1742 in science
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The year 1742 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Astronomy
- January 14 â Death of Edmond Halley; James Bradley succeeds him as Astronomer Royal in Great Britain.
Mathematics
- June â Christian Goldbach produces Goldbach's conjecture.[1]
- Colin Maclaurin publishes his Treatise on Fluxions in Great Britain, the first systematic exposition of Newton's methods.
Metrology
- Anders Celsius publishes his proposal for a centigrade temperature scale originated in 1741.[2]
Physiology and medicine
Technology
- Benjamin Robins publishes his New Principles of Gunnery, containing the determination of the force of gun-powder and an investigation of the difference in the resisting power of the air to swift and slow motions in London, containing a description of his ballistic pendulum and the results of his scientific experiments into improvements in ballistics.[3][4][5]
- The first large (12 ft focal length) reflecting telescope is made, in Gregorian form, by James Short, for use by Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, in London.[6]
Awards
Births
- March 15 (bapt.) â John Stackhouse, English botanist (died 1819).
- May 18 â Lionel Lukin, English inventor (died 1834).
- December 3 â James Rennell, English geographer, historian and oceanographer (died 1830).
- December 9 â Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish chemist (died 1786).
- December 26 â Ignaz von Born, Hungarian metallurgist (died 1791).
Deaths
- January 14 â Edmond Halley, English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist (born 1656).
- February 28 â Willem 's Gravesande, Dutch polymath (born 1688).
- May 13 â Nicolas Andry, French physician (born 1658).
- September 22 â Frederic Louis Norden, Danish explorer (born 1708).