- 1678 in science
The year 1678 in
science andtechnology involved some significant events.Astronomy
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Edmund Halley publishes a catalogue of 341 southern stars - the first systematic southern sky survey.Physics
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Christiaan Huygens publishes his "Traité de la Lumière/Treatise on Light", which states his principle of wavefront sources.
*Robert Hooke discovers the fundamental law of elasticity when he finds that the stress (force) exerted is proportional to the strain (elongation) produced.Zoology
* Publication of "English Spiders" by
Martin Lister , the first book devoted tospider s.Births
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July 16 —Jakob Hermann ,mathematician (died 1733)
*November 26 —Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan ,geophysicist (died 1771)
*October 27 —Pierre Raymond de Montmort ,mathematician (died 1719)
*"unknown" —Pierre Fauchard ,physician and "father of modern dentistry" (died 1761)Deaths
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