1740 in science

The year 1740 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Mathematics

• Jean Paul de Gua de Malves publishes his work of analytic geometry, Template:Sic.

Metallurgy

• Benjamin Huntsman develops the technique of crucible steel production at Handsworth, South Yorkshire, England.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 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 (E_k = Template:Fracmv²).
• 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Awards

• Copley Medal: Alexander Stuart<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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).