The year 1740 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Mathematics Jean Paul de Gua de Malves publishes his work of analytic geometry, .
Metallurgy Benjamin Huntsman develops the technique of crucible steel production at Handsworth, South Yorkshire, England.
Physics Jacques-Barthélemy Micheli du Crest creates a spirit thermometer, making use of two fixed points, 0 for "Temperature of earth" based on a cave at Paris Observatory and 100 for the heat of boiling water. Émilie du Châtelet publishes Institutions de Physique, including a demonstration that the energy of a moving object is proportional to the square of its velocity (Ek = mv²). Louis Bertrand Castel publishes L'Optique des couleurs in Paris, including the observation that the colours of white light split by a prism depend on distance from the prism.
Technology Henry Hindley of Yorkshire invents a device to cut the teeth of clock wheels.
Awards Copley Medal: Alexander Stuart
Births February 17 – Horace Bénédict de Saussure, Genevan pioneer of Alpine studies (died 1799) March 28 (bapt.) – James Small, Scottish inventor (died 1793) June 27 – John Latham, English physician and naturalist, "grandfather of Australian ornithology" (died 1837) July 1 – Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein, Austrian mineralogist and discoverer of tellurium (died 1825) August 26 – Joseph Michel Montgolfier, French pioneer balloonist (died 1810) September 29 – Thomas Percival, English reforming physician and medical ethicist (died 1804) December 24 – Anders Johan Lexell, Finnish-Swedish astronomer and mathematician (died 1784) unknown – William Smellie, Scottish naturalist and encyclopedist (died 1795)
Deaths March 23 – Olof Rudbeck the Younger, Swedish naturalist (born 1660).
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