1708 in science

• Herman Boerhaave publishes Institutiones medicae, one of the earliest textbooks on physiology. ==Technology==

• Calcareous hard-paste porcelain is produced at Dresden in Saxony by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus and developed after his death (October) by Johann Friedrich Böttger. ==Births==

• January 30 – Georg Dionysius Ehret, German artist, botanist and entomologist (died 1770) • October 16 – Albrecht von Haller, Swiss physician and scientist, founder of neurology (died 1777) • October 22 – Frederic Louis Norden, Danish explorer (died 1742) • October 27 – Jean-Rodolphe Perronet, French bridge engineer (died 1794) ==Deaths==

• August 1 – Edward Tyson, English comparative anatomist (born 1651) • October 10 – David Gregory, Scottish astronomer (born 1659) • October 11 – Ehrenfried Walter von Tschirnhaus, German mathematician (born 1651) • December 5 – Seki Takakazu, Japanese mathematician (born c. 1642) • December 28 – Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, French botanist (born 1656)