1720 in science
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The year 1720 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Contents |
[edit] Astronomy
- Edmond Halley is appointed as Astronomer Royal.
[edit] Medicine
- Dr Steevens' Hospital is established at Kilmainham, Dublin.[1]
- Great Plague of Marseille, the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in Europe.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Births
- March 13 - Charles Bonnet, Swiss naturalist and philosophical writer (died 1793)
- July 18 - Gilbert White, English naturalist (died 1793)
- December ? - James Hargreaves, English inventor (died 1778)
- approx. date - Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov, Russian chemist (died 1758)
[edit] Deaths
[edit] 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. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=6442108&jid=NAV&volumeId=9&issueId=03&aid=6442100&bodyId=&membershipNumber=&societyETOCSession=.
