Selected events & people

1704  Isaac Newton publishes Opticks, a record of his experiments on light, color, and optics
1712  Steam engine patented, a machine that spurred industrialization in the late 1700s
1714 First mercury thermometer invented
1720–1722 The last outbreak of Bubonic Plague in Europe
1735  Carl Linnaeus describes a new system for classifying plants in Systema Naturae
1743  Benjamin Franklin founds the American Philosophical Society (APS), the first learned society in North America
1751  First volume of the French Encyclopédie published, a landmark of Enlightenment scholarship
1775–1783  U.S. War of Independence (American Revolution)
1789  Benjamin Franklin invites Ekaterina Romanova Dashkova, director of the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts and Sciences, to become the first female Member of the APS
1789–1799  French Revolution overthrows the monarchy; Napoléon Bonaparte comes to power in 1799
1782  A Vindication of the Rights of Woman published by Mary Wollstonecraft; in it, she argued for women’s education
 

An expert on insects and flowers

1647–1717
German naturalist & artist

“In my youth, I spent my time investigating insects.”
         — Maria Sibylla Merian

1647  Maria Sibylla Merian born in Frankfurt, Germany; her father, an engraver, dies when she is three years old
1650s  Learns to draw and paint from her stepfather, a botanical painter
1660  Begins intensive study and collection of insects at age 13
1665  Marries painter Johann Andreas Graff; they would have two daughters and divorce over religious differences in 1692
1675  Publishes her first book, a collection of plant and flower illustrations titled Blumenbuch (Book of Flowers)
1679  Publishes first volume of The Wonderful Transformation and Singular Flower Food of Caterpillars; second volume appears in 1683
1699  At age 52, takes her younger daughter to the Dutch colony of Suriname in South America; the city of Amsterdam helps to finance this trip, planned to last five years
1699–1701  In Suriname, Merian collects and studies tropical plants and insects, with assistance from enslaved African and Native people; she falls ill with malaria and has to return home after two years 
1705  Self-publishes Metamorphosis of the Insects of Suriname, establishing her international reputation 
1706–1717  Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum, and Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, buy Merian’s drawings for their collections
1717  Dies at age 69; her daughters continue her artistic legacy

An Enlightenment genius

1706–1749
French mathematician & physicist 

“Physics is an immense building that surpasses the powers of a single person.”
         — Émilie du Châtelet 

1706  Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil is born in Paris to an aristocratic family
1710s  Receives lessons at home from tutors; she is fluent in Latin, Greek, German, and Italian by the age of 12 and becomes expert in mathematics
1725  At age 18, marries the Marquis Florent-Claude du Chastellet-Lomont; they would have three children
1733  After the birth of her third child, studies calculus with leading French mathematicians
1733  Begins a long intellectual and romantic partnership with the philosopher Voltaire; for 15 years, they live together at her country house and collaborate on physics experiments
1738  Submits an essay on the nature of fire to the French Royal Academy of Sciences for a prize; she doesn’t win, but the Academy publishes her essay in 1739 
1740  Publishes Foundations of Physics; a second edition appears in 1742
1744  Revises and publishes her 1738 essay as A Dissertation on the Nature and Propagation of Fire
1744–1746  Writes A Discourse on Happiness (published posthumously in 1779)
1745  Begins her edited translation of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica 
1749  While racing to complete her translation, she gives birth to a daughter by her lover, poet Jean-François de Saint-Lambert, but dies ten days later from complications; she is 42 years old
1756  Her French translation of Newton’s Principia is published posthumously, with a second edition in 1759

An electric mind

1711–1788
Italian physicist & professor

“In our time, experimental physics has become such a useful and necessary science.”
    — Laura Bassi, 1755

1711  Laura Maria Caterina Bassi born in Bologna, Italy, daughter of a lawyer
1720s  Educated at home, was a child prodigy known for her skills in Greek, Latin, mathematics, and natural philosophy
1732
   March  At age 20, elected an honorary member of the Institute for Sciences in Bologna
   April  Defends theses before a large crowd in the Bologna town hall
   May  Receives doctoral degree in natural philosophy from the University of Bologna; she is the first European woman to earn a doctorate in the sciences
   June  Awarded an honorary position as physics professor at the university, but is restricted from lecturing in public; gives lectures and demonstrations at her home
1738  Marries physician and physicist Giuseppe Veratti; they will have eight children, five of whom survive to adulthood
1745  Pope Benedict XIV creates an academy of scholars, leaving out Bassi; she petitions and is admitted, but without full membership privileges
1749–1770s  In their home, Bassi and Veratti run a private school and laboratory for experimental physics
1776  Appointed professor of experimental physics at the Institute for Sciences in Bologna
1778  Dies at age 67; receives a public funeral in Bologna and is praised for her learning throughout Europe