1794 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1794 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 Tabulae neurologicae ad illustrandam historiam cardiacorum nervorum, noni nervorum cerebri, glossopharingei et pharingei, the first work to give an accurate depiction of cardiac innervation, and to include the discovery that the inner ear is filled with fluid.
Astronomy
- Ernst ChladniErnst ChladniErnst Florens Friedrich Chladni was a German physicist and musician. His important works include research on vibrating plates and the calculation of the speed of sound for different gases. For this some call him the "Father of Acoustics"...
publishes Über den Ursprung der von Pallas gefundenen und anderer ihr ähnlicher Eisenmassen und über einige damit in Verbindung stehende Naturerscheinungen ("On the Origin of the Pallas IronPeter Simon PallasPeter Simon Pallas was a German zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia.- Life and work :Pallas was born in Berlin, the son of Professor of Surgery Simon Pallas. He studied with private tutors and took an interest in natural history, later attending the University of Halle and the University...
and Others Similar to it, and on Some Associated Natural Phenomena") in which he proposes that meteorites have their origins in outer spaceOuter spaceOuter space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
. - Completion of the Radcliffe ObservatoryRadcliffe ObservatoryRadcliffe Observatory was the astronomical observatory of Oxford University from 1773 until 1934, when the Radcliffe Trustees sold it and erected a new observatory in Pretoria, South Africa. It is a grade I listed building.- History :...
for the University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
.
Biology
- 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 the first edition of ZoonomiaZoönomiaZoonomia; or the Laws of Organic Life is a two-volume medical work by Erasmus Darwin dealing with pathology, anatomy, psychology, and the functioning of the body...
, a medical work in two volumes that touches upon proto-evolutionary concepts, notably arguing that all extant organisms are descended from one common ancestor. The work will later influence his grandson, Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
.
Mathematics
- Adrien-Marie LegendreAdrien-Marie LegendreAdrien-Marie Legendre was a French mathematician.The Moon crater Legendre is named after him.- Life :...
publishes Éléments de géométrie, which becomes a popular textbook for many years.
Medicine
- Thomas BeddoesThomas BeddoesThomas Beddoes , English physician and scientific writer, was born at Shifnal in Shropshire. He was a reforming practitioner and teacher of medicine, and an associate of leading scientific figures. Beddoes was a friend of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and, according to E. S...
with James WattJames WattJames Watt, FRS, FRSE was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.While working as an instrument maker at the...
publish Considerations on the Medicinal Use and on the Production of Factitious Airs in BristolBristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
.
Technology
- Journal des Mines first published in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
by l'Agence des mines de la République.
Births
- May 24 - William WhewellWilliam WhewellWilliam Whewell was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.-Life and career:Whewell was born in Lancaster...
, scientist, philosopher, and historian of science (died 18661866 in scienceThe year 1866 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* May - William Huggins studies the emission spectrum of a nova and discovers that it is surrounded by a cloud of hydrogen....
) - May 29 - Johann Heinrich von MädlerJohann Heinrich von MädlerJohann Heinrich von Mädler was a German astronomer.He was orphaned at age 19 by an outbreak of typhus, and found himself responsible for raising three younger sisters...
, 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...
(died 18741874 in scienceThe year 1874 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* December 9 - A transit of Venus across the Sun is observed in Muddapur, India, by an astronomical expedition led by Pietro Tacchini.-Chemistry:...
) - August 15 - Elias Magnus FriesElias Magnus Fries-External links:*, Authors of fungal names, Mushroom, the Journal of Wild Mushrooming.*...
, botanistBotanyBotany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
(died 18781878 in scienceThe year 1878 in science and technology involved many significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* British astronomer Richard Proctor describes the Zone of Avoidance, the area of the night sky that is obscured by our own galaxy, for the first time....
) - October 28 - Robert ListonRobert ListonRobert Liston was a pioneering Scottish surgeon, and the son of the Scottish minister and inventor Henry Liston, whose father was also a Robert Liston, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland....
, surgeonSurgeonIn medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
(died 18471847 in scienceThe year 1847 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Nitroglycerin, at first called pyroglycerine, first synthesized by Ascanio Sobrero.-Mathematics:...
)
Deaths
- February 22 - Caspar Friedrich WolffCaspar Friedrich WolffCaspar Friedrich Wolff was a German physiologist and one of the founders of embryology.-Life:Wolff was born in Berlin, Brandenburg. In 1230 he graduated as an M.D...
, physiologist (born 17331733 in scienceThe year 1733 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Physiology and medicine:* Rev. Stephen Hales publishes Hæmastaticks, the second volume of his Statical Essays, in London, containing the results of his experiments in measuring blood pressure.-Inventions:* May 26 - The flying...
) - March 28 - Marquis de CondorcetMarquis de CondorcetMarie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet , known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist whose Condorcet method in voting tally selects the candidate who would beat each of the other candidates in a run-off election...
, mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
(born 17431743 in scienceThe year 1743 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* November 29 - Discovery of C/1743 X1, the 'Great Comet of 1744' , by Jan de Munck at Middelburg and subsequently by de Chéseaux and Klinkenberg.-Geology:...
) - May 8 - Antoine LavoisierAntoine LavoisierAntoine-Laurent de Lavoisier , the "father of modern chemistry", was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry and biology...
, chemistChemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
(born 1743) - October 28 - John SmeatonJohn SmeatonJohn Smeaton, FRS, was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist...
, civil engineerCivil engineerA civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
(born 17241724 in scienceThe year 1724 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Events:* January 28 - The Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences is founded by Peter I of Russia.-Mathematics:...
)