1656 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1656 in science
and technology
involved some significant events.
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 ;...
involved some significant events.
Botany
- Publication in ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
of Michał Boym's Flora SinensisFlora SinensisFlora Sinensis is one of the first European natural history books about China, published in Vienna in 1656. Its author, Michael Boym, was a Jesuit missionary from Poland ....
, the first book that uses the name "FloraFloraFlora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
" in this meaning, a book covering the plant world of a region.
Medicine
- Louis XIV commissions the architect Libéral BruantLibéral BruantLibéral Bruant , was a French architect best known as the designer of the Hôtel des Invalides, Paris, now dominated by the dome erected by Jules Hardouin Mansart, his collaborator in earlier stages of the construction...
to build the Hospice de la SalpêtrièrePitié-Salpêtrière HospitalThe Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital is a teaching hospital located in Paris, France. Part of the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, it is one of Europe's largest hospitals...
hospital in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Technology
- Christiaan Huygens designs and builds the first working pendulumPendulumA pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced from its resting equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position...
clock, which is sufficiently accurate to be fitted with both a minute hand and a second hand.
Births
- June 5 - Joseph Pitton de TournefortJoseph Pitton de TournefortJoseph Pitton de Tournefort was a French botanist, notable as the first to make a clear definition of the concept of genus for plants.- Biography :...
, FrenchFrench peopleThe French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
botanist (d. 17081708 in scienceThe year 1708 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Medicine:* Herman Boerhaave publishes Institutiones medicae, one of the earliest textbooks on physiology.-Technology:...
) - October 29 (Julian calendarJulian calendarThe Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
) - Edmond HalleyEdmond HalleyEdmond Halley FRS was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist who is best known for computing the orbit of the eponymous Halley's Comet. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, following in the footsteps of John Flamsteed.-Biography and career:Halley...
, EnglishEnglish peopleThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
(d. 17421742 in scienceThe year 1742 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Technology:* Benjamin Robins publishes his in London, containing a description of his ballistic pendulum and the results of his scientific experiments into improvements in ballistics.-Births:* May 18 - Lionel Lukin, English...
)
Deaths
- April 24 - Thomas FinckeThomas FinckeThomas Fincke was a Danish mathematician and physicist, and a professor at the University of Copenhagen for more than 60 years.Fincke was born in Flensburg, Schleswig and died in Copenhagen...
, Danish mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
(b. 15611561 in scienceThe year 1561 in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.-Cartography:* Bartolomeu Velho produces a for Sebastian of Portugal.-Medicine and physiology:...
) - November 6 - Jean-Baptiste Morin, French mathematician (b. 15831583 in scienceThe year 1583 in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.-Botany:* Carolus Clusius publishes Rariorum stirpium per Pannonias observatorum Historiae, the earliest book on Alpine flora.-Mathematics:...
)