1762 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1762 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.
Mathematics
- September – Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorships is established in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, pioneering mutual insuranceMutual insuranceA mutual insurance company is an insurance company which has no shareholders but instead is owned entirely by its policyholders. The primary form of financial business set up as a mutual company in the United States has been mutual insurance. Under this idea, what would have been profits are...
using a method of actuarial scienceActuarial scienceActuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in the insurance and finance industries. Actuaries are professionals who are qualified in this field through education and experience...
devised by mathematician James DodsonJames DodsonJames Dodson FRS was a British mathematician, actuary and innovator in the insurance industry.-Life:Matthew Maty, in his Mémoire sur la vie et sur les écrits de M. A. de Moivre, wrote that Dodson was a pupil of Abraham de Moivre. He worked as an accountant and teacher...
. - Johann Heinrich LambertJohann Heinrich LambertJohann Heinrich Lambert was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, philosopher and astronomer.Asteroid 187 Lamberta was named in his honour.-Biography:...
gives a proof that π is irrational.
Births
- April 10 - Giovanni AldiniGiovanni AldiniGiovanni Aldini , Italian physicist born at Bologna, was a brother of the statesman Count Antonio Aldini and nephew of Luigi Galvani, whose treaties on muscular electricity he edited with notes in 1791....
, physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
(died 18341834 in scienceThe year 1834 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Events:* March - William Whewell first publishes the term scientist in the Quarterly Review, but notes it as "not generally palatable"....
) - November 20 - Pierre André LatreillePierre André LatreillePierre André Latreille was a French zoologist, specialising in arthropods. Having trained as a Roman Catholic priest before the French Revolution, Latreille was imprisoned, and only regained his freedom after recognising a rare species he found in the prison, Necrobia ruficollis...
, zoologist (died 18331833 in scienceThe year 1833 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* November 12–13 - A spectacular occurrence of the Leonid meteor shower is observed over Alabama.-Biology:...
)
Deaths
- February 20 - Tobias MayerTobias MayerTobias Mayer was a German astronomer famous for his studies of the Moon.He was born at Marbach, in Württemberg, and brought up at Esslingen in poor circumstances. A self-taught mathematician, he had already published two original geometrical works when, in 1746, he entered J.B. Homann's...
, 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...
(born 17231723 in scienceThe year 1723 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Geophysics:* George Graham discovers diurnal variation in Earth's magnetic field....
) - March 21 - Nicolas Louis de LacailleNicolas Louis de LacailleAbbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille was a French astronomer.He is noted for his catalogue of nearly 10,000 southern stars, including 42 nebulous objects. This catalogue, called Coelum Australe Stelliferum, was published posthumously in 1763. It introduced 14 new constellations which have since become...
, 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...
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...
(born 17131713 in scienceThe year 1713 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* John Rowley of London produces an orrery to a commission by Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery.-Mathematics:* September 9 - Nicolas Bernoulli first describes the St...
) - July 10 - Jan Frederik GronoviusJan Frederik GronoviusJan Frederik Gronovius was a Dutch botanist notable as a patron of Linnaeus....
, 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...
botanist (born 16901690 in scienceThe year 1690 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Technology:* Denis Papin, while in Leipzig and having observed the mechanical power of atmospheric pressure on his 'digester', he builds a working model of a piston steam engine, the first of its kind.* The first paper money...
) - July 13 - James BradleyJames BradleyJames Bradley FRS was an English astronomer and served as Astronomer Royal from 1742, succeeding Edmund Halley. He is best known for two fundamental discoveries in astronomy, the aberration of light , and the nutation of the Earth's axis...
, Astronomer RoyalAstronomer RoyalAstronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the second is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834....
(born 16931693 in scienceThe year 1693 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Actuarial science:* Edmond Halley publishes an article in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society on life annuities featuring a life table constructed on the basis of statistics from Breslau provided by Caspar Neumann....
)