The year1678 inscience andtechnology involved some significant events.

• Edmund Halley publishes a catalogue of 341 southern stars—the first systematic southern sky survey.

• Christiaan Huygens publishes hisTraité de la Lumière/Treatise on Light, which states hisprinciple of wavefront sources.
• Robert Hooke publishes in fullHooke's law, the fundamental law ofelasticity: stress (force) exerted is proportional to the strain (elongation) produced (ut tensio, sic vis ("as the extension, so the force" or "the extension is proportional to the force")).^[1]

• Publication ofEnglish Spiders byMartin Lister, the first book devoted tospiders.

• April 14 –Abraham Darby I,ironmaster (died1717)
• July 16 –Jakob Hermann,mathematician (died1733)
• October 27 –Pierre Raymond de Montmort, mathematician (died1719)
• November 26 –Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan,geophysicist (died1771)
• December 2 –Nicolaas Kruik (Cruquius),cartographer andmeteorologist (died1754)
• unknown –Pierre Fauchard,physician and "father of modern dentistry" (died1761)

• November 28 –Willem Piso, physician andnaturalist (born1611)

• 1678 in science
• 17th century in science
• 1670s in science

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