1712 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1712 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.
Astronomy
- John FlamsteedJohn FlamsteedSir John Flamsteed FRS was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. He catalogued over 3000 stars.- Life :Flamsteed was born in Denby, Derbyshire, England, the only son of Stephen Flamsteed...
's Historia Coelestis Britannica is first published, against his will and without credit by 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."...
and 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...
, introducing Flamsteed designationFlamsteed designationFlamsteed designations for stars are similar to Bayer designations, except that they use numbers instead of Greek letters. Each star is assigned a number and the Latin genitive of the constellation it lies in...
s. (A final version, approved by Flamsteed, is published posthumously in 17251725 in scienceThe year 1725 in science and technology involved some significant events.-History of science:* John Freind begins publication of The History of Physick, from the time of Galen to the beginning of the sixteenth century, chiefly with regard to practice, the first comprehensive history of medicine in...
.)
Mathematics
- Giacomo F. MaraldiGiacomo F. MaraldiGiacomo Filippo Maraldi was an French-Italian astronomer and mathematician. His name is also given as Jacques Philippe Maraldi....
experimentally obtains the angleAngleIn geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays sharing a common endpoint, called the vertex of the angle.Angles are usually presumed to be in a Euclidean plane with the circle taken for standard with regard to direction. In fact, an angle is frequently viewed as a measure of an circular arc...
in the rhombic dodecahedronRhombic dodecahedronIn geometry, the rhombic dodecahedron is a convex polyhedron with 12 rhombic faces. It is an Archimedean dual solid, or a Catalan solid. Its dual is the cuboctahedron.-Properties:...
shape, still called the Maraldi angle.
Technology
- The first known working Newcomen steam engineNewcomen steam engineThe atmospheric engine invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, today referred to as a Newcomen steam engine , was the first practical device to harness the power of steam to produce mechanical work. Newcomen engines were used throughout Britain and Europe, principally to pump water out of mines,...
is built by Thomas NewcomenThomas NewcomenThomas Newcomen was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling. He was born in Dartmouth, Devon, England, near a part of the country noted for its tin mines. Flooding was a major problem, limiting the depth at which the mineral could be mined...
with John CalleyJohn Calley (engineer)John Calley , a metalworker, plumber and glass-blower, was Thomas Newcomen's partner. He helped develop the Newcomen steam engine, and his name is listed on the patent with Newcomen and Thomas Savery.-References:...
to pump water out of mines in the Black CountryBlack CountryThe Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
of 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...
.
Births
- March 8 - John FothergillJohn Fothergill (physician)John Fothergill FRS was an English physician, plant collector, philanthropist and Quaker.- Life and work :...
, 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...
physicianPhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
(d. 17801780 in scienceThe year 1780 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Health:* Clément-Joseph Tissot publishes Gymnastique médicinale et chirurgicale, ou, essai sur l'utilité du mouvement, ou des différens exercices du corps, et du repos dans la cure des malades in Paris, the first text on the...
) - March 27 - Claude BourgelatClaude BourgelatClaude Bourgelat was a French veterinary surgeon.Bourgelat was born at Lyon. He was the founder of veterinary colleges at Lyon in 1762, as well as an authority on horse management, and often consulted on the matter...
, 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...
veterinary surgeonVeterinary surgeonVeterinary surgeon is a term used to describe:*The full title of a vet, who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals, in the United Kingdom and several Commonwealth countries**See also Veterinary medicine in the United Kingdom...
(d. 17791779 in scienceThe year 1779 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* March 23 - Edward Pigott discovers the Black Eye Galaxy .* May 5 - The spiral galaxy M61 is discovered in the constellation Virgo by Barnabus Oriani.-Technology:...
) - undated - Angélique du CoudrayAngelique du CoudrayAngélique Marguerite Le Boursier du Coudray was a royal midwife in the court of Louis XV of France.Born into an eminent French medical family she became the head accoucheuse at the Hotel Dieu in Paris...
, French pioneer of modern midwiferyMidwiferyMidwifery is a health care profession in which providers offer care to childbearing women during pregnancy, labour and birth, and during the postpartum period. They also help care for the newborn and assist the mother with breastfeeding....
(d. 17891789 in scienceThe year 1789 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Anatomy:* Antonio Scarpa publishes Anatomicæ disquisitiones de auditu et olfactu, a classic treatise on the hearing and olfactory organs.-Astronomy:...
)
Deaths
- February 2 - Martin ListerMartin ListerMartin Lister FRS was an English naturalist and physician.-Life:Lister was born at Radcliffe, near Buckingham, the son of Sir Martin Lister MP for Brackley in the Long Parliament and his wife Susan Temple daughter of Sir Alexander Temple. Lister was connected to a number of well known individuals...
, English naturalistNaturalistNaturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
(b. c. 16381638 in scienceThe year 1638 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Technology:* Galileo performs the first experiment to determine the speed of light. He concludes that the speed of light was finite and measurable.-Births:...
) - March 25 - Nehemiah GrewNehemiah GrewNehemiah Grew was an English plant anatomist and physiologist, very famously known as the "Father of Plant Physiology"...
, English naturalist (b. 16411641 in scienceThe year 1641 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Technology:* The sealed thermometer is developed with Ferdinand II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, using a glass tube containing alcohol, which freezes well below the freezing point of water....
) - August 29 - Gregory KingGregory KingGregory King was an English genealogist, engraver and statistician.-Life:Gregory King was born at Lichfield, England. His father was a surveyor and landscape gardener. Gregory was a very bright boy and his father used him as an assistant in his surveying work. At 14 Gregory became a clerk to...
, English statisticianStatisticianA statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
(b. 16481648 in scienceThe year 1648 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Exploration:* June–September - Semyon Dezhnyov makes the first recorded voyage through the Bering Strait.-Natural history:...
) - September 14 - Giovanni CassiniGiovanni Domenico CassiniThis article is about the Italian-born astronomer. For his French-born great-grandson, see Jean-Dominique Cassini.Giovanni Domenico Cassini was an Italian/French mathematician, astronomer, engineer, and astrologer...
, ItalianItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
-born 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...
(b. 16251625 in scienceThe year 1625 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Chemistry:* Johann Rudolf Glauber discovers sodium sulfate in Austrian spring water.-Births:...
) - approx. date - Denis PapinDenis PapinDenis Papin was a French physicist, mathematician and inventor, best known for his pioneering invention of the steam digester, the forerunner of the steam engine and of the pressure cooker.-Life in France:...
, French physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
, mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and inventor (b. 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:...
)