The year 1709 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Meteorology

January - Great Frost in Western Europe.[1][2]

Physics

Francis Hauksbee publishes Physico-Mechanical Experiments on Various Subjects, summarizing the results of his many experiments with electricity and other topics.

Technology

January 10 - Industrial Revolution: Abraham Darby I successfully produces cast iron using coke fuel at his Coalbrookdale blast furnace in Shropshire, England.[3][4][5]
February 5 - Dramatist John Dennis devises the thundersheet as a new method of producing theatrical thunder for his tragedy Appius and Virginia at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London.[6]
July 13 - Johann Maria Farina founds the first Eau de Cologne and perfume factory in Cologne, Germany.
August 8 - Hot air balloon of Bartholome de Gusmão flies in Portugal.
A collapsible umbrella is introduced in Paris.[7]

Awards

April 9 - Sir Godfrey Copley, 2nd Baronet dies and in his will provides funding to the Royal Society for the annual Copley Medal honoring achievement in science (first awarded in 1731).

Births

February 24 - Jacques de Vaucanson, French engineer and inventor (died 1782)
March 3 - Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, German chemist (died 1782)
March 10 - Georg Steller, German naturalist (died 1746)
17 April 1709 Birth of Giovanni Domenico Maraldi in Perinaldo near Imperia, Liguria, Italy
July 11 - Johan Gottschalk Wallerius, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (died 1785)
August 8 - Johann Georg Gmelin, German botanist (died 1755)
27 November 1709, Birth of Eustachio Zanotti in Bologna, Enilia-Romagna, Italy
December 25 - Julien Offray de La Mettrie, French physician and philosopher (died 1751)

Deaths

early - Eleanor Glanville, English entomologist (born c.1654)
June 29 - Antoine Thomas, Belgian Jesuit astronomer in China (born 1644)
June 30 - Edward Lhuyd, Welsh naturalist (born 1660)
October 17 - François Mauriceau, French obstetrician (born 1637)

References

^ Pain, Stephanie (7 February 2009). "1709: the year that Europe froze". New Scientist.
^ Luterbacher, Jürg; Dietrich, Daniel; Xoplaki, Elena; Grosjean, Martin; Wanner, Heinz (2004). "European Seasonal and Annual Temperature Variability, Trends, and Extremes Since 1500". Science 303 (5663): 1499–1503. doi:10.1126/science.1093877.
^ Mott, R. A. (5 January 1957). "The earliest use of coke for ironmaking". The Gas World, coking section supplement 145: 7–18.
^ Raistrick, Arthur (1953). Dynasty of Ironfounders: the Darbys and Coalbrookdale. London: Longmans, Green. p. 34.
^ Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 292. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
^ Rees, Nigel (1987). Why Do We Say ...?. ISBN 0-7137-1944-3.
^ "The History of Umbrellas". Oakthrift Corporation. Retrieved 2011-12-22.

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