History of Physics and Astronomy

1700 AD to 1799 AD

This section shows the important events in Physics and Astronomy from 1700 AD until 1799 AD. The names of people are highlighted in blue, important people are in bold blue.

1700-1782 Bernouilli
1701 Newton's law of cooling
1704 Newton's rings
1704 Opticks first edition published - Newton
1705 Electroscope – Haukesbee
1705 Halley's comet – predicts return
1706-1790 Franklin
1717 Opticks published – Newton (date clash?)
1720 Mercury thermometer – Fahrenheit (?1714)
1724 Fahrenheit temperature scale
1724 Supercooling of water - Gabriel Fahrenheit
1728 Aberration of light – Bradley
1728-1799 James Black – fluid theory of heat
1730-1799 Ingen Hauz
1731-1810 Cavendish
1732-1811 Maskelyne – astronomer royal
1733 Electric charge - distinction between positive and negative - Charles du Fay
1735 Cobalt discovered – Brandt
1736-1806 Coulomb
1736-1819 Watt
1737-1798 Galvani
1738-1822 Herschel
1740 G – Chimborazo in the Andes – Bouguer
1740 Positive and negative electricity - Franklin
1742 Celsius scale of temperature
1744 Gyroscope - Serson
1745 Leyden jar for storage of static electric charge
1745-1827 Volta
1746 Angular momentum conservation
1749-1814 Bramah
1750 Inverse square law for magnetic fields – John Michell
1750 Lightning experiments - Franklin
1752 Gregorian calendar in Britain
1752 Viscosity - Jean d'Alembert
1753 Lightning conductor - Franklin
1753-1814 Rumford
1755 Island universes proposed – Kant
1756 War – Seven years war began
1756-1827 Chladni
1757 Cook – voyage to Australia
1758 Achromatic lens – Dolland
1759 Quebec captured by Wolfe
1760 Lambert's cosine law
1760 Latent and specific heat – Black
1760 Yard – standard version made – John Bird
1764 Spinning Jenny – Hargreaves
1766 Hydrogen – isolation by Cavendish
1766 Inverse square law for force between electric charges – Joseph Priestley
1766-1832 Leslie (Leslie's cube)
1766-1844 Dalton
1767 Nautical almanac
1768 Royal Academy founded
1769 Venus – transit of Venus observed
1769 Watt patents the steam engine
1770 Quadrant electrometer
1770 Torsion balance
1770-1831 Seebeck
1771 Force between two charges (law proposed) (see 1766)
1773-1829 Young
1774 G – Schiehallion
1775-1836 Ampere
1777 Singing flame – Higgins
1777-1835 Kater (Kater's compound pendulum)
1777-1855 Gauss
1778-1829 Davy
1779 Friction law – Coulomb
1779-1869 Roget
1781 Messier's catalogue of nebulae
1781 Uranus discovered – Herschel
1781-1848 Stephenson
1782 Double acting steam engine
1782 Sun's motion through space - William Herschel
1783 Hot air balloon - Montgolfier
1784 Atwood's machine (moment of inertia of a disc)
1784 Cepheid variable – delta Cephei – discovered - Goodricke
1784 Magnetism – inverse square law
1785 Horse power as a unit of power – Watt
1786 Frogs legs - Galvani
1786-1853 Arago
1787 Charles' Law
1787-1826 Fraunhofer
1787-1854 Ohm
1788-1827 Fresnel
1789 French Revolution
1789 Herchel's 49" reflector completed
1790 Definition of metric system in France
1790-1845 Daniell – Daniell cell
1791-1867 Faraday
1792 Prevost's theory of exchanges – heat
1794 Colour blindness – Dalton
1796-1832 Carnot
1798 Canon boring experiments - Rumford
1798 G - Cavendish experiment
1798 Uranium discovered
1799 Ice blocks rubbed together gives heat energy – Davy
1799 Interference first mentioned by Young
1799 Metre – standard version made
1799-1878 Henry