The year 1720 in
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
and
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...
involved some significant events.
Astronomy
* February 10 –
Edmond Halley
Edmond (or Edmund) Halley (; – ) was an English astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720.
From an observatory he constructed on Saint Helena in 1676–77, H ...
is appointed as
Astronomer Royal
Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834.
The post ...
of England.
Medicine
* May – First patient admitted to the Westminster Public Infirmary, predecessor of
St George's Hospital, London.
*
Dr Steevens' Hospital
Dr Steevens' Hospital (also called Dr Steevens's Hospital) ( ga, Ospidéal an Dr Steevens), one of Ireland's most distinguished eighteenth-century medical establishments, was located at Kilmainham in Dublin Ireland. It was founded under the terms ...
is established at
Kilmainham
Kilmainham (, meaning " St Maighneann's church") is a south inner suburb of Dublin, Ireland, south of the River Liffey and west of the city centre. It is in the city's Dublin 8 postal district. The area was once known as Kilmanum.
History
In t ...
,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
.
*
Great Plague of Marseille, the last major outbreak of
bubonic plague in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
.
Physics
*
Willem 's Gravesande
Willem Jacob 's Gravesande (26 September 1688 – 28 February 1742) was a Dutch mathematician and natural philosopher, chiefly remembered for developing experimental demonstrations of the laws of classical mechanics and the first experimental m ...
publishes ''Physices elementa mathematica, experimentis confirmata, sive introductio ad philosophiam Newtonianam'', an introduction to
Newtonian physics
Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery, and astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. For objects governed by classical mec ...
, in
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...
.
Technology
* A
theodolite
A theodolite () is a precision optical instrument for measuring angles between designated visible points in the horizontal and vertical planes. The traditional use has been for land surveying, but it is also used extensively for building an ...
is developed by
Jonathan Sisson
Jonathan Sisson (1690 – 1747) was a prominent English instrument maker, the inventor of the modern theodolite with a sighting telescope for surveying, and a leading maker of astronomical instruments.
Career
Jonathan Sisson was born in Lincol ...
of England.
*
Pinchbeck is invented by
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
watchmaker
Christopher Pinchbeck
Christopher Pinchbeck, also called Catarrón (c. 1670 – ) was a London clockmaker and maker of musical automata. He was born in Clerkenwell, England, but worked in Fleet Street. He is the most famous member of the Pinchbeck family, which too ...
; it is an
alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductilit ...
of 83%
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
and 17%
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
, creating a strong, hard-wearing metal which has the appearance and weight of 20
carat gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
.
* An early
chronograph
A chronograph is a specific type of watch that is used as a stopwatch combined with a display watch. A basic chronograph has an independent sweep second hand and a minute sub-dial; it can be started, stopped, and returned to zero by successive ...
is invented which has only mechanical parts in it.
* Henry de Saumarez (of the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
) produces an instrument called the ''Marine Surveyor'' intended to measure a ship's
velocity
Velocity is the directional speed of an object in motion as an indication of its rate of change in position as observed from a particular frame of reference and as measured by a particular standard of time (e.g. northbound). Velocity i ...
.
* A single-action five-
pedal harp
The pedal harp (also known as the concert harp) is a large and technologically modern harp, designed primarily for use in art music. It may be played solo, as part of a chamber ensemble, or in an orchestra. It typically has 47 strings with seve ...
is developed by
Jacob Hochbrucker Jacob Hochbrucker (also spelled ''Jakob Hochprugger''; 1673 – 28 May 1763) was an eighteenth-century harp maker and musician credited with the invention of the single-action pedal harp popularized in Europe between 1729 and 1750 by his descendants ...
of
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
which can raise the pitch of the selected strings by a half step.
* ''approx. date'' – Joseph Williamson uses a
differential gear
A differential is a gear train with three drive shafts that has the property that the rotational speed of one shaft is the average of the speeds of the others, or a fixed multiple of that average.
Functional description
The following descr ...
in a clock.
Births
* January 30 –
Charles De Geer
Baron Charles de Geer (the family is usually known as De Geer with a capitalized "De" and is pronounced "de yer"); Finspång in Risinge 30 January 1720 – Stockholm 7 March 1778) was a Swedish industrialist and entomologist.
Life
De Geer, w ...
,
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
industrialist and
entomologist (died
1778
Events
January–March
* January 18 – Third voyage of James Cook: Captain James Cook, with ships HMS ''Resolution'' and HMS ''Discovery'', first views Oahu then Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, which he na ...
)
* March 13 –
Charles Bonnet
Charles Bonnet (; 13 March 1720 – 20 May 1793) was a Genevan naturalist and philosophical writer. He is responsible for coining the term ''phyllotaxis'' to describe the arrangement of leaves on a plant. He was among the first to notice parthe ...
,
Genevan
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
naturalist and philosophical writer (died
1793
The French Republic introduced the French Revolutionary Calendar starting with the year I.
Events
January–June
* January 7 – The Ebel riot occurs in Sweden.
* January 9 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first to fl ...
)
* July 18 –
Gilbert White
Gilbert White FRS (18 July 1720 – 26 June 1793) was a " parson-naturalist", a pioneering English naturalist, ecologist, and ornithologist. He is best known for his ''Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne''.
Life
White was born on ...
,
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
naturalist (died 1793)
*
October 8
Events Pre-1600
* 314 – Constantine I defeats Roman Emperor Licinius, who loses his European territories.
* 451 – The first session of the Council of Chalcedon begins.
* 876 – Frankish forces led by Louis the Younger preven ...
–
Geneviève Thiroux d'Arconville, French novelist, translator and chemist (d.
1805
After thirteen years the First French Empire abolished the French Republican Calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar.
Events
January–March
* January 11 – The Michigan Territory is created.
* February 7 – King Anouvong become ...
)
* November 5 -
Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet
Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet (November 4, 1720 – May 6, 1778) was a French pharmacist, botanist and one of the earliest botanical explorers in South America.JSTOR He was one of the first botanists to study ethnobotany in the Neotr ...
, French pharmacist and botanist (died
1778
Events
January–March
* January 18 – Third voyage of James Cook: Captain James Cook, with ships HMS ''Resolution'' and HMS ''Discovery'', first views Oahu then Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, which he na ...
)
* December ? –
James Hargreaves
James Hargreaves ( 1720 – 22 April 1778) was an English weaver, carpenter and inventor who lived and worked in Lancashire, England. He was one of three men responsible for the mechanisation of spinning: Hargreaves is credited with inventing ...
, English inventor (died
1778
Events
January–March
* January 18 – Third voyage of James Cook: Captain James Cook, with ships HMS ''Resolution'' and HMS ''Discovery'', first views Oahu then Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, which he na ...
)
* ''approx. date'' –
Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...
and (died
1758)
Deaths
* December 29 –
Maria Margarethe Kirch, German astronomer (born
1670
Events
January–March
* January 17 – Raphael Levy, a Jewish resident of the city of Metz in France is burned at the stake after having been accused of the September 25 abduction and ritual murder of a small child who had dis ...
)
*
David Gregory,
Scottish physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and inventor (born
1625
Events
January–March
* January 17 – Led by the Duke of Soubise, the Huguenots launch a second rebellion against King Louis XIII, with a surprise naval assault on a French fleet being prepared in Blavet.
* February 3 – ...
)
References
{{reflist
18th century in science
1720s in science