The year 1798 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

• Caroline Herschel's index and updating of Flamsteed's star catalogue is published by the Royal Society of London.^[1]

Chemistry

• The element beryllium is discovered by Louis Vauquelin as the oxide in beryl and in emeralds. Friedrich W hler and A. A. Bussy independently isolate the metal in 1828 by reacting potassium and beryllium chloride.

Demography

• Thomas Robert Malthus publishes the first edition of An Essay on the Principle of Population (anonymously) in London.

Mathematics

• Lagrange publishes his R solution des quations num riques, including the method of approximating to the real roots of an equation by means of continued fractions.

Medicine

• Edward Jenner publishes An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae.
• Charles Bell publishes A System of Dissection Explaining the Anatomy of the Human Body in collaboration with his brother John.^[2]
• John Dalton publishes "Extraordinary Facts Relating to the Vision of Colours", describing colour blindness for the first time.^[3]
• Philippe Pinel publishes Nosographie philosophique, ou m thode de l'analyse appliqu e la m decine, emphasising the importance of nosology (classification of diseases) to medicine. It goes through six editions in the next ten years.^[4]
• Samuel Thomas von S mmerring publishes Tabula sceleti feminini in Frankfurt am Main, the first accurate representation of the female skeleton.

Physics

• Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, publishes An Experimental Enquiry Concerning the Source of the Heat which is Excited by Friction.

Technology

• James Sadler introduces the table engine at the Portsmouth Block Mills in England.

Publications

• The Philosophical Magazine is initiated by Alexander Tilloch to cover the field of natural philosophy; it will still be published more than two centuries later.^[5]

Awards

• Copley Medal: Sir George Shuckburgh-Evelyn, 6th Baronet; Evelyn Charles Hatchett

Births

• April 3 - Charles Wilkes, American navigator (died 1877)
• August 17 - Thomas Hodgkin, English physician (died 1866)
• November 4 - Karl Kreil, Austrian astronomer (died 1862)
• December 28 - Thomas Henderson, Scottish astronomer (died 1844)

Deaths

• May 10 - George Vancouver, English explorer (born 1757)
• May 2 - Erland Samuel Bring, Swedish mathematician (born 1736)
• December 4 - Luigi Galvani, Italian physicist (born 1737)

References

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