1754 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1754 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
- Immanuel KantImmanuel KantImmanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
, German philosopher, postulates retardation of Earth's orbitEarth's orbitIn astronomy, the Earth's orbit is the motion of the Earth around the Sun, at an average distance of about 150 million kilometers, every 365.256363 mean solar days .A solar day is on average 24 hours; it takes 365.256363 of these to orbit the sun once in the sense of returning...
.
Chemistry
- Joseph BlackJoseph BlackJoseph Black FRSE FRCPE FPSG was a Scottish physician and chemist, known for his discoveries of latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was professor of Medicine at University of Glasgow . James Watt, who was appointed as philosophical instrument maker at the same university...
, ScottishScottish peopleThe Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
chemist, discovers carbonic acid gas
Mathematics
- John Joshua KirbyJohn Joshua KirbyJohn Joshua Kirby , was an 18th century landscape painter, engraver, and writer from the United Kingdom, famed for his pamphlet on linear perspective based on Brook Taylor's math.-Biography:...
publishes the pamphlet Dr. Brook Taylor's Method of Perspective made Easy both in Theory and Practice containing William HogarthWilliam HogarthWilliam Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...
's Satire on False PerspectiveSatire on False PerspectiveSatire on False Perspective is the title of an engraving produced by William Hogarth in 1754 for his friend John Joshua Kirby's pamphlet on linear perspective.The intent of the work is clearly given by the subtitle:-Summary:...
.
Physics
- Václav Prokop DivišVáclav Prokop DivišVáclav Prokop Diviš was a Czech priest, theologian and natural scientist.Diviš was born March 26 1698 in Helvíkovice, Bohemia . It has been claimed that the lightning rod he erected in 15 June 1754 was invented independently of Benjamin Franklin, but this has been disputed by other scholars...
, CzechCzech peopleCzechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
theologian and natural scientist, develops a lightning rodLightning rodA lightning rod or lightning conductor is a metal rod or conductor mounted on top of a building and electrically connected to the ground through a wire, to protect the building in the event of lightning...
for Vienna General HospitalVienna General HospitalThe Vienna General Hospital is the University medical center of the city of Vienna, Austria. The AKH is the largest hospital of Austria and Europe, the second largest hospital in the world, and at 85-m high is one of the tallest hospital buildings in the world...
, perhaps independently of Ben Franklin's invention.
Births
- March 15 - Archibald MenziesArchibald MenziesArchibald Menzies was a Scottish surgeon, botanist and naturalist.- Life and career :Menzies was born at Easter Stix in the parish of Weem, in Perthshire. While working with his elder brother William at the Royal Botanic Gardens, he drew the attention of Dr John Hope, professor of botany at...
, ScottishScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
surgeon and botanist (d. 18421842 in scienceThe year 1842 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Exploration:* Antarctic explorer James Clark Ross charts the eastern side of James Ross Island and on January 23 reaches a Farthest South of 78°09'30"S.-Medicine:...
) - May 6 - Thomas CokeThomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (seventh creation)Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester , known as Coke of Norfolk, was a British politician and agricultural reformer. Born to Wenman Coke, Member of Parliament for Derby and his wife Elizabeth, Coke was educated at several schools, including Eton College, before undertaking a Grand Tour of...
, EnglishEnglish peopleThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
agriculturalist and geneticistGeneticistA geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...
(d. 1842) - June 4 - Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
(d. 18321832 in scienceThe year 1832 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire begins publication of Histoire générale et particulière des anomalies de l’organisation chez l’homme et les animaux, a key text on teratology.-Exploration:* April 21 -...
) - August 21 - William MurdochWilliam MurdochWilliam Murdoch was a Scottish engineer and long-term inventor.Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton and Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten years, spending most of the rest of his life in Birmingham, England.He was the inventor of the oscillating steam...
, Scottish engineer and inventor (d. 18391839 in scienceThe year 1839 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* January - The first parallax measurement of the distance to Alpha Centauri is published by Thomas Henderson.-Biology:...
) - September 26 - Joseph ProustJoseph ProustJoseph Louis Proust was a French chemist.-Life:Joseph L. Proust was born on September 26, 1754 in Angers, France. His father served as an apothecary in Angers. Joseph studied chemistry in his father’s shop and later came to Paris where he gained the appointment of apothecary in chief to the...
, FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
chemistChemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
(d. 18261826 in scienceThe year 1826 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Antoine Jerome Balard isolates bromine.* Michael Faraday determines the chemical formula of naphthalene.-Mathematics:...
)
Deaths
- February 5 - Nicolaas KruikNicolaas KruikNicolaas Kruik , also known as Nicolaes Krukius or most commonly by the Latinized Nicolaus Samuelis Cruquius, was a Dutch land surveyor, cartographer, astronomer and weatherman...
(Cruquius), DutchNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
cartographer and meteorologist (b. 16781678 in scienceThe year 1678 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Edmund Halley publishes a catalogue of 341 southern stars - the first systematic southern sky survey.-Physics:...
) - April 9 - Christan WolffChristian Wolff (philosopher)Christian Wolff was a German philosopher.He was the most eminent German philosopher between Leibniz and Kant...
, German philosopher, mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and scientistScientistA scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
(b. 16791679 in scienceThe year 1679 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Mathematics:* Samuel Morland publishes The Doctrine of Interest, both Simple & Compound, probably the first tables produced with the aid of a calculating machine.-Publications:...
) - April 15 - Jacopo RiccatiJacopo RiccatiJacopo Francesco Riccati was an Italian mathematician, born in Venice. He is now remembered for the Riccati equation. He died in Treviso in 1754.-Education:...
, ItalianItalian peopleThe Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
mathematician (b. 16761676 in scienceThe year 1676 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Danish astronomer Ole Rømer measures the speed of light by observing the eclipses of Jupiter's moons, obtaining a speed of 140,000 miles per second .* Summer - The Royal Greenwich Observatory, designed by...
) - November 27 - Abraham de MoivreAbraham de MoivreAbraham de Moivre was a French mathematician famous for de Moivre's formula, which links complex numbers and trigonometry, and for his work on the normal distribution and probability theory. He was a friend of Isaac Newton, Edmund Halley, and James Stirling...
, FrenchFrench peopleThe French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
mathematician (b. 16671667 in scienceThe year 1667 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* June 24 - The site of the Paris Observatory is located on the Paris Meridian.-History and philosophy of science:* Thomas Sprat publishes .-Mathematics:...
)