1779 in science

The year 1779 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

• March 23 – Edward Pigott discovers the Black Eye Galaxy (M64).
• May 5 – The spiral galaxy M61 is discovered in the constellation Virgo by Barnabus Oriani.

Exploration

• Horace-Bénédict de Saussure begins publication of Voyages dans les Alpes.

Mathematics

• Étienne Bézout publishes Théorie générale des équations algébriques in Paris, containing original work on elimination theory.

Technology

• January 8 – Bryan Higgins is granted a British patent for hydraulic cement (stucco) for use as an exterior plaster.^[1]
• The Iron Bridge is erected across the River Severn in Shropshire, England; the first all-cast-iron bridge ever built.^[2] It will open to traffic on January 1, 1781.^[3]
• The spinning mule is perfected by the Lancashire inventor Samuel Crompton.^[3]
• The British Royal Navy adopts the carronade.
• The Girandoni Air Rifle is designed in Austria.

Births

• January 5 – General Zebulon Pike, American explorer (died 1813)
• August 7 – Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (died 1848)
• August 7 – Louis de Freycinet, French explorer of coastal regions of Western Australia (died 1842)

Deaths

• January 22 – Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer (born 1733)
• February 14 – James Cook, English explorer (born 1728)
• October 18 – Patrick d'Arcy, Irish-born mathematician (born 1725)
• November 16 – Pehr Kalm, Swedish botanist (born 1716)

References