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April 24 - A congress assembles at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) 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

Ahmad Shah captures Lahore.

Discovery of ruins of Pompeii

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January 1 - Gottfried August Bürger, German poet (died 1794)

January 19 - Antonio Carnicero, Spanish painter (died 1814)

February 2 - Adam Weishaupt, German 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, Greek scholar (died 1833)

May 3 - Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, French cleric and constitutional theorist (died 1836)

May 7 - Olympe de Gouges, French 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 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)

Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot, French ornithologist (died 1831)

James Sayers, English caricaturist (died 1823)

William Chalmers, Swedish merchant (died 1811)

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January 1 - Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (born 1667)

January 16 - Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (born 1684)

February 18 - Otto Ferdinand Graf von Abensperg und Traun, Austrian field marshal (born 1677)

March 14 - George Wade, British military leader (born 1673)

March 23 - Johann Gottfried Walther, German music theorist, organist, and composer (born 1684)

April 12 - William Kent, English architect (born c.1685)

May 12 - Thomas Lowndes, British astronomer (born 1692)

August 27 - James Thomson, Scottish poet (born 1700)

September 6 - Edmund Gibson, English jurist (born 1669)

September 12 - Anne Bracegirdle, English actress (born c.1671)

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, English politician (born 1662)

Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (born 1672)