1692 in science explained

The year 1692 in science and technology:

Events

• In the American colonies, the Salem witch trials develop, following 250 years of witch-hunts in Europe.^[1]

Mathematics

• The tractrix, sometimes called a tractory or equitangential curve, is first studied by Christiaan Huygens, who gives it its name.
• John Arbuthnot publishes Of the Laws of Chance (translated from Huygens' De ratiociniis in ludo aleae), the first work on probability theory in English.

Medicine

• Thomas Sydenham's Processus integri ("The Process of Healing") is published posthumously.

Births

• April 22 – James Stirling, Scottish mathematician (died 1770)

Deaths

• May – John Banister, English missionary and botanist, accidentally shot (born 1654)^[2]

Notes and References

1. Book: Gale, Robert L.. Corey, Martha (1625–22 September 1692), Salem "witch". February 2000. Oxford University Press. American National Biography Online.
2. December 1971. Joseph and Nesta Ewan. John Banister and His Natural History of Virginia, 1678–1692. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 1970. Pp. xxx, 485. $15.00. The American Historical Review. 10.1086/ahr/76.5.1588. 1937-5239.