1663 in science

List of years in science (table)
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The year 1663 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

• Scottish mathematician James Gregory publishes Optica Promota, describing theoretically the Gregorian telescope.

Exploration

• March 4 – The Prince Edward Islands in the sub-antarctic Indian Ocean are discovered by Barent Barentszoon Lam of the Dutch ship Maerseveen and named Dina (Prince Edward) and Maerseveen (Marion).[1]

Mathematics

• The first book about games of chance, Girolamo Cardano's Liber de ludo aleae ("On Casting the Die"), written in the 1560s, is published.[2]

Meteorology

• October 7 – Robert Hooke presents his "Method for making a history of the weather" to the Royal Society of London.[3]

Technology

• The earliest known surviving clock with an anchor escapement is made by William Clement in England.[4][5][6][7]

Publications

• Robert Boyle publishes Considerations touching the Usefulness of Experimental Natural Philosophy (first part).

Births

• August 31 – Guillaume Amontons, French scientific instrument inventor and physicist (died 1705)

Deaths

• December 28 – Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian physicist (born 1618)

References

1. Leupe, Pieter Arend Leupe (1868). "De eilanden Dina en Maerseveen in den Zuider Atlantischen Oceaan" in: Verhandelingen en berigten betrekkelijk het zeewezen, de zeevaartkunde, de hydrographie, de koloniën en de daarmede in verband staande wetenschappen, Deel 28, Afd. 2, [no.] 9 (Amsterdam) pp. 242–253.
2. Katz, V. J. (2009). A History of Mathematics: An Introduction (3rd ed.). Boston, Mass.: Pearson Education. p. 488.
3. Espinasse, Margaret (1956). Robert Hooke. London: Heinemann. p. 50. OCLC 459411551.
4. Reid, Thomas (1832). Treatise on Clock and Watch-making, Theoretical and Practical. Philadelphia, Pa: Carey & Lea. p. 184.
5. Beckett, Edmund (1874). A Rudimentary Treatise on Clocks and Watches and Bells (6th ed.). London: Lockwood. p. 71.
6. Usher, Abbott Payson (1988). A History of Mechanical Inventions. New York: Courier Dover. p. 313. ISBN 0-486-25593-X.
7. The clock is in the Irish Museum of Time. "Museum of Time..." Irish Independent. Dublin. 2024-03-28. Retrieved 2024-09-26.