1788 in science

Astronomy

• December 21 – Caroline Herschel discovers the periodic comet 35P/Herschel–Rigollet.

  Biology

• Dr. Edward Jenner publishes his observation that it is the newly hatched common cuckoo which pushes its host's eggs and chicks out of the nest.
• James E. Smith founds the Linnean Society of London.
• Utamaro publishes Ehon Mushi Erami in Japan with color illustrations.
• Thomas Walter publishes Flora Caroliniana, the first flora of North America to follow Linnaean taxonomy.
• Gilbert White publishes The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in the County of Southampton, a pioneering observational study of English ecology.

  Earth sciences

• James Hutton's Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe is published for the first time, in Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

  Mechanics

• Lagrange's Mécanique analytique is published in Paris, introducing Lagrangian mechanics.

  Medicine

• December 5 – Rev. Dr. Francis Willis is called in to advise on treatment of the mental condition of King George III of the United Kingdom.

  Technology

• February 1 – Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent a steamboat in the United States.
• October 14 – William Symington demonstrates a paddle steamer on Dalswinton Loch in Scotland.

  Awards

• Copley Medal: Charles Blagden

  Births

• March 7 – Antoine César Becquerel, French scientist
• March 22 – Pierre Joseph Pelletier, French chemist
• April 18 – Charlotte Murchison, Scottish geologist
• May 10 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist
• July 23 – Prideaux John Selby, English ornithologist
• September 12 - Charlotte von Siebold, German gynecologist
• October 14 – Edward Sabine, Anglo Irish physicist, astronomer and explorer
• December 21 – Thomas Southwood Smith, English physician and sanitary reformer
• James Murray, Irish physician

  Deaths

• April 16 – Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist
• May 8 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian-Austrian naturalist
• October 17 – John Brown, Scottish-born physician
• December 6 - Nicole-Reine Lepaute, French astronomer
• Lucia Galeazzi Galvani, Italian scientist
• approx. date – Moses Harris, English entomologist and engraver