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1729 in science
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<h2 id="astronomy">Astronomy</h2> <ul><li>January 9 & 16 – <a href="/facts/James_Bradley/4QnCLzmk">James Bradley</a>, in a letter written to <a href="/facts/Edmond_Halley/JgjIRcUA">Edmond Halley</a> and read before the <a href="/facts/Royal_Society/KI5yXCuV">Royal Society</a>, describes his discovery of <a href="/facts/Aberration_of_starlight/N3yb3D2C">aberration of starlight</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a></li> <li>August 1 – Fr. <a href="/facts/Nicolas_Sarrabat/WMxrC8G4">Nicolas Sarrabat</a>, a professor of mathematics at <a href="/facts/Marseille/kj7te1HG">Marseille</a>, discovers the <a href="/facts/Comet_of_1729/op1ceVyf">Comet of 1729</a>, possibly the largest comet, with the highest <a href="/facts/Apparent_magnitude/7pCTF1Me">apparent magnitude</a>, on record.</li> <li>English <a href="/facts/Optician/at3yPuqM">optician</a> <a href="/facts/Chester_Moore_Hall/TubLhwFk">Chester Moore Hall</a> (<a href="/facts/1703_in_science/sETyW0ML">1703</a>–<a href="/facts/1771_in_science/fXlqQLLE">1771</a>) develops an <a href="/facts/Achromatic_lens/6R4A63JY">achromatic lens</a> (or achromat) commonly used as the objective of small <a href="/facts/Refracting_telescope/JtCz5CvW">refracting telescopes</a>.</li></ul> <h2 id="biology">Biology</h2> <ul><li>June 8 – The <a href="/facts/Botanic_Gardens_of_Pamplemousses/7k0JP40F">Botanic Gardens of Pamplemousses</a> on <a href="/facts/Mauritius/lVUARna5">Mauritius</a> are started by Pierre Barmond.</li> <li><a href="/facts/Mark_Catesby/tpyjsedI">Mark Catesby</a> begins part publication in London of <i>The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants ... together with their descriptions in English and French</i>, the first published account of the <a href="/facts/Flora_(plants)/2xkcTn2d">flora</a> and <a href="/facts/Fauna_(animals)/sMqPFxVD">fauna</a> of North America, and the first work of <a href="/facts/Natural_history/pSlAvbTX">natural history</a> to use <a href="/facts/Folio/x6aHN93k">folio</a>-size coloured plates.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="mathematics">Mathematics</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Andrew_Motte/KRgezewU">Andrew Motte</a> publishes <i>The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy</i> in London, the first English translation of <a href="/facts/Isaac_Newton/4L7gTncN">Isaac Newton</a>'s <i><a href="/facts/Philosophi%25C3%25A6_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica/DRdvI3yx">Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica</a></i> (originally published <a href="/facts/1687_in_science/uqRaLQ4q">1687</a>; Motte translated the 1726 edition).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="medicine">Medicine</h2> <ul><li>August 6 – <a href="/facts/Royal_Infirmary_of_Edinburgh/2JoUDmL7">Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh</a> established as the "Hospital for the Sick Poor" or "Physicians' Hospital" in <a href="/facts/Edinburgh/PcsoaK9h">Edinburgh</a> (Scotland).</li></ul> <h2 id="physics">Physics</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Stephen_Gray_(scientist)/FbGcFc46">Stephen Gray</a> discovers <a href="/facts/Electrical_conduction/akyCKvMy">electrical conduction</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Pierre_Bouguer/d7tuYCxr">Pierre Bouguer</a> publishes <i>Essai d'optique sur la gradation de la lumière</i>, defining the quantity of light lost by passing through a given extent of the <a href="/facts/Earth%2527s_atmosphere/FV97Am25">Earth's atmosphere</a>, thus making some of the earliest measurements in <a href="/facts/Photometry_(optics)/eo6J7qj3">photometry</a> and becoming the first known discoverer of what becomes known as the <a href="/facts/Beer%25E2%2580%2593Lambert_law/nl64rI1C">Beer–Lambert law</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="technology">Technology</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Stephen_Switzer/DV7eynIF">Stephen Switzer</a> publishes <i>An Introduction to a General System of Hydrostaticks and Hydraulicks</i> in London, a 2-volume general treatise on <a href="/facts/Hydraulics/KSIqLovc">hydraulics</a>.</li> <li>Walter Churchman of <a href="/facts/Bristol/nLwyoDTG">Bristol</a> (England) patents the first mechanical <a href="/facts/Cocoa_bean/cAdQvQxy">cocoa bean</a> grinder.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="births">Births</h2> <ul><li>January 12 – <a href="/facts/Lazzaro_Spallanzani/3taMvKQF">Lazzaro Spallanzani</a>, Italian <a href="/facts/Biologist/yJJGXyKR">biologist</a> (died <a href="/facts/1799_in_science/sXtz2JKb">1799</a>)</li> <li>January 31 – <a href="/facts/Pehr_L%25C3%25B6fling/0zrd1hnp">Pehr Löfling</a>, Swedish <a href="/facts/Carl_Linnaeus/gy5HWkHS">Linnaean</a> <a href="/facts/Botanist/PaIRoxnb">botanist</a> (died <a href="/facts/1756_in_science/dhvtnXvs">1756</a>)</li> <li>September 15 – <a href="/facts/Mikiel%2527Ang_Grima/I9m9d3VY">Mikiel'Ang Grima</a>, <a href="/facts/Maltese_people/15txr136">Maltese</a> <a href="/facts/Surgery/fG8tWf5Y">surgeon</a> (died <a href="/facts/1798_in_science/EFXtPLb6">1798</a>)</li> <li>November 11 – <a href="/facts/Louis_Antoine_de_Bougainville/KQr4MlIX">Louis Antoine de Bougainville</a>, French explorer (died <a href="/facts/1811_in_science/m3LYWec5">1811</a>)</li></ul> <h2 id="deaths">Deaths</h2> <ul><li>January 31 – <a href="/facts/Jacob_Roggeveen/KsIxYGfb">Jacob Roggeveen</a>, Dutch explorer (born <a href="/facts/1659_in_science/eXWCgDUC">1659</a>)</li> <li>March 2 – <a href="/facts/Francesco_Bianchini/jNb2PWL2">Francesco Bianchini</a>, Italian philosopher and scientist (born <a href="/facts/1662_in_science/dc8efAmL">1662</a>)</li> <li>August 5 – <a href="/facts/Thomas_Newcomen/29cvHymJ">Thomas Newcomen</a>, English inventor (born <a href="/facts/1664_in_science/Q25ARLXt">1664</a>)</li> <li>December 1 – <a href="/facts/Giacomo_F._Maraldi/Vlm189mw">Giacomo F. Maraldi</a>, French-Italian astronomer (born <a href="/facts/1665_in_science/bxPDBFav">1665</a>)</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Date clarified in: Sarton, George (November 1931). "Discovery of the Aberration of Light". Isis. 16 (2): 233–265. doi:10.1086/346611. ISSN 0021-1753. JSTOR 224710. <a href="/wiki/George_Sarton" target="_blank">/wiki/George_Sarton</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Hepper, F. Nigel (2004). "Catesby, Mark (1683–1749)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2011-03-23. (subscription or UK public library membership required) <a href="http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4882" target="_blank">http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4882</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Steinbock, R. Ted (2006). "Isaac Newton and the Scientific Revolution" (PDF). Centre College. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-19. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060919000638/http://www.centre.edu/web/news/2006/Newton_one.pdf" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20060919000638/http://www.centre.edu/web/news/2006/Newton_one.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Westfall, Richard S. "Gray, Stephen". The Galileo Project. <a href="http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/gray.html" target="_blank">http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/gray.html</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Lamontagne, Roland (1964). La vie et l'oeuvre de Pierre Bouguer. Presses de l'Université de Montréal. <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>"Appendix 8: Chocolate Timeline". Chocolate. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 2008. pp. 855–928. doi:10.1002/9780470411315.app8. ISBN 978-0-470-41131-5. <a href="978-0-470-41131-5" target="_blank">978-0-470-41131-5</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>