Invention and scientific progress in Estonia and Canada in the 18th and 19th centuries

VINCENT TEETSOV

The era of the Age of Enlightenment is typically studied with a concentration on western Europe. Prominent examples of scientific discoveries include the invention of the first microscope in the Netherlands by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in the late 1600s. In the early 1700s, the farmer Jethro Tull invented the horse-drawn seed drill in England. Boundaries were being pushed at this time with controlled experiments and new technology.

But Estonia and Canada are both neglected when it comes to learning about scientific discoveries.

To be expected for a university town, Tartu was a particularly fruitful locale when it came to scientific progress. At the Tartu Tähetorn (“Observatory”), which was completed in 1810, the Great Dorpat Refractor that was installed in 1824 would be the largest refracting telescope at the time. It was an achromatic, refracting telescope, equipped with a lens that focused multiple light wavelengths into one point.

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Tartu University.

Photo: digar.ee