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1717 In Science
The year 1717 in science and technology involved few significant events. Biology * Thomas Fairchild, a nurseryman at Hoxton in the East End of London, becomes the first person to produce a successful scientific plant hybrid, '' Dianthus Caryophyllus barbatus'', known as "Fairchild's Mule" because it is infertile. * James Petiver publishes ''Papilionum Brittaniae Icones'', the first book devoted exclusively to British butterflies, giving English names to a number of species. Births * June 5 – Emanuel Mendes da Costa, English botanist (died 1791) * June 28 – Matthew Stewart, Scottish mathematician (died 1785) * September 11 – Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, Swedish astronomer (died 1783) * November 16 – Jean le Rond d'Alembert, French mathematician (died 1783) * Pierre Le Roy, French clockmaker (died 1785) * Wilhelm Friedrich von Gleichen, German microscopist (died 1783) Deaths * January 13 – Maria Sibylla Merian, German-born naturalist (born 1647) * March 8 – Abraha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1785 In Science
The year 1785 in science and technology involved some significant events. Astronomy * Dunsink Observatory established near Dublin. Aviation * January 7 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England to Calais, France in a gas balloon, becoming the first to cross the English Channel by air. * January 19 – Richard Crosbie successfully flies in a hot air balloon across Dublin, the first ascent in Ireland. Biology * Antoine François and Étienne Louis Geoffroy publish ''Entomologia Parisiensis, sive, Catalogus insectorum quae in agro Parisiensi reperiuntur ...''. * John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, publishes ''Botanical Tables, containing the different families of British plants''. Earth sciences * March 7–July – James Hutton's ''Theory of the Earth'' is first presented, at the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Exploration * André Michaux is sent by the French government to North America to look for new plants. Mathematics * The Marquis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its 16 constituent states have a total population of over 84 million in an area of . It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and Czechia to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its main financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr. Settlement in what is now Germany began in the Lower Paleolithic, with various tribes inhabiting it from the Neolithic onward, chiefly the Celts. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD 100. In 962, the Kingdom of Germany formed the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maria Sibylla Merian
Maria Sibylla Merian (2 April 164713 January 1717) was a German naturalist and scientific illustrator. She was one of the earliest European naturalists to observe insects directly. Merian was a descendant of the Frankfurt branch of the Swiss Merian family. Merian received her artistic training from her stepfather, Jacob Marrel, a student of the still life painter Georg Flegel. Merian published her first book of natural illustrations in 1675. She had started to collect insects as an adolescent. At age 13, she raised Bombyx mori, silkworms. In 1679, Merian published the first volume of a two-volume series on caterpillars; the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates that she engraved and etched. Merian documented evidence on the process of metamorphosis and the plant hosts of 186 European insect species. Along with the illustrations Merian included descriptions of their life cycles. In 1699, Merian travelled to Surinam (Dutch colony), Dutch Guiana to study an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilhelm Friedrich Von Gleichen
Wilhelm Friedrich von Gleichen-Rußwurm (1717–1783), Stablemaster of the Margrave of Bayreuth, was a German biologist. In 1778 he developed a process of staining micro-organisms with indigo and carmine (''Abhandlung über die Saamen - und Infusionsthierchen, und über die Erzeugung, nebst mikroskopischen Beobachtungen des Saamens der Thiere in verschiedenen Infusionen'' - Treatise on seed and infusoria, and their production, along with microscopic observations of the semen of animals in different suspensions). The fern genus '' Gleichenia'' was named in his honour. Publications''Drosophila : a contribution to its morphology and development'' - W. F. von Gleichen, 1764A description of Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (the taxonomic order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the " vinegar fly" or " pomace fly". Starting with ... edited in 1764 by Joha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clockmaker
A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and/or repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks. Modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly to repairing clocks and watches. Clockmakers must be able to read blueprints and instructions for numerous types of clocks and time pieces that vary from antique clocks to modern time pieces in order to fix and make clocks or watches. The trade requires fine motor coordination as clockmakers must frequently work on devices with small gears and fine machinery. Originally, clockmaker were master craftsmen who designed and built clocks by hand. Since modern clockmakers are required to repair antique, handmade or one-of-a-kind clocks for which parts are not available, they must have some of the design and fabrication abilities of the original craftsmen. A qualified clockmaker can typically design and make a missing piece for a clock without ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre Le Roy
Pierre Le Roy (1717–1785) was a French clockmaker. He was the inventor of the detent escapement, the temperature-compensated balance and the isochronous balance spring. His developments are considered as the foundation of the modern precision clock. Le Roy was born in Paris, eldest son of Julien Le Roy, a clockmaker to Louis XV who had worked with Henry Sully, in which place Pierre Le Roy succeeded his father. He had three brothers: Jean-Baptiste Le Roy (1720-1800), a physicist; Julien-David Le Roy (1724–1803), an architect; and Charles Le Roy (1726–1779), a physician and encyclopédiste. Invention of the detent escapement In 1748, he invented a pivoted detent type of escapement,''Britten's Watch & Clock Makers' Handbook Dictionary & Guide Fifteenth Edition'' p.12/ref> or detached escapement, which makes him the inventor of the Escapement#Detent escapement, detent escapement: "The invention of the detached escapement belongs to P. Le Roy". This should not be confuse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematical model, models, and mathematics#Calculus and analysis, change. History One of the earliest known mathematicians were Thales of Miletus (c. 624–c.546 BC); he has been hailed as the first true mathematician and the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed. He is credited with the first use of deductive reasoning applied to geometry, by deriving four corollaries to Thales' Theorem. The number of known mathematicians grew when Pythagoras of Samos (c. 582–c. 507 BC) established the Pythagoreans, Pythagorean School, whose doctrine it was that mathematics ruled the universe and whose motto was "All is number". It was the Pythagoreans who coined the term "mathematics", and with whom the study of mathemat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French People
The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially the native speakers of langues d'oïl from northern and central France, are primarily the descendants of Gauls (including the Belgae) and Romans (or Gallo-Romans, western European Celtic and Italic peoples), as well as Germanic peoples such as the Franks, the Visigoths, the Suebi and the Burgundians who settled in Gaul from east of the Rhine after the fall of the Roman Empire, as well as various later waves of lower-level irregular migration that have continued to the present day. The Norse also settled in Normandy in the 10th century and contributed significantly to the ancestry of the Normans. Furthermore, regional ethnic minorities also exist within France that have distinct lineages, languages and cultures such as Bretons in B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Le Rond D'Alembert
Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the '' Encyclopédie''. D'Alembert's formula for obtaining solutions to the wave equation is named after him. The wave equation is sometimes referred to as d'Alembert's equation, and the fundamental theorem of algebra is named after d'Alembert in French. Early years Born in Paris, d'Alembert was the natural son of the writer Claudine Guérin de Tencin and the chevalier Louis-Camus Destouches, an artillery officer. Destouches was abroad at the time of d'Alembert's birth. Days after birth his mother left him on the steps of the church. According to custom, he was named after the patron saint of the church. D'Alembert was placed in an orphanage for foundling children, but his father found him and placed him with the wife of a glazier, Madame Rousseau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1783 In Science
The year 1783 in science and technology involved some significant events: Astronomy * February 26 – Caroline Herschel discovers NGC 2360. * May – John Goodricke presents his conclusions that the variable star Algol is what comes to be known as an eclipsing binary to the Royal Society of London. * August 18 – Great Meteor passes over Great Britain, exciting scientific interest. * November 27 – John Michell proposes the existence of black holes ("dark stars"). * Jérôme Lalande publishes a revised edition of John Flamsteed’s star catalogue in an ephemeris, ''Éphémérides des mouvemens célestes'', numbering the stars consecutively by constellation, the system which becomes known as "Flamsteed designations". Aviation * June 5 – The Montgolfier brothers send up at Annonay, near Lyon, a 900 m linen hot air balloon as a public demonstration. Its flight covers 2 km and lasts 10 minutes, to an estimated altitude of 1600–2000 metres. * August 27 – Jacques Charles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
