1729

The mathematician Godfrey Harold Hardy tells a story about a time he went to visit the stupefyingly talented mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.

During their conversation, Hardy happened to mention to Ramanujan that he had ridden over in taxi number 1729.

Hardy then went on to comment that he didn't find 1729 to be a particularly interesting number (these are mathematicians we are talking about, after all).

Ramanujan replied, "Oh, but 1729 is a very interesting number. It is the smallest number that can be expressed as the sum of two cubes in two different ways."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sun Jan 7 2001 at 02:10 utc

• English philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke.
• German writer Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.
• Princess Sophia Augusta Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst, in Szczecin, the Future Empress Catherine II of Russia.
• English clergyman, poet, and author Thomas Percy.
• German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, one of the engines of The Enlightenment.
• Finnish clergyman, economist, politician, and philosopher Anders Chydenius.
• English-born American poet Edward Taylor.
• Spanish composer Antonio Soler.
• Scottish author John Moore.
• Russian Field Marshal Alexander V. Suvorov.
• British general Sir William Howe, an important commander during the American Revolution.
• Italian composer Giuseppe Sarti.
• American Revolutionary War general John Parker.
• French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville.
• (Belgian) composer Pierre van Maldere.

• English dramatist William Congreve.
• French composer and favorite of Louis XIV Elizabeth-Claude Jaquet de la Guerre.
• English engineer Thomas Newcomen, inventor of the first practical steam engine.
• English writer and politician Sir Richard Steele.
• German composer Johann David Heinichen.
• Ashraf, former Shah of Persia. The assassin brings the head to Ashraf's cousin, Shah Tahmasp II. However, the real power, General Nadir Khouli, replaces Tahmasp with his eight-month-ols son, now Shah Ahmed III.

• Johnathan Swift offers A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being A Burden to their Parents or Country, and for Making them Beneficial to the Public.
• King George II buys Carolina from its proprietors, who have mismanaged it so badly that the settlers are in open rebellion, and turns it into a crown colony.
• Northern Maryland farmers petition the governor for a tobacco port nearer their farms.  This request is granted. In august, the new town of Baltimore is founded on the Basin of the Patapsco River.
• Benjamin Franklin and Hugh Meredith buy the Pennsylvania Gazette from Samuel Keimer.  Franklin also publishes a treatise on paper currency, possibly to drum up business for printing the stuff.
• Louisiana settlers are about to apropriate land from the Natchez Indians for new plantations. The Natchez attack Fort Rosalie and kill 200 soldiers.
• Spain signs the Treaty of Seville confirming British ownership of Gibraltar.  Britain affirms Spanish claims to Parma and Tuscany which the Infante (later king Carlos III) will inherit.

1728 - 1729 - 1730

How They Were Made - 18th Century