1654 in science
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The year 1654 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Astronomy
- Sicilian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna publishes De systemate orbis cometici, deque admirandis coeli characteribus including a catalog of comets and nebulae.
Mathematics
- At the prompting of the Chevalier de Méré, Blaise Pascal corresponds with Pierre de Fermat on gambling problems, from which is born the theory of probability.[1]
Physics
- May 8 â Otto von Guericke demonstrates the effectiveness of his vacuum pump and the power of atmospheric pressure using the Magdeburg hemispheres before Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, in Regensburg.[2]
Births
- December 27 â Jakob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (died 1705).
- John Banister, English missionary and botanist (died 1692).
- prob. date â Eleanor Glanville, English entomologist (died 1709).
Deaths
- August 31 â Ole Worm, Danish physician, natural historian and antiquary (born 1588)
- October 18 â Nicholas Culpeper, English herbalist (born 1616)
- Giovanni de Galliano Pieroni, Italian military engineer and astronomer (born 1586)