1773 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1773 in science
and technology
involved some significant events.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
involved some significant events.
Astronomy
- October 13 - FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
astronomerAstronomyAstronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
Charles MessierCharles MessierCharles Messier was a French astronomer most notable for publishing an astronomical catalogue consisting of deep sky objects such as nebulae and star clusters that came to be known as the 110 "Messier objects"...
discovers the Whirlpool GalaxyWhirlpool GalaxyThe Whirlpool Galaxy is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy that is estimated to be 23 ± 4 million light-years from the Milky Way Galaxy. in the constellation Canes Venatici...
(pictured), an interactingInteracting galaxyInteracting galaxies are galaxies whose gravitational fields result in a disturbance of one another. An example of a minor interaction is a satellite galaxy's disturbing the primary galaxy's spiral arms. An example of a major interaction is a galactic collision.-Satellite interaction:A giant...
, grand-designGrand design spiral galaxyA grand design spiral galaxy is a type of spiral galaxy with prominent and well-defined spiral arms, as opposed to multi-arm and flocculent spirals which have subtler structural features. The spiral arms of a grand design galaxy extend clearly around the galaxy through many radians and can be...
spiral galaxySpiral galaxyA spiral galaxy is a certain kind of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work The Realm of the Nebulae and, as such, forms part of the Hubble sequence. Spiral galaxies consist of a flat, rotating disk containing stars, gas and dust, and a central concentration of stars known as...
located at a distance of approximately 23 million light-yearLight-yearA light-year, also light year or lightyear is a unit of length, equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres...
s in the constellationConstellationIn modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....
Canes VenaticiCanes VenaticiCanes Venatici is one of the 88 official modern constellations. It is a small northern constellation that was created by Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century. Its name is Latin for "hunting dogs", and the constellation is often depicted in illustrations as representing the dogs of Boötes the...
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Exploration
- January 17 - Captain James CookJames CookCaptain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic CircleAntarctic CircleThe Antarctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs south of the Equator.-Description:...
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Awards
- Copley MedalCopley MedalThe Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society of London for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science, and alternates between the physical sciences and the biological sciences"...
: John WalshJohn Walsh (scientist)John Walsh was a British scientist and Secretary to the Governor of Bengal.John was son of Joseph Walsh, Secretary to the Governor of Fort St. George and cousin to Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal, and his sister Margaret, the wife of Lord Clive.He entered the English East India Company at a... - John HarrisonJohn HarrisonJohn Harrison was a self-educated English clockmaker. He invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought device in solving the problem of establishing the East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea, thus revolutionising and extending the possibility of safe long distance sea travel in the Age...
receives the Longitude prizeLongitude prizeThe Longitude Prize was a reward offered by the British government for a simple and practical method for the precise determination of a ship's longitude...
for his invention of the first marine chronometerMarine chronometerA marine chronometer is a clock that is precise and accurate enough to be used as a portable time standard; it can therefore be used to determine longitude by means of celestial navigation...
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Births
- January 29 - Friedrich MohsFriedrich MohsCarl Friedrich Christian Mohs was a German geologist/mineralogist.- Career :Mohs, born in Gernrode, Germany, studied chemistry, mathematics and physics at the University of Halle and also studied at the Mining Academy in Freiberg, Saxony...
, mineralogist (died 18391839 in scienceThe year 1839 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* January - The first parallax measurement of the distance to Alpha Centauri is published by Thomas Henderson.-Biology:...
) - May 19 - Arthur AikinArthur AikinArthur Aikin , English chemist, mineralogist and scientific writer, was born in Warrington, Lancashire into a distinguished literary family of prominent Unitarians....
, chemist, mineralogist (died 18541854 in scienceThe year 1854 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* July 22 - Discovery of the asteroid 30 Urania by John Russell Hind....
) - June 13 - Thomas YoungThomas Young (scientist)Thomas Young was an English polymath. He is famous for having partly deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics before Jean-François Champollion eventually expanded on his work...
, physicist (died 18291829 in scienceThe year 1829 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Isaac Holden produces a form of friction match.-Mathematics:...
) - July 23 - Thomas BrisbaneThomas BrisbaneMajor-General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet GCH, GCB, FRS, FRSE was a British soldier, colonial Governor and astronomer.-Early life:...
, astronomer (died 18601860 in scienceThe year 1860 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* June 30 - Debate about evolution at the Oxford University Museum.* John Curtis publishes in Glasgow.-Botany:...
) - August 23 - Abraham CollesAbraham CollesAbraham Colles was professor of Anatomy, Surgery and Physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Descended from a Worcestershire family, some of whom had sat in Parliament, he was born to William Colles and Mary Anne Bates of Woodbroak, Co. Wexford...
, surgeon (died 18431843 in scienceThe year 1843 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* February 5–April 19 - "Great March Comet" observed....
) - December 21 - Robert BrownRobert Brown (botanist)Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope...
, botanist (died 18581858 in scienceThe year 1858 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Archaeology:* In Luxor, Egypt, the Rhind papyrus is found ; it is sometimes called the Ahmes papyrus for the scribe who wrote it around 1650 BC.-Astronomy:* Donati's Comet, the first comet to be photographed, is...
) - December 27 - George CayleyGeorge CayleySir George Cayley, 6th Baronet was a prolific English engineer and one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him the first true scientific aerial investigator and the first person to understand the underlying principles and forces of flight...
, pioneer of heavier-than-air flight (died 18571857 in scienceThe year 1857 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Rev. M. J. Berkeley publishes Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany.-Chemistry:* Robert Bunsen invents apparatus for measuring effusion....
)
Deaths
- July 23 - George Edwards, naturalist (born 16931693 in scienceThe year 1693 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Actuarial science:* Edmond Halley publishes an article in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society on life annuities featuring a life table constructed on the basis of statistics from Breslau provided by Caspar Neumann....
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