The year 1717 in science and technology involved:
Biology 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. James Petiver publishes Papilionum Brittaniae Icones, the first book devoted exclusively to British butterflies, giving English names to a number of species.
Births 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)
Deaths January 13 – Maria Sibylla Merian, German-born naturalist (born 1647) March 8 – Abraham Darby I, English ironmaster (born 1678)
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