Events from the year 1773 in France.
Incumbents Monarch – Louis XV
Events 24 February – Decision of the council reorganizing recovery of the poll tax on the bourgeoisie of Paris. Rents are recorded by Intendant Bertier de Sauvigny and the tax is calculated proportionally; the tax yield increases from 850,000 livres to 1,400,000 livres. 7 April or 24 May – Freemasonry in France: The 200 masonic lodges are reorganized within the Grand Orient de France in a vast relational system hierarchized by affiliation. 9 May – Hunger riots in Bordeaux. 13 October – Astronomer Charles Messier discovers the Whirlpool Galaxy, an interacting, grand design spiral galaxy located at a distance of approximately 31 million light-years, in the constellation Canes Venatici. Lagrange presents his work on the secular equation of the Moon to the Académie Française, introducing the idea of the potential of a body. He also publishes on the attraction of ellipsoids and other mathematical matters. Hilaire Rouelle discovers urea. Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau proposes the use of "muriatic acid gas" (hydrogen chloride) for fumigation of buildings. Antoine Baumé publishes his textbook Chymie expérimentale et raisonnée in Paris.
Births
6 April – Nicolas Viton de Saint-Allais, genealogist (died 1842) 2 September – Louis-Auguste-Victor, Count de Ghaisnes de Bourmont, Marshal of France (died 1846) 6 September – François Fournier-Sarlovèze, military officer (died 1827) 14 September – Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes, military officer (died 1822 at sea) 6 October – Louis Philippe I "Citizen King" of the French (died 1850) 12 December – Robert Surcouf, privateer, businessman and slave-trader (died 1827)
Deaths 24 January – Philippe Buache, geographer (died 1700) 14 March – Philibert Commerson, naturalist (born 1727) 30 October – Philippe de La Guêpière, architect (born c.1715) 7 November – Princess Anne Charlotte of Lorraine, Abbess of Mons (born 1714)
Full date unknown Maximin de Bompart, naval officer (born 1698)
See also
References