Births on May 18

Roger Joseph Boscovich, Ragusan physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (d. 1787)

Roger Joseph Boscovich (Croatian: Ruđer Josip Bošković; pronounced [rûd͡ʑer jǒsip bôʃkoʋit͡ɕ]; Italian: Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich; Latin: Rogerius (Iosephus) Boscovicius; 18 May 1711 – 13 February 1787) was a physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, Jesuit priest, and a polymath from the Republic of Ragusa. He studied and lived in Italy and France where he also published many of his works.Boscovich produced a precursor of atomic theory and made many contributions to astronomy, including the first geometric procedure for determining the equator of a rotating planet from three observations of a surface feature and for computing the orbit of a planet from three observations of its position. In 1753 he also discovered the absence of atmosphere on the Moon.