1748

Years: 1745 1746 1747 - 1748 - 1749 1750 1751
Decades: 1710s 1720s 1730s - 1740s - 1750s 1760s 1770s
Centuries: 17th century - 18th century - 19th century

Events

April 24 - A congress assembles at Aix-la-Chapelle with the intent to conclude the struggle known as the War of Austrian Succession - at October 18 - The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle is signed to end the war
Adam Smith begins to deliver public lectures in Edinburgh
Building of Sveaborg begins near Helsinki
Henry Fielding organizes forerunner of the Bow Street Runners – eight men at first

Births

January 1 - Gottfried August Bürger, German poet (died 1794)
January 9 - Stefan Paluselli , composer (died 1805)
February 2 - Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Order of the Illuminati (died 1811)
February 9 - Luther Martin, American politician (died 1826)
February 15 - Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher and writer (died 1832)
February 22 - Timothy Dexter, American businessman (died 1806)
February 27 - Anders Sparrman, Swedish naturalist (died 1820)
March 5 - William Shield, English violinist and composer (died 1829)
March 5 - Jonas C. Dryander, Swedish botanist (died 1810)
March 8 - Prince William V of Orange (died 1806)
March 10 - John Playfair, Scottish scientist (died 1819)
April 12 - Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist (died 1836)
April 27 - Pierre-Louis Ginguené, French author (died 1815)
April 27 - Adamantios Korais, humanist scholar, the father of Modern Greek literature (died 1833)
May 3 - Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, French cleric and constitutional theorist (died 1836)
May 7 - Olympe de Gouges, Woman playwright (died 1793)
May 28 - Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle (died 1825)
June 8 - William Few, American politician (died 1828)
June 30 - Jacques Dominique, comte de Cassini, French astronomer (died 1845)
August 8 - Johann Friedrich Gmelin, German naturalist (died 1804)
August 30 - Jacques-Louis David, French painter (died 1825)
October 7 - King Charles XIII of Sweden (Charles II of Norway) (died 1818)
October 13 - Johann Dominicus Fiorillo, German painter and art historian (died 1821)
October 19 - Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, Wife of 3rd President Thomas Jefferson (died 1782)
November 11 - King Charles IV of Spain (died 1819)
December 9 - Claude Louis Berthollet, French chemist (died 1822)
December 14 - William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (died 1811)
Sweeney Todd, serial killer (died 1802)
Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot, French ornithologist (died 1831)
James Sayers, English caricaturist (died 1823)
William Leeves , English reverend and composer (died 1828)
Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne (died 1829)
Francis Needham, 1st Earl of Kilmorey (died 1832)
James Cecil, 7th Earl of Salisbury (died 1823)
William Chalmers, Swedish merchant (died 1811)
Richard Howard, 4th Earl of Effingham (died 1816)
Richard Nassau Molesworth, 4th Viscount Molesworth (died 1793)
Thomas de Grey, 2nd Baron Walsingham (died 1818)
John Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale (died 1830)

Deaths

January 1 - Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (born 1667)
March 14 - George Wade, Hanoverian soldier (born 1673)
March 23 - Johann Gottfried Walther , German composer (born 1684)
April 12 - William Kent, architect (born 1685)
May 12 - Thomas Lowndes, British astronomer (born 1692)
July 12 - Boštjan Steiner , Slovenian mathematician (born 1680)
August 27 - James Thomson, Scottish poet (born 1700)
September 21 - John Balguy, English philosopher (born 1686)
November 25 - Isaac Watts, English hymn writer (born 1674)
December 2 - Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (born 1662)
Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (born 1672)
Price Devereux, 10th Viscount Hereford (born 1694)
John Perceval, 1st Earl of Egmont (born 1683)
William Herbert, 3rd Marquess of Powis (born 1698)
Alexander Fraser, 12th Lord Saltoun (born 1684)
George Mackay, 3rd Lord Reay (born 1678)
John Monson, 1st Baron Monson (born 1693)