1736
Nader Shah Crowned
At a great assembly of Persian tribes on the plain of Mughan, Nader Khan Afshar accepted the crown of Iran in place of the child Abbas III. He would prove the greatest Persian conqueror since Shah Abbas, and one of the most terrifying. A new century of violence in Iran was beginning.
Euler's Konigsberg Bridges
At twenty-nine, the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler solved the puzzle of whether one could cross all seven bridges of Konigsberg without retracing. He proved it impossible, and in doing so invented graph theory and topology. A problem that had amused tavern-goers became a foundation of twentieth-century computing. Euler himself went on to become the most prolific mathematician in history, publishing over eight hundred papers.
Joseon's Tangpyeong Policy
King Yeongjo of Joseon Korea, who had come to the throne in 1724 and would reign for half a century, ordered the compilation of detailed court records and agricultural surveys. His policy of tangpyeong, balance among factions, restored a semblance of stability to a kingdom racked by partisan violence. The Korean Enlightenment, such as it was, had begun.
Harrison's First Sea Clock
John Harrison finished H1, his first marine chronometer: a massive brass cage of rocking balances and grasshopper escapements, driven by gridiron pendulums that ignored temperature. Sea trials proved it kept time better than any ship's clock before. The Board of Longitude gave him a little money and a lot of delay. Harrison began H2.