The year 1794 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Anatomy

Antonio Scarpa publishes Tabulae neurologicae ad illustrandam historiam cardiacorum nervorum, noni nervorum cerebri, glossopharingei et pharingei, the first work to give an accurate depiction of cardiac innervation, and to include the discovery that the inner ear is filled with fluid.[1][2]

Astronomy

Ernst Chladni publishes Über den Ursprung der von Pallas gefundenen und anderer ihr ähnlicher Eisenmassen und über einige damit in Verbindung stehende Naturerscheinungen ("On the Origin of the Pallas Iron and Others Similar to it, and on Some Associated Natural Phenomena") in which he proposes that meteorites have their origins in outer space.[3]
Completion of the Radcliffe Observatory for the University of Oxford.

Biology

Erasmus Darwin publishes the first edition of Zoonomia, a medical work in two volumes that touches upon proto-evolutionary concepts, notably arguing that all extant organisms are descended from one common ancestor. The work will later influence his grandson, Charles Darwin.

Chemistry

Discovery of Yttrium

Mathematics

Adrien-Marie Legendre publishes Éléments de géométrie, which becomes a popular textbook for many years.

Medicine

Thomas Beddoes with James Watt publish Considerations on the Medicinal Use and on the Production of Factitious Airs in Bristol.[4]

Technology

March 14 - Eli Whitney receives a patent for his cotton gin in the United States.[5]
Journal des Mines first published in Paris by l'Agence des mines de la République.[6]

Awards

Copley Medal: Alessandro Volta

Births

5 March 1794 Birth of Jacques Babinet

17 March 1794, Birth of Thomas Maclear in Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland

May 24 - William Whewell, scientist, philosopher, and historian of science (died 1866)
29 May 1794 Birth of Johann Heinrich von Mädler in Berlin, Germany astronomer (died 1874)
August 15 - Elias Magnus Fries, botanist (died 1878)
October 28 - Robert Liston, surgeon (died 1847)
Ferdinand Deppe, naturalist, explorer and painter (died 1861)

1794 Birth of (Marie Jean) Pierre Flourens

1794 Birth of Georg Simon Plössl

Deaths

February 22 - Caspar Friedrich Wolff, physiologist (born 1733)
March 28 - Marquis de Condorcet, mathematician (born 1743)
May 8 - Antoine Lavoisier, chemist (born 1743) (guillotined)

22 August 1794 Death of Achille-Pierre Dionis du Séjour in Vernou near Fortainebleau, France
October 28 - John Smeaton, civil engineer (born 1724)

References

^ Acierno, Louis J. (1994). The History of Cardiology. Informa Health Care. ISBN 1-85070-339-6.
^ Jahn, Anthony F.; Santos-Sacchi, Joseph, ed. (2001). Physiology of the Ear. Thomson Delmar Learning. ISBN 1-56593-994-8.
^ Williams, Henry Smith (1904). "5". A history of science. 3. Harper. pp. 168ff. ISBN 0-250-40142-8.
^ Stansfield, Dorothy A.; Ronald G. (1986). "Dr Thomas Beddoes and James Watt: Preparatory Work 1794–96 for the Bristol Pneumatic Institute". Medical History 30: 276–302.
^ Later numbered as X72.
^ Accès en ligne du Journal et des Annales des mines 1794-1881.