1702 in science

Astronomy

• April 20 – Comet of 1702 : The 10th-closest comet approach in history, it missed Earth by a distance of 0.0437 AU.
• David Gregory publishes the first textbook, Astronomiae physicae et geometricae elementa, the first astronomy textbook based on Isaac Newton's principles of motions and theory of gravitation.

  Technology

• A fountain pen was developed by Frenchman M. Bion.
• Pierre Varignon applies calculus to spring-driven clocks.

  Births

• November 5 – Edward Stone, English polymath
• Undated
• * Giuseppa Barbapiccola, Italian natural philosopher, poet and translator
• * Benjamin Stillingfleet, English botanist

  Deaths

• April – Clopton Havers, English physician who did pioneering research on the microstructure of bone
• December 12 – Olof Rudbeck, Swedish physiologist who discovered that the thoracic duct is connected to the intestinal lymphatics