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.
• Johann Tobias Lowitz observes a complex halo display in St. Petersburg. ^[1]

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.
• Goethe publishes Metamorphosis of Plants .

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. ^[2]
• 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. ^{[3] [4]}

Physiology and medicine

• First recorded case of artificial insemination when British surgeon John Hunter helps impregnate a linen draper's wife. ^{[5] [6]}

Technology

• January 30 – Henry Greathead's Original rescue life-boat is tested on the River Tyne in England. ^[7]

Awards

• Copley Medal: Not awarded ^[8]

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 4 – 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) ^[9]
• 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)

References

1. "Déscription d'un météore remarquable, observé à St. Pétersbourg le 18 Juin 1790". 1794. (Description of a remarkable atmospheric phenomenon, observed at St. Petersburg on June 18, 1790), pages 384-388
2. "Patent Number: US0X0000001". Archived from the original on 2016-04-15.
3. 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.
4. Partington, J. R. (1942). "The early history of strontium". Annals of Science . 5 (2): 157. doi:10.1080/00033794200201411.
5. "Artificial Insemination of Married Women (Hansard, 26 February 1958)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
6. Ombelet, W.; Van Robays, J. (2015). "Artificial insemination history: hurdles and milestones". Facts, Views & Vision in ObGyn. 7 (2): 137–143. ISSN   2032-0418. PMC   4498171 . PMID   26175891.
7. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN   0-14-102715-0.
8. "Copley Medal | British scientific award". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
9. "William Cullen | Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh". www.rcpe.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2020.