Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
1758 in science
open-in-new
<h2 id="astronomy">Astronomy</h2> <ul><li>December 25 – <a href="/facts/Halley%2527s_Comet/DQongwTQ">Halley's Comet</a> is sighted by <a href="/facts/Johann_Georg_Palitzsch/sE1ao5kH">Johann Georg Palitzsch</a>, confirming <a href="/facts/Edmund_Halley/JgjIRcUA">Edmund Halley</a>'s <a href="/facts/1705_in_science/m8fJmXNS">1705</a> prediction of its periodicity.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="chemistry">Chemistry</h2> <ul><li>John Champion <a href="/facts/Patent/LjT2bG3A">patents</a> a process for <a href="/facts/Calcining/hghqlHwo">calcining</a> <a href="/facts/Zinc_sulphide/K8l5AF3K">zinc sulphide</a> into an <a href="/facts/Oxide/DXtoVe1C">oxide</a> usable in the <a href="/facts/Retort/lwrgFkIC">retort</a> process.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="medicine">Medicine</h2> <ul><li>French midife <a href="/facts/Ang%25C3%25A9lique_du_Coudray/LV0p0UHJ">Angélique du Coudray</a> demonstrates the first <a href="/facts/Obstetrics/JbYHxtCd">obstetric</a> mannequin.</li> <li><a href="/facts/Scottish_people/0rp2bd12">Scottish</a> <a href="/facts/Physician/qJ3woFvG">physician</a> <a href="/facts/Francis_Home/QKouFjFH">Francis Home</a> makes the first attempt to deliver a <a href="/facts/Measles_vaccine/t0PwyzAX">measles vaccine</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="physics">Physics</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Ru%25C4%2591er_Bo%25C5%25A1kovi%25C4%2587/TpAtNdUX">Ruđer Bošković</a> publishes his <a href="/facts/Atomic_theory/B2WvuLf6">atomic theory</a> in <i>Philosophiæ naturalis theoria redacta ad unicam legem virium in natura existentium</i> ("Theory of natural philosophy reduced to one law of the forces existing in nature").<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a></li> <li><a href="/facts/John_Dolland/3PRc7kXJ">John Dolland</a> presents his "Account of some experiments concerning the different refrangibility of light" (<i><a href="/facts/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Society/a0l7M7RR">Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society</a></i> (London)) describing the discovery of a means of constructing <a href="/facts/Doublet_(lens)/dJRAsk41">doublet</a> <a href="/facts/Achromatic_lens/6R4A63JY">achromatic lenses</a> by the combination of <a href="/facts/Crown_glass_(optics)/sA7vmcLK">crown</a> and <a href="/facts/Flint_glass/yNwtdybF">flint glasses</a>, reducing <a href="/facts/Chromatic_aberration/Fy1hIg1Y">chromatic aberration</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="zoology">Zoology</h2> <ul><li>January 1 – Swedish biologist <a href="/facts/Carl_Linnaeus/gy5HWkHS">Carl Linnaeus</a> (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (<i>Animalia</i>) of the <a href="/facts/10th_edition_of_Systema_Naturae/8H6KJrLJ">10th edition of <i>Systema Naturae</i></a>, the starting point of modern <a href="/facts/Zoological_nomenclature/Pxg8gsqf">zoological nomenclature</a>, introducing <a href="/facts/Binomial_nomenclature/jgBqAhPv">binomial nomenclature</a> for animals to his established system of <a href="/facts/Linnaean_taxonomy/DLdJDy2F">Linnaean taxonomy</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> Among the first examples of his system of identifying an organism by genus and then species, Linnaeus identifies the <a href="/facts/Lamprey/nxgTvh0z">lamprey</a> with the name <i>Petromyzon marinus</i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> He introduces the term <i><a href="/facts/Homo_sapiens/rlcTENsr">Homo sapiens</a></i>. (Date of January 1 assigned retrospectively.)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="awards">Awards</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Copley_Medal/bBwd6QzN">Copley Medal</a>: <a href="/facts/John_Dollond/3PRc7kXJ">John Dollond</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="births">Births</h2> <ul><li>January 20 – <a href="/facts/Marie-Anne_Pierrette_Paulze/4odtJ1lm">Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze</a>, <a href="/facts/French_people/984axQ8y">French</a> <a href="/facts/Chemist/N09K7Bdm">chemist</a> (died <a href="/facts/1836_in_science/nb0FPxUj">1836</a>)</li> <li>March 9 – <a href="/facts/Franz_Joseph_Gall/y5yTwXxV">Franz Joseph Gall</a>, <a href="/facts/Germany/paluuWBX">German</a>-born <a href="/facts/Neuroanatomist/VJxVXoWm">neuroanatomist</a> (died <a href="/facts/1828_in_science/9aIUybA0">1828</a>)</li> <li>March 14 – <a href="/facts/Franz_Bauer/7hYcnvyn">Franz Bauer</a>, <a href="/facts/Moravia/35gbBhxa">Moravian</a>-born botanical illustrator (died <a href="/facts/1840_in_science/fY8Ru4uU">1840</a>)</li> <li>June 29 – <a href="/facts/Clotilde_Tambroni/fztMF8Wz">Clotilde Tambroni</a>, <a href="/facts/Italian_people/dsdUeJ1n">Italian</a> <a href="/facts/Philologist/5u0xzd5g">philologist</a> and linguist (died <a href="/facts/1817_in_science/IzLv950p">1817</a>)</li> <li>July 31 – Rosalie de Constant [fr], Swiss naturalist (died <a href="/facts/1834_in_science/bT4QNHSb">1834</a>)</li> <li>October 11 – <a href="/facts/Heinrich_Wilhelm_Matth%25C3%25A4us_Olbers/KgvJSXxD">Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers</a>, <a href="/facts/German_people/F7mBCrJ4">German</a> <a href="/facts/Astronomer/ronF8j4a">astronomer</a> (died <a href="/facts/1840_in_science/fY8Ru4uU">1840</a>)</li></ul> <h2 id="deaths">Deaths</h2> <ul><li>January 18 – <a href="/facts/Fran%25C3%25A7ois_Nicole/M0xzhHT7">François Nicole</a>, French <a href="/facts/Mathematician/eaFSR8Fx">mathematician</a> (born <a href="/facts/1683_in_science/wD74h3mx">1683</a>)</li> <li>April 22 – <a href="/facts/Antoine_de_Jussieu/Ietv9UyG">Antoine de Jussieu</a>, French <a href="/facts/Naturalist/pSlAvbTX">naturalist</a> (born <a href="/facts/1686_in_science/ExfReW1N">1686</a>)</li> <li>August 15 – <a href="/facts/Pierre_Bouguer/d7tuYCxr">Pierre Bouguer</a>, French mathematician (born <a href="/facts/1698_in_science/IyLPjgvh">1698</a>)</li> <li>September 5 (<a href="/facts/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates/kb3020Wy">NS</a>) – <a href="/facts/Dmitry_Ivanovich_Vinogradov/EuBXjkoB">Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov</a>, <a href="/facts/Russia/jfkCwyxn">Russian</a> chemist (born c. <a href="/facts/1720_in_science/EvdsqBI4">1720</a>)</li> <li>October – <a href="/facts/Elizabeth_Blackwell_(illustrator)/o01b8j8k">Elizabeth Blackwell</a>, <a href="/facts/British_people/xn7cqlzV">British</a> botanical illustrator (born <a href="/facts/1707_in_science/MYKmXFBj">1707</a>)</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"Messier's "Notes on my comets"". It was discovered, [...] at Aprohlis, near Dresden, by a farmer named Palitzsch, on the 25th of December 1758[...] <a href="http://www.messier.seds.org/xtra/history/notes-c.html" target="_blank">http://www.messier.seds.org/xtra/history/notes-c.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Lehto, R. S. (1968). "Zinc". In Hampel, Clifford A. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of the Chemical Elements. New York: Reinhold. p. 822. ISBN 0-442-15598-0. <a href="0-442-15598-0" target="_blank">0-442-15598-0</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Waterston, Charles D.; Macmillan Shearer, A. (July 2006). Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783-2002: Biographical Index (PDF). Vol. I. Royal Society of Edinburgh. ISBN 978-0-902198-84-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-10-04. Retrieved 2011-11-19. <a href="978-0-902198-84-5" target="_blank">978-0-902198-84-5</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Enders, J. F. (December 1961 – February 1962). "Vaccination against measles: Francis Home redivivus". Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 34: 239–60. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Rowlinson, J. S. (2002). Cohesion: a scientific history of intermolecular forces. Cambridge University Press. p. 49. ISBN 0-521-81008-6. <a href="0-521-81008-6" target="_blank">0-521-81008-6</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Watson, Fred (2007). Stargazer: the life and times of the telescope. London: Allen & Unwin. pp. 140–55. ISBN 978-1-74175-383-7. <a href="978-1-74175-383-7" target="_blank">978-1-74175-383-7</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Eldredge, Niles (2002). Life on Earth: A-G. ABC-CLIO. pp. 477–478. <a href="/wiki/Niles_Eldredge" target="_blank">/wiki/Niles_Eldredge</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Jordan, David Starr (1911-03-10). "The Use of Numerals for Specific Names in Systematic Zoology". Science: 372. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1999). "Article 3". International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (4th ed.). ISBN 0-85301-006-4. <a href="0-85301-006-4" target="_blank">0-85301-006-4</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>"Copley Medal | British scientific award". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 July 2020. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal" target="_blank">https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>