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1553 in science
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<h2 id="astronomy">Astronomy</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Leonard_Digges_(scientist)/6Umd5qYk">Leonard Digges</a> publishes his popular <a href="/facts/English_language/tpkxGt7b">English language</a> <a href="/facts/Ephemeris/vjQCBG29">ephemeris</a>, <i>A General Prognostication</i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="cryptography">Cryptography</h2> <ul><li>'<a href="/facts/Vigen%C3%A8re_cipher/rlpyPDSY">Vigenère cipher</a>' first described by <a href="/facts/Giovan_Battista_Bellaso/MYUDs6aT">Giovan Battista Bellaso</a> in his book <i>La cifra del. Sig. Giovan Battista Bellaso</i> (<a href="/facts/Venice/Xzc2uVDg">Venice</a>).</li></ul> <h2 id="exploration">Exploration</h2> <ul><li>May 10 – Sir <a href="/facts/Hugh_Willoughby/nEM2dt5r">Hugh Willoughby</a> and <a href="/facts/Richard_Chancellor/kpYTHyDG">Richard Chancellor</a> set out from the <a href="/facts/River_Thames/XnQWN52L">River Thames</a> to seek the <a href="/facts/Northeast_Passage/zecK461v">Northeast Passage</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> <ul><li>August 14 – Willoughby sights what is probably <a href="/facts/Novaya_Zemlya/2CDJsNQK">Novaya Zemlya</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a></li> <li>August – Chancellor enters the <a href="/facts/White_Sea/gGCLtEtu">White Sea</a> and reaches <a href="/facts/Arkhangelsk/27feTUm7">Arkhangelsk</a>.</li></ul></li> <li><a href="/facts/Naturalist/pSlAvbTX">Naturalist</a> <a href="/facts/Pierre_Belon/fkbAz31p">Pierre Belon</a> publishes <i><i><a href="/facts/Observations_(Pierre_Belon)/vpeywtEN">Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie et autres pays étrangèrs</a></i></i> (<a href="/facts/Paris/DrNHpwnA">Paris</a>).</li> <li><a href="/facts/Conquistador/sMtnRqCf">Conquistador</a> <a href="/facts/Pedro_Cieza_de_Le%C3%B3n/KJgPhkNV">Pedro Cieza de León</a> publishes the <i><i>Primera Parte</i></i> of his <i><i>Crónicas del Perú</i></i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="physics">Physics</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Venice/Xzc2uVDg">Venetian</a> <a href="/facts/Mathematician/eaFSR8Fx">mathematician</a> <a href="/facts/Giambattista_Benedetti/fVXI1YIq">Giambattista Benedetti</a> publishes <i>Resolutio omnium Euclidis problematum</i>, proposing a new doctrine of the speed of bodies in free fall.</li></ul> <h2 id="physiology-and-medicine">Physiology and medicine</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Michael_Servetus/qHM2MzoJ">Michael Servetus</a> publishes <i>Christianismi Restitutio</i>, including an account of the <a href="/facts/Circulation_of_the_blood/WXwudzzc">circulation of the blood</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a></li> <li>Publication in <a href="/facts/Spain/bIyrB8EY">Spain</a> of <i><a href="https://openlibrary.org/works/OL611727W/Libro_del_ejercicio_corporal_y_de_sus_provechos_por_el_cual_cada_uno_podra%CC%81_entender_que%CC%81_ejercicio_le_sea_necesario_para_conservar_su_salud">Libro del Exercicio</a></i>, considered the first book on the benefits of physical exercise for health.</li></ul> <h2 id="births">Births</h2> <ul><li>November 23 – <a href="/facts/Prospero_Alpini/LLlIzjDG">Prospero Alpini</a>, <a href="/facts/Italian_people/dsdUeJ1n">Italian</a> <a href="/facts/Physician/qJ3woFvG">physician</a> and <a href="/facts/Botanist/PaIRoxnb">botanist</a> (d. <a href="/facts/1617_in_science/oAvr5E64">1617</a>)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Robert_Hues/dGtmbXMA">Robert Hues</a>, <a href="/facts/English_people/IeI9c7BK">English</a> mathematician and <a href="/facts/Geographer/lQAzvXY0">geographer</a> (d. <a href="/facts/1632_in_science/0YnkS7bJ">1632</a>)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Thomas_Muffet/XHmzYT6p">Thomas Muffet</a>, English naturalist and physician (d. <a href="/facts/1604_in_science/hh0v4wAz">1604</a>)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Luca_Valerio/Mel53pa0">Luca Valerio</a>, Italian mathematician<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> (d. <a href="/facts/1618_in_science/AYIb2sXT">1618</a>)</li></ul> <h2 id="deaths">Deaths</h2> <ul><li>February 19 – <a href="/facts/Erasmus_Reinhold/oIPF4Xth">Erasmus Reinhold</a>, <a href="/facts/German_people/F7mBCrJ4">German</a> <a href="/facts/Astronomer/ronF8j4a">astronomer</a> and mathematician (b. <a href="/facts/1511_in_science/P59b4Jk8">1511</a>)</li> <li>August 8 – <a href="/facts/Girolamo_Fracastoro/tF8SfRzv">Girolamo Fracastoro</a>, Italian physician (b. <a href="/facts/1478/5upe2CeB">1478</a>)</li> <li>October 27 – <a href="/facts/Michael_Servetus/qHM2MzoJ">Michael Servetus</a>, <a href="/facts/Aragon/IfEzbqzI">Aragonese</a> <a href="/facts/Polymath/eqIfjQRu">polymath</a> (b. 1511) (executed for <a href="/facts/Heresy/1eHqC2km">heresy</a>)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Pierre_Desceliers/hkNHM002">Pierre Desceliers</a>, French <a href="/facts/Cartographer/8YdDAAeX">cartographer</a> and <a href="/facts/Hydrographer/FP9yHxSv">hydrographer</a> (born c. <a href="/facts/1500_in_science/bnCfLR8x">1500</a>)</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Ronan, Colin A. (1991). "Leonard and Thomas Digges". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 101 (6). Archived from the original on 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2012-01-25. <a href="/wiki/Colin_Ronan" target="_blank">/wiki/Colin_Ronan</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Grun, Bernard (1991). The Timetables of History (3rd ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 245. ISBN 0-671-74919-6. <a href="0-671-74919-6" target="_blank">0-671-74919-6</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>McDermott, James (2004). "Willoughby, Sir Hugh (d. 1554?)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29599. Retrieved 2011-10-24. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) <a href="http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29599" target="_blank">http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29599</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Grun, Bernard (1991). The Timetables of History (3rd ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 245. ISBN 0-671-74919-6. <a href="0-671-74919-6" target="_blank">0-671-74919-6</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Grun, Bernard (1991). The Timetables of History (3rd ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 245. ISBN 0-671-74919-6. <a href="0-671-74919-6" target="_blank">0-671-74919-6</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>The Galileo Project - Valerio (Valeri), Luca has 1552, but Baldini and Napolitani proved that he was born in 1553. <a href="http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/valerio.html" target="_blank">http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/valerio.html</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>