Editing 1776 in science

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{{Science year nav|1776}}

The year '''1776 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events.

==Astronomy==
* [[Joseph Louis Lagrange|Lagrange]] publishes a paper on the stability of planetary [[orbit]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Trimble|first1=Virginia|last2=Williams|first2=Thomas R.|last3=Bracher|first3=Katherine|last4=Jarrell|first4=Richard|last5=Marché|first5=Jordan D.|last6=Ragep|first6=F. Jamil|title=Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers|date=2007|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9780387304007|page=667|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-BF1CHkc50C&pg=PA667|language=en}}</ref>

==Botany==
* [[William Withering]] publishes ''The Botanical Arrangement of all the Vegetables Naturally Growing in Great Britain'', the first [[Flora (publication)|flora]] in [[English language|English]] based on [[Linnaean taxonomy]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/botanical-arrangement-of-all-the-vegetables-naturally-growing-in-great-britain/99C9C883E83721AC8103D1454B48CC2D#|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2015 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781107706163 |access-date=25 December 2024 |last1=Withering |first1=William |title=A Botanical Arrangement of All the Vegetables Naturally Growing in Great Britain |isbn=978-1-108-07588-6 }}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* [[James Keir]] begins publication of ''A Dictionary of Chemistry'' in London, a translation into English of [[Pierre Macquer]]'s ''Dictionnaire de chymie'' (1766).

==Exploration==
* July 12 – Captain [[James Cook]] sets off from [[Plymouth]], England, in [[HMS Resolution (1771)|HMS ''Resolution'']] on his [[Third voyage of James Cook|third voyage]], to the [[Pacific Ocean]] and the [[Arctic]].

==Geology==
* [[James Keir]] suggests that some rocks, such as those at the [[Giant's Causeway]], might have been formed by the [[crystallisation]] of molten [[lava]].

==Mathematics==
* [[Jean Baptiste Meusnier]] discovers the [[helicoid]] and announces [[Meusnier's theorem]].

==Medicine==
* November 30 – Sir [[John Pringle (physician)|John Pringle]] presents "A discourse upon some late improvements of the means for preserving the health of mariners" to the [[Royal Society]] of [[London]], commending and publicising Captain [[James Cook|Cook]]'s methods for prevention of [[scurvy]] at sea.
* Publication of observations of epidemic diseases in [[Normandy]], based on Hippocrates' table of epidemics by [[Louis Lépecq de La Clôture]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lépecq de La Clôture |first1=Louis |title=Observations sur les maladies épidémiques , ouvrage rédigé d'après le tableau des épidémiques d'Hippocrate, et dans lequel on indique la meilleure méthode d'observer ce genre de maladies |date=1776 |publisher=Vincent |location=Paris |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k30679401 |language=fr}}</ref>

==Technology==
* June–July – [[Claude-François-Dorothée, marquis de Jouffroy d'Abbans]], demonstrates his [[steamboat]] ''[[Palmipède]]'' on the [[Doubs (river)]] in France.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Claude-François-Dorothée de Jouffroy|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08526b.htm|title=The Catholic Encyclopedia|via=New Advent|last=Fox|first=W.|year=1910|location=New York|publisher=Robert Appleton Company|accessdate=2023-03-24}}</ref>
* [[John Wilkinson (industrialist)|John Wilkinson]] installs a steam [[blowing engine]] at his ironmaking furnace in [[Willey, Shropshire]], [[England]].

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: James Cook<ref>{{cite web|title=Copley Medal - British scientific award|url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|accessdate=10 May 2018|language=en}}</ref>

==Births==
* February 4 – [[Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus]], [[Germans|German]] [[natural history|naturalist]] (died [[1837 in science|1837]])
* February 14 – [[Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck]], German [[botanist]] (died [[1858 in science|1858]])
* March 27 – [[Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel]], [[French people|French]] botanist and politician (died [[1854 in science|1854]])
* April 1 – [[Sophie Germain]], French [[mathematician]] (died [[1831 in science|1831]])
* May 17 – [[Amos Eaton]], [[Americans|American]] naturalist and pioneer of science education (died [[1842 in science|1842]])
* June 1 – [[Giuseppe Zamboni]], Italian Catholic priest and physicist (died [[1846 in science|1846]])
* June 12 – [[Karl Friedrich Burdach]], German physiologist (died [[1847 in science|1847]])
* July 16 
** [[Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus]], German physician and naturalist (died [[1827 in science|1827]])
** [[Johann Georg von Soldner]], German physicist (died [[1833 in science|1833]])
* July 22 – [[Etheldred Benett]], [[English people|English]] geologist (died [[1845 in science|1845]])
* July 26 – [[Pierre Fouquier]], French physician (died [[1850 in science|1850]])
* August 2 – [[Friedrich Stromeyer]], German [[chemist]], discoverer of [[cadmium]] (died [[1835 in science|1835]])
* August 6 – [[Amedeo Avogadro]], Piedmontese chemist (died [[1856 in science|1856]])
* October 4 – [[Mariano Lagasca]], Spanish botanist (died [[1839 in science|1839]])
* October 13 – [[Peter Barlow (mathematician)|Peter Barlow]], English mathematician (died [[1862 in science|1862]])
* November 14 – [[Henri Dutrochet]], French physician (died [[1847 in science|1847]])
* November 18 - [[Mauro Ruscóni]], Italian physician and zoologist (died [[1849 in science|1849]])<ref>{{cite wikisource |wslanguage=de |editor=Constantin von Wurzbach  |title= BLKÖ:Rusconi, Maurus |edition= |volume= |year=1874 |publisher=Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich  |location= |language= |scan=BLKÖ:Rusconi, Maurus }}</ref>
* December 3 – [[Nicolas Charles Seringe]], French physician and botanist (died [[1858 in science|1858]])
* December 31 – [[Johann Spurzheim]], German physician (died [[1832 in science|1832]])<ref>{{cite web|title=Johann Gaspar Spurzheim (1776-1832)|url=http://data.bnf.fr/13320463/johann_gaspar_spurzheim/|website=data.bnf.fr|accessdate=10 May 2018|language=en}}</ref>

==Deaths==
* February 18 – [[Lady Anne Monson]], English-born botanist (born [[1726 in science|1726]])<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mariss|first1=Anne|title="A world of new things": Praktiken der Naturgeschichte bei Johann Reinhold Forster|date=2015|publisher=Campus Verlag|isbn=9783593504773|page=212|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ie4rCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA212|language=de}}</ref>
* June 13 – [[William Battie]], English psychiatrist (born [[1703 in science|1703]] or [[1704 in science|1704]])
* June 20 – [[Benjamin Huntsman]], English inventor and manufacturer (born [[1704 in science|1704]])
* November 17 – [[James Ferguson (Scottish astronomer)|James Ferguson]], Scottish astronomer (born [[1710 in science|1710]])

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:1776 in science| ]]
[[Category:18th century in science]]
[[Category:1770s in science]]