1789 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1789 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.
Anatomy
- Antonio ScarpaAntonio ScarpaAntonio Scarpa was an Italian anatomist and professor.-Biography:Antonio was born to an impoverished family in the frazione of Lorenzaga, Motta di Livenza, Veneto. An uncle, who was a member of the priesthood, gave him instruction until the age of 15, when he passed the entrance exam for the...
publishes Anatomicæ disquisitiones de auditu et olfactu, a classic treatise on the hearing and olfactory organs.
Astronomy
- August 28 & September 17 - William HerschelWilliam HerschelSir Frederick William Herschel, KH, FRS, German: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was a German-born British astronomer, technical expert, and composer. Born in Hanover, Wilhelm first followed his father into the Military Band of Hanover, but emigrated to Britain at age 19...
discovers SaturnSaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
's moons EnceladusEnceladus (moon)Enceladus is the sixth-largest of the moons of Saturn. It was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel. Until the two Voyager spacecraft passed near it in the early 1980s very little was known about this small moon besides the identification of water ice on its surface...
and MimasMimas (moon)Mimas is a moon of Saturn which was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel. It is named after Mimas, a son of Gaia in Greek mythology, and is also designated Saturn I....
, which he describes to the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
of LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on November 12.
Botany
- Erasmus DarwinErasmus DarwinErasmus Darwin was an English physician who turned down George III's invitation to be a physician to the King. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave trade abolitionist,inventor and poet...
publishes his poem The Loves of the Plants, a popular rendering of LinnaeusCarolus LinnaeusCarl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
' works. - Antoine Laurent de JussieuAntoine Laurent de JussieuAntoine Laurent de Jussieu was a French botanist, notable as the first to propose a natural classification of flowering plants; much of his system remains in use today.-Life:...
publishes Genera Plantarum: secundum ordines naturales disposita, juxta methodum in Horto regio parisiensi exaratam, anno M.DCC.LXXIV, providing a basis for the system of natural classification of flowering plantFlowering plantThe flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s largely still in use.
Chemistry
- Antoine LavoisierAntoine LavoisierAntoine-Laurent de Lavoisier , the "father of modern chemistry", was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry and biology...
's Traité élémentaire de chimieTraité Élémentaire de ChimieTraité élémentaire de chimie is an influential textbook written by Antoine Lavoisier published in 1789 and translated into English by Robert Kerr in 1790.The book is considered to be the first modern chemical textbook...
presents a unified view of new theories of chemistry, containing a clear statement of the law of conservation of massConservation of massThe law of conservation of mass, also known as the principle of mass/matter conservation, states that the mass of an isolated system will remain constant over time...
, defining the nature of elementElement- Chemistry, electronics, or the geosciences :* Chemical element, a building block in chemistry* Electrical element, an abstract part of a circuit* Heating element, a device that generates heat by electrical resistance...
s and denying the existence of phlogiston.
Exploration
- July 10 - Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Mackenzie RiverMackenzie RiverThe Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...
Delta.
Medicine
- February 4 - James ParkinsonJames ParkinsonJames Parkinson was an English apothecary surgeon, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist. He is most famous for his 1817 work, An Essay on the Shaking Palsy in which he was the first to describe "paralysis agitans", a condition that would later be renamed Parkinson's disease by...
gives the first description of human injury from lightning strikeLightning strikeLightning strikes are electrical discharges caused by lightning, typically during thunderstorms.Humans can be hit by lightning directly when outdoors. Contrary to popular notion, there is no 'safe' location outdoors. People have been struck in sheds and makeshift shelters...
s, in a paper read to the Medical Society of LondonMedical Society of LondonThe Medical Society of London is one of the oldest surviving medical societies in the United Kingdom ....
. - Andrew DuncanAndrew Duncan (doctor)Andrew Duncan FRSE FRCPE FSA was a Scottish physician. He was born at Pinkerton, by St Andrews, in Fife, and educated nearby at the University of St Andrews...
delivers the first lectures on forensic medicine in BritainKingdom of Great BritainThe former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
, at the University of EdinburghUniversity of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
.
Births
- February 26 - Eaton HodgkinsonEaton HodgkinsonEaton A. Hodgkinson was an English engineer, a pioneer of the application of mathematics to problems of structural design.-Early life:...
, EnglishEnglish peopleThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
structural engineerStructural engineerStructural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants...
(d. 18611861 in scienceThe year 1861 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* May 13 - Comet C/1861 J1 first observed from Australia by John Tebbutt.-Biology:...
) - August 21 - Augustin Louis CauchyAugustin Louis CauchyBaron Augustin-Louis Cauchy was a French mathematician who was an early pioneer of analysis. He started the project of formulating and proving the theorems of infinitesimal calculus in a rigorous manner, rejecting the heuristic principle of the generality of algebra exploited by earlier authors...
, FrenchFrench peopleThe French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
(d. 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....
) - September 28 - Richard BrightRichard Bright (physician)Richard Bright was an English physician and early pioneer in the research of kidney disease.He was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, the third son of Sarah and Richard Bright Sr., a wealthy merchant and banker. Bright Sr. shared his interest in science with his son,encouraging him to consider it...
, English physicianPhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
(d. 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...
) - October 25 - Heinrich SchwabeHeinrich SchwabeSamuel Heinrich Schwabe a German astronomer remembered for his work on sunspots.Schwabe was born at Dessau. At first an apothecary, he turned his attention to astronomy, and in 1826 commenced his observations on sunspots. Schwabe was trying to discover a new planet inside the orbit of Mercury...
, German astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
(d. 18751875 in scienceThe year 1875 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Gallium is discovered spectroscopically by French chemist Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran. Later this year he obtains the free metal by electrolysis of its hydroxide and names it...
)
Deaths
- April 7 - Petrus CamperPetrus CamperPeter, Pieter, or usually Petrus Camper was a Dutch physician, anatomist, physiologist, midwife, zoologist, anthropologist, paleontologist and a naturalist. He studied the orangutan, the rhinoceros, the skull of a whale...
, DutchNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
comparative anatomistComparative anatomyComparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny .-Description:...
(b. 17221722 in scienceThe year 1722 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Chemistry:* René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur publishes his work on metallurgy, L'Arte de convertir le fer forge en acier, which describes how to convert iron into steel....
) - May 25 - Anders DahlAnders DahlAnders Dahl was a Swedish botanist and student of Carolus Linnaeus. The dahlia flower is named after him.In 1770, Dahl entered Uppsala University as a freshman ....
, SwedishSwedesSwedes are a Scandinavian nation and ethnic group native to Sweden, mostly inhabiting Sweden and the other Nordic countries, with descendants living in a number of countries.-Etymology:...
botanist for whom the dahliaDahliaDahlia is a genus of bushy, tuberous, perennial plants native to Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. There are at least 36 species of dahlia, some like D. imperialis up to 10 metres tall. Dahlia hybrids are commonly grown as garden plants...
is named (b. 17511751 in scienceThe year 1751 in science and technology involved some significant events.#-Astronomy:* The globular cluster 47 Tucanae , visible with the unaided eye from the southern hemisphere, is discovered by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, who catalogues it in his list of southern nebulous...
) - undated - Angélique du CoudrayAngelique du CoudrayAngélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray was a royal midwife in the court of Louis XV of France.Born into an eminent French medical family she became the head accoucheuse at the Hotel Dieu in Paris...
, French pioneer of modern midwiferyMidwiferyMidwifery is a health care profession in which providers offer care to childbearing women during pregnancy, labour and birth, and during the postpartum period. They also help care for the newborn and assist the mother with breastfeeding....
(b. 17121712 in scienceThe year 1712 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* John Flamsteed's Historia Coelestis Britannica is first published, against his will and without credit by Isaac Newton and Edmond Halley, introducing Flamsteed designations. -Mathematics:* Giacomo F...
)