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1778 in science
The year
1778 in
science
and
technology
involved some significant events.
Astronomy
Lagrange
delivers his treatise on
comet
ary
perturbations
to the
Académie française
.
Chemistry
Molybdenum
discovered by
Carl Wilhelm Scheele
.
Antoine Lavoisier
, considered "The father of modern chemistry", recognizes and names oxygen, and recognizes its importance and role in combustion.
Earth sciences and exploration
January 18 â On his
third voyage
,
Captain
James Cook
, with ships
HMS
Resolution
and
HMS
Discovery
, becomes the first European to view the
Hawaiian Islands
in the
Pacific Ocean
.
March 6 â October 24 â Captain Cook explores and maps the
Pacific Northwest
coast of
North America
from
Cape Foulweather
(
Oregon
) to the
Bering Strait
.
James Rennell
publishes a chart and memoir of the
Agulhas Current
, one of the first contributions to scientific
oceanography
.
Medicine
John Hunter
publishes
The Natural History of the Human Teeth
.
Samuel-Auguste Tissot
begins publication of
Traité des nerfs et de leurs maladies
, including a classical account of
migraine
.
Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring
describes the organization of the
cranial nerves
.
Publication of
Collection of observations on diseases and epidemic constitutions
(
Collection dâÂÂobservations sur les maladies et constitutions épidémiques
), by
Louis Lépecq de La Clôture
, work consisting mainly of a 15-year observation of the relations between climate, geography and pathologies in
Normandy
.
Technology
Joseph Bramah
patent
s an improved design of
flush toilet
in
London
.
The brothers
Hans Ulrich
and
Johannes Grubenmann
complete a bridge across the
Limmat
at
Wettingen
in
Switzerland
, a 60 m span which is the first known use of a
true arch
in a
timber
bridge.
Zoology
Petrus Camper
publishes
On the Points of Similarity between the Human Species, Quadrupeds, Birds, and Fish; with Rules for Drawing, founded on this Similarity
, an early work of
comparative anatomy
.
Johan Christian Fabricius
publishes his
Philosophia Entomologica
in
Hamburg
.
Awards
Copley Medal
:
Charles Hutton
Births
February 4 âÂÂ
A. P. de Candolle
,
Swiss
botanist
(died
1841
)
May 18 âÂÂ
Andrew Ure
,
Scottish
industrial chemist
and
encyclopaedist
(died
1857
)
December 6 âÂÂ
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac
,
French
chemist
and
physicist
(died
1850
)
December 17 âÂÂ
Humphry Davy
,
English
chemist (died
1829
)
December 25
(bapt.)
âÂÂ
Joseph Aspdin
, English inventor (died
1855
)
Maria Dalle Donne
,
Bolognese
physician
(died
1842
)
Anna Maria Walker
, Scottish botanist (died
1852
)
Deaths
January 10 âÂÂ
Carl Linnaeus
,
Swedish
botanist
, first to develop standard nomenclature for naming species (born
1707
)
February 20 âÂÂ
Laura Bassi
,
Italian
scientist
(born
1711
)
March 7 âÂÂ
Charles De Geer
, Swedish industrialist and
entomologist
(born
1720
)
May 6 âÂÂ
Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet
,
French
pharmacist
and
botanist
(born 1720)
References