1714 in science

The year 1714 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Botany

• August 17 – Fragaria chiloensis , the Chilean strawberry, is brought to Europe by French military engineer Amédée-François Frézier. ^[1]

Mathematics

• March – Roger Cotes publishes Logometrica in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society . He provides the first proof of what becomes known as Euler's formula and constructs the logarithmic spiral.
• May – Brook Taylor publishes a paper, written in 1708, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society which describes his solution to the center of oscillation problem. ^[2]
• Gottfried Leibniz discusses the harmonic triangle. ^[3]

Medicine

• April 14 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain, performs the last touching for the "King's evil". ^[4]
• Dominique Anel uses the first fine-pointed syringe in surgery, later known as "Anel's syringe".
• Herman Boerhaave introduces a modern system of clinical teaching at the University of Leiden.
• The anatomical engravings of Bartolomeo Eustachi (died 1574) are published for the first time as Tabulae anatomicae by Giovanni Maria Lancisi. ^[5]

Technology

• Henry Mill obtains a British patent for a machine resembling a typewriter.

Events

• July – The Parliament of Great Britain offers the Longitude prize to anyone who can solve the problem of accurately determining a ship's longitude.

Births

• January 21 – Anna Morandi, Bolognese anatomist (died 1774) ^[6]
• January 6 – Percivall Pott, English surgeon (died 1788)
• June 17 – César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer (died 1784)
• September 6 – Robert Whytt, Scottish physician (died 1766)
• October 16 – Giovanni Arduino, Italian geologist (died 1795)
• October 25 – James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, Scottish philosopher and evolutionary thinker (died 1799)
• December 19 – John Winthrop, American astronomer (died 1779)
• December 31 – Arima Yoriyuki, Japanese mathematician (died 1783)
• Alexander Wilson, Scottish surgeon, type founder, astronomer, meteorologist and mathematician (died 1786)

Deaths

• October 5 – Kaibara Ekiken, Japanese philosopher and botanist (born 1630)
• November 1 – John Radcliffe, English physician and benefactor (born 1650)
• November 5 – Bernardino Ramazzini, Italian physician (born 1633)

References

1. Darrow, G. M. "The Strawberry From Chile". The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology. pp. 27–28. Archived from the original on 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2025-07-04– via Wayback Machine.
2. Vol. 28: p. 40.
3. Crilly, Tony (2007). 50 Mathematical Ideas you really need to know. London: Quercus. p. 53. ISBN   978-1-84724-008-8.
4. Werrett, Simon (2000). "Healing the Nation's Wounds: Royal Ritual and Experimental Philosophy in Restoration England". History of Science. 38: 377–99. Bibcode:2000HisSc..38..377W.
5. Firkin, B. G.; Whitworth, J. A. (1996). Dictionary of Medical Eponyms (2nd ed.). New York: Parthenon Publishing Group. p. 225. ISBN   1-85070-477-5.
6. Messbarge, Rebecca (2019). The Lady Anatomist: The Life and Work of Anna Morandi Manzolini. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. p. 3. ISBN   978-0-22652-083-4.