1775 in science explained

The year 1775 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Biology

• The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is described.^[1]

Chemistry

• May 25 – Joseph Priestley's account of his isolation of oxygen in the form of a gas ("dephlogisticated air") is read to the Royal Society of London.^[2]
• Torbern Bergman's Latin: De attractionibus electivis ("A Dissertation on Elective Attractions") is published, containing the largest tables of chemical affinity ever published.

Exploration

• July 30 – 3-year second voyage of James Cook completed, the first eastabout global circumnavigation, during which the Antarctic Circle has been crossed three times, Terra Australis shown to be a myth, and Larcum Kendall's K1 chronometer demonstrated to be a reliable timekeeper for the purpose of calculating longitude.

Mathematics

• Lagrange's Recherches d'Arithmétique develops a general theory of binary quadratic forms.
• First Stanhope Demonstrator, a mechanical device to demonstrate and solve problems in logic, is produced by English aristocrat Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope.^[3]

Medicine

• English surgeon Percivall Pott finds the first occupational link to cancer, contributing to the science of epidemiology.
• German physician Melchior Adam Weikard anonymously publishes the textbook Der Philosophische Arzt including the earliest description of symptoms resembling attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Natural history

• February 21 – La Specola, Florence's Museum of Zoology and Natural History, opens to the public.
• Johan Christian Fabricius publishes his Latin: Systema entomologiæ.
• Peter Forsskål's Latin: Descriptiones Animalium: Avium, amphiborum, insectorum, vermium quæ in itinere orientali (containing early observations on bird migration) and Latin: Flora Ægyptiaco-Arabica sive descriptiones plantarum quas per Ægyptum Inferiorem et Arabiam felicem detexit are published posthumously, edited by Carsten Niebuhr.^[4]

Technology

• May 22 – James Watt's 1769 steam engine patent is extended to June 1800 by Act of Parliament of Great Britain and the first engines are built under it.^{[5] [6]}
• Jacques-Constantin Périer operates a paddle steamer on the Seine, but it proves to be underpowered.^[7]
• Alexander Cumming patents the S-trap in London, laying the foundations for the modern flush toilet.^[8]
• Edinburgh confectioner Charles Spalding devises improvements to the diving bell, adding a system of balance-weights.
• Pierre-Simon Girard, age 10, invents a water turbine.
• December 30 – John Arnold takes out his first patent for improvements in the construction of marine chronometers in Britain, including the first for a compensation balance.^[9]
• Approximate date – Thomas Mudge invents the detached lever escapement for clocks and watches.
• French Academy of Sciences made the statement that the academy "will no longer accept or deal with proposals concerning perpetual motion."^[10]

Awards

• Copley Medal: Nevil Maskelyne^[11]

Births

• January 22 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist (died 1836)
• February 9 – Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (died 1856)
• May 10 – William Phillips, English geologist (died 1828)
• July 23 – Étienne-Louis Malus, French physicist and mathematician] (died 1812)
• September 30 – Robert Adrain, Irish-born mathematician (died 1843)
• November 19 – Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger, German entomologist and zoologist (died 1813)

Deaths

• March 3 – Richard Dunthorne, English astronomer (born 1711)
• May 1 – Israel Lyons, English mathematician and botanist (born 1739; died of measles)
• October 25 – Johan Maurits Mohr, Dutch astronomer (born 1716)

Notes and References

1. Kitchener, A.C. . Breitenmoser-Würsten, C. . Eizirik, E. . Gentry, A. . Werdelin, L. . Wilting, A. . Yamaguchi, N. . amp . 2017 . A revised taxonomy of the Felidae: The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group . Cat News . Special Issue 11 .
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. free.
3. Logic Machines. Martin Gardner. Martin. Gardner. Scientific American. 186. 68–69. 1952. 3 . 10.1038/scientificamerican0352-68 . 24950629 . 1952SciAm.186c..68G . ...the first true logic machine, the Stanhope Demonstrator.. subscription. 2023-02-20. 2023-03-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20230323144336/https://www.jstor.org/stable/24950629. live.
4. Web site: The University of Copenhagen – A Danish centre of learning since 1479. Københavns Universitet. 2011-05-19.
5. F. M.. Scherer. Invention and Innovation in the Watt-Boulton Steam-Engine Venture. Technology and Culture. 6. 2. 1965. 165–87. 3101072. 10.2307/3101072. 112618665 .
6. Web site: The Invention of the Steam Engine: The Life of James Watt. Part 4: The Steam Engine Gains Popularity. https://archive.today/20120525164012/http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blwattsenginespread.htm. dead. May 25, 2012. About.com Inventors. 2011-02-25.
7. Book: Spratt, H. Philip. The Birth of the Steamboat. registration. London. 1958. 35.
8. Web site: The Development of the Flushing Toilet – Detailed Chronology 1596 onwards. Twyfords Bathrooms. Stoke-on-Trent. 2011-05-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20100322192643/http://www.twyfordbathrooms.com/default.asp?path=1. 2010-03-22. dead.
9. No. 1113. Jonathan Betts. Jonathan. Betts. Arnold, John (1735/6–1799). 2004. 2012-03-09. 10.1093/ref:odnb/677.
10. Scaffer . Simon . The Show That Never Ends: Perpetual Motion in the Early Eighteenth Century . The British Journal for the History of Science . June 1995 . 28 . 2 . 157–189 . 4027676 . 10.1017/S0007087400032957 . 146549874 .
11. Web site: Copley Medal British scientific award . Encyclopedia Britannica . 21 July 2020 . en.