1512 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1512 in science
and technology
included a number of events, some of which are listed here.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
included a number of events, some of which are listed here.
Astronomy
- Possible date - Nicolaus CopernicusNicolaus CopernicusNicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
begins to write CommentariolusCommentariolusThe "Commentariolus" is Nicolaus Copernicus's forty-page outline of an early version of his revolutionary heliocentric theory of the universe...
, an abstract of what will eventually become De revolutionibus orbium coelestiumDe revolutionibus orbium coelestiumDe revolutionibus orbium coelestium is the seminal work on the heliocentric theory of the Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus...
; he sends this to other scientists interested in the matter by 1514.
Exploration
- António de AbreuAntónio de AbreuAntónio de Abreu was a 16th century Portuguese navigator and naval officer. He participated under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque in the conquest of Ormus in 1507 and Malacca in 1511, where he got injured...
discovers Timor islandTimorTimor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...
and reaches the Banda IslandsBanda IslandsThe Banda Islands are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and are part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. The main town and administrative centre is Bandanaira, located on the island of the same name. They rise...
and SeramSeramSeram is an island in the Maluku province of Indonesia. It is located north of Ambon Island. The chief port/town is Masohi.- Geography and geology :...
. - Francisco SerrãoFrancisco SerrãoFrancisco Serrão was a Portuguese explorer and a cousin of Ferdinand Magellan. His 1512 voyage was the first known European sailing east past Malacca through Indonesia and the Indies. He became a member of the Sultan Bayan Sirrullah, the ruler of Ternate, becoming his personal advisor...
reaches the Moluccas. - Juan Ponce de LeónJuan Ponce de LeónJuan Ponce de León was a Spanish explorer. He became the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown. He led the first European expedition to Florida, which he named...
discovers the Turks and Caicos IslandsTurks and Caicos IslandsThe Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the Caribbean, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre.The Turks and...
. - Pedro MascarenhasPedro MascarenhasPedro Mascarenhas was a Portuguese explorer and colonial administrator. He was the first European to discover the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in 1512...
discovers Diego GarciaDiego GarciaDiego Garcia is a tropical, footprint-shaped coral atoll located south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean at 7 degrees, 26 minutes south latitude. It is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory [BIOT] and is positioned at 72°23' east longitude....
and reaches MauritiusMauritiusMauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
in the Mascarene IslandsMascarene IslandsThe Mascarene Islands is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar comprising Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Cargados Carajos shoals, plus the former islands of the Saya de Malha, Nazareth and Soudan banks...
.
Pharmaceutics
- Hieronymus Brunschwygk's "Big Book (of Distillation)" describes medicinal herbs and the construction of stillStillA still is a permanent apparatus used to distill miscible or immiscible liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor...
s for processing them.
Births
- March 5 - Gerardus MercatorGerardus Mercatorthumb|right|200px|Gerardus MercatorGerardus Mercator was a cartographer, born in Rupelmonde in the Hapsburg County of Flanders, part of the Holy Roman Empire. He is remembered for the Mercator projection world map, which is named after him...
, FlemishFlemish peopleThe Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...
cartographer (d. 15941594 in scienceThe year 1594 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Botany:* Tulip bulbs planted by Carolus Clusius in the Hortus Botanicus Leiden, Holland, first flower.-Exploration:...
)
Deaths
- February 22 - Amerigo VespucciAmerigo VespucciAmerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer. The Americas are generally believed to have derived their name from the feminized Latin version of his first name.-Expeditions:...
, ItalianItalian peopleThe Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
explorer (b. 1454) - August 2 - Alessandro AchilliniAlessandro AchilliniAlessandro Achillini was an Italian philosopher and physician.-Biography:He was born and died in Bologna, and is buried in the Church of Saint Martin there...
, Italian anatomist (b. 1463)