1737 in science
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The year 1737 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Astronomy
- May 28 – The planet Venus passes in front of Mercury. The event is witnessed during the evening by amateur astronomer John Bevis at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in England.[1]
Botany
- February 27 – French scientists Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau and Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon publish the first study correlating past weather conditions with an examination of tree rings.[2]
- Elizabeth Blackwell's A Curious Herbal, with her own colour illustrations, is published in London.[3]
- Johannes Burman's Thesaurus zeylanicus, a flora of Ceylon, is published in Amsterdam.
Geology
- Francesco Serao is the first person to use the word lava in connection with extruded magma in a short account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which took place between May 14 and June 4.[4]
- October 11 – An earthquake in Calcutta, India is said to have caused 300,000 deaths; this is now in question: it was probably a cyclone, with deaths estimated at 3,000.[5]
- October 16 – An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 9.3 strikes offshore of the Kamchatka Peninsula.[6]
Mathematics
Technology
- John Harrison is given an award from the longitude prize to continue his work on development of a stable marine chronometer in England.[8]
Publications
- Venetian polymath Francesco Algarotti publishes Newtonianism for Ladies, or Dialogues on Light and Colours (Neutonianismo per le dame).[9]
Awards
Births
- January 4 – Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, French chemist and politician (died 1816)
- August 14 – Charles Hutton, English mathematician (died 1823)
- September 9 – Luigi Galvani, Italian physicist (died 1798)[11]