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1738 in science
The year
1738 in
science
and
technology
involved some significant events.
Astronomy
Pierre Louis Maupertuis
publishes
Sur la figure de la terre
, which confirms
Newton's
view that the Earth is an
oblate spheroid
slightly flattened at the poles.
Botany
Publication of
Hortus Cliffortianus
, a detailed description by
Linnaeus
of
George Clifford
's gardens at
Hartekamp
,
Netherlands
, including the raising of exotic plants such as
banana
s in a
greenhouse
.
Publication of
Rariorum Africanarum plantarum
, a
flora
of
Cape Colony
by
Johannes Burman
, begins publication in Amsterdam.
Mathematics
Abraham de Moivre
publishes the second
English
edition of his
The Doctrine of Chances
containing a study of the coefficients in the
binomial expansion
of .
Medicine
February âÂÂ
Great Plague of 1738
, an outbreak of
bubonic plague
, begins to spread from
Banat
across
central Europe
.
Establishment of
The Mineral Water Hospital
in
Bath, England
.
Metallurgy
July 1 âÂÂ
William Champion
of
Bristol
patent
s a process to distill
zinc
from
calamine
using
charcoal
in a
smelter
.
Technology
June 24 âÂÂ
Lewis Paul
and
John Wyatt
obtain an English patent for roller
cotton-spinning machinery
, leading to the establishment of mechanised
Paul-Wyatt cotton mills
.
Jacques de Vaucanson
presents the world's first
automaton
,
The Flute Player
(1737) to the
French Academy of Sciences
.
Black Forest
clockmaker
Franz Ketterer
produces one of the earliest
cuckoo clock
s.
Awards
Copley Medal
:
James Valoue
Births
November 15 âÂÂ
William Herschel
,
German
-born
astronomer
(died
1822
)
Deaths
June 21 âÂÂ
Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend
,
English
agriculturalist
(born
1674
)
September 23 âÂÂ
Herman Boerhaave
,
Dutch
physician
(born
1668
)
References