1788 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1788 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.
Biology
- Thomas WalterThomas Walter (botanist)Thomas Walter was a British-born American botanist. He is best known for his book Flora Caroliniana , an early yet fairly complete catalog of the flowering plants of South Carolina.-References:...
publishes Flora Caroliniana, the first FloraFloraFlora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
of North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
to follow Linnaean taxonomyLinnaean taxonomyLinnaean taxonomy can mean either of two related concepts:# the particular form of biological classification set up by Carl Linnaeus, as set forth in his Systema Naturæ and subsequent works...
. - Gilbert WhiteGilbert WhiteGilbert White FRS was a pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist.-Life:White was born in his grandfather's vicarage at Selborne in Hampshire. He was educated at the Holy Ghost School and by a private tutor in Basingstoke before going to Oriel College, Oxford...
publishes The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in the County of SouthamptonThe Natural History and Antiquities of SelborneThe Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, or just The Natural History of Selborne is a book by pioneering English naturalist and ornithologist Gilbert White first published in 1789...
(dated 1789), a pioneering observational study of EnglishEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
ecologyEcologyEcology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
.
Earth sciences
- James HuttonJames HuttonJames Hutton was a Scottish physician, geologist, naturalist, chemical manufacturer and experimental agriculturalist. He is considered the father of modern geology...
'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 EdinburghRoyal Society of EdinburghThe Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity, operating on a wholly independent and non-party-political basis and providing public benefit throughout Scotland...
.
Technology
- October 14 - William SymingtonWilliam SymingtonWilliam Symington was a Scottish engineer and inventor, and the builder of the first practical steamboat, the Charlotte Dundas.-Early life:...
demonstrates a paddle steamerPaddle steamerA paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
on Dalswinton Loch in ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Births
- March 22 - Pierre Joseph PelletierPierre Joseph PelletierPierre-Joseph Pelletier was a French chemist who did notable research on vegetable alkaloids, and was the co-discoverer of quinine and strychnine.- Further reading :...
, chemistChemistryChemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
(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:...
) - May 10 - Augustin-Jean FresnelAugustin-Jean FresnelAugustin-Jean Fresnel , was a French engineer who contributed significantly to the establishment of the theory of wave optics. Fresnel studied the behaviour of light both theoretically and experimentally....
, 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. 18271827 in scienceThe year 1827 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Aluminium isolated by Friedrich Wöhler.* William Prout classifies the components of food into the three main divisions of carbohydrates, fats and proteins....
) - October 14 - Edward SabineEdward SabineGeneral Sir Edward Sabine KCB FRS was an Irish astronomer, geophysicist, ornithologist and explorer.Two branches of Sabine's work in particular deserve very high credit: Determination of the length of the seconds pendulum, a simple pendulum whose time period on the surface of the Earth is two...
, physicist, 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...
and explorer (d. 18831883 in scienceThe year 1883 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Geology:* August 26 - Krakatoa begins its final phase of eruptions at 1:06pm local time. These produce a number of tsunami, mainly in the early hours of the next day, which result in about 36,000 deaths on the...
)
Deaths
- April 16 - Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de BuffonGeorges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de BuffonGeorges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopedic author.His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier...
, 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...
naturalistNatural historyNatural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
(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:...
) - May 8 - Giovanni Antonio ScopoliGiovanni Antonio ScopoliGiovanni Antonio Scopoli was an Italian physician and naturalist.-Biography:...
, Italian-Austrian naturalist (b. 17231723 in scienceThe year 1723 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Geophysics:* George Graham discovers diurnal variation in Earth's magnetic field....
)