1704 in science

Astronomy

• approx. date – The first modern orrery is built by George Graham and Thomas Tompion.

  Earth sciences

• An earthquake strikes Gondar in Ethiopia.

  Meteorology

• Daniel Defoe documents the Great Storm of 1703 with eyewitness testimonies in The Storm.

  Physics

• Isaac Newton releases a record of experiments and the deductions made from them in Opticks, a major contribution in study of optics and refraction of light.
• Pierre Varignon invents the U-tube manometer, a device capable of measuring rarefaction in gases.

  Technology

• The second electric machine is invented by British engineer Francis Hauksbee the elder : it is a sphere of glass rotated by a wheel.
• For watch movements, Peter Debaufre invents the Debaufre escapement, the first frictional rest watch escapement produced: the escapement consists of two saw-tooth escape wheels of the same count.
• For watch bearings, a jewel bearing made of ruby, comprising a ring with a sink for oil, is invented by Nicholas Facio with Peter and Jacob Debaufre, who use pierced natural rubies. Other gemstones are used subsequently, including garnet and diamond; in the 20th century, synthetic ruby or sapphire becomes universal for jewel bearings.
• In oil painting, colormaker Diesbach of Berlin accidentally invents the pigment Prussian blue, a powerful dark blue pigment with greenish undertones ; therefore, Prussian blue cannot be found in a paint layer predating this year.

  Publications

• John Harris publishes the first edition of the Lexicon Technicum, an encyclopedic dictionary of science, in London.

  Births

• February 28 – Louis Godin, French astronomer
• June 4 – Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and manufacturer
• June 17 – John Kay, English inventor
• July 31 – Gabriel Cramer, Genevan mathematician
• December 29 – Martha Daniell Logan, American botanist
• – William Battie, English psychiatrist
• undated – Richard Pococke, English anthropologist and explorer

  Deaths

• February 2 – Guillaume [François Antoine, Marquis de l'Hôpital], French mathematician
• March 17 – Menno, Baron van Coehoorn, Dutch military engineer
• April 15 – Johann van Waveren Hudde, Dutch mathematician
• April 20 - Agnes Block, Dutch horticulturalist
• June 14 – Ralph Bathurst, English theologian, physician and academic
• July 7 – Pierre-Charles Le Sueur, French fur trader and explorer
• November 20 – Charles Plumier, French botanist
• Paolo Falconieri, Florentine polymath