1717 in science

The year 1717 in science and technology involved few significant events.

• Thomas Fairchild, a nurseryman at Hoxton in the East End of London, becomes the first person to produce a successful scientific plant hybrid, Dianthus Caryophyllus barbatus, known as "Fairchild's Mule" because it is infertile.^[1]
• James Petiver publishes Papilionum Brittaniae Icones, the first book devoted exclusively to British butterflies, giving English names to a number of species.^[2]

• June 5 – Emanuel Mendes da Costa, English botanist (died 1791)
• June 28 – Matthew Stewart, Scottish mathematician (died 1785)
• September 11 – Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, Swedish astronomer (died 1783)
• November 16 – Jean le Rond d'Alembert, French mathematician (died 1783)
• Pierre Le Roy, French clockmaker (died 1785)
• Wilhelm Friedrich von Gleichen, German microscopist (died 1783)

• January 13 – Maria Sibylla Merian, German-born naturalist (born 1647)^[3]
• March 8 – Abraham Darby I, English ironmaster (born 1678)