Major Events
- Jan 11 Frisia bans Voltaire's book "Traité sur la tolérance" (Treatise on Tolerance) in which he called for religious toleration and targeted religious fanaticism, especially that of the Jesuits
- Jan 16 French astronomer Charles Messier catalogs M41 (galactic cluster in Canis Major)
- Mar 9 After a public campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son had actually committed suicide.
- Mar 22 Stamp Act passed; 1st direct British tax on American colonists, organized by Prime Minister George Grenville
- Mar 24 Britain enacts Quartering Act, required colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers
- May 3 1st North American medical college opens in Philadelphia
- May 7 HMS Victory launched; Admiral Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, 40 years later
- May 10 British Longitude Act awards clockmaker John Harrison £10,000 for the invention of a naval longitude clock [1]
- May 18 Fire destroys a large part of Montreal, Quebec
- May 29 Patrick Henry's historic speech against the Stamp Act, answering a cry of "Treason!" with, "If this be treason, make the most of it!"
- More 1765 Events
Nicéphore Niépce
Robert Fulton
Eli Whitney
Maria Louise van Hessen-Kassel
Frederick the Great
George Grenville