1779 in science

• 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) ==References==