1742 in science

Astronomy

• January 14 – Death of Edmond Halley; James Bradley succeeds him as Astronomer Royal in Great Britain.

Mathematics

• June – Christian Goldbach produces Goldbach's conjecture.
• 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.

Physiology and medicine

• Surgeon Joseph Hurlock publishes his A Practical Treatise upon Dentition, or The breeding of teeth in children in London, the first treatise in English on dentition.

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.
• 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.

Awards

• Copley Medal: Christopher Middleton.

Births

• March 15 (bapt.) – John Stackhouse, English botanist (died 1819).
• May 18 – Lionel Lukin, English inventor (died 1834).
• December 3 – James Rennell, English geographer, historian and oceanographer (died 1830).
• December 9 – Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish chemist (died 1786).
• December 26 – Ignaz von Born, Hungarian metallurgist (died 1791).

Deaths

• January 14 – Edmond Halley, English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist (born 1656).
• February 28 – Willem 's Gravesande, Dutch polymath (born 1688).
• May 13 – Nicolas Andry, French physician (born 1658).
• September 22 – Frederic Louis Norden, Danish explorer (born 1708).

References

References

1. Crilly, Tony. (2007). "50 Mathematical Ideas you really need to know". Quercus.
2. Celsius, Anders (1742). [https://archive.org/stream/kungligasvenskav1317kung#page/170/mode/2up/search "Observationer om twänne beständiga grader på en thermometer"] (Observations about two stable degrees on a thermometer). ''Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar'' (Proceedings of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences) '''3''':171-180 and [https://archive.org/stream/kungligasvenskav1317kung#page/232/mode/2up].
3. {{cite EB1911. Frederick John. Jervis-Smith
4. Routh, Edward John. (1905). "The Elementary Part of A Treatise on the Dynamics of a System of Rigid Bodies". Macmillan.
5. Ferguson, Niall. (2011). "Civilization: The West and the Rest". Allen Lane.
6. [[Museum of the History of Science, Oxford]], inventory 98721 (exhibit label noted 2012).
7. "Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award".