1769 in science

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The year 1769 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Astronomy

June 3 - Transit of Venus is observed from many places in order to obtain data for measuring the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Those taking part included
- Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche at San José del Cabo, Baja California
- James Cook and Charles Green on Tahiti
- Jeremiah Dixon and William Bayly in northern Norway, Dixon at Hammerfest and Bayly at North Cape
- Maximilian Hell in Vardø, Norway
- Guillaume Le Gentil in Pondicherry, India: Le Gentil had hoped to go to Manila in the Philippines but was turned away by the local Spanish colonial governor. The weather in Pondicherry was cloudy that day. Le Gentil had also missed the 1761 transit through bad luck.
- Alexandre Guy Pingré in Haiti
- William Wales and Joseph Dymond at Prince of Wales Fort on Hudson Bay
November 9 - Transit of Mercury. James Cook observes this from Mercury Bay in New Zealand

April 29 - James Watt is granted a British patent for "A method of lessening the consumption of steam in steam engines" – the separate condenser.
July 3 - Richard Arkwright is granted a British patent for a water-powered spinning frame able to weave fabric mechanically.^[1]
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrates a steam-powered artillery tractor (or 'automobile') in France (see drawing).

March 16 - Louis Antoine de Bougainville returns to Saint-Malo following a three-year circumnavigation of the world with the ships La Boudeuse and Étoile, with the loss of only seven out of 330 men.

^ Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 325. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.