1512 in science
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The year 1512 in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.
Astronomy
- Possible date â Nicolaus Copernicus begins to write Commentariolus, an abstract of what will eventually become De revolutionibus orbium coelestium; he sends it to other scientists interested in the matter by 1514.[1][2][3]
Exploration
- António de Abreu discovers Timor island and reaches the Banda Islands and Seram.
- Francisco Serrão reaches the Moluccas.
- Juan Ponce de León discovers the Turks and Caicos Islands.
- Pedro Mascarenhas discovers Diego Garcia and reaches Mauritius in the Mascarene Islands.
Pharmaceutics
- Hieronymus Brunschwygk's Big Book (of Distillation) describes medicinal herbs and the construction of stills for processing them.
Technology
- Martin Waldseemüller (of the Rhineland) produces and describes the first theodolite (which he calls the polimetrum).[4][5][6]
Births
- March 5 â Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer (died 1594)
- approx. date â Robert Recorde, Welsh-born mathematician and physician (died 1558)[7]
Deaths
- February 22 â Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer (born 1454)
- August 2 â Alessandro Achillini, Italian anatomist (born 1463)
- September 29 â Johannes Engel, German astronomer and physician (born 1453)[8]