Scientific Discoveries
The spectacular theoretical achievements capped by Newton in the seventeenth century were not repeated in the eighteenth. However, much of importance was done in the realm of theoretical refinement and in the laboratory.
Physics In physics Pierre Laplace (1749-1827) refined the Newtonian mechanics to demonstrate that the solar system was a self-regulating mechanism. Joseph Lagrange (1736-1813) developed applications for differential calculus and was instrumental in the formulation and adoption of the metric system. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) advanced the study of electricity with his demonstration that lightning is an electrical discharge. In Italy Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) studied the effect of electrical shock on muscles and Alessandro Volta (1745-1827) developed the voltaic cell or battery.
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| Luigi Galvani's experiment |
