1742 in science

• January 14 – Death of Edmond Halley; James Bradley succeeds him as Astronomer Royal in Great Britain. ==Mathematics==

• June – Christian Goldbach produces Goldbach's conjecture. • Colin Maclaurin publishes his Treatise on Fluxions in Great Britain, the first systematic exposition of Newton's methods. ==Metrology==

• Anders Celsius publishes his proposal for a centigrade temperature scale originated in 1741. ==Physiology and medicine==

• Surgeon Joseph Hurlock publishes his A Practical Treatise upon Dentition, or The breeding of teeth in children in London, the first treatise in English on dentition. ==Technology==

• Benjamin Robins publishes his New Principles of Gunnery, containing the determination of the force of gun-powder and an investigation of the difference in the resisting power of the air to swift and slow motions in London, containing a description of his ballistic pendulum and the results of his scientific experiments into improvements in ballistics. • The first large (12 ft focal length) reflecting telescope is made, in Gregorian form, by James Short, for use by Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, in London. ==Awards==

• Copley Medal: Christopher Middleton. ==Births==

• March 15 (bapt.) – John Stackhouse, English botanist (died 1819). • May 18 – Lionel Lukin, English inventor (died 1834). • December 3 – James Rennell, English geographer, historian and oceanographer (died 1830). • December 9 – Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish chemist (died 1786). • December 26 – Ignaz von Born, Hungarian metallurgist (died 1791). ==Deaths==

• January 14 – Edmond Halley, English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist (born 1656). • February 28 – Willem 's Gravesande, Dutch polymath (born 1688). • May 13 – Nicolas Andry, French physician (born 1658). • September 22 – Frederic Louis Norden, Danish explorer (born 1708). ==References==