1790 in science

Astronomy

• Armagh Observatory, founded in Ireland by Richard Robinson, 1st Baron Rokeby, Archbishop of Armagh, begins to function.
• Johann Tobias Lowitz observes a complex halo display in St. Petersburg.

Biology

• English ornithologist John Latham publishes his Index Ornithologicus, including a scientific description of the black swan.
• English botanical illustrator James Sowerby begins publication of his English Botany, with text by James E. Smith.
• Goethe publishes Metamorphosis of Plants.

Chemistry

• July 31 – Samuel Hopkins of Vermont is granted a patent for a potash production technique, the first issued under the 1st United States Congress's Patent Act of 1790.
• Publication in Montpellier of Jean-Antoine Chaptal's Élémens de chimie, in which he coins the word nitrogen (nitrogène).
• Adair Crawford, working with William Cruickshank, proposes the existence of the alkaline earth metal located near Strontian in Scotland which will later be isolated at strontium.

Physiology and medicine

• First recorded case of artificial insemination when British surgeon John Hunter helps impregnate a linen draper's wife.

Technology

• January 30 – Henry Greathead's Original rescue life-boat is tested on the River Tyne in England.

Awards

• Copley Medal: Not awarded

Births

• February 3 – Gideon Mantell, English paleontologist (died 1852)
• March 12 – John Frederic Daniell, English chemist and physicist (died 1845)
• May 23 – Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer (died 1842)
• May 30 – John Herapath, English physicist (died 1868)
• July 4 – George Everest, Welsh surveyor and geographer (died 1866)
• October 25 – Robert Stirling, Scottish inventor (died 1878)
• November 17 – August Ferdinand Möbius, German mathematician (died 1868)
• December 9 – Friederike Lienig, Latvian entomologist (d. 1855)
• December 19 – William Edward Parry, English Arctic explorer (died 1855)

Deaths

• February 5 – William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (born 1710)
• March 22 – Anthony Addington, English physician (born 1713)
• April 17 – Benjamin Franklin, American statesman and polymath, known for his experiments with electricity (born 1706)
• July 17 – Johann II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (born 1710)

References

References

1. (1794). "Déscription d'un météore remarquable, observé à St. Pétersbourg le 18 Juin 1790".
2. "Patent Number: US0X0000001".
3. Weeks, Mary Elvira. (1932). "The discovery of the elements: X. The alkaline earth metals and magnesium and cadmium". [[Journal of Chemical Education]].
4. Partington, J. R.. (1942). "The early history of strontium". [[Annals of Science]].
5. "Artificial Insemination of Married Women (Hansard, 26 February 1958)".
6. (2015). "Artificial insemination history: hurdles and milestones". Facts, Views & Vision in ObGyn.
7. (2006). "Penguin Pocket On This Day". Penguin Reference Library.
8. "Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award".
9. "William Cullen {{!}} Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh".