1769 in science

List of years in science (Table)
… 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 …
Related time period or subjects
… 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 … … 1730s 1740s 1750s 1760s 1770s 1780s 1790s … … 17th century 18th century 19th century …
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Science more

The year 1769 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Astronomy

• June 3 - Transit of Venus is observed from many places in order to obtain data for measuring the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Those taking part included
  • Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche at San José del Cabo, Baja California
  • James Cook and Charles Green on Tahiti
  • Jeremiah Dixon and William Bayly in northern Norway, Dixon at Hammerfest and Bayly at North Cape
  • Maximilian Hell in Vardø, Norway
  • Guillaume Le Gentil in Pondicherry, India: Le Gentil had hoped to go to Manila in the Philippines but was turned away by the local Spanish colonial governor. The weather in Pondicherry was cloudy that day. Le Gentil had also missed the 1761 transit through bad luck.
  • Alexandre Guy Pingré in Haiti
  • William Wales and Joseph Dymond at Prince of Wales Fort on Hudson Bay
• November 9 - Transit of Mercury. James Cook observes this from Mercury Bay in New Zealand

Chemistry

• Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovers a method of mass-producing phosphorus

Cugnot's first steam-wagon, or fardier, of 1769.

Technology

• April 29 - James Watt is granted a British patent for "A method of lessening the consumption of steam in steam engines" – the separate condenser.
• July 3 - Richard Arkwright is granted a British patent for a water-powered spinning frame able to weave fabric mechanically.
• Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrates a steam-powered artillery tractor (or 'automobile') in France (see drawing).

Exploration

• March 16 - Louis Antoine de Bougainville returns to Saint-Malo following a three-year circumnavigation of the world with the ships La Boudeuse and Étoile, with the loss of only seven out of 330 men.

Awards

• Copley Medal: William Hewson

Births

• March 23 - William Smith, geologist (died 1839)
• March 29 - Friedrich Christian Accum, chemist (died 1838)
• April 25 - Marc Isambard Brunel, engineer (died 1849)
• August 23 - Georges Cuvier, zoologist (died 1832)
• September 14 - Alexander von Humboldt, naturalist and explorer (died 1859)
• Marie LaChapelle, obstetrician (died 1821)