1778 in science

List of years in science (Table)
… 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 …
Related time period or subjects
… 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 … … 1740s 1750s 1760s 1770s 1780s 1790s 1800s … … 17th century 18th century 19th century …
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Science more

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

Contents 1 Chemistry 2 Earth sciences and exploration 3 Medicine 4 Technology 5 Zoology 6 Awards 7 Births 8 Deaths 9 References

Chemistry

• Molybdenum discovered by Carl Wilhelm Scheele.

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.^[1]
• James Rennell publishes a chart and memoir of the Agulhas Current, one of the first contributions to scientific oceanography.^[2]

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.^[3][4]
• Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring describes the organization of the cranial nerves.

Technology

• Joseph Bramah patents an improved design of flush toilet in London.^[5]
• 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.^[6]

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.
• Johann Christian Fabricius publishes his Philosophia Entomologica in Hamburg.^[7]

Awards

• Copley Medal: Charles Hutton

Births

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

Deaths

• January 10 - Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist, first to develop standard nomenclature for naming species (b. 1707)
• February 20 - Laura Bassi, Italian scientist (b. 1711)

References