1791 in science
The year 1791 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Biology
- Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard begins publication of Histoire des champignons de la France, a significant text in mycology.
- Luigi Galvani publishes his discoveries in "animal electricity".
Chemistry
- Nicolas Leblanc patents the Leblanc process for the production of soda ash from common salt.
- The element Titanium is discovered included in ilmenite in Cornwall, England, by local amateur geologist Rev. William Gregor.
Medicine
- May 7 – Irish surgeon Samuel Croker-King first describes his trepanning device.
Metrology
- March – In France, the National [Constituent Assembly (France)|National Constituent Assembly] accepts the recommendation of its Commission of Weights and Measures that the nation should adopt the metric system.
Physics
- Pierre Prévost shows that all bodies radiate heat, no matter how hot or cold they are.
Technology
- James Rumsey is granted a patent related to fluid power engineering, in England.
Publications
- Sir [John Sinclair, 1st Baronet|Sir John Sinclair]'s Statistical Account of Scotland begins publication, introducing the term Statistics into English.
Awards
Births
- March 20 – John Farey, English mechanical engineer and technical writer
- April 9 – George Peacock, English mathematician
- April 27 – Samuel F. B. Morse, American inventor
- July 13 – Allan Cunningham, English botanist and explorer
- July 27 – Jean-Nicolas Gannal, French pharmacist, chemist and inventor
- September 4 – Robert Knox, Scottish anatomist
- September 22 – Michael Faraday, English chemist and physicist
- September 23 – Johann Franz Encke, German astronomer
- December 26 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor of computing machines
Deaths
- July 24 – Ignaz von Born, Hungarian metallurgist
- Date unknown – Maria Petraccini, Italian anatomist and physician