1759 in science

The year 1759 in science and technology involved several significant events.

Astronomy

Halley's Comet returns; a team of three mathematicians, Alexis Clairaut, Jérome Lalande and Nicole Reine Lepaute, have – for the first time – predicted the date.

Caspar Friedrich Wolff's dissertation at the University of Halle Theoria Generationis supports the theory of epigenesis.{{cite journal|first=Alexander|last=Petrunkevitch|title=Russia's Contribution to Science|journal=Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences|location=New Haven|volume=23|date=June 1920|page=235}}

Kew Gardens established in England by Augusta of Saxe-Coburg, the mother of George III.{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1084|title=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|work=World Heritage|publisher=UNESCO|accessdate=2010-07-04| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20100817210717/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1084| archivedate= 17 August 2010 }}

Giovanni Arduino proposes dividing the geological history of Earth into four periods: Primitive, Secondary, Tertiary and Volcanic, or Quaternary.{{cite book|authorlink=Marston Bates|last=Bates|first=Marston|title=The Nature of Natural History|page=51|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|location=New York|year=1950}}

June 15 – The first vascular surgery in history is performed by a Dr. Hallowell at Newcastle upon Tyne in England, who uses suture repair rather than a tying off with a ligature to repair an aneurysm on a patient's brachial artery.{{cite journal|year=1761|first=Richard|last=Lambert|title=A new technique of treating an aneurysm|journal=Medical Observations and Inquiries}}{{cite book|chapter=History of Microsurery|first=Yoshikazu|last=Ikuta|title=Telemicrosurgery: Robot Assisted Microsurgery|publisher=Springer|year=2012|page=5}} The new procedure of reconstructing a damaged artery replaces the practice of ligation that had risked the amputation of a limb or organ failure.{{cite book|first=Steven G.|last=Friedman|title=A History of Vascular Surgery|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2008|page=ix}}
Angélique du Coudray publishes Abrégé de l'art des accouchements ("The Art of Obstetrics").

Posthumous publication of Émilie du Châtelet's French translation and commentary on Newton's Principia, Principes mathématiques de la philosophie naturelle.

English clockmaker John Harrison produces his "No. 1 sea watch" ("H4"), the first successful marine chronometer.{{cite book|title=Royal Observatory Greenwich souvenir guide|year=2012|isbn=978-1-906367-51-0|pages=34–35|quote=the first precision watch and considered by many today as the most important timekeeper ever.|author=Royal Greenwich Observatory}}

James Brindley is engaged by the Duke of Bridgewater to construct a canal to transport coal to Manchester from the duke's mines at Worsley, in North West England.
October 16 – Smeaton's Tower, John Smeaton's Eddystone Lighthouse off the coast of South West England, is first illuminated.{{cite web|title=Eddystone Lighthouse|url=http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/interactive/gallery/eddystone.html|publisher=Trinity House|accessdate=2006-09-06| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060909043743/http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/interactive/gallery/eddystone.html| archivedate=9 September 2006 }}

Copley Medal: John Smeaton{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |accessdate=21 July 2020 |language=en}}

January 29 – Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc, French botanist (died 1828)
July 19 – Jacques Anselme Dorthès, French physician, entomologist and naturalist (died 1794){{cite book |last1=Nicolas |first1=Michel |title=Histoire littéraire de Nîmes et des localités voisines qui forment actuellement le département du Gard |date=5 August 2016 |publisher=BnF collection ebooks |location=Paris |isbn=9782346019731 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ewXNDAAAQBAJ&q=Jacques+Anselme+Dorth%C3%A8s&pg=PT260 |access-date=25 February 2021 |language=fr}}
August 12 – Thomas Andrew Knight, English horticulturalist (died 1838)
September 19 – William Kirby, English entomologist (died 1850)
December 2 – James Edward Smith, English botanist (died 1828)
Date unknown – Maria Petraccini, Italian anatomist and physician (died 1791)