1718 in science

Astronomy

• Edmond Halley discovers the proper motion of stars.

Chemistry

• Étienne François Geoffroy presents the first ever table of chemical affinity to the French Academy of Sciences.

Mathematics

• Abraham de Moivre publishes The Doctrine of Chances: a method of calculating the [probabilities of events in play] in English, which goes through several editions.

Medicine

• The Charitable Infirmary, Dublin, is founded by six surgeons in Ireland, the first public voluntary hospital in the British Isles.

Technology

• May 15 – James Puckle patents the Puckle Gun, in England.

Births

• May 16 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician
• May 23 – William Hunter, Scottish anatomist
• August 17 – Francis Willis, English physician specialising in mental disorders
• Salomée Halpir, Lithuanian physician

Deaths

• March 11 – Guy-Crescent Fagon, French physician and botanist
• April – James Petiver, English naturalist and apothecary
• December 9 – Vincenzo Coronelli, Italian cartographer and encyclopedist
• December 11 – Pierre Dionis, French surgeon and anatomist