1641 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1641 in science
and technology
involved some significant events.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
involved some significant events.
Technology
- The sealed thermometerThermometerDeveloped during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles. A thermometer has two important elements: the temperature sensor Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer (from the...
is developed with Ferdinand II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, using a glass tube containing alcoholAlcoholIn chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
, which freezes well below the freezing point of water. - Samuel WinslowSamuel Winslow (patentee)In 1641, Samuel Winslow was granted the first patent in North America by the Massachusetts General Court for a new process for making salt....
is granted the first patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
in North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
by the Massachusetts General CourtMassachusetts General CourtThe Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases...
for a new saltmaking process.
Births
- March - Menno van CoehoornMenno van CoehoornMenno, Baron van Coehoorn was a Dutch soldier and military engineer of Swedish extraction. He made a number of influential weaponry innovations in siege warfare and fortification techniques...
, DutchNetherlandNetherland is a critically acclaimed novel by Joseph O'Neill. It concerns the life of a Dutchman living in New York in the wake of the September 11 attacks who takes up cricket and starts playing at the Staten Island Cricket Club.-Plot summary:...
military engineerMilitary engineerIn military science, engineering refers to the practice of designing, building, maintaining and dismantling military works, including offensive, defensive and logistical structures, to shape the physical operating environment in war...
(d. 17041704 in scienceThe year 1704 in science and technology involved some significant events.-General:* John Harris publishes the first edition of the Lexicon Technicum, an encyclopedic dictionary of science.-Astronomy:* approx...
) - July 30 - Regnier de GraafRegnier de GraafRegnier de Graaf, Dutch spelling Reinier de Graaf or latinized Reijnerus de Graeff was a Dutch physician and anatomist who made key discoveries in reproductive biology. His first name is often spelled Reinier or Reynier.-Biography:De Graaf was born in Schoonhoven and perhaps a relative to the De...
, Dutch physician and anatomist who discovered the ovarian follicles, which were later named Graafian follicles (d. 16731673 in scienceThe year 1673 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Microbiology:* Antonie van Leeuwenhoek's observations with the microscope are first published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.-Births:...
) - September 26 - Nehemiah GrewNehemiah GrewNehemiah Grew was an English plant anatomist and physiologist, very famously known as the "Father of Plant Physiology"...
, EnglishEnglish peopleThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
botanist and physicianPhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
who made some of the early microscopical observations of plants (d. 17121712 in scienceThe year 1712 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* John Flamsteed's Historia Coelestis Britannica is first published, against his will and without credit by Isaac Newton and Edmond Halley, introducing Flamsteed designations. -Mathematics:* Giacomo F...
)
Deaths
- January 3 - Jeremiah HorrocksJeremiah HorrocksJeremiah Horrocks , sometimes given as Jeremiah Horrox , was an English astronomer who was the only person to predict, and one of only two people to observe and record, the transit of Venus of 1639.- Life and work :Horrocks was born in Lower Lodge, in...
, English astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
(b. 16181618 in scienceThe year 1618 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy:* March 8–May 15 - Johannes Kepler formulates the third law of planetary motion.* July 20 - Pluto reaches an aphelion....
) - March 8 - Xu XiakeXu XiakeXu Xiake , born Xu Hongzu , courtesy name Zhenzhi , was a Chinese travel writer and geographer of the Ming Dynasty known best for his famous geographical treatise, and noted for his bravery and humility. He traveled throughout China for more than 30 years, documenting his travels extensively...
, ChineseChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
explorer and geographer (b. 15871587 in scienceThe year 1587 in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed here.-Births:* January 5 - Xu Xiake, Chinese explorer and geographer * January 8 - Johannes Fabricius, Frisian astronomer...
) - Guy de La BrosseGuy de La BrosseGuy de La Brosse , was a French botanist, doctor, and pharmacist. A physician to King Louis XIII of France, he is also notable for the creation of a major botanical garden of medicinal herbs, which was commissioned by the king...
, FrenchFrench peopleThe French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
physicianPhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and botanist (b. c.15861586 in scienceThe year 1586 in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.-Botany:* Jacques Daléchamps publishes Historia generalis plantarum in Lyon, describing 2731 plants, a record number for this time.-Cryptography:...
)