Editing 1703 in science

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The year '''1703 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events.

==Biology==
* [[Charles Plumier]]'s ''Nova plantarum Americanarum genera'' begins publication in Paris. This includes descriptions of ''[[Fuchsia]]'', discovered by him on [[Hispaniola]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kPstAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA272&dq=plumier+fuchsia#PPR3,M1 ''The Encyclopædia Britannica: a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information, Volume XI, Franciscans to Gibbons''] 11th ed. New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company (1910). p. 272. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.</ref> and naming of the [[genus]] ''[[Magnolia]]'', applied to species from [[Martinique]].

==Chemistry==
* [[Georg Ernst Stahl]], professor of medicine and chemistry at the [[University of Halle]], proposes [[phlogiston theory]] in the way it comes to be generally understood.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mason|first=Stephen F.|year=1962|title=A History of the Sciences|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofscience00maso|url-access=registration|edition=revised|location=New York|publisher=Collier Books|chapter=Chapter 26}}</ref>

==Earth sciences==
* An early, crude [[seismograph]] is developed by the French physicist Abbé [[Jean de Hautefeuille]].

==Mathematics==
* [[Gottfried Leibniz]] publishes a first description of [[binary number]]s in the West.<ref>Leibniz G. "Explication de l'Arithmétique Binaire". ''[[Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences|Memoires de l'Academie Royale des Sciences]]''. Repr. in Gerhardt, C., ed. (1879), ''Die Mathematische Schriften'', Berlin, '''7''':223. English translation as "Explanation of Binary Arithmetic" at [http://www.leibniz-translations.com/binary.htm ''Leibniz Translations''], retrieved on 2013-12-24.</ref>
* [[Leonty Magnitsky]]'s ''Arithmetic'' (Арифметика) is published, a scientific book in the [[Russian language]].

==Meteorology==
* December 7–10 (November 26–29 [[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]]) – [[Great Storm of 1703]], an [[extratropical cyclone]], ravages southern England and the [[English Channel]], killing at least 8,000, mostly at sea. The [[Eddystone Lighthouse]] off [[Plymouth]] is destroyed in the storm together with its designer [[Henry Winstanley]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/icons-timeline/1700-1750|title=Icons, a portrait of England 1700-1750|access-date=2018-07-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817164123/http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/icons-timeline/1700-1750|archive-date=2007-08-17}}</ref>

==Institutions==
* November 30 – [[Isaac Newton]] is elected president of the [[Royal Society]] of London, a position he will hold until his death in [[1727 in science|1727]].
* [[Richard Mead]] is admitted to the Royal Society (to whose ''Transactions'' he contributes this year a paper on the parasitic nature of [[scabies]]), is elected physician to [[St Thomas' Hospital]], and is appointed to read anatomical lectures at [[Surgeon's Hall]], all in London.<ref>{{cite book|title=From 1703 to 1712|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OPRbAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1|year=1809|pages=1}}</ref>

==Births==
* January 8 – [[André Levret]], French [[obstetrician]] (died [[1780 in science|1780]])
* January 15 – [[Johann Ernst Hebenstreit]], German physician and naturalist (died [[1757 in science|1757]])
* June 21 – [[Joseph Lieutaud]], French physician (died [[1780 in science|1780]])
* August 23 – [[Robert James (physician)|Robert James]], English physician (died [[1776 in science|1776]])
* September 15 – [[Guillaume-François Rouelle]], French chemist and apothecary (died [[1770 in science|1770]]) 
* October 28 – [[Antoine Deparcieux]], French [[mathematician]] (died [[1768 in science|1768]])
* November 25 – [[Jean-François Séguier]], French [[astronomer]] and [[botanist]] (died [[1784 in science|1784]])
* December 2 – [[Ferdinand Konščak]], [[Croatia]]n [[explorer]] (died [[1759 in science|1759]])
* December 9 – [[Chester Moore Hall]], English scientific instrument maker (died [[1771 in science|1771]])
* December 24 – [[Aleksei Chirikov]], Russian explorer (died [[1748 in science|1748]])

==Deaths==
* March 3 – [[Robert Hooke]], English scientist (born [[1635 in science|1635]])
* March 20 ''(probable)'' – [[Johann von Löwenstern-Kunckel]], German [[chemist]] (born [[1630 in science|1630?]])
* September 22 – [[Vincenzo Viviani]], Italian mathematician and scientist (born [[1622 in science|1622]])
* October 28 – [[John Wallis]], English mathematician (born [[1616 in science|1616]])

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1703 in science| ]]
[[Category:1700s in science]]
[[Category:18th century in science]]