1703 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1703 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.
Biology
- Charles PlumierCharles PlumierCharles Plumier was a French botanist, after whom the Frangipani genus Plumeria is named. Plumier is considered one of the most important of the botanical explorers of his time...
's Nova plantarum Americanarum genera is published in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. This includes descriptions of FuchsiaFuchsiaFuchsia is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. The first, Fuchsia triphylla, was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1703 by the French Minim monk and botanist, Charles Plumier...
, discovered by him on HispaniolaHispaniolaHispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
, and naming of the genusGenusIn biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
MagnoliaMagnoliaMagnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol....
, applied to species from MartiniqueMartiniqueMartinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
.
Meteorology
- November 24–December 2 - The Great Storm of 1703Great Storm of 1703The Great Storm of 1703 was the most severe storm or natural disaster ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain. It affected southern England and the English Channel in the Kingdom of Great Britain...
, an Atlantic hurricane, ravages southern EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the English ChannelEnglish ChannelThe English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, killing nearly 8000, mostly at sea.
Technology
- An early, crude seismograph is developed by the French physicist Jean de HautefeuilleJean de HautefeuilleJean de Hautefeuille was a French abbé, physicist and inventor.-Biography:One of de Hautefeuille's most important achievements was his proposal to use a spiral spring with a balance wheel in place of a pendulum to control a clock. In the 1670s, he was involved in a dispute with Christian Huygens,...
(16471647 in scienceThe year 1647 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Johannes Hevelius publishes the first comparatively detailed map of the Moon in his Selenographia.-Births:...
-17241724 in scienceThe year 1724 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Events:* January 28 - The Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences is founded by Peter I of Russia.-Mathematics:...
).
Appointments
- 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."...
is elected president of the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, a position he holds until his death in 17271727 in scienceThe year 1727 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Maharaja Jai Singh II begins construction of the Jantar Mantar observatory at Jaipur.-Biology:* Rev...
.
Births
- October 28 - Antoine DeparcieuxAntoine DeparcieuxAntoine Deparcieux was a French mathematician.In 1746, Antoine Deparcieux published Essai sur les probabilités de la durée de la vie humaine . Deparcieux analyzed in detail empirical observations...
, FrenchFrench peopleThe French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
(d. 17681768 in scienceThe year 1768 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Biology:* Caspar Friedrich Wolff begins publication of "De Formatione Intestinarum" in the Mémoires of The Imperial Academy of Arts and Sciences The year 1768 in science and technology involved some significant...
) - November 25 - Jean-François SéguierJean-François SéguierJean François Séguier was a French astronomer and botanist from Nîmes.His botanical works include Plantae Veronenses, seu Stirpium quae in agro Veronensi repriuntur ....
, French astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
and botanist (d. 17841784 in scienceThe year 1784 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Biology:* Publication of the Annals of Agriculture edited by Arthur Young begins in Great Britain....
) - December 2 - Ferdinand KonščakFerdinand KonšcakFerdinand Konščak was a Jesuit missionary, explorer, and cartographer.-Education:...
, CroatiaCroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n explorer (d. 17591759 in scienceThe year 1759 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Biology:* Caspar Friedrich Wolff's dissertation at the University of Halle Theoria Generationis supports the theory of epigenesis.-Botany:...
) - December 9 - Chester Moore HallChester Moore HallChester Moore Hall was a British lawyer and inventor who produced the first achromatic lenses in 1729 or 1733 ....
, EnglishEnglish peopleThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
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:...
) - undated - Aleksei ChirikovAleksei ChirikovAleksei Ilyich Chirikov was a Russian navigator and captain who along with Bering was the first Russian to reach North-West coast of North America. He discovered and charted some of the Aleutian Islands while he was deputy to Vitus Bering during the Great Northern Expedition.- Life and work :In...
, RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n explorer (d. 17481748 in scienceThe year 1748 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Chemistry:* Thomas Frye of the Bow porcelain factory in London produces bone china.-Mathematics:...
)
Deaths
- March 3 - Robert HookeRobert HookeRobert Hooke FRS was an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath.His adult life comprised three distinct periods: as a scientific inquirer lacking money; achieving great wealth and standing through his reputation for hard work and scrupulous honesty following the great fire of 1666, but...
, English scientist (b. 16351635 in scienceThe year 1635 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Botany:* Jardin des Plantes, Paris, planted as a physic garden by Guy de La Brosse.-Births:* May 9 - J. J. Becher, German physician and chemist...
) - September 22 - Vincenzo VivianiVincenzo VivianiVincenzo Viviani was an Italian mathematician and scientist. He was a pupil of Torricelli and a disciple of Galileo.-Biography:...
, ItalianItalian peopleThe Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
mathematician and scientist (b. 16221622 in scienceThe year 1622 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Mathematics:* The slide rule is invented by William Oughtred , an English mathematician, and later becomes the calculating tool of choice until the electronic calculator takes over in the early 1970s.-Physiology and...
) - October 28 - John Wallis, English mathematician (b. 16161616 in scienceThe year 1616 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* Galileo challenges the Catholic Church, saying Copernicus' theory of the Solar System is correct...
)