1604 in science

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The year 1604 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

• 9 October – The supernova which becomes known as Kepler's Supernova (SN 1604) is first observed from northern Italy. From 17 October, Johannes Kepler begins a year's observation of it from Prague. As of 2006, this is the last supernova to be observed in the Milky Way, and the last visible by the naked eye until 1987.^[1][2]

Exploration

• France begins settlement in French Guiana.
• Russian city of Tomsk founded in Siberia.^[3]

Medicine

• Johannes Kepler describes how the eye focuses light.^[4]
• Hieronymus Fabricius's De formato foetu (On fetus development), an embryology textbok.^[5]
• Joseph du Chesne's Ad veritatem hermeticae medicinae ex Hippocratis veterumque decretis ac therapeusi.^[6]

Physics

• Johannes Kepler specifies the law of rectilinear propagation for light waves.^[4]
• Luca Valerio publishes his treatise on determining the center of gravity of solids, De centro gravitatis solidorum libri tres, in Rome.

Technology

• 1 October – The Wollaton Wagonway, from Strelley, Nottingham, to Wollaton in England, is known to have been completed by this date, being the world's first recorded overland wagonway. It runs for approximately two miles (5 km) and is built by Huntingdon Beaumont for coal haulage.^[7][8][9]

Births

• probable – Johann Rudolf Glauber, German-born chemical engineer (died 1670)

Deaths

• 5 June – Thomas Muffet, English naturalist and physician (born 1553)
• before August – William Clowes, English surgeon (born c. 1543)
• approximate date – Juan Fernández, Spanish explorer (born c. 1536)

References

1. "SN 1604, Kepler's Supernova". Archived from the original on 24 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
2. "Three Great Eyes on Kepler's Supernova Remnant". NASA. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
3. "Tomsk Region". Kommersant. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
4. Astronomiae Pars Optica. Manuscript presented to Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, 1 January.
5. Hieronymus Fabricius (1624). De formato foetu, liber (in Latin). Jacobus De Zetter.
6. Joseph Du Chesne (1605). Ad Veritatem Hermeticae Medicinae ex Hippocratis veterumque decretis ac Therapeusi (in Latin). Nebenius.
7. Smith, Richard S. (1960). "England's first rails: a reconsideration". Renaissance & Modern Studies 4: 119–134.
8. New, John (2004). "400 years of English railways: Huntingdon Beaumont and the early years". BackTrack 18: 660–5.
9. Waggonway Research Circle (August 2005). "The Wollaton Wagonway of 1604: the World’s first overland railway" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-01-16.