1781

Events in 1781 5

• 1781 – 1848 Bernard Bolzano (1781-1848) Died 18 December 1848, aged 67 Bohemian mathematician, philosopher and priest who worked in Prague. He did pioneering work on the foundations of analysis, including the Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem and the intermediate value theorem. Much of his work was recognised only after his death.
• 1781 – 1848 George Stephenson (1781-1848) Died 12 August 1848, aged 67 English engineer known as the Father of Railways. He built the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. His track gauge of 4 ft 8½ in became the standard gauge used across much of the world.
• 1781 Herschel discovers Uranus First planet discovered since antiquity On 13 March 1781, William Herschel of Bath discovered Uranus using a home-made reflecting telescope — the first planet discovered since ancient times and the first found by systematic telescopic search. The discovery doubled the known size of the solar system and demonstrated that new planets could still be found. It also prompted mathematical predictions of Neptune 65 years later.
• 1781 – 1841 Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) Died 9 October 1841, aged 60 Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the leading Prussian architect of his era, died in Berlin on 9 October 1841. As state architect he designed landmark buildings including the Altes Museum and the Neue Wache, shaping the neoclassical character of Berlin. His work had a lasting influence on German architecture and urban planning.
• 1781 – 1840 Simeon Denis Poisson (1781-1840) Died 25 April 1840, aged 58 Simeon Denis Poisson was a French mathematician and physicist known for his work on probability theory, statistics, and mechanics, including the Poisson distribution that bears his name. He contributed significantly to electricity, magnetism, and celestial mechanics. He died on 25 April 1840 in Paris.