1768 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1768 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.
Biology
- Caspar Friedrich WolffCaspar Friedrich WolffCaspar Friedrich Wolff was a German physiologist and one of the founders of embryology.-Life:Wolff was born in Berlin, Brandenburg. In 1230 he graduated as an M.D...
begins publication of "De Formatione Intestinarum" in the Mémoires of The Imperial Academy of Arts and Sciences (St. Petersburg), a significant work in the science of embryologyEmbryologyEmbryology is a science which is about the development of an embryo from the fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage...
.
Botany
- BougainvilleaBougainvilleaBougainvillea is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina . Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus...
is first classified in BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
by Philibert CommerçonPhilibert CommerçonDr. Philibert Commerçon was a French naturalist, best known for accompanying Louis Antoine de Bougainville on his voyage of circumnavigation in 1766–1769.- Background :...
, the botanist accompanying Louis Antoine de BougainvilleLouis Antoine de BougainvilleLouis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville was a French admiral and explorer. A contemporary of James Cook, he took part in the French and Indian War and the unsuccessful French attempt to defend Canada from Britain...
's French NavyFrench NavyThe French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
voyage of circumnavigationCircumnavigationCircumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...
. - Henri-Louis Duhamel du MonceauHenri-Louis Duhamel du MonceauHenri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau , was a French physician, naval engineer and botanist. As a botanist his standard abbreviation is Duhamel...
's Traité des arbres fruitiers is published in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Chemistry
- March 17 - William CookworthyWilliam Cookworthy-Bibliography:*Early New Church Worthies by the Rev Dr Jonathon Bayley*Cookworthy's Plymouth and Bristol Porcelain by F.Severne Mackenna published by F.Lewis...
is granted a patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
for the manufacture of porcelainPorcelainPorcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
from kaoliniteKaoliniteKaolinite is a clay mineral, part of the group of industrial minerals, with the chemical composition Al2Si2O54. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina octahedra...
in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
,
Exploration
- Peter Simon PallasPeter Simon PallasPeter Simon Pallas was a German zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia.- Life and work :Pallas was born in Berlin, the son of Professor of Surgery Simon Pallas. He studied with private tutors and took an interest in natural history, later attending the University of Halle and the University...
begins a scientific expedition through the Russian EmpireRussian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
Mathematics
- Leonhard EulerLeonhard EulerLeonhard Euler was a pioneering Swiss mathematician and physicist. He made important discoveries in fields as diverse as infinitesimal calculus and graph theory. He also introduced much of the modern mathematical terminology and notation, particularly for mathematical analysis, such as the notion...
uses closed curves (which become known as Euler diagramEuler diagramAn Euler diagram is a diagrammatic means of representing sets and their relationships. The first use of "Eulerian circles" is commonly attributed to Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler . They are closely related to Venn diagrams....
s) to illustrate syllogisticSyllogismA syllogism is a kind of logical argument in which one proposition is inferred from two or more others of a certain form...
reasoning.
Births
- March 21 - Joseph FourierJoseph FourierJean Baptiste Joseph Fourier was a French mathematician and physicist best known for initiating the investigation of Fourier series and their applications to problems of heat transfer and vibrations. The Fourier transform and Fourier's Law are also named in his honour...
, 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...
mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
(d. 18301830 in scienceThe year 1830 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* March 16 - Great Comet of 1830 first observed in Mauritius....
) - July 18 - Jean-Robert ArgandJean-Robert ArgandJean-Robert Argand was a gifted amateur mathematician. In 1806, while managing a bookstore in Paris, he published the idea of geometrical interpretation of complex numbers known as the Argand diagram.-Life:...
, French mathematician (d. 18221822 in scienceThe year 1822 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Geology:* Friedrich Mohs introduces his system of classifying minerals and his scale of mineral hardness....
)
Deaths
- February 2 - Robert SmithRobert Smith (mathematician)Robert Smith was an English mathematician and music theorist.-Life:Smith was probably born at Lea near Gainsborough, the son of the rector of Gate Burton, Lincolnshire...
, 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...
mathematician (b. 16891689 in scienceThe year 1689 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Events:* Isaac Newton becomes a Member of Parliament.* Godfrey Kneller paints a portrait of Isaac Newton at age 46.-Technology:* A centrifugal pump is invented by Denis Papin....
) - April 29 - Georg BrandtGeorg Brandt-External links:** by Uno Boklund in: Charles C. Gillispie, ed., Dictionary of Scientific Biography , vol. 2, pages 421-422....
, SwedishSwedesSwedes are a Scandinavian nation and ethnic group native to Sweden, mostly inhabiting Sweden and the other Nordic countries, with descendants living in a number of countries.-Etymology:...
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...
(b. 16941694 in scienceThe year 1694 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Botany:* Joseph Pitton de Tournefort publishes Éléments de botanique ou méthode pour reconnaître les plantes....
) - June 15 - James Short, 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,...
mathematician and opticianOpticianAn optician is a person who is trained to fill prescriptions for eye correction in the field of medicine, also known as a dispensing optician or optician, dispensing...
(b. 17101710 in scienceThe year 1710 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Events:* The Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala is founded in Uppsala, Sweden, as the Collegium curiosorum .-Physiology and medicine:...
) - September 2 - Antoine DeparcieuxAntoine DeparcieuxAntoine Deparcieux was a French mathematician.In 1746, Antoine Deparcieux published Essai sur les probabilités de la durée de la vie humaine . Deparcieux analyzed in detail empirical observations...
, French mathematician (b. 17031703 in scienceThe year 1703 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Biology:* Charles Plumier's Nova plantarum Americanarum genera is published in Paris...
) - September 11 - Joseph-Nicolas DelisleJoseph-Nicolas DelisleJoseph-Nicolas Delisle was a French astronomer.-Life:He was one of the 11 sons of Claude Delisle . Like many of his brothers, among them Guillaume Delisle, he initially followed classical studies. Soon however, he moved to astronomy under the supervision of Joseph Lieutaud and Jacques Cassini...
, French 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...
(b. 16881688 in scienceThe year 1688 in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed here.-Births:* January 29 - Emanuel Swedenborg, scientist and theologian * April 4 - Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, astronomer...
) - October 1 - Robert SimsonRobert SimsonRobert Simson was a Scottish mathematician and professor of mathematics at the University of Glasgow. The pedal line of a triangle is sometimes called the "Simson line" after him.-Life:...
, Scottish mathematician (b. 16871687 in scienceThe year 1687 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* The constellation Triangulum Minus is named by Johannes Hevelius.-Physics:...
) - November 26 - Edward Stone, English polymathPolymathA polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
(b. 17021702 in scienceThe year 1702 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* April 20 - Comet of 1702 : The 10th-closest comet approach in history, it missed Earth by a distance of 0.0437 AU ....
)