1720 in science

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Last updated June 17, 2024

The year 1720 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

February 10 – Edmond Halley is appointed as Astronomer Royal of England.

Medicine

May – First patient admitted to the Westminster Public Infirmary, predecessor of St George's Hospital, London.
Dr Steevens' Hospital is established at Kilmainham, Dublin.^[1]
Great Plague of Marseille, the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in Europe.
English physician Richard Mead publishes A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Method to be used to prevent it.

Physics

Willem 's Gravesande publishes Physices elementa mathematica, experimentis confirmata, sive introductio ad philosophiam Newtonianam, an introduction to Newtonian physics, in Leiden.

Technology

A theodolite is developed by Jonathan Sisson of England.
Pinchbeck is invented by English watchmaker Christopher Pinchbeck; it is an alloy of 83% copper and 17% zinc, creating a strong, hard-wearing metal which has the appearance and weight of 20 carat gold.
An early chronograph is invented which has only mechanical parts in it.
Henry de Saumarez (of the Channel Islands) produces an instrument called the Marine Surveyor intended to measure a ship's velocity.^[2]
A single-action five-pedal harp is developed by Jacob Hochbrucker of Bavaria which can raise the pitch of the selected strings by a half step.
approx. date – Joseph Williamson uses a differential gear in a clock.

Births

January 30 – Charles De Geer, Swedish industrialist and entomologist (died 1778)
March 13 – Charles Bonnet, Genevan naturalist and philosophical writer (died 1793)
July 18 – Gilbert White, English naturalist (died 1793)
October 8 – Geneviève Thiroux d'Arconville, French novelist, translator and chemist (d. 1805)
November 5 - Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet, French pharmacist and botanist (died 1778)
December ? – James Hargreaves, English inventor (died 1778)
approx. date – Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov, Russian chemist and (died 1758)

Deaths

December 29 – Maria Margarethe Kirch, German astronomer (born 1670)^[3]
David Gregory, Scottish physician and inventor (born 1625)

Related Research Articles

1720 (MDCCXX) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, the 1720th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 720th year of the 2nd millennium, the 20th year of the 18th century, and the 1st year of the 1720s decade. As of the start of 1720, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

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Dr Steevens' Hospital, one of Ireland's most distinguished eighteenth-century medical establishments, was located at Kilmainham in Dublin Ireland. It was founded under the terms of the will of Richard Steevens, an eminent physician in Dublin. The seal of the hospital consisted of 'The Good Samaritan healing the wounds of the fallen traveller' with the motto beneath "Do Thou Likewise".

Events from the year 1720 in Ireland.

Samuel Croker-King was an Irish surgeon who was associated with Doctor Steeven's Hospital in Dublin for sixty years. He was the first president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), from 1784 to 1785. He is thought to have saved the life of the child who became the Duke of Wellington. He invented his own trepanning device.

References

↑ Kirkpatrick, Thomas Percy Claude (1924). The History of Dr Steevens' Hospital, Dublin 1720–1920. Dublin University Press.
↑ Robinson, A. H. W. (1956). "Forum". Journal of Navigation. 9: 358-40. doi: 10.1017/S0373463300036493 .
↑ "Maria Kirch - German astronomer". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

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[1] Kirkpatrick, Thomas Percy Claude (1924). The History of Dr Steevens' Hospital, Dublin 1720–1920. Dublin University Press.

[2] Robinson, A. H. W. (1956). "Forum". Journal of Navigation. 9: 358-40. doi: 10.1017/S0373463300036493 .

[3] "Maria Kirch - German astronomer". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 April 2018.

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