1772 in science

The year 1772 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

Lagrange finds the special-case solution to the three-body problem that becomes known as the Lagrangian points.Presented to the Académie française.

Johann Heinrich Lambert publishes seven new map projections, including the Lambert conformal conic, transverse Mercator and Lambert azimuthal equal area.{{cite journal|last=Lambert|first=Johann Heinrich|title=Ammerkungen und Zusatze zurder Land und Himmelscharten Entwerfung|year=1772|journal=Beiträge zum Gebrauche der Mathematik in deren Anwendung|volume=3|issue=6}} Reprint: {{cite web|title=Anmerkungen und Zusätze zur Entwerfung der Land- und Himmelscharten|publisher=W. Engelmann|year=1894|url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ABR2581.0001.001|format=xml|accessdate=2007-04-10}} Translation: {{cite book|title=Notes and Comments on the Composition of Terrestrial and Celestial Maps|year=1972|publisher=University of Michigan Press}}{{cite book|last=Snyder|first=John P.|title=Flattening the Earth: Two Thousand Years of Map Projections|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1993|isbn=0-226-76747-7}}{{cite book|last=Snyder|first=John P.|title=Map Projections: a Working Manual|series=U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1395|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|location=Washington, D.C.|year=1987|url=https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/pubs/pp/pp1395| accessdate=26 April 2011 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516070706/http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/pubs/pp/pp1395 | archivedate=May 16, 2008}}

Daniel Rutherford isolates nitrogen.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/elementsofchemis0000lavo|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/elementsofchemis0000lavo/page/15 15]|title=Elements of chemistry, in a new systematic order: containing all the modern discoveries|last=Lavoisier|first=Antoine Laurent|authorlink=Antoine Lavoisier|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|year=1965|isbn=0-486-64624-6| accessdate=30 September 2010 }}
Joseph Priestley synthesizes nitrous oxide as phlogisticated nitrous air.{{cite journal|url=http://anesthesiology.pubs.asahq.org/article.aspx?articleid=1973683|last=Keys|first=T. E.|title=The Development of Anesthesia|journal=Anesthesiology|year=1941|volume=2|pages=552–574|doi=10.1097/00000542-194109000-00008|doi-access=free}} Antoine Lavoisier privately presents his own views on phlogiston theory to the French Academy of Sciences.
Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau demonstrates that metals gain weight on calcination.{{cite book|first=Louis-Bernard|last=Guyton de Morveau|chapter=Dissertation dur la phlogistique|title=Digressions académiques, ou essais sur quelgues sujets de physique, de chymie & d'histoire naturelle|location=Dijon|publisher=Frantin|year=1772}}

The Central England temperature (CET) record begins daily measurements of mean surface air temperatures in the Midlands region of England.{{cite web |title=UK's warmest year on record predicted |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30304611 |work=BBC|date=3 December 2014 |accessdate=3 December 2014 }}
William Hamilton publishes Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and Other Volcano's: in a series of letters addressed to the Royal Society from the Honorable Sir William Hamilton (London).

Euler confirms that $2^{31}-1$ is a Mersenne prime.{{cite web|last=Caldwell|first=Chris|url=http://primes.utm.edu/notes/by_year.html|title=The largest known prime by year|accessdate=2011-12-30}}
The Marquis de Condorcet publishes his second significant paper on integral calculus.

May 28 – The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal opens for traffic throughout in England from a junction with the Trent and Mersey Canal to the River Severn at Stourport. Engineered by James Brindley, this is the first British trunk canal completed and its dimensions determine the size of boat used throughout the narrow canal network ({{convert|72|ft|m}} by {{convert|7|ft|m}}).{{cite book|first=Charles|last=Hadfield|authorlink=Charles Hadfield (historian)|title=The Canals of the West Midlands|edition=2nd|location=Newton Abbot|publisher=David & Charles|year=1969|isbn=0-7153-4660-1|page=50}}
Andrew Meikle invents spring sails for windmills.{{cite web|url=http://odur.let.rug.nl/polders/boekje/features.htm|publisher=Odur.net|title=The important exterior features of a windmill|accessdate=2008-04-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211113319/http://odur.let.rug.nl/polders/boekje/features.htm|archive-date=2012-02-11|url-status=dead}}

Joseph Priestley – The History and Present State of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light and Colours ("Optics")

Copley Medal: Joseph Priestley{{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}}

February 11 – Thomas Webster, Scottish geologist (died 1844)
June 8 – Robert Stevenson, Scottish lighthouse engineer (died 1850)
April 15 – Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French naturalist (died 1844)
October 29 – Jean Henri Jaume Saint-Hilaire, French botanist (died 1845)
November 22 - Pierre Amable Jean-Baptiste Trannoy, French physician, hygienist and botanist (died 1831){{cite web|title=Date of birth on the marriage certificate |url=https://archives.somme.fr/ark:/58483/fsxkrp6h3dlz/a8b20ce0-57b3-4988-9fd3-3057ba5bfc1e |website=archives.somme.fr |access-date=5 March 2021 |language=fr}}
November 28 – Luke Howard, English meteorologist and manufacturing chemist (died 1864)
December 25 – John Mackay, Scottish botanist (died 1802)