1774 in science

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Overview of the events of 1774 in science

List of years in science

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1774 in science

1773

1775

Fields

* Archaeology

Technology

* Sustainable energy research
* Transportation technology

Social sciences

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* Governance and policy studies

Paleontology

* Dinosaurs' extinction

Extraterrestrial environment
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The year 1774 in science and technology involved some significant events.

## Astronomy

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* Johann Elert Bode discovers the galaxy Messier 81.
* Lagrange publishes a paper on the motion of the nodes of a planet's orbit.

## Biology

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* Italian physicist Abbé Bonaventura Corti publishes Osservazioni microscopiche sulla tremella e sulla circulazione del fluido in una pianta acquajuola in Lucca, including his discovery of cyclosis in plant cells.[1]
* French physician Antoine Parmentier publishes Examen chymique des pommes de terres in Paris, analysing the nutritional value of the potato.

## Chemistry

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* August 1 – Joseph Priestley, working at Bowood House, Wiltshire, England, isolates oxygen in the form of a gas, which he calls "dephlogisticated air".[2]
* Antoine Lavoisier publishes his first book, a literature review on the composition of air, Opuscules physiques et chimiques.
* Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovers "dephlogisticated muriatic acid" (chlorine), manganese and barium.

## Exploration

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* Second voyage of James Cook
* June 16/17 – English explorer Captain Cook becomes the first European to sight (and name) Palmerston Island in the Pacific Ocean.
* September 4 – Cook becomes the first European to sight (and name) the island of New Caledonia in Melanesia.
* October 10 – Cook becomes the first European to sight (and name) Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean, uninhabited at this date.

## Mathematics

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* P.-S. Laplace publishes Mémoire sur la probabilité des causes par les événements, including a restatement of Bayes' theorem.[3]

## Medicine and physiology

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* William Hunter's Anatomia uteri humani gravidi tabulis illustrata | The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus exhibited in figures is published by John Baskerville in Birmingham, England.
* Sugita Genpaku's Kaitai Shinsho ("New Text on Anatomy"), based on a Dutch publication, is published with illustrations in Japan, the first modern anatomy textbook produced there.

## Physics

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* The Schiehallion experiment is carried out by Nevil Maskelyne to determine the mean density of the Earth.[4]

## Technology

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* January 27 – John Wilkinson patents a method for boring cannon from the solid, subsequently utilised for accurate boring of steam engine cylinders.[5]
* Jesse Ramsden produces an advanced circular dividing engine with the support of the Board of Longitude.[6][7]

## Awards

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* Copley Medal: Not awarded[8]

## Births

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* April 21 – Jean-Baptiste Biot (died 1862), French physicist.
* April 24 – Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (died 1838), French otorhinolaryngologist.
* April 28 – Francis Baily (died 1844), English astronomer.
* May 7 – Francis Beaufort (died 1856), Irish-born hydrographer.
* May 28 – Edward Howard (died 1816), English chemist.
* August 18 – Meriwether Lewis (died 1809), American explorer.
* September 26 – John Chapman (died 1845), American nurseryman.
* November 12 – Charles Bell (died 1842), Scottish-born anatomist.
* December 12 – William Henry (died 1836), English chemist.

## Deaths

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* February 4 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French geographer (born 1701)
* May 1 – William Hewson, English surgeon, anatomist and physiologist, "father of haematology" (born 1739)
* July 9 – Anna Morandi Manzolini, Italian anatomist (born 1714)[9]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Hughes, Arthur (1959). A History of Cytology. London: Abelard-Schuman. p. 41.
2. ^ Priestley, Joseph (1775). "An Account of Further Discoveries in Air". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 65: 384–94\. doi:10.1098/rstl.1775.0039. JSTOR 106209.
3. ^ McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch (2011). The Theory That Would Not Die. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16969-0.
4. ^ "An account of Observations made on the Mountain Schehallien for finding its attraction". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (London) 6 July 1775.
5. ^ Harris, J. R. (2004). "Wilkinson, John (1728–1808)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2011-01-14. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
6. ^ Boorstin, Daniel J. (1983). The Discoverers: a history of man's search to know his world and himself. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-40229-1.
7. ^ Daumas, Maurice (1953). Les Instruments scientifiques aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
8. ^ "Copley Medal | British scientific award". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
9. ^ Messbarge, Rebecca (2019). The Lady Anatomist: The Life and Work of Anna Morandi Manzolini. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. p. 168\. ISBN 978-0-22652-083-4.

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