication in Montpellier of Jean-Antoine Chaptal's Élémens de chimie, in which he coins the word nitrogen (nitrogène).
- Adair Crawford, working with William Cruickshank, proposes the existence of the alkaline earth metal located near Strontian in Scotland which will later be isolated at strontium.[2][3]
Technology
- January 30 – Henry Greathead's Original rescue life-boat is tested on the River Tyne in England.[4]
Awards
- Copley Medal: Not awarded[5]
Births
- February 3 – Gideon Mantell, English paleontologist (died 1852)
- March 12 – John Frederic Daniell, English chemist and physicist (died 1845)
- May 23 – Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer (died 1842)
- May 30 – John Herapath, English physicist (died 1868)
- July 1 – George Everest, Welsh surveyor and geographer (died 1866)
- October 25 – Robert Stirling, Scottish inventor (died 1878)
- November 17 – August Ferdinand Möbius, German mathematician (died 1868)
- December 9 – Friederike Lienig, Latvian entomologist (d. 1855)
- December 19 – William Edward Parry, English Arctic explorer (died 1855)
Deaths
- February 5 – William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (born 1710)
- March 22 – Anthony Addington, English physician (born 1713)
- April 17 – Benjamin Franklin, American statesman and polymath, known for his experiments with electricity (born 1706)
- July 17 – Johann II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (born 1710)
gollark: Maintaining current standards of living, and also not having everyone die due to lack of food, needs roughly current technology. Maintaining current technology requires large-scale coordination. Thus, problems.
gollark: The blurb is more descriptive.
gollark: We do *need* large-scale things. I feel like that's quite important.
gollark: > December 2012, a massive solar storm knocks out the power grid. Three hundred million Americans are suddenly faced with a survival situation. They have no water, electricity or fuel. Food rapidly disappears from the store shelves, not to be replaced. Only three percent will survive. Those three percent will have much in common. What does it take to be one of them?
gollark: * e
References
- "Patent Number: US0X0000001". Archived from the original on 2016-04-15.
- Weeks, Mary Elvira (1932). "The discovery of the elements: X. The alkaline earth metals and magnesium and cadmium". Journal of Chemical Education. 9 (6): 1046–1057. Bibcode:1932JChEd...9.1046W. doi:10.1021/ed009p1046.
- Partington, J. R. (1942). "The early history of strontium". Annals of Science. 5 (2): 157. doi:10.1080/00033794200201411.
- Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- "Copley Medal | British scientific award". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.