1744 in science

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The year 1744 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

• Great Comet of 1744, first sighted in 1743, remains visible until April (perihelion about March 1).^[1]

Cartography

• César-François Cassini de Thury publishes a new triangulated map of France.

Earth sciences

• Susanna Drury's illustrations of the Giant's Causeway in northern Ireland are engraved by François Vivares in London (1743–4), bringing the rock formation to wide European notice.^[2]

Mathematics

• Leonhard Euler discovers the catenoid and proves it to be a minimal surface.^[3]

Awards

• Copley Medal: Henry Baker

Births

• June 22 – Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben, German naturalist (died 1777)
• August 1 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French naturalist (died 1829)
• August 16 – Pierre Méchain, French astronomer (died 1804)
• October 17 – Andrew Duncan, Scottish physician (died 1828)

Deaths

• February 14 – John Hadley, English mathematician (born 1682)
• April 25 – Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer and thermometrician (born 1701)

References

1. "C/1743 X1". JPL Small-Body Database Browser. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 1744-03-01. Retrieved 2011-10-13.
2. Anglesea, Martyn (2004). "Drury , Susanna (b. 1698?, d. in or after 1770)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/59673. Retrieved 2012-11-16. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
3. Euler, L. (1744). "Methodus inveniendi lineas curvas maximi minimive proprietate gaudentes". In Opera omnia I p. 24.