1656 in science

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The year 1656 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Contents

1 Astronomy
2 Botany
3 Medicine
4 Technology
5 Publications
6 Births
7 Deaths

Astronomy

Christiaan Huygens discovers that Saturn's planetary rings consist of rocks.

Botany

Publication in Vienna of Michał Boym's Flora Sinensis, the first book that uses the name "Flora" in this meaning, a book covering the plant world of a region.

Medicine

Louis XIV commissions the architect Libéral Bruant to build the Hospice de la Salpêtrière hospital in Paris.

Technology

Christiaan Huygens designs the first working pendulum clock, which is sufficiently accurate to be fitted with both a minute hand and a second hand.

Publications

Thomas Willis publishes De Fermentatione.

Births

June 5 - Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, French botanist (d. 1708)
October 29 (Julian calendar) - Edmond Halley, English astronomer (d. 1742)

Deaths

April 24 - Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician (b. 1561)
November 6 - Jean-Baptiste Morin, French mathematician (b. 1583)