1753 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1753 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
- Ruđer Bošković's De lunae atmosphaera demonstrates the lack of atmosphere on the MoonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
.
Botany
- May 1 - Publication of LinnaeusCarolus LinnaeusCarl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
' Species PlantarumSpecies PlantarumSpecies Plantarum was first published in 1753, as a two-volume work by Carl Linnaeus. Its prime importance is perhaps that it is the primary starting point of plant nomenclature as it exists today. This means that the first names to be considered validly published in botany are those that appear...
, the start of formal scientific classification of plantPlantPlants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
s.
Medicine
- James LindJames LindJames Lind FRSE FRCPE was a Scottish physician. He was a pioneer of naval hygiene in the Royal Navy. By conducting the first ever clinical trial, he developed the theory that citrus fruits cured scurvy...
publishes the first edition of A Treatise on the ScurvyScurvyScurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
(although it was little noticed at this time).
Technology
- Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
invents the lightning rodLightning rodA lightning rod or lightning conductor is a metal rod or conductor mounted on top of a building and electrically connected to the ground through a wire, to protect the building in the event of lightning...
, to ring a bell when struck by lightning, following the 1752 kite and key tests.
Births
- March 26 - Sir Benjamin ThompsonBenjamin ThompsonSir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford , FRS was an American-born British physicist and inventor whose challenges to established physical theory were part of the 19th century revolution in thermodynamics. He also served as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Loyalist forces in America during the American...
, Count Rumford, Anglo-American 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...
(died 18141814 in scienceThe year 1814 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* J. Jacob Berzelius publishes Försök att genom användandet af den electrokemiska theorien och de kemiska proportionerna grundlägga ett rent vettenskapligt system för mineralogien The year 1814 in...
) - April 28 - Franz Karl AchardFranz Karl AchardFranz Karl Achard was a German chemist, physicist and biologist. His principal discovery was the production of sugar from sugar beets.- Life and work :...
, chemistChemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
(died 18211821 in scienceThe year 1821 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* Johann Franz Encke calculates that Comet Encke has a periodic orbit, the second comet after Comet Halley for which this has been discovered....
) - August 3 - Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl StanhopeCharles Stanhope, 3rd Earl StanhopeCharles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope aka Charles Mahon, 3rd Earl Stanhope FRS was a British statesman and scientist. He was the father of the great traveller and Arabist Lady Hester Stanhope and brother-in-law of William Pitt the Younger. He is sometimes confused with an exact contemporary of his,...
, British statesman and scientist (died 18161816 in scienceThe year 1816 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Medicine:* René Laennec invents the stethoscope.* Caleb Parry publishes An Experimental Inquiry into the Nature, Cause and Varieties of the Arterial Pulse, describing the mechanisms for the pulse.-Mineralogy:*...
)
Deaths
- August 6 - Georg Wilhelm RichmannGeorg Wilhelm RichmannGeorg Wilhelm Richmann was a German physicist who lived in Russia....
, 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 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...
(born 17111711 in scienceThe year 1711 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Biology:* Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli shows that coral is an animal rather than a plant as previously thought.-Mathematics:...
) - Thomas MelvillThomas MelvillThomas Melvill was a Scottish natural philosopher, who was active in the fields of spectroscopy and astronomy.The son of Helen Whytt and the Rev Andrew Melville, minister of Monimail , Thomas was a student at Glasgow University...
, ScottishScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
natural philosopherNatural philosophyNatural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...
(born 17261726 in scienceThe year 1726 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Technology:* For clocks, the gridiron pendulum is developed by John Harrison, as a pendulum that compensates for temperature errors: a grid of alternating brass and steel rods is arranged so that the heat is...
)