1778 in science explained

The year 1778 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

• Lagrange delivers his treatise on cometary perturbations to the Académie française.

Chemistry

• Molybdenum discovered by Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
• Antoine Lavoisier, considered "The father of modern chemistry",^[1] recognizes and names oxygen, and recognizes its importance and role in combustion.^[2]

Earth sciences and exploration

• January 18 – On his third voyage, Captain James Cook, with ships HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, becomes the first European to view the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean.^[3]
• March 6 – October 24 – Captain Cook explores and maps the Pacific Northwest coast of North America from Cape Foulweather (Oregon) to the Bering Strait.
• James Rennell publishes a chart and memoir of the Agulhas Current, one of the first contributions to scientific oceanography.^[4]

Medicine

• John Hunter publishes The Natural History of the Human Teeth.
• Samuel-Auguste Tissot begins publication of Traité des nerfs et de leurs maladies, including a classical account of migraine.^{[5] [6]}
• Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring describes the organization of the cranial nerves.
• Publication of Collection of observations on diseases and epidemic constitutions (Collection d’observations sur les maladies et constitutions épidémiques), by Louis Lépecq de La Clôture, work consisting mainly of a 15-year observation of the relations between climate, geography and pathologies in Normandy.^{[7] [8]}

Technology

• Joseph Bramah patents an improved design of flush toilet in London.^[9]
• The brothers Hans Ulrich and Johannes Grubenmann complete a bridge across the Limmat at Wettingen in Switzerland, a 60 m span which is the first known use of a true arch in a timber bridge.^[10]

Zoology

• Petrus Camper publishes On the Points of Similarity between the Human Species, Quadrupeds, Birds, and Fish; with Rules for Drawing, founded on this Similarity, an early work of comparative anatomy.
• Johan Christian Fabricius publishes his Philosophia Entomologica in Hamburg.^[11]

Awards

• Copley Medal: Charles Hutton^[12]

Births

• February 4 – A. P. de Candolle, Swiss botanist (died 1841)
• May 18 – Andrew Ure, Scottish industrial chemist and encyclopaedist (died 1857)
• December 6 – Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French chemist and physicist (died 1850)
• December 17 – Humphry Davy, English chemist (died 1829)
• December 25 (bapt.) – Joseph Aspdin, English inventor (died 1855)
• Maria Dalle Donne, Bolognese physician (died 1842)
• Anna Maria Walker, Scottish botanist (died 1852)

Deaths

• January 10 – Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist, first to develop standard nomenclature for naming species (born 1707)
• February 20 – Laura Bassi, Italian scientist (born 1711)
• March 7 – Charles De Geer, Swedish industrialist and entomologist (born 1720)
• May 6 – Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet, French pharmacist and botanist (born 1720)

Notes and References

1. "Lavoisier, Antoine." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 24 July 2007 http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9369846.
2. Web site: Weisstein . Eric W. . Lavoisier, Antoine (1743–1794) . Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography . Wolfram Research Products . 1996 . 2007-02-23.
3. Book: Collingridge, Vanessa. Vanessa Collingridge

   . Vanessa Collingridge. Captain Cook: The Life, Death and Legacy of History's Greatest Explorer. London. 2003. Ebury Press. 0-09-188898-0.

4. Andrew S.. Cook. Rennell, James (1742–1830). 2004. 2011-04-05. 10.1093/ref:odnb/23369.
5. K.. Karbowski. April 1986. Samuel Auguste Tissot: his research on migraine. Journal of Neurology. 233. 2. 0340-5354. 123–125. 10.1007/BF00313859. 3517238. 24691943.
6. Pearce. J.M.S.. September 2000. Samuel-Auguste Tissot (1728-1797) and migraine. Cephalalgia. 20. 7. 668–70. Norway. 0333-1024. 11128826. 10.1111/j.1468-2982.2000.00100.x. 36466035.
7. Book: Lépecq de La Cloture . Louis . Collection d'observations sur les maladies et constitutions épidémiques: ouvrage qui expose une suite de quinze années d'observations, & dans lequel les épidémies, les constitutions régnantes & intercurrentes, sont liées (partie I) . 1778 . Imprimerie privilégiée . Rouen . 28 February 2021 . fr.
8. Book: Lépecq de La Cloture . Louis . Collection d'observations sur les maladies et constitutions épidémiques: ouvrage qui expose une suite de quinze années d'observations, & dans lequel les épidémies, les constitutions régnantes & intercurrentes, sont liées (partie II,III et IV) . 1778 . Imprimerie privilégiée . Rouen . 28 February 2021 . fr.
9. Book: Williams, Hywel. Cassell's Chronology of World History. registration. London. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2005. 0-304-35730-8. 331–332.
10. Book: Troyano, Leonardo Fernández. Bridge Engineering: a Global Perspective. Thomas Telford Publishing. London. 2003. 0-7277-3215-3. 158–9. 2011-08-16.
11. 5. 1967. Tuxen. S. L.. The entomologist J. C. Fabricius. Annual Review of Entomology. 12. 10.1146/annurev.en.12.010167.000245. one of the most important books in entomology of all times.
12. Web site: Copley Medal British scientific award . Encyclopedia Britannica . 21 July 2020 . en.