1747 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1747 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.
Anatomy
- Bernhard Siegfried AlbinusBernhard Siegfried AlbinusBernhard Siegfried Albinus was a German-born Dutch anatomist.Albinus was born at Frankfurt , where his father, Bernhard Albinus , was professor of the practice of medicine...
(1697–1770), with the help of the artist Jan Wandelaar (1691–1759), produces the most exact account of the boneBoneBones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...
s and muscleMuscleMuscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...
s of the human body in Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum Corporis Humani. - Albrecht von HallerAlbrecht von HallerAlbrecht von Haller was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist and poet.-Early life:He was born of an old Swiss family at Bern. Prevented by long-continued ill-health from taking part in boyish sports, he had the more opportunity for the development of his precocious mind...
publishes Experiments in the Anatomy of Respiration.
Engineering
- École royale des ponts et chausséesÉcole Nationale des Ponts et ChausséesFounded in 1747, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées , often referred to as les Ponts, is the world's oldest civil engineering school...
established in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
under Jean-Rodolphe PerronetJean-Rodolphe PerronetJean-Rodolphe Perronet 27 October 1708, Suresnes – 27 February 1794, Paris) was a French architect and structural engineer, known for his many stone arch bridges. His best known work is the Pont de la Concorde .-Life and career:...
.
Mathematics
- Jean le Rond d'AlembertJean le Rond d'AlembertJean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. He was also co-editor with Denis Diderot of the Encyclopédie...
uses partial differential equations in mathematical physics.
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...
undertakes one of the first controlled experiments in clinical medicine, on the effect of citrus fruit as a cure for 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...
.
Physics
- July 2 - Benjamin RobinsBenjamin RobinsBenjamin Robins was a pioneering English scientist, Newtonian mathematician, and military engineer.He wrote an influential treatise on gunnery, for the first time introducing Newtonian science to military men, was an early enthusiast for rifled gun barrels, and his work had substantive influence...
presents a paper to the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
describing the physics of a spinning projectile following his investigation of rifleRifleA rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
barrels.
Births
- January 19 - Johann Elert BodeJohann Elert BodeJohann Elert Bode was a German astronomer known for his reformulation and popularization of the Titius-Bode law. Bode determined the orbit of Uranus and suggested the planet's name.-Biography:...
, German 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...
(d. 18261826 in scienceThe year 1826 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Antoine Jerome Balard isolates bromine.* Michael Faraday determines the chemical formula of naphthalene.-Mathematics:...
) - November 23 - Baron Sigmund Zois von EdelsteinBaron Sigmund Zois von EdelsteinSigmund Zois Freiherr von Edelstein, usually referred as Sigmund Zois was a Carniolan nobleman, natural scientist and patron of the arts...
(Baron von Zois), SloveniaSloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n geologistGeologistA geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
after whom zoisiteZoisiteZoisite is a calcium aluminium hydroxy sorosilicate belonging to the epidote group of minerals. Its chemical formula is Ca2Al3O...
is named (d. 18191819 in scienceThe year 1819 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Exploration:* A British Arctic expedition under William Edward Parry comprising HMS Hecla and HMS Griper reaches longitude 112°51' W in the Northwest Passage, the furthest west which will be attained by any...
)
Deaths
- April 2 - Johann Jacob DilleniusJohann Jacob DilleniusJohann Jacob Dillen Dillenius was a German botanist.Dillen was born at Darmstadt and was educated at the University of Giessen, where he wrote several botanical papers for the Ephemerides naturae curiosorum, and printed, in 1719, his Catalogus plantarum sponte circa Gissam nascentium, illustrated...
, German botanist, botanical artist, and physician who studied and produced several papers on cryptogamsCryptogamsThe name cryptogams is used fairly widely as a phrase of convenience, although regarded as an obsolete taxonomic term. A cryptogam is a plant that reproduces by spores...
(lower plants that do not have seeds or flowers), such as mossMossMosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...
es and algaeAlgaeAlgae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
(b. 16871687 in scienceThe year 1687 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* The constellation Triangulum Minus is named by Johannes Hevelius.-Physics:...
) - August 8 - Mårten TriewaldMårten TriewaldMårten Triewald , sometimes referred to as Mårten Triewald the Younger, was a Swedish merchant, engineer and amateur physicist....
, SwedishSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
mechanical engineer (b. 16911691 in scienceThe year 1691 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Technology:* Edmond Halley devises a diving bell.* In music, the "equal temperament scale" used in today's music is developed by organist Andreas Werkmeister.-Births:...
) - Johann Heinrich von Heucher, German botanist, after whom the genus heucheraHeucheraThe genus Heuchera includes at least 50 species of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Saxifragaceae, all native to North America. Common names include alumroot and coral bells. They have palmately lobed leaves on long petioles, and a thick, woody rootstock...
is named (b. 16771677 in scienceThe year 1677 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Mathematics:* Publication of Cocker's Arithmetick: Being a Plain and Familiar Method Suitable to the Meanest Capacity for the Full Understanding of That Incomparable Art, As It Is Now Taught by the Ablest School-Masters in...
)