1702 in science

Astronomy

• April 20 – Comet of 1702 (C/1702 H1): The 10th-closest comet approach in history, it missed Earth by a distance of 0.0437 AU (6,537,000 km).
• May 5 – Globular cluster Messier 5 (M5, NGC 5904) is discovered by Gottfried Kirch and his wife Maria Margarethe.
• David Gregory publishes the first textbook, Astronomiae physicae et geometricae elementa, the first astronomy textbook based on Isaac Newton's principles of motions and theory of gravitation.

Technology

• A fountain pen is developed by French instrument-maker Nicholas Bion.
• Pierre Varignon applies calculus to spring-driven clocks.

Births

• November 5 – Edward Stone, English polymath (died 1768)
• Undated
  • Giuseppa Barbapiccola, Italian natural philosopher, poet and translator (died 1740)
  • Benjamin Stillingfleet, English botanist (died 1771)

Deaths

• April – Clopton Havers, English physician who did pioneering research on the microstructure of bone (born 1657)
• December 12 – Olof Rudbeck, Swedish physiologist who discovered that the thoracic duct is connected to the intestinal lymphatics (born 1630)

References

References

1. "Historic Comet Close Approaches". NASA.
2. Bunch, Bryan H.. (2004). "The history of science and technology: a browser's guide to the great discoveries, inventions, and the people who made them, from the dawn of time to today". Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
3. "Archives Hub: Papers of David Gregory (1661–1708)". [[Archives Hub]].
4. Narayanan, Vivek. (2005-05-18). "Patent and Trademark History in the Fountain Pen Industry".
5. "Who invented the fountain pen?". vintagepens.com.
6. Mann, Ralph. (2004). "Stone, Edward (1702–1768)".