1774 in science explained

The year 1774 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

• Johann Elert Bode discovers the galaxy Messier 81.
• Lagrange publishes a paper on the motion of the nodes of a planet's orbit.

Biology

• Italian physicist Abbé Bonaventura Corti publishes Osservazioni microscopiche sulla tremella e sulla circulazione del fluido in una pianta acquajuola in Lucca, including his discovery of cyclosis in plant cells.^[1]
• French physician Antoine Parmentier publishes Examen chymique des pommes de terres in Paris, analysing the nutritional value of the potato.

Chemistry

• August 1 – Joseph Priestley, working at Bowood House, Wiltshire, England, isolates oxygen in the form of a gas, which he calls "dephlogisticated air".^[2]
• Antoine Lavoisier publishes his first book, a literature review on the composition of air, Opuscules physiques et chimiques.
• Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovers "dephlogisticated muriatic acid" (chlorine), manganese and barium.

Exploration

• Second voyage of James Cook
  • June 16/17 – English explorer Captain Cook becomes the first European to sight (and name) Palmerston Island in the Pacific Ocean.
  • September 4 – Cook becomes the first European to sight (and name) the island of New Caledonia in Melanesia.
  • October 10 – Cook becomes the first European to sight (and name) Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean, uninhabited at this date.

Mathematics

• P.-S. Laplace publishes Mémoire sur la probabilité des causes par les événements, including a restatement of Bayes' theorem.^[3]

Medicine and physiology

• William Hunter's Anatomia uteri humani gravidi tabulis illustrata | The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus exhibited in figures is published by John Baskerville in Birmingham, England.
• Sugita Genpaku's Kaitai Shinsho ("New Text on Anatomy"), based on a Dutch publication, is published with illustrations in Japan, the first modern anatomy textbook produced there.

Physics

• The Schiehallion experiment is carried out by Nevil Maskelyne to determine the mean density of the Earth.^[4]

Technology

• January 27 – John Wilkinson patents a method for boring cannon from the solid, subsequently utilised for accurate boring of steam engine cylinders.^[5]
• Jesse Ramsden produces an advanced circular dividing engine with the support of the Board of Longitude.^{[6] [7]}

Awards

• Copley Medal: Not awarded^[8]

Births

• April 21 – Jean-Baptiste Biot (died 1862), French physicist.
• April 24 – Jean Marc Gaspard Itard (died 1838), French otorhinolaryngologist.
• April 28 – Francis Baily (died 1844), English astronomer.
• May 7 – Francis Beaufort (died 1856), Irish-born hydrographer.
• May 28 – Edward Howard (died 1816), English chemist.
• August 18 – Meriwether Lewis (died 1809), American explorer.
• September 26 – John Chapman (died 1845), American nurseryman.
• November 12 – Charles Bell (died 1842), Scottish-born anatomist.
• December 12 – William Henry (died 1836), English chemist.

Deaths

• February 4 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French geographer (born 1701)
• May 1 – William Hewson, English surgeon, anatomist and physiologist, "father of haematology" (born 1739)
• July 9 – Anna Morandi Manzolini, Italian anatomist (born 1714)^[9]

Notes and References

1. Book: Hughes, Arthur. A History of Cytology. registration. London. Abelard-Schuman. 1959. 41.
2. Priestley. Joseph. 106209. An Account of Further Discoveries in Air. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 65. 1775. 384–94. 10.1098/rstl.1775.0039.
3. Book: McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch. The Theory That Would Not Die. registration. New Haven. Yale University Press. 2011. 978-0-300-16969-0.
4. "An account of Observations made on the Mountain Schehallien for finding its attraction". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (London) 6 July 1775.
5. Web site: J. R.. Harris. Wilkinson, John (1728–1808). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. 2004. 2011-01-14.
6. Book: Boorstin, Daniel J.. Daniel J. Boorstin

   . Daniel J. Boorstin. The Discoverers: a history of man's search to know his world and himself. registration. New York. Random House. 1983. 978-0-394-40229-1.

7. Book: Daumas, Maurice. Les Instruments scientifiques aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Paris. Presses Universitaires de France. 1953.
8. Web site: Copley Medal British scientific award . Encyclopedia Britannica . 21 July 2020 . en.
9. Book: Messbarge, Rebecca. The Lady Anatomist: The Life and Work of Anna Morandi Manzolini. Chicago. The University of Chicago Press. 2019. 168. 978-0-22652-083-4.