1748 in science
The year 1748 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Archaeology
- Rediscovery of the ruins of Pompeii.
Chemistry
- Thomas Frye of the Bow porcelain factory in London produces bone china.
Earth sciences
- Publication in Amsterdam of the Neptunian theory of French diplomat Benoît de Maillet in Telliamed, ou entretiens d’un philosophe indien avec un missionnaire françois, sur la diminution de la mer, la formation de la terre, l’origine de l’homme... as edited by Abbé Jean Baptiste de Mascrier.
Mathematics
- Leonhard Euler publishes Introductio in analysin infinitorum, an introduction to pure analytical mathematics, in Berlin. He calculates the mathematical constant e to 23 digits and presents Euler's formula. Euler's fifth paper on nautical topics, E137, is also written in this year but not published until 1750.
- Maria Agnesi publishes Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana in Milan, "regarded as the best introduction extant to the works of Euler".approx. date – Thomas Bayes originates Bayes' theorem.
Medicine
- John Fothergill publishes Account of the Sore Throat, attended with Ulcers, an early description of diphtheria.
Technology
- Pierre Le Roy invents the detent escapement in watchmaking.
- Lewis Paul invents a hand machine for wool-carding.
Publications
- Publication in Madrid of Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa's Relación Histórica del Viage a la América Meridionale, including Ulloa's account of platinum.
- Publication of Man a Machine by Julien Offray de La Mettrie.
Awards
- Copley Medal: James Bradley
- Eva Ekeblad becomes the first female member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences">Sweden">Swedish Academy of Sciences
Births
- February 27 – Anders Sparrman, Swedish botanist
- March 5 – Jonas C. Dryander, Swedish botanist
- March 10 – John Playfair, Scottish scientist
- April 12 – Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist
- April 13 – Joseph Bramah, English inventor
- May 10 – Louis Pierre Vieillot, French ornithologist
- June 30 – Dominique, comte de Cassini, French astronomer
- August 8 – Johann Friedrich Gmelin, German naturalist
- December 9 – Claude Louis Berthollet, French chemist
Deaths
- January 1 – Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician
- November – Aleksei Chirikov, Russian explorer
- December 27 – Edmund Weaver, English astronomer