1663 in science
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Some significant events in science and technology occurred in the year 1663.
Astronomy
- Scottish mathematician James Gregory publishes Optica Promota, describing theoretically the Gregorian telescope.
Exploration
- March 4 â The Prince Edward Islands in the sub-antarctic Indian Ocean are discovered by Barent Barentszoon Lam of the Dutch ship Maerseveen and named Dina (Prince Edward) and Maerseveen (Marion).[1]
Mathematics
- The first book about games of chance, Girolamo Cardano's Liber de ludo aleae ("On Casting the Die"), written in the 1560s, is published.[2]
Meteorology
- October 7 â Robert Hooke presents his "Method for making a history of the weather" to the Royal Society of London.[3]
Technology
- The earliest known surviving clock with an anchor escapement is made by William Clement in England.[4][5][6][7]
Publications
- Robert Boyle publishes Considerations touching the Usefulness of Experimental Natural Philosophy (first part).
Births
- August 31 â Guillaume Amontons, French scientific instrument inventor and physicist (died 1705)
Deaths
- December 28 â Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian physicist (born 1618)