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1792 In Science
The year 1792 in science and technology involved some significant events. Astronomy * Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach publishes ''The Tables of the Sun'', an instrumental work for the advancement of navigation. * The first Royal Astronomer of Ireland is appointed: the post is combined with the position of Director of the Dunsink Observatory in Dublin. Biology * Scottish surgeon Robert Kerr publishes ''The Animal Kingdom'', the first two volumes of an English translation of Linnaeus' ''Systema Naturae''. Exploration and survey * May — George Vancouver explores Puget Sound and becomes the first European to see Mount Rainier. * May 11 — Robert Gray's Columbia River expedition: Captain Robert Gray on the ''Columbia Rediviva'' becomes the first white man to enter the Columbia River. * The second great Ramsden theodolite constructed by Jesse Ramsden for the Principal Triangulation of Great Britain. History of science * Kurt Sprengel publishes ''Versuch einer pragmatischen G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Gray's Columbia River Expedition
In May 1792, American merchant sea captain Robert Gray sailed into the Columbia River, becoming the first recorded American to navigate into it. The voyage, conducted on the privately owned , was eventually used as a basis for the United States' claim on the Pacific Northwest, although its relevance to the claim was disputed by the British. As a result of the outcome the river was afterwards named after the ship. Gray spent nine days on the river trading fur pelts before sailing out of the river. Voyage Captain Gray was a merchant ship captain born in Rhode Island, who circumnavigated the globe between 1787 and 1790 on , a trading voyage out of Boston, Massachusetts. He traveled first to the north Pacific coast of North America, to trade for furs, and then to China, to trade the pelts for tea and other Chinese goods. After his return from that expedition, Gray set sail for the northwest coast again on September 28, 1790, reaching his destination in 1792. During his firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
D'Hondt Method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to the class of highest-averages methods. Compared to ideal proportional representation, the D'Hondt method reduces somewhat the political fragmentation for smaller electoral district sizes, where it favors larger political parties over small parties. The method was first described in 1792 by American Secretary of State and later President of the United States Thomas Jefferson. It was re-invented independently in 1878 by Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt, which is the reason for its two different names. Motivation Proportional representation systems aim to allocate seats to parties approximately in proportion to the number of votes received. For example, if a party wins one-third of the votes then it should gain about one-third of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Highest Averages Method
The highest averages, divisor, or divide-and-round methods are a family of Apportionment (politics), apportionment rules, i.e. algorithms for fair division of seats in a legislature between several groups (like Political party, political parties or State (sub-national), states). More generally, divisor methods are used to round shares of a total to a Ratio, fraction with a fixed denominator (e.g. percentage points, which must add up to 100). The methods aim to treat voters equally by ensuring legislators One man, one vote, represent an equal number of voters by ensuring every party has the same seats-to-votes ratio (or ''divisor''). Such methods divide the number of votes by the number of votes needed to win a seat. The final apportionment. In doing so, the method approximately maintains proportional representation, meaning that a party with e.g. twice as many votes will win about twice as many seats. The divisor methods are generally preferred by Social choice theory, social ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was the nation's first United States Secretary of State, U.S. secretary of state under George Washington and then the nation's second vice president of the United States, vice president under John Adams. Jefferson was a leading proponent of democracy, republicanism, and Natural law, natural rights, and he produced formative documents and decisions at the state, national, and international levels. Jefferson was born into the Colony of Virginia's planter class, dependent on slavery in the colonial history of the United States, slave labor. During the American Revolution, Jefferson represented Virginia in the Second Continental Congress, which unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Medicine
The history of medicine is both a study of medicine throughout history as well as a multidisciplinary field of study that seeks to explore and understand medical practices, both past and present, throughout human societies. The history of medicine is the study and documentation of the evolution of medical treatments, practices, and knowledge over time. Medical historians often draw from other humanities fields of study including economics, Outline of health sciences, health sciences, sociology, and Political science, politics to better understand the institutions, practices, people, professions, and social systems that have shaped medicine. When a period which predates or lacks written sources regarding medicine, information is instead drawn from archaeology, archaeological sources. This field tracks the evolution of human societies' approach to health, illness, and injury ranging from prehistory to the modern day, the events that shape these approaches, and their impact on pop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (), is the second largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is the sixth-most populous city in the area of former East Germany after (East) Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Magdeburg as well as the 31st-largest city of Germany. With around 226,000 inhabitants, it is less populous than the state capital, Magdeburg. With Leipzig, the largest city of Saxony, Halle forms the polycentric Leipzig-Halle conurbation. Leipzig/Halle International Airport lies between the two cities, in Schkeuditz. The Leipzig-Halle conurbation is at the heart of the larger Central German Metropolitan Region. Halle has been known by many names throughout its history. From the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''. From then until the beginning of the 20th century, the name Halle an der Saale was used, and still remains a more formal reference for the city. Additionally, from 1965 to 1995 the city was referred to as ''Halle/Saale''. Halle lies i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel
Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel (3 August 1766 – 15 March 1833) was a German botanist and physician who published an influential multivolume history of medicine, ''Versuch einer pragmatischen Geschichte der Arzneikunde'' (1792–99 in four volumes with later editions running to five) and several other medical reference works. Biography Sprengel was born at Boldekow in Pomerania, and he is considered of German nationality. His father, a clergyman, provided him with a thorough education of wide scope; as boy he distinguished himself as a linguist, in Latin and Greek, and also Arabic; his uncle, Christian Konrad Sprengel (1750–1816), is remembered for his studies in the fertilization of flowers by insects – a subject in which he reached conclusions many years ahead of his time. Spreng. appeared as an author at the age of fourteen, publishing a small work called '' Anleitung zur Botanik für Frauenzimmer'' ("guide to botany for women") in 1780. In 1784, he began to study t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Museum (London)
The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United Kingdom, the Science Museum does not charge visitors for admission, although visitors are requested to make a donation if they are able. Temporary exhibitions may incur an admission fee. It is one of the five museums in the Science Museum Group. Founding and history The museum was founded in 1857 under Bennet Woodcroft from the collection of the Royal Society of Arts and surplus items from the Great Exhibition as part of the South Kensington Museum, together with what is now the Victoria and Albert Museum. It included a collection of machinery which became the ''Museum of Patents'' in 1858, and the ''Patent Office Museum'' in 1863. This collection contained many of the most famous exhibits of what is now th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Principal Triangulation Of Great Britain
The Principal Triangulation of Britain was the first high-precision triangulation survey of the whole of Great Britain and Ireland, carried out between 1791 and 1853 under the auspices of the Board of Ordnance. The aim of the survey was to establish precise geographical coordinates of almost 300 significant landmarks which could be used as the fixed points of local topographic surveys from which maps could be drawn. In addition there was a purely scientific aim in providing precise data for geodetic calculations such as the determination of the length of meridian arcs and the figure of the Earth. Such a survey had been proposed by William Roy (1726–1790) on his completion of the Anglo-French Survey but it was only after his death that the Board of Ordnance initiated the trigonometric survey, motivated by military considerations in a time of a threatened French invasion. Most of the work was carried out under the direction of Isaac Dalby, William Mudge and Thomas Freder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jesse Ramsden
Jesse Ramsden Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (6 October 1735 – 5 November 1800) was a British mathematician, astronomy, astronomical and scientific instrument maker. His reputation was built on the engraving and design of dividing engines which allowed high accuracy measurements of angles and lengths in instruments. He produced instruments for astronomy that were especially well known for maritime use where they were needed for the measurement of latitudes and for his surveying instruments which were widely used for cartography and land survey both across the British Empire and outside. An achromatic eyepiece that he invented for telescopes and microscopes continues to be known as the Ramsden eyepiece. Life Ramsden was born at Salterhebble, Halifax, West Yorkshire, Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire, England the son of Thomas Ramsden, an innkeeper and his wife Abigail née Flather. Having attended the free school at Halifax from 1744 to 1747, he was sent at the age of twe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ramsden Theodolite
The Ramsden surveying instruments are those constructed by Jesse Ramsden and used in high precision geodetic surveys carried out in the period 1784 to 1853. This includes the five great theodolites—great in name, great in size and great in accuracy—used in surveys of Britain and other parts of the world. Ramsden also provided the equipment used in the measurement of the many base lines of these surveys and also the zenith telescope used in latitude determinations. The great theodolites A total of eight such instruments were manufactured by Ramsden and others for use in Britain, India and Switzerland. The Great Theodolites Ramsden himself constructed three theodolites and a further two were completed to his design by Mathew Berge, his son-in-law and business successor, after Ramsden's death in 1805. Of the other instruments one was constructed by William Cary and the other two by the firm of Troughton & Simms. The Royal Society theodolite In 1783 the Royal Society of Londo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
