1.
1769 in science
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The year 1769 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below. March 4 – French astronomer Charles Messier first records the Orion Nebula, june 3 – Transit of Venus is observed from many places in order to obtain data for measuring the distance from the Earth to the Sun. The weather in Pondicherry is cloudy that day, le Gentil had also missed the 1761 transit through bad luck. November 9 – Transit of Mercury, james Cook observes this from Mercury Bay in New Zealand. Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovers a method of mass-producing phosphorus, in September he completes a full-size experimental engine at Kinneil House in Scotland. July 3 – Richard Arkwright is granted a British patent for a spinning frame able to spin thread mechanically. October 23 – Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrates a steam-powered artillery tractor in France, march 16 – Louis Antoine de Bougainville returns to Saint-Malo following a three-year circumnavigation of the world with the ships La Boudeuse and Étoile, with the loss of only seven out of 330 men
2.
1773 in science
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The year 1773 in science and technology involved some significant events. Lagrange presents his work on the equation of the Moon to the Académie française. He also publishes on the attraction of ellipsoids, carl Wilhelm Scheele and Joseph Priestley independently isolate oxygen, called by Priestley dephlogisticated air and Scheele fire air. Antoine Baumé publishes his textbook Chymie expérimentale et raisonnée in Paris, january 17 – Captain James Cook becomes the first European explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle. Spring – Tobias Furneaux explores the coast of Van Diemens Land, scottish judge James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, begins publication of Of the Origin and Progress of Language, a contribution to evolutionary ideas of the Enlightenment. Lagrange considers a functional determinant of order 3, a case of a Jacobian. October 12 – North Americas first insane asylum opens for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds in Williamsburg, medical Society of London founded by John Coakley Lettsom. Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau proposes the use of acid gas for fumigation of buildings. Istanbul Technical University is established as the worlds first comprehensive institution of learning dedicated to engineering education. Copley Medal, John Walsh John Harrison receives the Longitude prize for his invention of the marine chronometer
3.
1783 in science
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The year 1783 in science and technology involved some significant events, February 26 – Caroline Herschel discovers NGC2360. May – John Goodricke presents his conclusions that the variable star Algol is what comes to be known as an eclipsing binary to the Royal Society of London, august 18 – Great Meteor passes over Great Britain, exciting scientific interest. November 27 – John Michell proposes the existence of black holes, june 5 – The Montgolfier brothers send up at Annonay, near Lyon, a 900 m linen hot air balloon as a public demonstration. Its flight covers 2 km and lasts 10 minutes, to an altitude of 1600–2000 metres. August 27 – Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers launch the first hydrogen balloon in Paris. November 21 – The first free flight by humans in a balloon is made by Pilâtre de Rozier, jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard publishes his Dictionnaire Elémentaire de Botanique, contributing to the spread of Linnaean terminology, particularly in mycology. Erasmus Darwin begins publication of A System of Vegetables, a translation of Linnaeus in which he coins many common English language names of plants, discovery of tungsten – José and Fausto Elhuyar find an acid in wolframite which they reduce with charcoal to isolate tungsten. February 5–March 28 – Calabrian earthquakes in Kingdom of Two Sicilies, june 8 – The volcano Laki in Iceland begins a major eruption with extensive climatic consequences on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. August 4 – Mount Asama, the most active volcano in Japan, begins climactic eruption, exacerbating a famine, german physician Melchior Adam Weikard publishes a biography of microscopist Wilhelm Friedrich von Gleichen, Biographie des Herrn Wilhelm Friedrich v. Gleichen genannt Rußwurm. Jean-Paul Marat publishes Mémoire sur lélectricité médicale, henry Cort of Funtley, England, invents the grooved rolling mill for producing bar iron. Thomas Bell patents a method of printing on fabric from engraved cylinders, horace-Bénédict de Saussure publishes Essai sur lhygrométrie, recording his experiments with the hair hygrometer
4.
1775 in architecture
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The year 1775 in architecture involved some significant events. Casino at Marino near Dublin, Ireland, designed by William Chambers is completed at about this date, fort Belan commanding the western end of the Menai Strait in Wales completed. Midford Castle folly in Somerset, England, built to a design by John Carter, conygar Tower folly in Somerset, England, built to a design by Richard Phelps. Bygholm Castle manor house in Denmark built to a design by Andreas Møller, hôtel Grimod de La Reynière town house in Paris built to a design by Jean-Benoît-Vincent Barré. The Wick house in Richmond, Surrey, England, built to a design by Robert Mylne, bostock Hall in Cheshire, England, rebuilt, probably to a design by Samuel Wyatt. Ingersley Hall in Cheshire, England built about this date
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Science
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Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empirical observations, disciplines which use science, like engineering and medicine, may also be considered to be applied sciences. However, during the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics. In the 17th and 18th centuries, scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of physical laws, over the course of the 19th century, the word science became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself as a disciplined way to study the natural world. It was during this time that scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, Science in a broad sense existed before the modern era and in many historical civilizations. Modern science is distinct in its approach and successful in its results, Science in its original sense was a word for a type of knowledge rather than a specialized word for the pursuit of such knowledge. In particular, it was the type of knowledge which people can communicate to each other, for example, knowledge about the working of natural things was gathered long before recorded history and led to the development of complex abstract thought. This is shown by the construction of calendars, techniques for making poisonous plants edible. For this reason, it is claimed these men were the first philosophers in the strict sense and they were mainly speculators or theorists, particularly interested in astronomy. In contrast, trying to use knowledge of nature to imitate nature was seen by scientists as a more appropriate interest for lower class artisans. A clear-cut distinction between formal and empirical science was made by the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides, although his work Peri Physeos is a poem, it may be viewed as an epistemological essay on method in natural science. Parmenides ἐὸν may refer to a system or calculus which can describe nature more precisely than natural languages. Physis may be identical to ἐὸν and he criticized the older type of study of physics as too purely speculative and lacking in self-criticism. He was particularly concerned that some of the early physicists treated nature as if it could be assumed that it had no intelligent order, explaining things merely in terms of motion and matter. The study of things had been the realm of mythology and tradition, however. Aristotle later created a less controversial systematic programme of Socratic philosophy which was teleological and he rejected many of the conclusions of earlier scientists. For example, in his physics, the sun goes around the earth, each thing has a formal cause and final cause and a role in the rational cosmic order. Motion and change is described as the actualization of potentials already in things, while the Socratics insisted that philosophy should be used to consider the practical question of the best way to live for a human being, they did not argue for any other types of applied science
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Technology
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Technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, and the like, the human species use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The steady progress of technology has brought weapons of ever-increasing destructive power. It has helped develop more advanced economies and has allowed the rise of a leisure class, many technological processes produce unwanted by-products known as pollution and deplete natural resources to the detriment of Earths environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and raise new questions of the ethics of technology, examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, and the challenges of bioethics. Philosophical debates have arisen over the use of technology, with disagreements over whether technology improves the condition or worsens it. The use of the technology has changed significantly over the last 200 years. Before the 20th century, the term was uncommon in English, the term was often connected to technical education, as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The term technology rose to prominence in the 20th century in connection with the Second Industrial Revolution, the terms meanings changed in the early 20th century when American social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen, translated ideas from the German concept of Technik into technology. In German and other European languages, a distinction exists between technik and technologie that is absent in English, which translates both terms as technology. By the 1930s, technology referred not only to the study of the industrial arts, dictionaries and scholars have offered a variety of definitions. Ursula Franklin, in her 1989 Real World of Technology lecture, gave another definition of the concept, it is practice, the way we do things around here. The term is used to imply a specific field of technology, or to refer to high technology or just consumer electronics. Bernard Stiegler, in Technics and Time,1, defines technology in two ways, as the pursuit of life by other than life, and as organized inorganic matter. Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems and it is a far-reaching term that may include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material, virtual technology, such as software and business methods. W. Brian Arthur defines technology in a broad way as a means to fulfill a human purpose
7.
Cheetah
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The cheetah /ˈtʃiːtə/ is a large felid of the subfamily Felinae that occurs mainly in eastern and southern Africa and a few parts of Iran. The only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, the cheetah was first described by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1775. The cheetah is characterised by a body, deep chest, spotted coat, a small rounded head, black tear-like streaks on the face, long thin legs. Its lightly built, slender form is in sharp contrast with the robust build of the big cats, the cheetah reaches nearly 70 to 90 cm at the shoulder, and weighs 21–72 kg. Though taller than the leopard, it is smaller than the lion. Basically yellowish tan or rufous to white, the coat is uniformly covered with nearly 2,000 solid black spots. Cheetahs are active mainly during the day, with hunting their major activity, adult males are sociable despite their territoriality, forming groups called coalitions. Females are not territorial, they may be solitary or live with their offspring in home ranges, carnivores, cheetah mainly prey upon antelopes and gazelles. They will stalk their prey to within 100–300 metres, charge towards it and kill it by tripping it during the chase, the cheetahs body is specialised for speed, it is the fastest land animal. Cheetahs are induced ovulators, breeding throughout the year, gestation is nearly three months long, resulting in a litter of typically three to five cubs. Weaning occurs at six months, siblings tend to stay together for some time, Cheetah cubs face higher mortality than most other mammals, especially in the Serengeti region. Cheetahs inhabit a variety of habitats – dry forests, scrub forests, thanks to its prowess at hunting, the cheetah was tamed and used to kill game at hunts in the past. The animal has been depicted in art, literature, advertising. Classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, several African countries have taken steps to improve the standards of cheetah conservation. The vernacular name cheetah is derived from the Hindi word चीता, the first recorded use of this word has been dated back to 1610. An alternative name for the cheetah is hunting leopard, the scientific name of the cheetah is Acinonyx jubatus. The generic name Acinonyx could have originated from the combination of two Greek words, akinetos means motionless, and onyx means claw, a rough translation of the word would be non-moving claws, a reference to the limited retractability of the claws of the cheetah relative to other cats. The specific name jubatus means maned in Latin, referring to the dorsal crest of this animal, the cheetah is the only extant species of the genus Acinonyx
8.
Joseph Priestley
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He is usually credited with the discovery of oxygen, having isolated it in its gaseous state, although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Antoine Lavoisier also have a claim to the discovery. However, Priestleys determination to defend phlogiston theory and to reject what would become the chemical revolution eventually left him isolated within the scientific community, Priestleys science was integral to his theology, and he consistently tried to fuse Enlightenment rationalism with Christian theism. In his metaphysical texts, Priestley attempted to combine theism, materialism, and determinism and he believed that a proper understanding of the natural world would promote human progress and eventually bring about the Christian Millennium. Priestley, who believed in the free and open exchange of ideas, advocated toleration and equal rights for religious Dissenters. He spent his last ten years in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania and these educational writings were among Priestleys most popular works. Priestley was born to an established English Dissenting family in Birstall and he was the oldest of six children born to Mary Swift and Jonas Priestley, a finisher of cloth. To ease his mothers burdens, Priestley was sent to live with his grandfather around the age of one and he returned home, five years later, after his mother died. When his father remarried in 1741, Priestley went to live with his aunt and uncle, during his youth, Priestley attended local schools where he learned Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. Around 1749, Priestley became seriously ill and believed he was dying, raised as a devout Calvinist, he believed a conversion experience was necessary for salvation, but doubted he had had one. This emotional distress eventually led him to question his upbringing, causing him to reject election. As a result, the elders of his church, the Independent Upper Chapel of Heckmondwike. Priestleys illness left him with a permanent stutter and he gave up any thoughts of entering the ministry at that time, in preparation for joining a relative in trade in Lisbon, he studied French, Italian, and German in addition to Aramaic, and Arabic. Priestley eventually decided to return to his studies and, in 1752, matriculated at Daventry. Because he had read widely, Priestley was allowed to skip the first two years of coursework. He continued his study, this, together with the liberal atmosphere of the school, shifted his theology further leftward. Abhorring dogma and religious mysticism, Rational Dissenters emphasised the rational analysis of the natural world, Priestley later wrote that the book that influenced him the most, save the Bible, was David Hartleys Observations on Man. Hartleys psychological, philosophical, and theological treatise postulated a theory of mind. Hartley aimed to construct a Christian philosophy in both religious and moral facts could be scientifically proven, a goal that would occupy Priestley for his entire life
9.
Oxygen
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Oxygen is a chemical element with symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the group on the periodic table and is a highly reactive nonmetal. By mass, oxygen is the third-most abundant element in the universe, after hydrogen, at standard temperature and pressure, two atoms of the element bind to form dioxygen, a colorless and odorless diatomic gas with the formula O2. This is an important part of the atmosphere and diatomic oxygen gas constitutes 20. 8% of the Earths atmosphere, additionally, as oxides the element makes up almost half of the Earths crust. Most of the mass of living organisms is oxygen as a component of water, conversely, oxygen is continuously replenished by photosynthesis, which uses the energy of sunlight to produce oxygen from water and carbon dioxide. Oxygen is too reactive to remain a free element in air without being continuously replenished by the photosynthetic action of living organisms. Another form of oxygen, ozone, strongly absorbs ultraviolet UVB radiation, but ozone is a pollutant near the surface where it is a by-product of smog. At low earth orbit altitudes, sufficient atomic oxygen is present to cause corrosion of spacecraft, the name oxygen was coined in 1777 by Antoine Lavoisier, whose experiments with oxygen helped to discredit the then-popular phlogiston theory of combustion and corrosion. One of the first known experiments on the relationship between combustion and air was conducted by the 2nd century BCE Greek writer on mechanics, Philo of Byzantium. In his work Pneumatica, Philo observed that inverting a vessel over a burning candle, Philo incorrectly surmised that parts of the air in the vessel were converted into the classical element fire and thus were able to escape through pores in the glass. Many centuries later Leonardo da Vinci built on Philos work by observing that a portion of air is consumed during combustion and respiration, Oxygen was discovered by the Polish alchemist Sendivogius, who considered it the philosophers stone. In the late 17th century, Robert Boyle proved that air is necessary for combustion, English chemist John Mayow refined this work by showing that fire requires only a part of air that he called spiritus nitroaereus. From this he surmised that nitroaereus is consumed in both respiration and combustion, Mayow observed that antimony increased in weight when heated, and inferred that the nitroaereus must have combined with it. Accounts of these and other experiments and ideas were published in 1668 in his work Tractatus duo in the tract De respiratione. Robert Hooke, Ole Borch, Mikhail Lomonosov, and Pierre Bayen all produced oxygen in experiments in the 17th and the 18th century but none of them recognized it as a chemical element. This may have been in part due to the prevalence of the philosophy of combustion and corrosion called the phlogiston theory, which was then the favored explanation of those processes. Established in 1667 by the German alchemist J. J. Becher, one part, called phlogiston, was given off when the substance containing it was burned, while the dephlogisticated part was thought to be its true form, or calx. The fact that a substance like wood gains overall weight in burning was hidden by the buoyancy of the combustion products
10.
Gas
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Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter. A pure gas may be made up of atoms, elemental molecules made from one type of atom. A gas mixture would contain a variety of pure gases much like the air, what distinguishes a gas from liquids and solids is the vast separation of the individual gas particles. This separation usually makes a colorless gas invisible to the human observer, the interaction of gas particles in the presence of electric and gravitational fields are considered negligible as indicated by the constant velocity vectors in the image. One type of commonly known gas is steam, the gaseous state of matter is found between the liquid and plasma states, the latter of which provides the upper temperature boundary for gases. Bounding the lower end of the temperature scale lie degenerative quantum gases which are gaining increasing attention, high-density atomic gases super cooled to incredibly low temperatures are classified by their statistical behavior as either a Bose gas or a Fermi gas. For a comprehensive listing of these states of matter see list of states of matter. The only chemical elements which are stable multi atom homonuclear molecules at temperature and pressure, are hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen. These gases, when grouped together with the noble gases. Alternatively they are known as molecular gases to distinguish them from molecules that are also chemical compounds. The word gas is a neologism first used by the early 17th-century Flemish chemist J. B. van Helmont, according to Paracelsuss terminology, chaos meant something like ultra-rarefied water. An alternative story is that Van Helmonts word is corrupted from gahst and these four characteristics were repeatedly observed by scientists such as Robert Boyle, Jacques Charles, John Dalton, Joseph Gay-Lussac and Amedeo Avogadro for a variety of gases in various settings. Their detailed studies ultimately led to a relationship among these properties expressed by the ideal gas law. Gas particles are separated from one another, and consequently have weaker intermolecular bonds than liquids or solids. These intermolecular forces result from interactions between gas particles. Like-charged areas of different gas particles repel, while oppositely charged regions of different gas particles attract one another, transient, randomly induced charges exist across non-polar covalent bonds of molecules and electrostatic interactions caused by them are referred to as Van der Waals forces. The interaction of these forces varies within a substance which determines many of the physical properties unique to each gas. A comparison of boiling points for compounds formed by ionic and covalent bonds leads us to this conclusion, the drifting smoke particles in the image provides some insight into low pressure gas behavior
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Royal Society
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Founded in November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by King Charles II as The Royal Society. The society is governed by its Council, which is chaired by the Societys President, according to a set of statutes and standing orders. The members of Council and the President are elected from and by its Fellows, the members of the society. As of 2016, there are about 1,600 fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS, there are also royal fellows, honorary fellows and foreign members, the last of which are allowed to use the postnominal title ForMemRS. The Royal Society President is Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who took up the post on 30 November 2015, since 1967, the society has been based at 6–9 Carlton House Terrace, a Grade I listed building in central London which was previously used by the Embassy of Germany, London. The Royal Society started from groups of physicians and natural philosophers, meeting at variety of locations and they were influenced by the new science, as promoted by Francis Bacon in his New Atlantis, from approximately 1645 onwards. A group known as The Philosophical Society of Oxford was run under a set of rules still retained by the Bodleian Library, after the English Restoration, there were regular meetings at Gresham College. It is widely held that these groups were the inspiration for the foundation of the Royal Society, I will not say, that Mr Oldenburg did rather inspire the French to follow the English, or, at least, did help them, and hinder us. But tis well known who were the men that began and promoted that design. This initial royal favour has continued and, since then, every monarch has been the patron of the society, the societys early meetings included experiments performed first by Hooke and then by Denis Papin, who was appointed in 1684. These experiments varied in their area, and were both important in some cases and trivial in others. The Society returned to Gresham in 1673, there had been an attempt in 1667 to establish a permanent college for the society. Michael Hunter argues that this was influenced by Solomons House in Bacons New Atlantis and, to a lesser extent, by J. V. The first proposal was given by John Evelyn to Robert Boyle in a letter dated 3 September 1659, he suggested a scheme, with apartments for members. The societys ideas were simpler and only included residences for a handful of staff and these plans were progressing by November 1667, but never came to anything, given the lack of contributions from members and the unrealised—perhaps unrealistic—aspirations of the society. During the 18th century, the gusto that had characterised the early years of the society faded, with a number of scientific greats compared to other periods. The pointed lightning conductor had been invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1749, during the same time period, it became customary to appoint society fellows to serve on government committees where science was concerned, something that still continues. The 18th century featured remedies to many of the early problems
12.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
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Torbern Bergman
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Torbern Olaf Bergman was a Swedish chemist and mineralogist noted for his 1775 Dissertation on Elective Attractions, containing the largest chemical affinity tables ever published. Bergman was the first chemist to use the A, B, C, Torbern was born on 20 March 1735, the son of Barthold Bergman and Sara Hägg. He enrolled at the University of Uppsala at age 17, during a period of enforced abstinence from study, he amused himself with field botany and entomology. He returned to the university in 1758, and received his Ph. D. in that year, Bergman lectured at the university on physics and mathematics. Upon the resignation of the celebrated Wallerius, Bergman was a candidate for the professorship of chemistry and his competitors charged him with ignorance of the subject, because he had never written on it. To refute them, he himself up for some time in a laboratory, and prepared a treatise on the manufacture of alum. He was appointed a professor of chemistry, and remained at this position for the rest of his life, Bergman greatly contributed to the advancement of quantitative analysis, and he developed a mineral classification scheme based on chemical characteristics and appearance. He is noted for his research on the chemistry of metals, especially bismuth, in 1764, Bergman was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In April,1765 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, in 1771, four years after Joseph Priestley first created artificially carbonated water, Bergman invented a process to make carbonated water from chalk by the action of sulfuric acid. Finally he is noted for his sponsorship of Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in 1771, Bergman married Margareta Catharina Trast. In Bergmans honor, the uranium mineral Torbernite and the lunar crater Bergman both bear his name, rines, George Edwin, ed. Bergman, Torbern Olof. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Bergman. Torbern Bergman, a bibliography of his works, includes over 300 items, including translations printed up to 1956. Torbern Bergman, a man before his time, Johannes Uray, Chemische Theorie und mineralogische Klassifikationssysteme von der chemischen Revolution bis zur Mitte des 19. In, Berhard Hubmann, Elmar Schübl, Johannes Seidl, Die Anfänge geologischer Forschung in Österreich, beiträge zur Tagung „10 Jahre Arbeitsgruppe Geschichte der Erdwissenschaften Österreichs“ von 24. Torbern Bergman Biography - by James S. Aber Bergman, Torbern, Bergmans chemical genealogy Physisk Beskrifning öfver Jord-Klotet - full digital facsimile from Linda Hall Library
14.
Chemical affinity
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In chemical physics and physical chemistry, chemical affinity is the electronic property by which dissimilar chemical species are capable of forming chemical compounds. Chemical affinity can also refer to the tendency of an atom or compound to combine by chemical reaction with atoms or compounds of unlike composition, the idea of affinity is extremely old. Many attempts have been made at identifying its origins, the majority of such attempts, however, except in a general manner, end in futility since affinities lie at the basis of all magic, thereby pre-dating science. Physical chemistry, however, was one of the first branches of science to study, the name affinitas was first used in the sense of chemical relation by German philosopher Albertus Magnus near the year 1250. Later, those as Robert Boyle, John Mayow, Johann Glauber, Isaac Newton, the term affinity has been used figuratively since c.1600 in discussions of structural relationships in chemistry, philology, etc. and reference to natural attraction is from 1616. Chemical affinity, historically, has referred to the force that causes chemical reactions, as well as, more generally, and earlier, the ″tendency to combine″ of any pair of substances. The broad definition, used throughout history, is that chemical affinity is that whereby substances enter into or resist decomposition. Antoine Lavoisier, in his famed 1789 Traité Élémentaire de Chimie, refers to Bergman’s work, according to Prigogine, the term was introduced and developed by Théophile de Donder. Goethe used the concept in his novel Elective Affinities, the affinity concept was very closely linked to the visual representation of substances on a table. The first-ever affinity table, which was based on displacement reactions, was published in 1718 by the French chemist Étienne François Geoffroy, crucially, the table was the central graphic tool used to teach chemistry to students and its visual arrangement was often combined with other kinds diagrams. Joseph Black, for example, used the table in combination with chiastic, Affinity tables were used throughout Europe until the early 19th century when they were displaced by affinity concepts introduced by Claude Berthollet. In chemical physics and physical chemistry, chemical affinity is the property by which dissimilar chemical species are capable of forming chemical compounds. Chemical affinity can also refer to the tendency of an atom or compound to combine by chemical reaction with atoms or compounds of unlike composition, in modern terms, we relate affinity to the phenomenon whereby certain atoms or molecules have the tendency to aggregate or bond. In this antiquated context, chemical affinity is sometimes synonymous with the term magnetic attraction. Many writings, up until about 1925, also refer to a law of chemical affinity, ilya Prigogine summarized the concept of affinity, saying, All chemical reactions drive the system to a state of equilibrium in which the affinities of the reactions vanish. The present IUPAC definition is that affinity A is the partial derivative of Gibbs free energy G with respect to extent of reaction ξ at constant pressure and temperature. It follows that affinity is positive for spontaneous reactions, in 1923, the Belgian mathematician and physicist Théophile de Donder derived a relation between affinity and the Gibbs free energy of a chemical reaction. This definition is useful for quantifying the factors responsible both for the state of systems, and for changes of state of non-equilibrium systems
15.
Second voyage of James Cook
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Alexander Dalrymple and others of the Royal Society still believed that this massive southern continent should exist. After a delay brought about by the botanist Joseph Banks unreasonable demands, on 17 January 1773, Resolution was the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle which she crossed twice more on the voyage. The third crossing, on 3 February 1774, was to be the most southerly penetration, Cook undertook a series of vast sweeps across the Pacific, finally proving there was no Terra Australis by sailing over most of its predicted locations. Cook proved the Terra Australis Incognita to be a myth and predicted that an Antarctic land would be found beyond the ice barrier, on this voyage the Larcum Kendall K1 chronometer was successfully employed by William Wales to calculate longitude. This discovery led Dalrymple to publish An Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, in 1770–1771 which aroused widespread interest in his claim of the existence of an unknown continent. Cook commanded HMS Resolution on this voyage, while Tobias Furneaux commanded its companion ship and she was 111 feet long and 35 feet abeam. She was originally registered as HMS Drake, but fearing this would upset the Spanish, twelve light 6-pounder guns and twelve swivel guns were carried. At his own expense Cook had brass door-hinges installed in the great cabin, HMS Adventure began her career as the 340 ton North Sea collier Marquis of Rockingham, launched at Whitby in 1771. She was purchased by the Navy that year for £2,103 and named Rayleigh and she was 97 feet long,28 feet abeam and her draft was 13 feet and carried ten guns. Both were built at the Fishburn yard at Whitby and purchased from Captain William Hammond of Hull, Cook was asked to test the Larcum Kendall K1 chronometer on this voyage. The Board of Longitude had asked Kendall to copy and develop John Harrisons fourth model of a clock useful for navigation at sea, the first model finished by Kendall in 1769 was an accurate copy of H4, cost £450, and is known today as K1. Although constructed like a watch, the chronometer had a diameter of 13 cm, three other clocks, constructed by John Arnold were carried but did not withstand the rigors of the journey. As anti-scorbutics they took nearly 20,000 pounds of Sour Krout and 30 imperial gallons of Mermalade of Carrots, both ships carried livestock, including bullocks, sheep, goats, hogs and poultry. The crews had fishing gear and a water system was carried for distilling sea-water or purifying foul fresh-water. Various pieces of hardware and trinkets to be used for barter or as gifts for the natives were taken aboard. Furneaux, commander of Adventure, was an explorer, having served on Samuel Walliss circumnavigation in Dolphin in 1766–1768. He headed a crew of 81 which included Joseph Shank as first lieutenant, there were also twelve marines headed by Lieutenant James Scott, Furneauxs personal servant, James Tobias Swilley, and, as masters mate John Rowe who was a relation of Furneaux. The ships astronomer was William Bayly and this refit cost £10,080 12s 9d
16.
Circumnavigation
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Circumnavigation means to travel all the way around the entire planet, or an island, or continent. This article is concerned with circumnavigation of the Earth, the first known circumnavigation of Earth was the Magellan-Elcano expedition, which sailed from Seville, Spain, in 1519 and returned in 1522 after crossing the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The word circumnavigation is a formed from the verb circumnavigate, from the past participle of the Latin verb circumnavigare. If a person walks completely around either Pole, they cross all meridians, the trajectory of a true circumnavigation forms a continuous loop on the surface of Earth separating two halves of comparable area. A basic definition of a global circumnavigation would be a route which covers roughly a great circle, in practice, people use different definitions of world circumnavigation to accommodate practical constraints, depending on the method of travel. The first single voyage of global circumnavigation was that of the ship Victoria and it was a Castilian voyage of discovery, led initially by Ferdinand Magellan between 1519 and 1521, and then by the Basque Juan Sebastián Elcano from 1521 to 1522. It then continued across the Pacific discovering a number of islands on its way, Elcano and a small group of 18 men were actually the only members of the expedition to make the full circumnavigation. However, traveling west from Europe, in 1521, Magellan reached a region of Southeast Asia, Magellan thereby achieved a nearly complete personal circumnavigation of the globe for the first time in history. In 1577, Elizabeth I sent Francis Drake to start an expedition against the Spanish along the Pacific coast of the Americas, Drake set out from Plymouth, England in November 1577, aboard Pelican, which Drake renamed Golden Hind mid-voyage. In June 1579, Drake landed somewhere north of Spains northern-most claim in Alta California, Drake completed the second circumnavigation of the world in September 1580, becoming the first commander to lead an entire circumnavigation. For the wealthy, long voyages around the world, such as was done by Ulysses S. Grant, became possible in the 19th century, however, it was later improvements in technology and rising incomes that made such trips relatively common. The nautical global circumnavigation record is held by a wind-powered vessel. It can be seen that the route roughly approximates a great circle, in yacht racing, a round-the-world route approximating a great circle would be quite impractical, particularly in a non-stop race where use of the Panama and Suez Canals would be impossible. The second map on the shows the route of the Vendée Globe round-the-world race in red. It can be seen that the route does not pass through any pairs of antipodal points and it is allowed to have one single waypoint to lengthen the calculated track. The voyage followed the North Atlantic Ocean, Equator, South Atlantic Ocean, Southern Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, Equator, since the advent of world cruises in 1922, by Cunards Laconia, thousands of people have completed circumnavigations of the globe at a more leisurely pace. Typically, these voyages begin in New York City or Southampton, routes vary, either travelling through the Caribbean and then into the Pacific Ocean via the Panama Canal, or around Cape Horn. From there ships usually make their way to Hawaii, the islands of the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, then northward to Hong Kong, South East Asia, and India
17.
Antarctic Circle
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The Antarctic Circle is the most southerly of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. The region south of this circle is known as the Antarctic, the position of the Antarctic Circle is not fixed, as of 9 April 2017, it runs 66°33′46. 6″ south of the Equator. Its latitude depends on the Earths axial tilt, which fluctuates within a margin of 2° over a 40, 000-year period, consequently, the Antarctic Circle is currently drifting southwards at a speed of about 15 m per year. Directly on the Antarctic Circle these events occur, in principle, exactly once per year, at the December and June solstices, respectively. That is true at sea level, those limits increase with elevation above sea level, in previous centuries some semi-permanent whaling stations were established on the continent, and some whalers would live there for a year or more. At least three children have been born in Antarctica, albeit in stations north of the Antarctic Circle, the Antarctic Circle is roughly 17,662 kilometres long. The area south of the Circle is about 20,000,000 km2, the continent of Antarctica covers much of the area within the Antarctic Circle
18.
Terra Australis
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Terra Australis is a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. The existence of Terra Australis was not based on any survey or direct observation and this theory of balancing land has been documented as early as the 5th century on maps by Macrobius, who uses the term Australis on his maps. Terra Australis was one of names applied to the largest landmass of what is now known as the continent of Australia. Other names for the hypothetical landmass have included Terra Australis Ignota, other names for the hypothetical continent have included Brasiliae Australis, Magallanica or Magellanica, La Australia del Espíritu Santo, and La grande isle de Java. Other names actually used for the continent were New Holland and Australia, Aristotle speculated, Now since there must be a region bearing the same relation to the southern pole as the place we live in bears to our pole. His ideas were expanded by Ptolemy, who believed that the Indian Ocean was enclosed on the south by land. Marcus Tullius Cicero used the term cingulus australis in referring to the Antipodes in Somnium Scipionis, the land in this zone was the Terra Australis. Christian thinkers did not discount the idea that there might be land beyond the southern seas, the first depiction of Terra Australis on a globe was probably on Johannes Schöners lost 1523 globe on which Oronce Fine is thought to have based his 1531 double cordiform map of the world. On this landmass he wrote recently discovered but not yet completely explored, the body of water beyond the tip of South America is called the “Mare Magellanicum, ” one of the first uses of navigator Ferdinand Magellans name in such a context. Schöner called the continent Brasiliae Australis in his 1533 tract, Opusculum geographicum, explorers of the Age of Discovery, from the late 15th century on, proved that Africa was almost entirely surrounded by sea, and that the Indian Ocean was accessible from both west and east. These discoveries reduced the area where the continent could be found, however, as new lands were discovered, they were often assumed to be parts of the hypothetical continent. Where Schöner departs most conspicuously from Waldseemüller is in his globes depiction of an Antarctic continent, the Zeytung described the Portuguese voyagers passing through a strait between the southernmost point of America, or Brazil, and a land to the south west, referred to as vndtere Presill. This supposed “strait” was in fact the Rio de la Plata, on this slender foundation he constructed his circum-Antarctic continent to which, for reasons that he does not explain, he gave an annular, or ring shape. Further, the distance is only moderate from this Region of Brazil to Malacca, on this scrap of information, united with the concept of the Antipodes inherited from Graeco-Roman antiquity, Schöner constructed his representation of the southern continent. His strait served as inspiration for Ferdinand Magellans expedition to reach the Moluccas by a westward route and it was taken up by his followers, the French cosmographer Oronce Fine in his world map of 1531, and the Flemish cartographers Gerardus Mercator in 1538 and Abraham Ortelius in 1570. Schöners concepts influenced the Dieppe school of mapmakers, notably in their representation of Jave la Grande, there was much interest in Terra Australis among Norman and Breton merchants at that time. In 1566 and 1570, Francisque and André dAlbaigne presented Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France, although the Admiral gave favourable consideration to these initiatives, they came to nought when Coligny was killed in 1572. Adjoining Guinea on the right are the numerous and vast Solomon Islands which lately became famous by the voyage of Alvarus Mendanius, juan Fernandez, sailing from Chile in 1576, claimed he had discovered the Southern Continent
19.
Larcum Kendall
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Larcum Kendall was a British watchmaker. There is no relationship between his business and that of the Larcum Kendall watch brand based in Chiasso, Switzerland. Kendall was born on 21 September 1719 in Charlbury and his father was a mercer and linen draper named Moses Kendall, and his mother was Ann Larcum from Chepping Wycombe, they married on 18 June 1718. The cottage where they lived is thought to be on the site of Charlburys post office on Market Street, in 1735 Kendall was apprenticed to the London watchmaker John Jeffreys. He was living with his parents in St Clement Danes at the time, Jeffreys created a pocket watch for John Harrison, who later used ideas from pocket watches in his H4. Kendall set up his own business in 1742, working with Thomas Mudge to make watches, working for the watch and clock maker George Graham. In 1765 he was one of six selected by the Board of Longitude to witness the operation of John Harrisons H4. The first model finished by Kendall was a copy of John Harrisons H4, cost £450. It was engraved in 1769, and was presented to the Board of Longitude on 13 January 1770, the original H4, the first successful chronometer, had an astronomical price £400 in 1750, which was approximately 30% of the value of a ship. James Cook and William Wales tested the clock on Cooks second South Seas journey and were full of praise after initial skepticism, Kendalls watch has exceeded the expectations of its most zealous advocate, Cook reported in 1775 to the admiralty. Cook also described it in his log as our trusty friend the Watch and it was thus K1 which proved to a doubting scientific establishment that H4s success was no fluke. Three other clocks, constructed by John Arnold, had not withstood the loads of the same journey, although constructed like a watch, the chronometer had a diameter of 13 centimetres and weighed 1.45 kilograms. K1 was used again by Cook for his third voyage, in April 1779 off Kamkatcha K1 stopped. A seaman with watchmaking experience cleaned it and started it again, after its arrival in Britain in September 1780 it was returned to Kendall for repairs. K1 left England in May 1787 with the First Fleet voyaging to New South Wales in HMS Sirius, K1 was transferred to HMAT Supply in the Indian Ocean, and arrived at Botany Bay on 18 January 1788. After some months ashore with Astronomer Lieutenant William Dawes, K1 was returned to HMS Sirius, K1 went to sea with Admiral Sir John Jervis in 1793. He took it to the West Indies and the Mediterranean and it was on board HMS Victory at the Battle of Cape St Vincent and it was finally pensioned off to Greenwich in 1802. K1 was described by John Gilbert, Master of the Resolution on Cooks second voyage as The greatest piece of mechanism the world has ever seen, K1 is now kept in the Royal Observatory, Greenwich at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England
20.
Chronometer watch
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The term chronometer is a specific type of timepiece tested and certified to meet certain precision standards. In Switzerland, only certified by the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres may use the word Chronometer on them. Outside Switzerland, equivalent bodies have in the past certified timepieces to the internationally recognised standards. The term chronometer was coined by Jeremy Thacker of Beverley, England in 1714, the term chronometer is also used to describe a marine chronometer used for celestial navigation and determination of longitude. The marine chronometer was invented by John Harrison in 1730 and this was the first of a series of chronometers that enabled accurate marine navigation. From then on, an accurate chronometer was essential to deep sea marine or air navigation out of sight of land and these culminated in the development and implementation of global satellite navigation systems in the last half of the 20th century. The Neuchâtel Observatory, Geneva Observatory, Besancon Observatory, and Kew Observatory are prominent examples of observatories that certified the accuracy of mechanical timepieces. The observatory testing regime typically lasted for 30 to 50 days and contained accuracy standards that were far more stringent, when a movement passed the Observatory, it became certified as an Observatory Chronometer and received a Bulletin de Marche from the Observatory, stipulating the performance of the movement. Because only very few movements were given the attention and manufacturing level necessary to pass the Observatory standards. Most Observatory Chronometers had movements so specialized to accuracy that they could never withstand being used as wristwatches in normal usage and they were useful only for accuracy competitions, and so never were sold to the public for usage. These Observatory Chronometers were then sold to the public for usage as wristwatches. The Observatory competitions ended with the advent of the watch movement, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 2009, the Watch Museum of Le Locle would renew with this tradition, a mechanical chronometer is a spring-driven escapement timekeeper, like a watch, but its parts are more massively built. Changes in the elasticity of the Balance Spring caused by variations in temperature are compensated for by devices built into it, Chronometers often included other innovations to increase their efficiency and precision. Hard stones such as diamond, ruby, and sapphire were often used as bearings to decrease friction and wear of the pivots. Chronometer makers also took advantage of the properties of rare metals such as gold, platinum. In horological terms, a complication in a watch is a special feature that causes the design of the watch movement to become more complicated. Most custom watchmakers do still produce them, however, and they are considered status symbols when produced by the likes of Rolex, each movement is individually tested for several consecutive days, in five positions and at three temperatures
21.
Joseph-Louis Lagrange
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Joseph-Louis Lagrange, born Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia or Giuseppe Ludovico De la Grange Tournier, was an Italian and French Enlightenment Era mathematician and astronomer. He made significant contributions to the fields of analysis, number theory, in 1787, at age 51, he moved from Berlin to Paris and became a member of the French Academy of Sciences. He remained in France until the end of his life, Lagrange was one of the creators of the calculus of variations, deriving the Euler–Lagrange equations for extrema of functionals. He also extended the method to take into account possible constraints and he proved that every natural number is a sum of four squares. His treatise Theorie des fonctions analytiques laid some of the foundations of group theory, in calculus, Lagrange developed a novel approach to interpolation and Taylor series. Born as Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia, Lagrange was of Italian and French descent and his mother was from the countryside of Turin. He was raised as a Roman Catholic, a career as a lawyer was planned out for Lagrange by his father, and certainly Lagrange seems to have accepted this willingly. He studied at the University of Turin and his subject was classical Latin. At first he had no enthusiasm for mathematics, finding Greek geometry rather dull. It was not until he was seventeen that he showed any taste for mathematics – his interest in the subject being first excited by a paper by Edmond Halley which he came across by accident. Alone and unaided he threw himself into mathematical studies, at the end of a years incessant toil he was already an accomplished mathematician, in that capacity, Lagrange was the first to teach calculus in an engineering school. In this Academy one of his students was François Daviet de Foncenex, Lagrange is one of the founders of the calculus of variations. Starting in 1754, he worked on the problem of tautochrone, Lagrange wrote several letters to Leonhard Euler between 1754 and 1756 describing his results. He outlined his δ-algorithm, leading to the Euler–Lagrange equations of variational calculus, Lagrange also applied his ideas to problems of classical mechanics, generalizing the results of Euler and Maupertuis. Euler was very impressed with Lagranges results, Lagrange published his method in two memoirs of the Turin Society in 1762 and 1773. Many of these are elaborate papers, the article concludes with a masterly discussion of echoes, beats, and compound sounds. Other articles in volume are on recurring series, probabilities. The next work he produced was in 1764 on the libration of the Moon, and an explanation as to why the face was always turned to the earth
22.
Percivall Pott
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Percivall Pott was an English surgeon, one of the founders of orthopedics, and the first scientist to demonstrate that a cancer may be caused by an environmental carcinogen. He served his apprenticeship with Edward Nourse, assistant surgeon to St Bartholomews Hospital and he became assistant surgeon to St Bartholomews in 1744 and full surgeon from 1749 till 1787. In 1756, Pott sustained a leg after a fall from his horse. It is often assumed that his injury was the one that later came to be known as Potts fracture. As he lay in the muck, he sent a servant to buy a door from a construction site, then had himself placed on the door. In 1769 Pott published Some Few Remarks upon Fractures and Dislocations, the book was translated into French and Italian, and had a far-reaching influence in Britain and France. His name was written in the annals of medicine, by first describing arthritic tuberculosis of the spine and he gave an excellent clinical description in his Remarks on that Kind of Palsy of the Lower Limbs. Among his other writings the most noteworthy are A Treatise on Ruptures, in 1775, Pott found an association between exposure to soot and a high incidence of scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps. His work helped lead to the Chimney Sweepers Act 1788, Potts early investigations thus contributed to the science of epidemiology and the Chimney Sweepers Act 1788. The same chemical responsible for Potts unique cancer of chimney sweeps has since proven to be a suspect in various cancers caused by cigarette smoke. In 1765, he was elected Master of the Company of Surgeons, Percivall Potts married Sara Cruttendon in 1740. They lived together in Lincolns Inn Fields in London and would go on to have five sons, although little more is known about Percivall Potts private life, Pott is regularly described as having excellent character, and an archetypical English surgeon. It is believed that Potts standard of living was a contributor to the rise of the surgeon within social standings, amid the patient wards, Pott also honed his writing skills and believed in patient education. He would distribute pamphlets, noting his observations and thoughts on topics ranging from head injuries, hydrocele, fistula, rupture and these pamphlets were in high demand and would sell for more than one shilling and six pence. Between 1760s and the 1770s over fourteen of Potts pamphlets were in circulation, Percivall Potts dedication to his patients and standard of care garnered Pott high praise and fame. He is generally regarded as one of the two greatest surgeons of the 18th century along with his student John Hunter, in 1786, he was honored as the first Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Shortly after, he retired in 1787 and was named a governor of St. Bartholomews Hospital, Percivall Pott has influenced medicine and modern understanding of diseases. Many diseases today are his namesake including, Pott’s Fracture, Pott’s disease of the spine, one disease which does not, yet is important to Potts legacy is Chimney Sweepers Carcinoma
23.
Epidemiology
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Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations. It is the cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidence-based practice by identifying risk factors for disease, epidemiologists help with study design, collection, and statistical analysis of data, amend interpretation and dissemination of results. Epidemiology has helped develop methodology used in research, public health studies. However, the term is used in studies of zoological populations, although the term epizoology is available. The distinction between epidemic and endemic was first drawn by Hippocrates, to distinguish between diseases that are visited upon a population from those that reside within a population. The term epidemiology appears to have first been used to describe the study of epidemics in 1802 by the Spanish physician Villalba in Epidemiología Española, epidemiologists also study the interaction of diseases in a population, a condition known as a syndemic. Therefore, this epidemiology is based upon how the pattern of the disease cause changes in the function of everyone, Hippocrates believed sickness of the human body to be caused by an imbalance of the four humors. The cure to the sickness was to remove or add the humor in question to balance the body and this belief led to the application of bloodletting and dieting in medicine. He coined the terms endemic and epidemic, in the middle of the 16th century, a doctor from Verona named Girolamo Fracastoro was the first to propose a theory that these very small, unseeable, particles that cause disease were alive. They were considered to be able to spread by air, multiply by themselves, in this way he refuted Galens miasma theory. In 1543 he wrote a book De contagione et contagiosis morbis, the development of a sufficiently powerful microscope by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1675 provided visual evidence of living particles consistent with a germ theory of disease. Wu Youke developed the concept that some diseases were caused by transmissible agents and his book Wenyi Lun can be regarded as the main etiological work that brought forward the concept, ultimately attributed to Westerners, of germs as a cause of epidemic diseases. His concepts are considered in current scientific research in relation to Traditional Chinese Medicine studies. Another pioneer, Thomas Sydenham, was the first to distinguish the fevers of Londoners in the later 1600s and his theories on cures of fevers met with much resistance from traditional physicians at the time. He was not able to find the cause of the smallpox fever he researched and treated. John Graunt, a haberdasher and amateur statistician, published Natural and Political Observations, upon the Bills of Mortality in 1662. In it, he analysed the mortality rolls in London before the Great Plague, presented one of the first life tables and he provided statistical evidence for many theories on disease, and also refuted some widespread ideas on them. John Snow is famous for his investigations into the causes of the 19th century cholera epidemics and he began with noticing the significantly higher death rates in two areas supplied by Southwark Company
