1702 in science

The year 1702 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

 * April 20 – Comet of 1702 (C/1702 H1): The 10th-closest comet approach in history, it missed Earth by a distance of 0.0437 AU (6,537,000 km).
 * 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. (Nicolas Bion (1652–1733) described a fountain pen in a treatise published in 1709; he did not claim to have invented them nor is there any evidence that he made them.)
 * Pierre Varignon applies calculus to spring-driven clocks.

Births

 * November 5 – Edward Stone, English polymath (died 1768)
 * Undated
 * Giuseppa Barbapiccola, Italian natural philosopher, poet and translator (died 1740)
 * Benjamin Stillingfleet, English botanist (died 1771)

Deaths

 * April – Clopton Havers, English physician who did pioneering research on the microstructure of bone (born 1657)
 * December 12 – Olof Rudbeck, Swedish physiologist who discovered that the thoracic duct is connected to the intestinal lymphatics (born 1630)