1788 in science
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The year 1788 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Astronomy
- December 21 â Caroline Herschel discovers the periodic comet 35P/HerschelâRigollet.
Biology
- Dr. Edward Jenner publishes his observation that it is the newly hatched common cuckoo which pushes its host's eggs and chicks out of the nest.[1][2]
- James E. Smith founds the Linnean Society of London.
- Utamaro publishes Ehon Mushi Erami ("Picture Book of Crawling Creatures") in Japan with color illustrations.[3]
- Thomas Walter publishes Flora Caroliniana, the first flora of North America to follow Linnaean taxonomy.[4]
- Gilbert White publishes The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in the County of Southampton (dated 1789), a pioneering observational study of English ecology.
Earth sciences
- James Hutton's Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe is published for the first time, in Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[5]
Mechanics
- Lagrange's Mécanique analytique is published in Paris, introducing Lagrangian mechanics.
Medicine
- December 5 â Rev. Dr. Francis Willis is called in to advise on treatment of the mental condition of King George III of the United Kingdom.
Technology
- February 1 â Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent a steamboat in the United States.
- October 14 â William Symington demonstrates a paddle steamer on Dalswinton Loch in Scotland.[6][7]
Awards
Births
- March 7 â Antoine César Becquerel, French scientist (died 1878)
- March 22 â Pierre Joseph Pelletier, French chemist (died 1842)
- April 18 â Charlotte Murchison, Scottish geologist (died 1869)
- May 10 â Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist (died 1827)
- July 1 â Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mechanical and military engineer and mathematician (died 1867)
- July 23 â Prideaux John Selby, English ornithologist (died 1867)
- September 12 â Charlotte von Siebold, German gynecologist (died 1859)
- October 14 â Edward Sabine, Anglo Irish physicist, astronomer and explorer (died 1883)
- December 21 â Thomas Southwood Smith, English physician and sanitary reformer (died 1861)
- James Murray, Irish physician (died 1871)
Deaths
- April 16 â Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist (born 1707)
- May 8 â Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian-Austrian naturalist (born 1723)
- October 17 â John Brown, Scottish-born physician (born 1735)
- December 6 - Nicole-Reine Lepaute, French astronomer (born 1723)
- Lucia Galeazzi Galvani, Italian scientist (born 1743)
- approx. date â Moses Harris, English entomologist and engraver (born 1730)