1751–1760 — AND ELSEWHERE WORLDWIDE

HISTORY: China invades Tibet; Great Britain adopts Gregorian calendar on September 14, 1752 (September 3–13 omitted); British army defeated by French near Fort Duquesne (modern Pittsburgh); 120 British soldiers imprisoned and die in India ("Black Hole of Calcutta"), Clive retakes Calcutta; George Washington and John Forbes take Fort Duquesne, later renamed Pittsburgh; British gain Quebec from French; Louis Joseph Montcalm and James Wolfe, French and English generals, killed in action; King George II of England dies, succeeded by his grandson George III.

ARTS: First exhibition of contemporary art at Royal Society of Arts, London.

SCIENCE/GROWTH: British calendar altered, January 1 henceforth to be beginning of New Year; First mental asylums in London; Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning conductor; King's College in New York founded, becomes Columbia University in 1784; First iron-rolling mill in England; University of Moscow founded; Lisbon earthquake kills 30,000 people; Porcelain factory founded at Sèvres; Ribbing machine for manufacture of hose invented; Botanical Gardens in London opened; Rules of whist laid down by Edmund Hoyle.