1750 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1750 in science
and technology
involved some significant events.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
involved some significant events.
Astronomy
- Thomas WrightThomas Wright (astronomer)Thomas Wright was an English astronomer, mathematician, instrument maker, architect and garden designer. He was the first to describe the shape of the Milky Way and speculate that faint nebulae were distant galaxies....
suggests that the Milky WayMilky WayThe Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
GalaxyGalaxyA galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...
is a disk-shaped system of starStarA star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s with the solar systemSolar SystemThe Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
near the centre.
Exploration
- April 1 - Pehr OsbeckPehr OsbeckPehr Osbeck was a Swedish explorer, naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus.-Naturalist in Canton:He was born in the parish of Hålanda in Västergötland and studied at Uppsala with Carolus Linnaeus...
sets out on a primarily botanical expedition to ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
Physics
- January 17 - John CantonJohn CantonJohn Canton FRS was an English physicist.Canton was born in Middle Street Stroud, Gloucestershire, the son of a weaver John Canton and Esther He had only a common education, after which he was put apprentice to a broadcloth weaver, but his leisure hours were devoted to mathematical studies, and...
reads a paper before the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
on a method of making artificial magnetMagnetA magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, and attracts or repels other magnets.A permanent magnet is an object...
s.
Births
- March 16 - Caroline HerschelCaroline HerschelCaroline Lucretia Herschel was a German-British astronomer, the sister of astronomer Sir Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel with whom she worked throughout both of their careers. Her most significant contribution to astronomy was the discovery of several comets and in particular the periodic comet...
, German-born English astronomer (died 18481848 in scienceThe year 1848 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Events:* September 20 - The American Association for the Advancement of Science is set up in Pennsylvania by re-formation of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists, with William Charles Redfield...
) - July 5 - Aimé ArgandAimé ArgandFrançois Pierre Ami Argand was a Swiss physicist and chemist. He invented the Argand lamp, a great improvement on the traditional oil lamp. -Early years:...
, Swiss physicist and chemist (died 18031803 in scienceThe year 1803 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* April 26 - A meteorite shower falls on L'Aigle in Normandy; Jean Baptiste Biot demonstrates that they are of extraterrestrial origin.-Botany:...
) - September 22 - Christian Konrad SprengelChristian Konrad SprengelChristian Konrad Sprengel was a German theologist, teacher and, most importantly, a naturalist. He is most famously known for his research into plant sexuality....
, German botanist (died 18161816 in scienceThe year 1816 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Medicine:* René Laennec invents the stethoscope.* Caleb Parry publishes An Experimental Inquiry into the Nature, Cause and Varieties of the Arterial Pulse, describing the mechanisms for the pulse.-Mineralogy:*...
) - Aaron ArrowsmithAaron ArrowsmithAaron Arrowsmith was an English cartographer, engraver and publisher and founding member of the Arrowsmith family of geographers. He moved to Soho Square, London from Winston, County Durham when about twenty years of age, and was employed by John Cary, the engraver and William Faden. He became...
, English cartographer (died 18231823 in scienceThe year 1823 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* Olbers' paradox is described by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers.* December 29 - Great Comet of 1823 first observed.-Chemistry:...
) - Jean Nicolas FortinJean Nicolas FortinJean Nicolas Fortin was a scientist who invented the Fortin barometer.- References :...
, French physicist and instrument maker who invented a portable mercury barometer in 18001800 in scienceThe year 1800 in science and technology included many significant events.-Astronomy:* The central star of the Ring Nebula is discovered by Fredrich von Hahn: the central star is a white dwarf star with a temperature of between 100000 and 120000 K....
(died 18311831 in scienceThe year 1831 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* January 7 - Great Comet of 1831 first observed by John Herapath....
)
Deaths
- December 1 - Johan Gabriel DoppelmayrJohan Gabriel DoppelmayrJohann Gabriel Doppelmayr was a German mathematician, astronomer, cartographer, and wrote about sundials....
, German mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer (born 16771677 in scienceThe year 1677 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Mathematics:* Publication of Cocker's Arithmetick: Being a Plain and Familiar Method Suitable to the Meanest Capacity for the Full Understanding of That Incomparable Art, As It Is Now Taught by the Ablest School-Masters in...
)