1721 in science
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{{Science year nav|1721}}
The year 1721 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Medicine
- The use of ether is developed as a pain-killer.
- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu introduces the Ottoman Turkish method of inoculation against smallpox – variolation – to London.{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|url=https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will|url-access=registration|location=London|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8}}{{cite web|last=Grundy|first=Isobel|title=Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/19029|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|accessdate=2011-09-27}} {{ODNBsub}}{{cite journal|last1=Case|first1=Christine L.|first2=Chung|last2=King-Thom|url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:tETsMxkPg7QJ:www.skylinecollege.edu/case/biol675/docs/Montagu-Jenner.pdf+montagu+jenner&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESheiyFKQXN2vyI9BDDW66Op1GXxLunxAoQS7sETikw62IkomUn8S6cRNXMMCwAmO2bSUmyFY0zgbPf4QJ-_uS9c8KGMK0gxJ28J_X5Sptv_o7NOhNQD2jafb6orvvpskJcTdM2_&sig=AHIEtbSpi5O-Y4HaJ-MzOQ6MmJOE55rGzg&pli=1|title=Montagu and Jenner: The Campaign Against Smallpox|journal=SIM News|volume=47|issue=2|pages=58–60|year=1997|accessdate=2011-09-27}}{{cite book|first=Jennifer Lee|last=Carrell|title=The Speckled Monster: A Historical Tale of Battling Smallpox|location=New York|publisher=Dutton|year=2003|isbn=0-525-94736-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/speckledmonsterh00carr_0}}
- Thomas Guy founds Guy's Hospital in London to treat "incurables" discharged from St Thomas'.{{cite web|url=https://gsttfoundation.org.uk/about-us/our-history/ |title=History of Guy's & St Thomas' Foundation |accessdate=2021-07-22 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210707082420/https://gsttfoundation.org.uk/about-us/our-history/ |archivedate=2021-07-07 }}
Psychology
- A suggestion box is developed under the eighth shōgun of Japan, Yoshimune Tokugawa.
Technology
- Richard Newsham of London obtains his first patent for a manual fire pump.
Deaths
- September 11 – Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, German botanist (born 1665)