1763 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1763 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
- Publication of 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...
's Coelum australe stelliferum, cataloguing all his data from the southern hemisphere and including about 10,000 stars and a number of brighter star clusters and nebulaNebulaA nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas, helium gas and other ionized gases...
e. - Publication of Edward Stone's The whole doctrine of parallaxes explained and illustrated by an arithmetical and geometrical construction of the transit of Venus over the sun, June 6th, 1761. Enriched with a new and general method of determining the places where any transit of this planet, and especially that which will be June 3d, 1769, may be best observed.
Mathematics
- Thomas BayesThomas BayesThomas Bayes was an English mathematician and Presbyterian minister, known for having formulated a specific case of the theorem that bears his name: Bayes' theorem...
' solution to a problem of "inverse probability" is presented posthumously in his "Essay towards solving a Problem in the Doctrine of ChancesAn Essay towards solving a Problem in the Doctrine of ChancesAn Essay towards solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances is a work on the mathematical theory of probability by the Reverend Thomas Bayes, published in 1763, two years after its author's death. It included a statement of a special case of what is now called Bayes' theorem. In 18th-century...
" read by Richard PriceRichard PriceRichard Price was a British moral philosopher and preacher in the tradition of English Dissenters, and a political pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the American Revolution. He fostered connections between a large number of people, including writers of the...
to the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, containing a statement of a special case of Bayes' theoremBayes' theoremIn probability theory and applications, Bayes' theorem relates the conditional probabilities P and P. It is commonly used in science and engineering. The theorem is named for Thomas Bayes ....
.
Medicine
- Edward Stone publishes his discovery of the medicinal properties of salicylic acidSalicylic acidSalicylic acid is a monohydroxybenzoic acid, a type of phenolic acid and a beta hydroxy acid. This colorless crystalline organic acid is widely used in organic synthesis and functions as a plant hormone. It is derived from the metabolism of salicin...
.
Births
- May 12 – John BellJohn Bell (surgeon)John Bell was a Scottish anatomist and surgeon.Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland; an elder brother of Sir Charles Bell...
, surgeonSurgeonIn medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
(died 18201820 in scienceThe year 1820 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Christian Friedrich Nasse formulates Nasse's law: hemophilia occurs only in males and is transmitted by asymptomatic females.-Chemistry:...
) - May 16 – Louis Nicolas VauquelinLouis Nicolas VauquelinNicolas Louis Vauquelin , was a French pharmacist and chemist.-Early life:Vauquelin was born at Saint-André-d'Hébertot in Normandy, France. His first acquaintance with chemistry was gained as laboratory assistant to an apothecary in Rouen , and after various vicissitudes he obtained an introduction...
, chemist (died 18291829 in scienceThe year 1829 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Isaac Holden produces a form of friction match.-Mathematics:...
) - December 25 – Claude Chappe, engineer (died 18051805 in scienceSignificant events in 1805 in science and technology are listed.-Biology:* Jean Henri Jaume Saint-Hilaire publishes Exposition des Familles naturelles et de la Germination des Plantes, contentant la description de 2337 genres et d'environ 4000 espèces, 112 planches dont les figures ont ete...
) - John BrinkleyJohn Brinkley (astronomer)The Rt. Rev. John Mortimer Brinkley D.D. was the first Royal Astronomer of Ireland and later Bishop of Cloyne.-Early years:...
, astronomer (died 18351835 in scienceThe year 1835 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* August 5 - First sighting of the return of Comet Halley by Father Dumouchel, director of the Collegio Romano at the Vatican. It is next seen on August 21 by Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve at the...
) - William MaclureWilliam MaclureWilliam Maclure, American - British social experimenter on new types of community life together with British social reformer Robert Owen, , in Indiana State, U. S. A....
, geologist (died 18401840 in scienceThe year 1840 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Events:* William Whewell publishes the term scientist....
)