1804 in science
The year 1804 in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed here.
See also: 1803 in science, other events of 1804, 1805 in science, list of years in science
Chemistry
- William Hyde Wollaston discovers palladium, and how to make malleable platinum
- Jons Jacob Berzelius discovers cerium
Exploration
- May 14 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois and begin their historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River
Geology
- Alexander von Humboldt discovers that the Earth's magnetic field decreases from the poles to the equator
Meteorology
- Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Jean Baptiste Biot study the atmosphere from a hot-air balloon
Technology
- Richard Trevithick produces his first railway locomotive
Awards
Births
- July 20 - Richard Owen, anatomist and paleontologist (died 1892)
- September 14 - John Gould, zoologist (died 1881)
- October 24 - Wilhelm Eduard Weber, physicist (died 1891)
- December 10 - Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, mathematician (died 1851)
- Robert Schomburgk, explorer (died 1865)
- William Stokes, physician (died 1878)
- Heinrich Lenz, physicist (died 1865)
- Matthias Schleiden, biologist (died 1881)
Deaths
- February 6 - Joseph Priestley, chemist (born 1733)
- October 2 - Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, engineer (born 1725)
- Pierre Méchain, astronomer (born 1744)