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1660 in science
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<h2 id="events">Events</h2> <ul><li>November 28 – At <a href="/facts/Gresham_College/rs9IWUyF">Gresham College</a> in <a href="/facts/London/KozCCsy9">London</a>, twelve men, including <a href="/facts/Christopher_Wren/yKSh7QUa">Christopher Wren</a>, <a href="/facts/Robert_Boyle/6tUs448C">Robert Boyle</a>, <a href="/facts/John_Wilkins/ag8c940D">John Wilkins</a> and <a href="/facts/Robert_Moray/XzrF18sJ">Robert Moray</a>, meet after a lecture by Wren and resolve to found "a College for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning", which will become the <a href="/facts/Royal_Society/KI5yXCuV">Royal Society</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="botany">Botany</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/John_Ray/2ufQu564">John Ray</a> publishes <i>Catalogus plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium</i> in <a href="/facts/Cambridge/gNRdbmwK">Cambridge</a>, the first <a href="/facts/Flora_(publication)/hdt9NtTh">flora</a> of an <a href="/facts/Counties_of_England/zyGojJ84">English county</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="mathematics">Mathematics</h2> <ul><li>The popular English-language edition by <a href="/facts/Isaac_Barrow/cEkaBQhN">Isaac Barrow</a> of <a href="/facts/Euclid%27s_Elements/nPKvCIxs">Euclid's <i>Elements</i></a> is published in London.</li></ul> <h2 id="physics">Physics</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Robert_Boyle/6tUs448C">Robert Boyle</a> publishes <i>New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air and its Effects</i> (the second edition in <a href="/facts/1662_in_science/dc8efAmL">1662</a> will contain <a href="/facts/Boyle%27s_law/EuguIP5A">Boyle's law</a>).</li> <li><a href="/facts/Robert_Hooke/T5sEElp5">Robert Hooke</a> conceives <a href="/facts/Hooke%27s_law/7hTUcKUm">Hooke's law</a> (but does not publish it in full until <a href="/facts/1678_in_science/CsJs5Wv4">1678</a>).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="zoology">Zoology</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Jan_Goedart/7xp3SNaW">Jan Goedart</a> begins publication of <i>Metamorphosis Naturalis</i> in <a href="/facts/Middelburg,_Zeeland/NNu43Y53">Middelburg, Zeeland</a>, containing detailed illustrated descriptions of insect <a href="/facts/Metamorphosis/nKDTSjsK">metamorphosis</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="births">Births</h2> <ul><li>February 19 – <a href="/facts/Friedrich_Hoffmann/11gL8gNE">Friedrich Hoffmann</a>, <a href="/facts/German_people/F7mBCrJ4">German</a> <a href="/facts/Physician/qJ3woFvG">physician</a> and <a href="/facts/Chemist/N09K7Bdm">chemist</a> (died <a href="/facts/1742_in_science/DVLngra2">1742</a>)</li> <li>April 16 – <a href="/facts/Hans_Sloane/utAlYnK8">Hans Sloane</a>, <a href="/facts/Ulster_Scots_people/hlJS3JSz">Ulster Scots</a>-born collector and physician (died <a href="/facts/1753_in_science/tP8WRn5B">1753</a>)</li> <li>March 15 – <a href="/facts/Olof_Rudbeck_the_Younger/LETX3V9x">Olof Rudbeck the Younger</a>, <a href="/facts/Swedes/gAeGfw2N">Swedish</a> <a href="/facts/Naturalist/pSlAvbTX">naturalist</a> (died <a href="/facts/1740_in_science/Czc8VND1">1740</a>)</li> <li>May 27 (<i>bapt.</i>) – <a href="/facts/Francis_Hauksbee/B4LcXHlB">Francis Hauksbee</a>, <a href="/facts/English_people/IeI9c7BK">English</a> scientific instrument maker and experimentalist (died <a href="/facts/1713_in_science/h5eSkxMw">1713</a>)</li> <li><i>approx. date</i> – <a href="/facts/Edward_Lhuyd/a3FUtsQH">Edward Lhuyd</a>, <a href="/facts/Welsh_people/gWY430zy">Welsh</a> naturalist (died <a href="/facts/1709_in_science/yNIjEC6p">1709</a>)</li> <li>Date unknown – <a href="/facts/Jeanne_Dum%C3%A9e/INqctFWR">Jeanne Dumée</a>, French <a href="/facts/Astronomer/ronF8j4a">astronomer</a> (born 1660)</li></ul> <h2 id="deaths">Deaths</h2> <ul><li>May 29 – <a href="/facts/Frans_van_Schooten/rbp3PJJd">Frans van Schooten</a>, <a href="/facts/Netherlands/y8xn5stT">Dutch</a> <a href="/facts/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes/ohqj6DMf">Cartesian</a> <a href="/facts/Mathematician/eaFSR8Fx">mathematician</a> (born <a href="/facts/1615_in_science/1WMmvj6R">1615</a>)</li> <li>June 30 – <a href="/facts/William_Oughtred/2cyf4A1n">William Oughtred</a>, <a href="/facts/English_people/IeI9c7BK">English</a> mathematician who invented the <a href="/facts/Slide_rule/KzIEdWad">slide rule</a> (born <a href="/facts/1574_in_science/uxGBsD3T">1574</a>)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Jean-Jacques_Chifflet/t3SnKo6I">Jean-Jacques Chifflet</a>, <a href="/facts/French_people/984axQ8y">French</a> <a href="/facts/Physician/qJ3woFvG">physician</a> and <a href="/facts/Antiquary/dCTDy9DX">antiquary</a> (born <a href="/facts/1588_in_science/Cpqb1Sfl">1588</a>)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Walter_Rumsey/kPBtBa6D">Walter Rumsey</a>, Welsh <a href="/facts/Judge/2MgrCxc1">judge</a> and amateur scientist (born <a href="/facts/1584_in_science/WIrBhUxR">1584</a>)</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0. <a href="0-14-102715-0" target="_blank">0-14-102715-0</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Egerton, Frank N. (October 2005). "A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 18: John Ray and His Associates Francis Willughby and William Derham" (PDF). Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America: 301–313. <a href="http://www.esapubs.org/bulletin/current/history_list/history18.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.esapubs.org/bulletin/current/history_list/history18.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Hooke, Robert (1678). Lectures De Potentia Restitutiva, or of Spring. Explaining the Power of Springing Bodies. London: The Royal Society. <a href="https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_lectures-de-potentia-res_hooke-robert_1678" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_lectures-de-potentia-res_hooke-robert_1678</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Beaart, Kees, ed. (2016). Johannes Goedaert: Fijnschilder en entomoloog (in Dutch). [Middelburg]: Nehalennia. ISBN 978-90-805985-6-0. <a href="978-90-805985-6-0" target="_blank">978-90-805985-6-0</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>