1791 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1791 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
- Jean Baptiste François Pierre BulliardJean Baptiste François Pierre BulliardJean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard was a French physician and botanist....
begins publication of Histoire des champignons de la France, a significant text in mycologyMycologyMycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans as a source for tinder, medicinals , food and entheogens, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or...
. - Luigi GalvaniLuigi GalvaniLuigi Aloisio Galvani was an Italian physician and physicist who lived and died in Bologna. In 1791, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs legs twitched when struck by a spark...
publishes his discoveries in "animal electricity" (GalvanismGalvanismIn biology, galvanism is the contraction of a muscle that is stimulated by an electric current. In physics and chemistry, it is the induction of electrical current from a chemical reaction, typically between two chemicals with differing electronegativities....
).
Chemistry
- Nicolas Leblanc patents the Leblanc processLeblanc processThe Leblanc process was the industrial process for the production of soda ash used throughout the 19th century, named after its inventor, Nicolas Leblanc. It involved two stages: Production of sodium sulfate from sodium chloride, followed by reaction of the sodium sulfate with coal and calcium...
for the production of soda ash (sodium carbonateSodium carbonateSodium carbonate , Na2CO3 is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily effloresces to form a white powder, the monohydrate. Sodium carbonate is domestically well-known for its everyday use as a water softener. It can be extracted from the...
) from common salt (sodium chlorideSodium chlorideSodium chloride, also known as salt, common salt, table salt or halite, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaCl. Sodium chloride is the salt most responsible for the salinity of the ocean and of the extracellular fluid of many multicellular organisms...
).
Physics
- Pierre PrévostPierre PrévostPierre Prévost was a Swiss philosopher and physicist. In he showed that all bodies radiate heat, no matter how hot or cold they are.-Life:...
shows that all bodies radiate heat, no matter how hot or cold they are.
Technology
- James RumseyJames RumseyJames Rumsey was an American mechanical engineer chiefly known for exhibiting a boat propelled by machinery in 1787 on the Potomac River at Shepherdstown, now West Virginia, before a crowd of local notables, including Horatio Gates...
is granted a 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....
related to fluid powerFluid powerFluid power is the use of fluids under pressure to generate, control, and transmit power. Fluid power is subdivided into hydraulics using a liquid such as mineral oil or water, and pneumatics using a gas such as air or other gases...
engineering, in EnglandEnglandEngland 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...
.
Publications
- Sir John SinclairSir John Sinclair, 1st BaronetSir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet was a Scottish politician, writer on finance and agriculture and the first person to use the word statistics in the English language, in his vast, pioneering work, Statistical Account of Scotland, in 21 volumes.Sinclair was the eldest son of George Sinclair of...
's Statistical Account of ScotlandStatistical Accounts of ScotlandThe Statistical Accounts of Scotland are three series of documentary publications covering life in Scotland in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries....
begins publication, introducing the term StatisticsStatisticsStatistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
into EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Births
- March 20 - John FareyJohn Farey, Jr.-Biography.:Farey was the eldest son of John Farey, Sr., the geologist, and was born at Lambeth, London on March 20, 1791. Details of his education are obscure, but he undertook a systematic study of the manufacturing industry of London between 1804-5...
, English mechanical engineer and technical writer (died 18511851 in scienceThe year 1851 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* February - First public exhibition of a Foucault pendulum, at the Meridian of the Paris Observatory, demonstrating the Earth's rotation...
) - April 9 - George PeacockGeorge PeacockGeorge Peacock was an English mathematician.-Life:Peacock was born on 9 April 1791 at Thornton Hall, Denton, near Darlington, County Durham. His father, the Rev. Thomas Peacock, was a clergyman of the Church of England, incumbent and for 50 years curate of the parish of Denton, where he also kept...
, English mathematician (died 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...
) - April 27 - Samuel F. B. MorseSamuel F. B. MorseSamuel Finley Breese Morse was an American contributor to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs, co-inventor of the Morse code, and an accomplished painter.-Birth and education:...
, inventor (died 18721872 in scienceThe year 1872 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Conservation:* March 1 - Yellowstone National Park is established in the United States, the world's first national park.-Mathematics:...
) - July 13 - Allan CunninghamAllan Cunningham (botanist)Allan Cunningham was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in New South Wales to collect plants.- Early life :...
, English botanist and explorer (died 18391839 in scienceThe year 1839 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* January - The first parallax measurement of the distance to Alpha Centauri is published by Thomas Henderson.-Biology:...
) - September 22 - Michael FaradayMichael FaradayMichael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....
, chemist and physicist (died 18671867 in scienceThe year 1867 in science and technology involved many significant events, listed below.-Events:* April - First clear recorded usage of the word science in English with its modern usage as restricted to the natural and physical sciences The year 1867 in science and technology involved many...
) - September 23 - Johann Franz EnckeJohann Franz EnckeJohann Franz Encke was a German astronomer. Among his activities, he worked on the calculation of the periods of comets and asteroids, measured the distance from the earth to the sun, and made observations on the planet Saturn.-Biography:Encke was born in Hamburg, where his father was a...
, astronomer (died 18651865 in scienceThe year 1865 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Friedrich Kekulé proposes a ring structure for benzene.-Life sciences:* Louis Pasteur shows that the air is full of bacteria....
) - December 26 - Charles BabbageCharles BabbageCharles Babbage, FRS was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer...
, English mathematician and inventor of computing machines (died 18711871 in scienceThe year 1871 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Medicine and physiology:* Porphyria is first explained biochemically by Felix Hoppe-Seyler....
)