The year 1700 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Exploration

Edmond Halley, aboard HMS Paramour, observes the Antarctic Convergence.[1]

Geology

January 26 (approx. 9 p.m.) – Cascadia earthquake: A gigantic earthquake rips across the present-day west coast of Canada and the United States along the Cascadia subduction zone over more than 600 miles (966 km) from Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino. The magnitude of the earthquake is estimated as between 8.7 and 9.2. There is no direct written documentation of the event; however, the Orphan Tsunami, which it triggers, hits Japan approximately 10 hours later, flooding fields and washing away houses.[2]

Medicine

Nicolas Andry publishes De la génération des vers dans les corps de l'homme, a pioneering text in the germ theory of disease.[3]
Bernardino Ramazzini publishes De Morbis Artificum Diatriba in Modena, a pioneering text in occupational medicine.

Technology

approx. date – The clarinet might have been invented by the German flute maker Johann Christoph Denner as a modification of the chalumeau, but it will not be until the late 18th century that composers include clarinets into their orchestrations.[4]
The piano, newly invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori, is listed in an inventory of musical instruments owned by the Medici.

Institutions

July 11 – The Prussian Academy of Sciences is founded with Leibniz as president.[5]

Births

February 8 – Daniel Bernoulli, mathematician (died 1782)
November 19 – Jean-Antoine Nollet, clergyman and physicist (died 1770)
November 28 – Nathaniel Bliss, astronomer (died 1764)
undated – William Braikenridge, clergyman and geometer (died 1762)[6]

Deaths

May 22 – Louis Jolliet, explorer (born 1645)
undated – Kamalakara, astronomer and mathematician (born 1616)

References

^ Gurney, Alan (1997). Below the Convergence: Voyages Toward Antarctica, 1699-1839. New York: Norton. ISBN 0-393-03949-8.
^ "The Great Cascadia Earthquake of 26 January AD 1700". USGS. Retrieved 04 January 2008.
^ Gee, Henry (2004). Jacob's Ladder: the History of the Human Genome. New York: W. W. Norton. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-0-393-05083-7.
^ McKinney, Roger W. "A Short History". Clarinet Compendium. Retrieved 04 January 2008.
^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. (August 2004). "Berlin Academy of Science". MacTutor History of Mathematics. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 04 January 2008.
^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. (November 1999). "William Braikenridge". MacTutor History of Mathematics. Retrieved 04 January 2008.

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