1779 in science

The year 1779 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

 * March 23 – Edward Pigott discovers the Black Eye Galaxy (M64).
 * May 5 – The spiral galaxy M61 is discovered in the constellation Virgo by Barnabus Oriani.

Exploration

 * Horace-Bénédict de Saussure begins publication of Voyages dans les Alpes.

Mathematics

 * Étienne Bézout publishes Théorie générale des équations algébriques in Paris, containing original work on elimination theory.

Physics

 * Jean-Paul Marat publishes Découvertes de M. Marat sur le feu, l'électricité et la lumière (Discoveries of Mr Marat on Fire, Electricity and Light).

Technology

 * January 8 – Bryan Higgins is granted a British patent for hydraulic cement (stucco) for use as an exterior plaster.
 * May – Boulton and Watt's Smethwick Engine is brought into service for pumping on the Birmingham Canal Navigations; two centuries later it will become the oldest working steam engine in the world.
 * James Pickard first applies a crank and flywheel to a Newcomen atmospheric engine to produce circular motion.
 * The Iron Bridge is erected across the River Severn in Shropshire, England; the first all-cast-iron bridge ever built. It will open to traffic on January 1, 1781.
 * The spinning mule is perfected by the Lancashire inventor Samuel Crompton.
 * The British Royal Navy adopts the carronade.
 * The Girandoni Air Rifle is designed in Austria.

Births

 * January 5 – General Zebulon Pike, American explorer (died 1813)
 * May 1 – Alexander Morison, Scottish physician and psychiatrist (died 1866)
 * August 7
 * Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (died 1848)
 * Louis de Freycinet, French explorer of coastal regions of Western Australia (died 1842)

Deaths

 * January 22 – Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer (born 1733)
 * February 14 – James Cook, English explorer (born 1728)
 * June 28 – Martha Daniell Logan,  American botanist (born 1704)
 * October 18 – Patrick d'Arcy, Irish-born mathematician (born 1725)
 * November 16 – Pehr Kalm, Swedish botanist (born 1716)
 * undated – John Kay, English inventor (born 1704)