Editing 1746 in science

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The year '''1746 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events.

==Chemistry==
* [[John Roebuck]] invents the lead-chamber process for the manufacture of [[sulfuric acid]].
* German chemist [[Andreas Sigismund Marggraf]] (1709–1782) is credited with describing [[zinc]] as a separate metal.
* [[Eva Ekeblad]] discovers how to make [[flour]] and [[ethanol|alcohol]] out of [[potato]]es.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bgf.nu/ljus/u/ekeblad.html |title=Biography (Swedish) |access-date=2011-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314010602/http://www.bgf.nu/ljus/u/ekeblad.html |archive-date=2016-03-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Geology==
* [[Jean-Étienne Guettard]] presents the first [[mineralogy|mineralogical]] map of [[France]] to the [[French Academy of Sciences]].
* [[William Cookworthy]] discovers [[kaolin]] in [[Cornwall]].<ref>{{cite book|title=William Cookworthy 1705–1780: A Study of the Pioneer of True Porcelain Manufacture in England|first=John|last=Penderill-Church|location=Truro|publisher=Bradford Barton|year=1972}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert]] develops the theory of [[complex number]]s.
* [[Patrick d'Arcy]] announces discovery of the principle of [[angular momentum]] in a form known as "the principle of areas" ([[areal velocity]]).<ref>{{cite journal|first=M. le Chevalier|last=D'Arcy|title=Principe Géneral de Dynamique|journal=[[Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences]]|location=Paris|year=1747|pages=348–356}}</ref>
* [[Scottish people|Scottish]] mathematician [[Matthew Stewart (mathematician)|Matthew Stewart]] publishes ''Some General Theorems of Considerable use in the Higher Parts of Mathematics'', including an account of [[Stewart's theorem]] on the measurement of the [[triangle]].

==Physics==
* [[Pierre Louis Maupertuis]] reads before the Berlin Science Academy the paper ''Recherche des Lois du Mouvement''. He claims that nature acts in such a way as to minimize the product of mass times velocity times distance, in an incomplete but seminal idea that derives in what is known today as the [[Principle of least action]].

==Technology==
* [[Pierre Bouguer]] publishes a treatise on [[naval architecture]], ''Traité du navire'', which first explains use of the [[metacentric height]] as a measure of ships' stability.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ferreiro |first=Larrie D. |title=Ships and Science: the Birth of Naval Architecture in the Scientific Revolution, 1600–1800 |location=Cambridge |publisher=MIT Press |year=2007 |page=227 |isbn=978-0-262-06259-6}}</ref>
* John Muller publishes ''A Treatise Containing the Elementary Part of Fortification''.

==Zoology==
* [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] publishes ''Fauna Svecica''.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Benjamin Robins]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |accessdate=21 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

==Births==
* January 4 – [[Benjamin Rush]], [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Father of the United States]], [[chemist]] and [[physician]] (died [[1813 in science|1813]])
* March 7 – [[André Michaux]], [[French people|French]] [[botanist]] (died [[1802 in science|1802]])
* March 15 – [[Giovanni Battista Venturi]], Italian [[physicist]] after whom the [[Venturi pump|Venturi]] tube is named (died [[1822 in science|1822]])
* May 9 – [[Gaspard Monge]], French [[mathematician]] and [[geometer]] (died [[1818 in science|1818]])
* July 16 – [[Giuseppe Piazzi]], [[Italian people|Italian]] [[Theatines|Theatine monk]], [[astronomer]] and mathematician (died [[1826 in science|1826]])
* July 30 – [[Louise du Pierry]], French astronomer (died [[1807 in science|1807]])
* [[Isaac Swainson]], [[English people|English]] botanist (died [[1812 in science|1812]])

==Deaths==
* June 14 – [[Colin Maclaurin]], Scottish mathematician (born [[1698 in science|1698]])
* November 14 – [[Georg Steller]], German naturalist (born [[1709 in science|1709]])

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1746 in science| ]]
[[Category:18th century in science]]
[[Category:1740s in science]]