French hydraulic engineer Bernard Forest de Belidor publishes Architecture Hydraulique, a four-volume work that systematically describes vertical- and horizontal-axis water machines. Published in Paris over several decades (1737-1753), the book became a standard reference for engineers and millwrights across Europe. It provided detailed analyses of waterwheels, pumps, and other hydraulic devices, codifying the state of the art and promoting the scientific study of water power, which was essential for the early Industrial Revolution.

De Belidor's work is a cornerstone of the engineering literature that underpinned the Industrial Revolution, a period of immense social and technological change that deeply affected poets and writers. The systematic approach to harnessing natural forces reflects the Enlightenment ideals of order and progress, which are celebrated in the optimistic poetry of the era, while the transformation of the landscape by such engineering projects later became a subject of both awe and anxiety for Romantic poets.