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."Verzeichniss aller bisher entdeckten Doppeltsterne" In Johann Elert Bode's Astronomisches Jahrbuch for 1784, pp. 183-6.
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)
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