Editing 1787 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1787|science}}
{{Science year nav|1787}}

The year '''1787 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events.

==Astronomy==
* January 11 – [[William Herschel]] discovers [[Titania (moon)|Titania]] and [[Oberon (moon)|Oberon]], the first [[natural satellite|moons]] of [[Uranus]] found.
* February 19 – [[First light (astronomy)|First light]] for William Herschel's [[40-foot telescope]] under construction at [[Observatory House]], [[Slough]], England.
* [[Caroline Herschel]] is granted an annual salary of [[Pound sterling|£]]50 by King [[George III of Great Britain]] for acting as assistant to her brother William in astronomy.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ogilvie|first= Marilyn Bailey|title=Women in Science: Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century|url=https://archive.org/details/womeninscience00mari|url-access=registration|publisher=MIT Press|year=1986|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womeninscience00mari/page/97 97–98]|isbn=0-262-65038-X}}</ref>

==Biology==
* [[William Curtis]] begins publication of ''The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed'' in [[London]]. As ''[[Curtis's Botanical Magazine]]'', it will still be published into the 21st century.
* [[Spanish people|Spanish]] [[physician]] Francisco Xavier Cid publishes ''Tarantismo Observado en España'', a study of [[tarantula]]s and the [[tarantella]] as a cure for their bite.
* King [[George III of Great Britain]], writing as Ralph Robinson of [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]], contributes to [[Arthur Young (writer)|Arthur Young]]'s ''Annals of Agriculture''.

==Chemistry==
* [[Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau|Guyton de Morveau]], Jean-Henri Hassenfratz, [[Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy|Antoine François]], [[Antoine Lavoisier]], [[Pierre Adet]] and [[Claude Louis Berthollet|Claude Berthollet]] publish ''[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_0MMPAAAAQAAJ_2 Méthode de nomenclature chimique]'' in [[Paris]].
* [[Jacques Charles]] proposes [[Charles's law]], a corollary of Boyle's law, describes relationship between [[temperature]] and volume of a gas.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jacques Alexandre César Charles |work=Centennial of Flight |publisher=U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission |year=2001 |url=http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Dictionary/Charles/DI16.htm |access-date=2007-02-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224222637/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Dictionary/Charles/DI16.htm |archive-date=2007-02-24 }}</ref>

==Physics==
* [[Ernst Chladni]] publishes ''Entdeckungen über die Theorie des Klanges'', demonstrating [[normal mode|modes of vibration]].
* [[Jean-Paul Marat]] publishes the first French translation of Newton's 'Opticks'

==Surveying==
* The first great [[Ramsden surveying instruments|theodolite]] constructed by [[Jesse Ramsden]] for the [[Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790)]] linking the observatories of Paris and Greenwich.<ref>*{{cite journal
|year = 1790
|last = Roy
|first =William
|title =An Account of the Trigonometrical Operation, Whereby the Distance between the Meridians of the Royal Observatories of Greenwich and Paris Has Been Determined 
|journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
|volume =80    |pages =111–254 
|url =https://archive.org/stream/philtrans00940584/00940584#page/n0/mode/2up
|doi=10.1098/rstl.1790.0015
|s2cid = 186211548
}}
</ref>

==Technology==
* June – [[William Symington]] [[patent]]s improvements to the [[Watt steam engine]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter=The Improved Atmospheric Engine|first1=W. S.|last1=Harvey|first2=G.|last2=Downs-Rose|title=William Symington, inventor and engine builder|location=London|publisher=Northgate Publishing|year=1980|isbn=0-85298-443-X|pages=19–32}}</ref>
* c. July – [[John Wilkinson (industrialist)|John Wilkinson]] launches an iron barge in the [[English Midlands]].<ref>{{cite web|title=John Wilkinson (1728 – 1808)|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilkinson_john.shtml|work=History – Historic Figures|publisher=BBC|access-date=2011-06-29}}</ref>
* August 27 – Launching a {{Convert|45|ft|m|adj=on}} [[steamboat|steam-powered craft]] on the [[Delaware River]], [[John Fitch (inventor)|John Fitch]] demonstrates the first [[United States]] patent for his design.
* December 3 – [[James Rumsey]] demonstrates a water-jet propelled boat on the [[Potomac River|Potomac]].
* First production of all-iron edge rail (for underground colliery [[rail transport]]), at Plymouth Ironworks, [[Merthyr Tydfil]], [[South Wales]].<ref>{{cite book|last=van Laun|first=John|title=Early Limestone Railways|publisher=[[Newcomen Society]]|location=London|year=2001|isbn=0-904685-09-8|pages=203–4}}</ref>
* First introduction of a [[plateway]], underground at [[Sheffield]] Park Colliery, [[Yorkshire]], [[England]], by [[John Curr]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=none|publisher=[[Railway and Canal Historical Society]], Early Railway Group|journal=Occasional Paper|volume=184,192}}</ref>
* [[William Chapman (engineer)|William Chapman]] designs a segmental [[skew arch]] at Finlay Bridge, [[Naas]], on the Kildare Canal in [[Ireland]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland|first=W. Alan|last=McCutcheon|year=1984|page=16|isbn=0-8386-3125-8|location=Belfast|publisher=HMSO|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3-96ic2OHB8C&pg=PA16}}</ref>
* Levi Hutchins of New Hampshire produces a mechanical [[alarm clock]].

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[John Hunter (surgeon)|John Hunter]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=21 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

==Births==
* January 24 – [[Christophe-Paulin de La Poix de Fréminville]] (died [[1848 in science|1848]]), [[French people|French]] [[explorer]] and [[naturalist]].
* March 6 – [[Joseph von Fraunhofer]] (died [[1826 in science|1826]]), [[Bavaria]]n [[physicist]].
* March 8 – [[Karl Ferdinand von Graefe]] (died [[1840 in science|1840]]), [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish]]-born [[Germans|German]] [[surgeon]].
* March 9 – [[Josephine Kablick]] (died [[1863 in science|1863]]), Czech [[botanist]] and [[paleontologist]]. 
* March 28 – [[Claudius James Rich]] (died [[1821 in science|1821]]), British [[Archeology|archaeologist]] and [[Anthropology|anthropologist]].
* March 29 – [[Carl Sprengel|Carl Philipp Sprengel]] (died [[1859 in science|1859]]), German [[botanist]].
* April 24 – [[Mathieu Orfila]] (died [[1853 in science|1853]]), Spanish-born French [[physician]] and [[chemist]].
* May 27 – [[Benjamin Valz]] (died [[1867 in science|1867]]), French [[astronomer]].
* June 2 – [[Nils Gabriel Sefström]] (died [[1845 in science|1845]]), Swedish [[chemist]] and [[mineralogy|mineralogist]].
* June 3 – [[Auguste Le Prévost]] (died [[1859 in science|1859]]), French [[geologist]], [[philologist]], [[archaeologist]] and [[historian]].
* June 4 – [[Constant Prévost]] (died [[1856 in science|1856]]), French [[geologist]].
* June 7 – [[William Conybeare (geologist)|William Conybeare]] (died [[1857 in science|1857]]), [[English people|English]] [[geologist]].
* June 27 – [[Thomas Say]] (died [[1834 in science|1834]]), [[United States|American]] [[natural history|naturalist]].
* August 16 – [[Jean Michel Claude Richard]] (died [[1868 in science|1868]]), French [[botanist]].
* August 24 – [[James Weddell]] (died 1834), [[Flanders|Flemish]]-born [[Anglo-Scot]]s [[seal hunter]] and [[Antarctic]] explorer.
* September 5 – [[François Sulpice Beudant]] (died [[1850 in science|1850]]), French [[Mineralogy|mineralogist]] et [[geologist]].
* September 15 – [[Guillaume-Henri Dufour]] (died [[1875 in science|1875]]), Swiss [[engineer]] et [[topographer]].
* November 5 – [[John Richardson (naturalist)|John Richardson]] (died [[1865 in science|1865]]), Scottish naturalist, explorer and [[surgeon]].
* November 9 – [[Johann Natterer]] (died [[1843 in science|1843]]), Austrian [[naturalist]].
* November 18 – [[Louis Daguerre]] (died [[1851 in science|1851]]), French inventor.
* December 17 – [[John Forbes (physician)|John Forbes]] (died [[1861 in science|1861]]), Scottish physician
* December 17 (or 18) – [[Jan Evangelista Purkinje]] (died [[1869 in science|1869]]), Czech [[anatomist]] et [[neurophysiologist]].
* Undated – [[Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis]] (died [[1872 in science|1872]]), French [[physician]].

==Deaths==
* February 13 – [[Ruđer Bošković]], [[Republic of Ragusa|Ragusan]] physicist, mathematician and astronomer (born [[1711 in science|1711]])
* May 10 – [[William Watson (scientist)|William Watson]], English physician, botanist and physicist (born [[1715 in science|1715]])

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1787 in science| ]]
[[Category:18th century in science]]
[[Category:1780s in science]]