1731 in science

List of years in science (table)
… 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 …
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

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)

References

1. Maor, Eli (2019), The Pythagorean Theorem: A 4,000-Year History, Princeton University Press, pp. 133–134, ISBN 978-0-691-19688-6
2. "A considerable share of the intestines cut off after a mortification in a hernia and cured". Medical Essays and Observations. 5 (1). Edinburgh: Society for the Improvement of Medical Knowledge: 427–31. 1742.
3. Selley, Peter (2016). "William Cookesley, William Hunter and the first patient to survive removal of the appendix in 1731 – a case history with 31 years' follow up". Journal of Medical Biography. 24: 180–3.
4. "The 18th Century Women Scientists of Bologna". ScienceWeek. 2004. Archived from the original on 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
5. Benos, Dale J.; et al. (2007). "The ups and downs of per review". Advances in Physiology Education. 31 (2): 145–152. doi:10.1152/advan.00104.2006. PMID 17562902. Retrieved 2011-08-30.
6. "Copley Medal | British scientific award". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 July 2020.