Overview of the events of 1799 in science
The year 1799 in science and technology involved many significant events, listed below.
Archaeology
Astronomy
Biology
Exploration
Geology
History of science
- Benjamin Hutchinson publishes Biographia Medica in London, the first English language historical dictionary of international medical biography.
Mathematics
Medicine
- March – The Pneumatic Institution for research into the medical implications of newly discovered gases is established by Thomas Beddoes in Bristol.
- Caleb Parry publishes An Inquiry Into the Symptoms and Causes of the Syncope Anginosa Commonly Called Angina Pectoris, illustrated by Dissections, describing the mechanisms for Angina.[7]
- Maria Dalle Donne becomes the first female Doctor of Medicine, at the University of Bologna.[8]
- Matthew Baillie begins publication in London of A Series of Engravings, Accompanied with Explanations, which are Intended to Illustrate the Morbid Anatomy of Some of the Most Important Parts of the Human Body, the first comprehensive atlas of pathology as a separate subject.
Metrology
- An all-platinum kilogramme prototype is fabricated with the objective of equalling as closely as feasible the mass of one cubic decimetre of water at 4 °C. The prototype is presented to the Archives of the French Republic in June and on December 10 is formally ratified as the Kilogramme des Archives and the kilogramme defined as being equal to its mass. This standard holds for the next ninety years.
Mineralogy
- Twelve-year-old Conrad John Reed finds what he described as a "heavy yellow rock" along Little Meadow Creek in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, and makes it a doorstop in his home. Conrad's father, John Reed, learns that the rock is actually gold in 1802, initiating the first gold rush in the United States.
Paleontology
Physics
Technology
Awards
Births
Deaths
- January 17 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician (born 1718)[12]
- January 22 – Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, Genevan pioneer of Alpine studies (born 1740)
- February 12 – Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian physiologist (born 1729)
- February 18 – Johann Hedwig, German bryologist (born 1730)
- February 19 – Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician and physicist (born 1733)
- June 4 – Philip Woodroffe, Irish surgeon
- July 7 – William Curtis, English botanist and entomologist (born 1747)
- August 2 – Jacques Étienne Montgolfier, French inventor (born 1745)
- August 25 – John Arnold, English watchmaker (born 1736)
- September 7 – Jan Ingenhousz, Dutch physiologist (born 1730)
- October 6 – William Withering, English physician, discoverer of digitalis (born 1741)
- December 6 – Joseph Black, Scottish chemist and physicist (born 1728)
- December 31 – Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French naturalist (born 1716)
References
- ^ Contributions to Physical and Medical Knowledge, principally from the West of England p. 4.
- ^ "biology, n". Oxford English Dictionary online version. Oxford University Press. September 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-01. (subscription or participating institution membership required)
- ^ Shaw, George; Nodder, Frederick Polydore (1799). "The Duck-Billed Platypus, Platypus anatinus". The Naturalist's Miscellany. 10 (CXVIII): 385–386. doi:10.5962/p.304567.
- ^ "Historical Background and Naming". Australian Platypus Conservancy. Retrieved 2011-04-16.
- ^ a b Winchester, Simon (2001). The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-14-028039-1.
- ^ Bogomolny, Alexander. "Simson Line: What is it?". Cut The Knot: Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles. Retrieved 2012-01-23.
- ^ "Parry, Caleb Hillier". Whonamedit?. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
- ^ "The 18th Century Women Scientists of Bologna". ScienceWeek. 2004. Archived from the original on 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ Woodbury, Robert S. (1960). "The Legend of Eli Whitney and Interchangeable Parts". Technology and Culture. 1.
- ^ "Copley Medal | British scientific award". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
- ^ Haines, Catharine M. C. (2001). International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-57607-090-1.
- ^ Haines, Catharine M. C. (2001). International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-57607-090-1.