The year 1759 in science and technology involved several significant events. H4 low 250

Astronomy

* Halley's Comet returns; a team of three mathematicians, Alexis Clairaut, Jérome Lalande and Nicole Reine Lepaute, have – for the first time – predicted the date.

Biology

* Caspar Friedrich Wolff's dissertation at the University of Halle ''Theoria Generationis'' supports the theory of epigenesis.

Botany

* Kew Gardens established in England by Augusta of Saxe-Coburg, the mother of George III.

Geology

* Giovanni Arduino proposes dividing the

geological history of Earth Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

into four periods: Primitive, Secondary, Tertiary and Volcanic, or

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

Medicine

* June 15 – The first

vascular surgery Vascular surgery is a surgical subspecialty in which diseases of the vascular system, or arteries, veins and lymphatic circulation, are managed by medical therapy, minimally-invasive catheter procedures and surgical reconstruction. The specialty ...

in history is performed by a Dr. Hallowell at Newcastle upon Tyne in England, who uses suture repair rather than a tying off with a ligature to repair an aneurysm on a patient's

brachial artery The brachial artery is the major blood vessel of the (upper) arm. It is the continuation of the axillary artery beyond the lower margin of teres major muscle. It continues down the ventral surface of the arm until it reaches the cubital fossa ...

. The new procedure of reconstructing a damaged artery replaces the practice of ligation that had risked the amputation of a limb or organ failure. *

Angélique du Coudray Angélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray (c. 1712 – 17 April 1794) was an influential, pioneering midwife during her lifetime, who gained fame when men were taking over the field. She rose from middle-class origins to become noticed and comm ...

publishes ''Abrégé de l'art des accouchements'' ("The Art of Obstetrics").

Physics

* Posthumous publication of

Émilie du Châtelet Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet (; 17 December 1706 – 10 September 1749) was a French natural philosopher and mathematician from the early 1730s until her death due to complications during childbirth in 1749. ...

's French translation and commentary on

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

's '' Principia'', ''Principes mathématiques de la philosophie naturelle''.

Technology

* English clockmaker John Harrison produces his "No. 1 sea watch" ("H4"), the first successful marine chronometer.

Transport

* James Brindley is engaged by the Duke of Bridgewater to construct a canal to transport coal to Manchester from the duke's mines at Worsley, in

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

. * October 16 – Smeaton's Tower, John Smeaton's Eddystone Lighthouse off the coast of South West England, is first illuminated. Smeaton's Lighthouse00

Awards

Copley Medal The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society, for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science". It alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences. Given every year, the medal is t ...

: John Smeaton

Births

* January 29 – Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc, French botanist (died

1828 Events January–March * January 4 – Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac succeeds the Comte de Villèle, as Prime Minister of France. * January 8 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized. * January 22 – Arthu ...

) * July 19 –

Jacques Anselme Dorthès Jacques Anselme Dorthès, born in Vauvert ( Gard) on 19 July 1759 and died during the 1794 campaign of the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees, was a French physician, entomologist and naturalist. Biography Destined to enter the orders, he abandoned ...

, French physician, entomologist and naturalist (died

1794 Events January–March * January 1 – The Stibo Group is founded by Niels Lund as a printing company in Aarhus (Denmark). * January 13 – The U.S. Congress enacts a law providing for, effective May 1, 1795, a United States ...

) * August 12 –

Thomas Andrew Knight Thomas Andrew Knight (1759–1838), FRS, of Elton Hall in the parish of Elton in Herefordshire (4 miles south-west of Ludlow) and later of Downton Castle (3 miles north-west of Elton), was a British horticulturalist and botanist. He served as ...

, English horticulturalist (died

1838 Events January–March * January 10 – A fire destroys Lloyd's Coffee House and the Royal Exchange in London. * January 11 – At Morristown, New Jersey, Samuel Morse, Alfred Vail and Leonard Gale give the first public demonstration o ...

) * September 19 – William Kirby, English entomologist (died

1850 Events January–June * April ** Pope Pius IX returns from exile to Rome. ** Stephen Foster's parlor ballad "Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway" is published in the United States. * April 4 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a cit ...

) * December 2 – James Edward Smith, English botanist (died

) * Date unknown – Maria Petraccini, Italian anatomist and physician (died

1791 Events January–March * January 1 – Austrian composer Joseph Haydn arrives in England, to perform a series of concerts. * January 2 – Northwest Indian War: Big Bottom Massacre – The war begins in the Ohio Country ...

)

Deaths

* February 16 –

Bartholomew Mosse Bartholomew Mosse (1712 – 16 February 1759) was an Irish surgeon and impresario responsible for founding the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. Early life Bartholemew Mosse was born in Dysart, 2 km east of Portlaoise (then called Maryborough), ...

, Irish

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

(born

1712 In the Swedish calendar it began as a leap year starting on Monday and remained so until Thursday, February 29. By adding a second leap day (Friday, February 30) Sweden reverted to the Julian calendar and the rest of the year (from Saturday, M ...

) * April 6 – Johann Gottfried Zinn, German anatomist and botanist (born

1727 Events January–March * January 1 – (December 21, 1726 O.S.) Spain's ambassador to Great Britain demands that the British return Gibraltar after accusing Britain of violating the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Britain ...

) * July 27 – Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician (born

1698 Events January–March * January 1 – The Abenaki tribe and Massachusetts colonists sign a treaty, ending the conflict in New England. * January 4 – The Palace of Whitehall in London, England is destroyed by fire. * January 23 – G ...

) * September 10 – Ferdinand Konščak, Croatian explorer (born

1703 In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Thursday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 9 – The Jamaican town of Port Royal, a center of trade ...

) * November 29 –

Nicolaus I Bernoulli Nicolaus Bernoulli (also spelled Nicolas or Nikolas; 21 October 1687, Basel – 29 November 1759, Basel) was a Swiss people, Swiss mathematician and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. Biography He was the son of ...

, Swiss mathematician (born

1687 Events January–March * January 3 – With the end of latest of the Savoyard–Waldensian wars in the Duchy of Savoy between the Savoyard government and Protestant Italians known as the Waldensians, Victor Amadeus III of Sardi ...

)

References

{{reflist 18th century in science 1750s in science