1701 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1701 in science
and technology
involved some significant events.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
involved some significant events.
Earth sciences
- Edmond HalleyEdmond HalleyEdmond Halley FRS was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist who is best known for computing the orbit of the eponymous Halley's Comet. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, following in the footsteps of John Flamsteed.-Biography and career:Halley...
's General Chart of the Variation of the Compass is first published, the first to show magnetic declinationMagnetic declinationMagnetic declination is the angle between magnetic north and true north. The declination is positive when the magnetic north is east of true north. The term magnetic variation is a synonym, and is more often used in navigation...
(in the Atlantic OceanAtlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
) and the first on which isogonic, or Halleyan, lines appear.
Medicine
- Italian physician Giacomo PylariniGiacomo PylariniGiacomo Pylarini was a Venetian physician and consul for the republic of Venice in Smyrna who in 1701 on the children of the English ambassador to Constantinople, gave the first smallpox inoculation outside of Turkey...
inoculates children with smallpoxSmallpoxSmallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
in ConstantinopleConstantinopleConstantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, in hopes of preventing more serious smallpox sickness when the children are older, thus becoming the first immunologist.
Physics
- Joseph SauveurJoseph SauveurJoseph Sauveur was a French mathematician and physicist. He was a professor of mathematics and in 1696 became a member of the French Academy of Sciences.-Life:Joseph Sauveur was the son of a provincial notary...
coins the FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
word acoustique, from which the English word acousticsAcousticsAcoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
is derived.
Technology
- The seed drillSeed drillA seed drill is a sowing device that precisely positions seeds in the soil and then covers them. Before the introduction of the seed drill, the common practice was to plant seeds by hand. Besides being wasteful, planting was very imprecise and led to a poor distribution of seeds, leading to low...
, invented by Jethro TullJethro Tull (agriculturist)Jethro Tull was an English agricultural pioneer who helped bring about the British Agricultural Revolution. He perfected a horse-drawn seed drill in 1701 that economically sowed the seeds in neat rows, and later a horse-drawn hoe...
, allows farmers to sow seeds in well-spaced rows at specific depths. - Sir Isaac NewtonIsaac NewtonSir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
, reporting (anonymously) to the British Royal Society, describes creation of a liquid-in-glass thermometerThermometerDeveloped during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles. A thermometer has two important elements: the temperature sensor Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer (from the...
that is 3-ft (1-m) long and has a two-inch (5-cm) diameter bulb using linseed oilLinseed oilLinseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil, is a clear to yellowish oil obtained from the dried ripe seeds of the flax plant . The oil is obtained by cold pressing, sometimes followed by solvent extraction...
.
Births
- January 28 - Charles Marie de La CondamineCharles Marie de La CondamineCharles Marie de La Condamine was a French explorer, geographer, and mathematician. He spent ten years in present-day Ecuador measuring the length of a degree latitude at the equator and preparing the first map of the Amazon region based on astronomical observations.-Biography:Charles Marie de La...
, French geographer (d. 17741774 in scienceThe year 1774 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Chemistry:* August 1 - Joseph Priestley, working at Bowood House, Wiltshire, England, isolates oxygen in the form of a gas, which he calls "dephlogisticated air"....
) - May 14 - William EmersonWilliam Emerson (mathematician)William Emerson , English mathematician, was born at Hurworth, near Darlington, where his father, Dudley Emerson, also a mathematician, taught a school...
, English mathematician (d. 17821782 in scienceThe year 1782 in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed here.-Aviation:* December 14 - The Montgolfier brothers first test fly a hot air balloon; it floats nearly .-Births:...
) - November 27 - Anders CelsiusAnders CelsiusAnders Celsius was a Swedish astronomer. He was professor of astronomy at Uppsala University from 1730 to 1744, but traveled from 1732 to 1735 visiting notable observatories in Germany, Italy and France. He founded the Uppsala Astronomical Observatory in 1741, and in 1742 he proposed the Celsius...
, Swedish astronomer, physicist, and mathematician (d. 17441744 in scienceThe year 1744 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Great Comet of 1744, first sighted in 1743, remains visible until April .-Births:...
) - approx. date - Henry HindleyHenry HindleyHenry Hindley was an 18th century clockmaker and maker of scientific instruments. He was the inventor of a screw-cutting lathe. He built a clock for York Minster, England, where he apparently lived for much of his life, in 1752....
, English clock and scientific instrument maker (d. 17711771 in scienceThe year 1771 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Events:* Society of Civil Engineers first meets , the world's oldest engineering society.-Exploration:...
)