1554 in science

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The year 1554 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.

Astronomy

• Flemish astronomer Johannes Stadius' first published work, Ephemerides novae at auctae, appears in Cologne

Biology

• Bolognese naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi creates a herbarium.^[1]
• Flemish herbalist Rembert Dodoens publishes his herbal Cruydt-Boeck in Antwerp.^[2]
• The guinea pig is first described in the West by Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner.^[3]
• French physician Guillaume Rondelet begins publication of Libri de piscibus marinis in Lyon, a standard work on marine zoology.
• Hippolyte Salviani begins publication of Aquatilium animalium historiae in Rome, a foundation of modern ichthyology.
• French anatomist Charles Estienne publishes a collection of tracts on agriculture, Praedium Rusticum.

Exploration

• November – English captain John Lok voyages to Guinea.^[1][4]
• French Franciscan voyager André Thévet publishes his account of an embassy to Constantinople in Cosmographie de Levant (Lyon).

Metallurgy

• Spanish merchant Bartolomé de Medina introduces the patio process, using mercury amalgamation to extract silver from ore, in Pachuca, New Spain (Mexico).^[5]

Physics

• Venetian mathematician Giambattista Benedetti publishes two editions of Demonstratio proportionum motuum localium, developing his new doctrine of the speed of bodies in free fall.

Technology

• Completion of the Church of Sant'Andrea in Via Flaminia, Rome, designed by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, the first church of the Italian Renaissance to have an elliptical dome.^[6]

Births

• November – Jakob Christmann, German orientalist and astronomer (died 1613)
• Probable date
  • James Lancaster, English navigator (died 1618)
  • Walter Ralegh, English explorer (died 1618)^[1][7]

Deaths

• February 21 – Hieronymus Bock, German botanist (born 1498)
• September 22 – Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, Spanish conquistador (born c. 1510)
• Tan Yunxian, Chinese physician (born 1461)
• unknown date – Sir Hugh Willoughby, English explorer (in the Arctic Sea)^[8]

References

1. Grun, Bernard (1991). The Timetables of History (3rd ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 245. ISBN 0-671-74919-6.
2. "Rembert Dodoens: iets over zijn leven en werk — Dodoens' werken". Plantaardigheden—Project Rembert Dodoens/Rembertus Dodonaeus (in Dutch). Balkbrug: Stichting Kruidenhoeve/Plantaardigheden. 2005-12-20. Retrieved 2011-11-27. ... het Cruijdeboeck, dat in 1554 verscheen. Dit meesterwerk was na de bijbel in die tijd het meest vertaalde boek. Het werd gedurende meer dan een eeuw steeds weer heruitgegeven en gedurende meer dan twee eeuwen was het het meest gebruikte handboek over kruiden in West-Europa. Het is een werk van wereldfaam en grote wetenschappelijke waarde. De nieuwe gedachten die Dodoens erin neerlegde, werden de bouwstenen voor de botanici en medici van latere generaties. (... the Cruijdeboeck, published in 1554. This masterpiece was, after the Bible, the most translated book in that time. It continued to be republished for more than a century and for more than two centuries it was the mostly used referential about herbs. It is a work with world fame and great scientific value. The new thoughts written down by Dodoens, became the building bricks for botanists and physicians of later generations.)
3. Historiae animalium, Liber II: De quadrupedibus oviparis. Gmelig-Nijboer, C. A. (1977). Conrad Gessner's "Historia Animalum": an Inventory of Renaissance Zoology. Krips Repro B.V. pp. 69–70.
4. Kerr, Robert (1824). A general history and collection of voyages and travels 7. Edinburgh: Blackwood. p. 229. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
5. Probert, Alan (1997). "Bartolomé de Medina: The Patio Process and the Sixteenth Century Silver Crisis". In Bakewell, Peter (ed). Mines of Silver and Gold in the Americas. Brookfield: Variorum. p. 96.
6. Cuevas Del Barrio, Javier (2007). "La evolución de las iglesias de planta ovalada. Hipótesis para la planta de San Carlo alle Quatro Fontane" (PDF). Boletín de Arte (in Spanish) (Departamento de Historia del Arte, Universidad de Málaga) 28: 105–126. ISSN 0211-8483. Retrieved 2010-12-02. Sant’Andrea in via Flaminia es la primera iglesia de planta oval que realiza Vignola. La construyó mientras trabajaba en la cercana villa Giulia y se terminó en 1554.
7. Nicholls, Mark; Williams, Penry (2004). "Ralegh, Sir Walter (1554–1618)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23039. Retrieved 2011-11-28. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
8. McDermott, James (2004). "Willoughby, Sir Hugh (d. 1554?)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29599. Retrieved 2011-11-28.