title: 1781 in science
text: # 1781 in science
  
  The year 1781 in science and technology involved some significant events.
  
  ## Astronomy
  
  * March 13 – William Herschel observes Uranus (although initially recording it as a comet).
  * March 20 – Pierre Méchain discovers dwarf galaxy NGC 5195.
  * Charles Messier's final catalogue of Messier objects is published.
  * Christian Mayer's catalogue of binary stars is published.
  
  ## Biology
  
  * Felice Fontana uses a microscope to describe the axon of a brain cell.
  * John Latham begins publication of A General Synopsis of Birds.
  
  ## Chemistry
  
  * Archibald Cochrane, 9th Earl of Dundonald is granted a British patent for the manufacture of coal tar.
  * Carl Wilhelm Scheele ascertains that a new acid can be made from tungstenite, leading to the discovery of tungsten in 1783.
  * Autumn – Peter Jacob Hjelm isolates molybdenum.
  
  ## Awards
  
  * Copley Medal: William Herschel
  
  ## Births
  
  * January 30 – Adelbert von Chamisso, poet and botanist (died 1838)
  * February 17 – Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec, French physician, inventor of the stethoscope (died 1826).
  * May 29 – John Walker, English chemist (died 1859)
  * June 9 – George Stephenson, English locomotive engineer (died 1848)
  * June 21 – Siméon Poisson, mathematician (died 1840)
  * July 6 – Thomas Stamford Raffles, founder of the Zoological Society of London (died 1826)
  * September 14 – James Walker, Scottish civil engineer (died 1862)
  * October 5 – Bernhard Bolzano, mathematician (died 1848)
  * December 11 – David Brewster, Scottish physicist (died 1868)
  
  ## Deaths
  
  * May 27 – Giovanni Battista Beccaria, Italian physicist (born 1716)
  