1709 in science

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

Physics

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

Technology

* August 8 - Hot air balloon of Bartholome de Gusmao flies in Portugal.
* Coke iron smelting was invented, fuelling the Industrial Revolution.
* European porcelain production was begun, but porcelain cups did not have a noticeable impact on stein making until the 1720s.
* The folding umbrella was invented, during the reign of the Sun King.
* The upright piano or pianoforte (originally "'Gravicembalo col piano e forte" meaning "harpsichord with soft and loud") was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori, an Italian harpsichord maker, but it was not until about 1770 that the piano began to displace the harpsichord and clavichord.

Awards

* 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)
* April 17 - Giovanni Domenico Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer (died 1788)
* July 11 - Johan Gottschalk Wallerius, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (died 1785)
* August 8 - Johann Georg Gmelin, German botanist (died 1755)
* December 25 - Julien Offray de La Mettrie, French physician and philosopher (died 1751)

Deaths

* June 29 - Antoine Thomas, Belgian Jesuit astronomer in China (born 1644)
* June 30 - Edward Lhuyd, Welsh naturalist (born 1660)