1746 in science
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The year 1746 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Chemistry
- John Roebuck invents the lead-chamber process for the manufacture of sulfuric acid.
- German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf (1709–1782) is credited with describing zinc as a separate metal.
- Eva Ekeblad discovers how to make flour and alcohol out of potatoes.[1]
Geology
- Jean-Étienne Guettard presents the first mineralogical map of France to the French Academy of Sciences.
- William Cookworthy discovers kaolin in Cornwall.[2]
Mathematics
- Jean le Rond d'Alembert develops the theory of complex numbers.
- Patrick d'Arcy announces discovery of the principle of angular momentum in a form known as "the principle of areas" (areal velocity).[3]
- Scottish mathematician Matthew Stewart publishes Some General Theorems of Considerable use in the Higher Parts of Mathematics, including an account of Stewart's theorem on the measurement of the triangle.
Technology
- Pierre Bouguer publishes a treatise on naval architecture,Traité du navire, which first explains use of the metacentric height as a measure of ships' stability.[4]
- John Muller publishes A Treatise Containing the Elementary Part of Fortification.
Zoology
- Linnaeus publishes Fauna Svecica.
Awards
Births
- January 4 - Benjamin Rush, Founding Father of the United States, chemist and physician (died 1813)
- March 7 - André Michaux, French botanist (died 1802)
- May 10 - Gaspard Monge, French mathematician (died 1818)
- July 7 - Giuseppe Piazzi, Italian Theatine monk, astronomer and mathematician (died 1826)
- March 15 - Giovanni Battista Venturi, Italian physicist after whom the Venturi tube is named (died 1822)
- Louise du Pierry, French astronomer (died 1789)
Deaths
- June 14 - Colin Maclaurin, Scottish mathematician (born 1698)
- November 14 - Georg Steller, German naturalist (born 1709)
References
- ^ Biography (Swedish)
- ^ Penderill-Church, John (1972). William Cookworthy 1705-1780: a study of the pioneer of true porcelain manufacture in England. Truro: Bradford Barton.
- ^ D'Arcy, M. le Chevalier (1747). "Principe Géneral de Dynamique". Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences. Paris: 348–356.
- ^ Ferreiro, Larrie D. (2007). Ships and Science: the Birth of Naval Architecture in the Scientific Revolution, 1600-1800. Cambridge: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-06259-6.