1754 in science

Last updated December 19, 2025

The year 1754 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

Immanuel Kant, German philosopher, postulates retardation of Earth's orbit.

Chemistry

Joseph Black, Scottish chemist, discovers carbonic acid gas.^[1]

Earth sciences

Albert Brahms, Frisian Dijkgraaf, begins publication of Anfangsgründe der Deich und Wasser-Baukunst ("Principles of Dike and Aquatic Engineering") advocating scientific recording of tides.^[2]

Mathematics

Joshua Kirby publishes the pamphlet Dr. Brook Taylor's Method of Perspective made Easy both in Theory and Practice containing William Hogarth's Satire on False Perspective .
Lagrange begins to work on the problem of tautochrone.

Physics

Václav Prokop Diviš, Czech theologian and natural scientist in the fields of applied electricity, develops a weather-machine. The same year, an electrical conductor devised by him is installed at the Vienna General Hospital.

Awards

Copley Medal: William Lewis ^[3]

Births

March 4 – Benjamin Waterhouse, American physician (died 1846)
March 15 – Archibald Menzies, Scottish surgeon and botanist (died 1842)
March 23 – Jurij Vega, Slovene mathematician, physicist and artillery officer (died 1802)
May 6 – Thomas Coke, English agriculturalist and geneticist (died 1842)
June 4 – Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, German astronomer (died 1832)
August 21 – William Murdoch, Scottish engineer and inventor (died 1839)
September 26 – Joseph Proust, French chemist (died 1826)

Deaths

February 5 – Nicolaas Kruik (Cruquius), Dutch cartographer and meteorologist (born 1678)
February 16 – Richard Mead, English physician (born 1673)
April 9 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher, mathematician and scientist (born 1679)
April 15 – Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician (born 1676)
November 27 – Abraham de Moivre, French mathematician (born 1667)

References

↑ Taber, Keith S. "On This Day - Jun 11 : Carbon dioxide discovered". RSC Education. Retrieved 2025-12-18.
↑
- Niemeyer, Hanz D.; Eiben, Hartmut; Rohde, Hans (1996), "History and heritage of German coastal entineering", in Kraus, Nicholas C. (ed.), A Collection of Papers on the History of Coastal Engineering in Countries Hosting the International Coastal Engineering Conference 1950-1996 (PDF), American Society of Civil Engineers, archived from the original (PDF) on December 6, 2011, far ahead of his contemporaries.
↑ "Copley Medal | British scientific award". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 July 2020.

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[1] Taber, Keith S. "On This Day - Jun 11 : Carbon dioxide discovered". RSC Education. Retrieved 2025-12-18.

[2] 
Niemeyer, Hanz D.; Eiben, Hartmut; Rohde, Hans (1996), "History and heritage of German coastal entineering", in Kraus, Nicholas C. (ed.), A Collection of Papers on the History of Coastal Engineering in Countries Hosting the International Coastal Engineering Conference 1950-1996 (PDF), American Society of Civil Engineers, archived from the original (PDF) on December 6, 2011, far ahead of his contemporaries.

[mwlw] Niemeyer, Hanz D.; Eiben, Hartmut; Rohde, Hans (1996), "History and heritage of German coastal entineering", in Kraus, Nicholas C. (ed.), A Collection of Papers on the History of Coastal Engineering in Countries Hosting the International Coastal Engineering Conference 1950-1996 (PDF), American Society of Civil Engineers, archived from the original (PDF) on December 6, 2011, far ahead of his contemporaries.

[3] "Copley Medal | British scientific award". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 July 2020.

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