1778 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1778 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.
Geoscience
- James RennellJames RennellMajor James Rennell, FRS was an English geographer, historian and a pioneer of oceanography.-Early life:Rennell was born near Chudleigh in Devon...
publishes a chart and memoir of the Agulhas CurrentAgulhas CurrentThe Agulhas Current is the Western Boundary Current of the southwest Indian Ocean. It flows down the east coast of Africa from 27°S to 40°S. It is narrow, swift and strong...
, one of the first contributions to scientific oceanographyOceanographyOceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
.
Medicine
- John HunterJohn Hunter (surgeon)John Hunter FRS was a Scottish surgeon regarded as one of the most distinguished scientists and surgeons of his day. He was an early advocate of careful observation and scientific method in medicine. The Hunterian Society of London was named in his honour...
publishes The Natural History of the Human Teeth. - Samuel-Auguste TissotSamuel-Auguste TissotSamuel Auguste André David Tissot was a notable 18th century Swiss physician.A well reputed Swiss-Catholic neurologist, physician, professor and Vatican adviser who practiced in the Swiss city of Lausanne...
begins publication of Traité des nerfs et de leurs maladies, including a classical account of migraineMigraineMigraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by moderate to severe headaches, and nausea...
. - Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring describes the organization of the cranial nervesCranial nervesCranial nerves are nerves that emerge directly from the brain, in contrast to spinal nerves, which emerge from segments of the spinal cord. In humans, there are traditionally twelve pairs of cranial nerves...
.
Technology
- Joseph BramahJoseph BramahJoseph Bramah , born Stainborough Lane Farm, Wentworth, Yorkshire, England, was an inventor and locksmith. He is best known for having invented the hydraulic press...
patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s an improved design of flush toiletFlush toiletA flush toilet is a toilet that disposes of human waste by using water to flush it through a drainpipe to another location. Flushing mechanisms are found more often on western toilets , but many squat toilets also are made for automated flushing...
in 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...
. - The brothers Hans UlrichGrubenmannSeveral members of the Swiss family Grubenmann were famous as joiners and civil engineers in the 18th century. The sons were innovators in bridge construction....
and Johannes GrubenmannJohannes GrubenmannJohannes Grubenmann was a member of the Swiss family Grubenmann who were famous as joiners and civil engineers in the eighteenth century....
complete a bridge across the LimmatLimmatThe Limmat is a river in Switzerland. It is the continuation of the Linth river, known as Limmat from the point of effluence from Lake Zurich, in the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, after 35 km reaching the river Aare...
at WettingenWettingenWettingen is a residential community in the district of Baden in the Swiss canton of Aargau. With a population about 20,000, Wettingen is the largest municipality in the canton.-Geography:...
in SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, a 60 m span which is the first known use of a true archArchAn arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
in a timberTimberTimber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
bridge.
Zoology
- 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...
publishes On the Points of Similarity between the Human Species, Quadrupeds, Birds, and Fish; with Rules for Drawing, founded on this Similarity, an early work of comparative anatomyComparative anatomyComparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny .-Description:...
. - Johann Christian Fabricius publishes his Philosophia Entomologica in HamburgHamburg-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
Births
- February 4 - A. P. de CandolleA. P. de CandolleAugustin Pyramus de Candolle also spelled Augustin Pyrame de Candolle was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at an herbarium...
, Swiss botanist (d. 18411841 in scienceThe year 1841 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Rev. Miles Joseph Berkeley demonstrates that Phytophthora infestans is a fungal infection....
) - May 18 - Andrew UreAndrew UreAndrew Ure was a Scottish doctor, scholar and chemist.-Biography:Andrew Ure was born in Glasgow, the son of Alexander Ure, a cheesemonger and his wife, Anne. He received an M.D. from Glasgow University in 1801, and served briefly as an army surgeon before settling in Glasgow, where he became a...
, ScottishScottish peopleThe Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
industrial chemist and encyclopaedist (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....
) - December 6 - Joseph Louis Gay-LussacJoseph Louis Gay-Lussac- External links :* from the American Chemical Society* from the Encyclopædia Britannica, 10th Edition * , Paris...
, 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...
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...
and physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
(d. 18501850 in scienceThe year 1850 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* October 17 - James Young patents a method of distilling paraffin from coal.-Mathematics:* Thomas Kirkman proposes Kirkman's schoolgirl problem.* J. J...
) - December 17 - Humphry DavyHumphry DavySir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet FRS MRIA was a British chemist and inventor. He is probably best remembered today for his discoveries of several alkali and alkaline earth metals, as well as contributions to the discoveries of the elemental nature of chlorine and iodine...
, 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...
chemist (d. 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:...
) - December 25 (bapt.) - Joseph AspdinJoseph AspdinJoseph Aspdin was a British cement manufacturer who obtained the patent for Portland cement on 21 October 1824....
, English inventor (d. 18551855 in scienceThe year 1855 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Events:* Opening of Eidgenössische Polytechnische Schule in Zurich, Switzerland.-Biology:...
) - Maria Dalle DonneMaria Dalle DonneMaria Dalle Donne , was an Italian physician and a director at the University of Bologna. She was the first female doctorate in medicine, and the second woman to become a member of the Ordine de Benedettini Academici Pensionati....
, BologneseBolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
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. 18421842 in scienceThe year 1842 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Exploration:* Antarctic explorer James Clark Ross charts the eastern side of James Ross Island and on January 23 reaches a Farthest South of 78°09'30"S.-Medicine:...
)
Deaths
- January 10 - Carolus 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...
, Swedish botanist, first to develop standard nomenclature for naming species (b. 17071707 in scienceThe year 1707 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Geology:*December 16 - Beginning of the last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan.-Mathematics:...
) - February 20 - Laura BassiLaura BassiLaura Maria Caterina Bassi was an Italian scientist, the first woman to officially teach at a university in Europe.-Biography:Born in Bologna into a wealthy family with a lawyer as a father, she was privately educated and tutored for seven years in her teens by Gaetano Tacconi...
, ItalianItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
scientistScientistA scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
(b. 17111711 in scienceThe year 1711 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Biology:* Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli shows that coral is an animal rather than a plant as previously thought.-Mathematics:...
)