The year 1746 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Chemistry

John Roebuck invents the lead-chamber process for the manufacture of sulfuric acid.
German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf (1709–1782) is credited with describing zinc as a separate metal.
Eva Ekeblad discovers how to make flour and alcohol out of potatoes.[1]

Geology

Jean-Étienne Guettard presents the first mineralogical map of France to the French Academy of Sciences.
William Cookworthy discovers kaolin in Cornwall.[2]

Mathematics

Jean le Rond d'Alembert develops the theory of complex numbers.
Scottish mathematician Matthew Stewart publishes Some General Theorems of Considerable use in the Higher Parts of Mathematics, including an account of Stewart's theorem on the measurement of the triangle.

Technology

Pierre Bouguer publishes a treatise on naval architecture,Traité du navire, which first explains use of the metacentric height as a measure of ships' stability.[3]
John Muller publishes A Treatise Containing the Elementary Part of Fortification.

Zoology

Linnaeus publishes Fauna Svecica.

Awards

Copley Medal: Benjamin Robins

Births

January 4 - Benjamin Rush, Founding Father of the United States, chemist and physician (died 1813)
March 7 - André Michaux, French botanist (died 1802)
May 10 - Gaspard Monge, French mathematician (died 1818)
July 7 - Giuseppe Piazzi, Italian Theatine monk, astronomer and mathematician (died 1826)
March 15 - Giovanni Battista Venturi, Italian physicist after whom the Venturi tube is named (died 1822)
Louise du Pierry, French astronomer (died 1789)

Deaths

14 June 1746 Death of Colin Maclaurin in Edinburgh, Scotland,, Scottish mathematician (born 1698)
November 14 - Georg Steller, German naturalist (born 1709)

References

^ Biography (Swedish)
^ Penderill-Church, John (1972). William Cookworthy 1705-1780: a study of the pioneer of true porcelain manufacture in England. Truro: Bradford Barton.
^ Ferreiro, Larrie D. (2007). Ships and Science: the Birth of Naval Architecture in the Scientific Revolution, 1600-1800. Cambridge: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-06259-6.