1731 in science
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The year 1731 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Agriculture and horticulture
- Philip Miller publishes The Gardeners Dictionary, containing the Methods of Cultivating and Improving the Kitchen Fruit and Flower Garden in London.
- Jethro Tull publishes The New Horse-Houghing Husbandry; or, an essay on the principles of tillage and vegetation in London.
Astronomy
- John Bevis observes the Crab Nebula for the first time in the modern era.
- The octant is developed by John Hadley (it will eventually be replaced as an essential tool of navigation by the sextant).
- The orrery (or planetarium model) is developed as an apparatus showing the relative positions of heavenly bodies in the Solar System by using balls moved by wheelwork.
Geology
- The modern seismograph is developed by Italian scientist Nicholas Cerillo using a pendulum.
Mathematics
- The Euclidean distance formula is first published by Alexis Clairaut.[1]
Medicine
- September – The first successful appendectomy is performed by English surgeon William Cookesley.[2][3]
- Laura Bassi becomes the first official female university teacher on being appointed professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna at the age of 21.[4]
- The Society for the Improvement of Medical Knowledge in Edinburgh begins publication of the peer reviewed Medical Essays and Observations.[5]
Technology
- The harpoon gun is developed and used for the purpose of throwing the harpoon into the body of whales.
Publications
- Publication begins in Augsburg and Ulm of Johann Jakob Scheuchzer's Physica Sacra which attempts to provide a scientific explanation of Biblical history.
Awards
- Copley Medal: The first Copley Medal is awarded to Stephen Gray.[6]
Births
- October 10 – Henry Cavendish, English scientist (died 1810)
- November 9 – Benjamin Banneker, African-American astronomer and surveyor (died 1806)
- December 12 – Erasmus Darwin, English physician and botanist (died 1802)
Deaths
- January 6 – Étienne François Geoffroy, French chemist (born 1672)
- December 29 – Brook Taylor, English mathematician (born 1685)