1790 in science
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{{Science year nav|1790}}
The year 1790 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Astronomy
- Armagh Observatory, founded in Ireland by Richard Robinson, 1st Baron Rokeby, Archbishop of Armagh, begins to function.
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.{{cite web|url=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&S1=1790$.PD.&OS=ISD/$/$/1790&RS=ISD/1790$$ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415181250/http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&S1=1790%24.PD.&OS=ISD%2F%24%2F%24%2F1790&RS=ISD%2F1790%24%24 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2016-04-15 |title=Patent Number: US0X0000001 }}
- 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.{{cite journal|last=Weeks|first=Mary Elvira|authorlink=Mary Elvira Weeks|title=The discovery of the elements: X. The alkaline earth metals and magnesium and cadmium|journal=Journal of Chemical Education|year=1932|volume=9|pages=1046–1057|doi=10.1021/ed009p1046|issue=6|bibcode=1932JChEd...9.1046W}}{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/00033794200201411|title=The early history of strontium|year=1942|last=Partington|first=J. R.|journal=Annals of Science|volume=5|page=157|issue=2}}
Physiology and medicine
- First recorded case of artificial insemination when British surgeon John Hunter helps impregnate a linen draper's wife.{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1958/feb/26/artificial-insemination-of-married-women|title=Artificial Insemination of Married Women (Hansard, 26 February 1958)|website=api.parliament.uk|access-date=2020-03-02}}{{Cite journal|last1=Ombelet|first1=W.|last2=Van Robays|first2=J.|date=2015|title=Artificial insemination history: hurdles and milestones|journal=Facts, Views & Vision in ObGyn|volume=7|issue=2|pages=137–143|issn=2032-0418|pmc=4498171|pmid=26175891}}
Technology
- January 30 – Henry Greathead's Original rescue life-boat is tested on the River Tyne in England.{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}
Awards
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){{cite web |title=William Cullen {{!}} Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh |url=https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/college-history/william-cullen |website=www.rcpe.ac.uk |access-date=3 December 2020}}
- 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)