Editing 1715 in science

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The year '''1715 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events.

==Astronomy==
* May 3 – Total [[solar eclipse]] across southern England, Sweden and Finland (last total eclipse visible in London for almost 900 years).
* [[Edmond Halley]] suggests that [[nebula]]e are clouds of interstellar gas.
* Publication in London of David Gregory's ''The elements of astronomy, physical and geometrical... Done into English'', containing the first recorded use in English of the word ''[[Physics]]'' in its modern scientific sense<ref>{{cite web|title=physics, ''n''.|work=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] online version|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=September 2011|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/143140#|accessdate=2011-11-02}} {{OEDsub}}</ref> and the first mention of a series approximating the [[Titius–Bode law]] on celestial [[orbit]]s.

==Discoveries==
* [[Mine La Motte, Missouri|Mine La Motte]], in Madison county, [[Missouri]], is discovered by [[Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac|De la Motte Cadillac]].
* The "miracle" springs are discovered in [[Cheltenham]], England, a small [[Cotswold]] village at the time.

==Geology==
* [[Edmund Halley]] suggests using the salinity and evaporation of [[salt lake]]s to determine the [[age of the Earth]].<ref>"A Short Account of the Cause of the Saltness of the Ocean, and of the Several Lakes That Emit no Rivers; With a Proposal, by Help Thereof, to Discover the Age of the World". {{cite book|title=The Chronologers' Quest: The Search for the Age of the Earth|last=Jackson|first=Patrick Wyse|year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-81332-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/chronologersques00wyse/page/61 61]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/chronologersques00wyse/page/61}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Brook Taylor]]'s ''Methodus Incrementorum Directa et Inversa'' adds a new branch to the higher mathematics, now designated the "[[calculus]] of [[finite difference]]s", and introduces [[Taylor's theorem]] and the [[Taylor series]].
* Taylor also publishes his ''Essay on Linear Perspective'', which discusses the principles of [[perspective (graphical)|perspective]] and the [[vanishing point]].

==Medicine==
* French [[anatomist]] [[Raymond Vieussens]]'s ''Traité nouveau de la structure et des causes du mouvement naturel du coeur'' is published in [[Toulouse]], giving the first description of valvular disease of the heart.

==Technology==
* The first recognised [[fire extinguisher]] is invented.
* Construction of [[Brod Fortress]] by the [[Arduchy of Austria]] begins.
* ''approx. date'' – In [[clockmaking]], [[George Graham (clockmaker)|George Graham]] invents his deadbeat [[escapement]] and experiments with compensation [[pendulum]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Britten|first=F. J.|title=Former Clock & Watchmakers and their Work|year=1894|publisher=E. & F.N. Spon|location=London|url=https://archive.org/details/formerclockwatc00britgoog|pages=[https://archive.org/details/formerclockwatc00britgoog/page/n404 89]–97}}</ref>

==Births==
* April 3 – [[William Watson (scientist)|William Watson]], English [[physician]], [[botanist]] and [[physicist]] (died [[1787 in science|1787]])
* September 22 – [[Jean-Étienne Guettard]], French physician and scientist (died [[1786 in science|1786]])
* October 8 – [[Michel Benoist]], French Jesuit missionary and scientist (died [[1774 in science|1774]])
* November 13 – [[Dorothea Erxleben]], German physician (died [[1762 in science|1762]])
* November 23 – [[Pierre Charles Le Monnier]], French [[astronomer]] (died [[1799 in science|1799]])

==Deaths==
* January 29 – [[Bernard Lamy]], French [[mathematician]], [[philosopher]] and [[physicist]] (born [[1640 in science|1640]])
* February 17 – [[Antoine Galland]], French [[archaeologist]] (born [[1646 in science|1646]])
* March – [[William Dampier]], English explorer, hydrographic surveyor and triple [[circumnavigator]] (born [[1651 in science|1651]])
* May – [[Thomas Savery]], English engineer, inventor of a [[Pump#Steam pumps|steam pump]] (born c. [[1650 in science|1650]])
* May 21 – [[Pierre Magnol]], French botanist (born [[1638 in science|1638]])
* June 19 – [[Nicolas Lémery]], French [[pharmacist]] and [[chemist]] (born [[1645 in science|1645]])
* August 16 – [[Raymond Vieussens]], French [[anatomist]] (born c. [[1635 in science|1635]])
* September 24 – [[Wilhelm Homberg]], [[Dutch people|Dutch]] chemist working in France (born [[1652 in science|1652]])
* October 15 – [[Humphry Ditton]], English [[mathematician]] (born [[1675 in science|1675]])
* November 1 – [[Shibukawa Shunkai]], Japanese scholar and [[astronomer]] (born [[1637 in science|1637]])

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:1715 in science| ]]
[[Category:18th century in science]]
[[Category:1710s in science]]