1759 in science

List of years in science (table)
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The year 1759 in science and technology involved several significant events.

Astronomy

Harrison's marine chronometer

• Halley's comet returns; a team of three mathematicians, Alexis Clairaut, Jérome Lalande and Nicole Reine Lepaute, had—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 into four periods: Primitive, Secondary, Tertiary and Volcanic, or Quaternary.

Smeaton's Tower

Physics

• Posthumous publication of Émilie du Châtelet's French translation and commentary on Newton's Principia, Principes mathématiques de la philosophie naturelle.

Medicine

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

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

Awards

• Copley Medal: John Smeaton

Births

• December 2 – James Edward Smith, English botanist (died 1828)
• Date unknown – Maria Pettracini, Italian anatomist and physician (died 1791)

Deaths

• February 16 – Bartholomew Mosse, Irish surgeon (born 1712)
• September 10 – Ferdinand Konščak, Croatian explorer (born 1703)