1553 in science
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The year 1553 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.
Astronomy
- Leonard Digges publishes his popular English language ephemeris, A General Prognostication.[1]
Cryptography
- 'Vigenère cipher' first described by Giovan Battista Bellaso in his book La cifra del. Sig. Giovan Battista Bellaso (Venice).
Exploration
- May 10 – Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor set out from the River Thames to seek the Northeast Passage.[2]
- August 14 – Willoughby sights what is probably Novaya Zemlya.[3]
- August – Chancellor enters the White Sea and reaches Arkhangelsk.
- Naturalist Pierre Belon publishes Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie et autres pays étrangèrs (Paris).
- Conquistador Pedro Cieza de León publishes the Primera Parte of his Crónicas del Perú.[2]
Physics
- Venetian mathematician Giambattista Benedetti publishes Resolutio omnium Euclidis problematum, proposing a new doctrine of the speed of bodies in free fall.
Physiology and medicine
- Michael Servetus publishes Christianismi Restitutio, including an account of the circulation of the blood.[2]
- Publication in Spain of Libro del Exercicio, considered the first book on the benefits of physical exercise for health.
Births
- November 23 – Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist (d. 1617)
- Robert Hues, English mathematician and geographer (d. 1632)
- Thomas Muffet, English naturalist and physician (d. 1604)
- Luca Valerio, Italian mathematician[4] (d. 1618)
Deaths
- February 19 – Erasmus Reinhold, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1511)
- August 8 – Girolamo Fracastoro, Italian physician (b. 1478)
- October 27 – Michael Servetus, Aragonese polymath (b. 1511) (executed for heresy)
- Pierre Desceliers, French cartographer and hydrographer (born c. 1500)
References
- ^ Ronan, Colin A. (1991). "Leonard and Thomas Digges". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 101 (6). Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ a b c Grun, Bernard (1991). The Timetables of History (3rd ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 245. ISBN 0-671-74919-6.
- ^ McDermott, James (2004). "Willoughby, Sir Hugh (d. 1554?)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29599. Retrieved 2011-10-24. (subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required)
- ^ The Galileo Project - Valerio (Valeri), Luca has 1552, but Baldini and Napolitani proved that he was born in 1553.