The year 1623 in

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scie ...

involved some significant events.

Astronomy

* July 16 – Great conjunction of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandt ...

and

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; ...

, the closest together the two planets come until 2020.

Biology

* Apple orchard at

Grönsö Manor Grönsö Manor (older and alternative spelling Grönsöö) is a Manorialism, manor on the island Grönsö in Mälaren, Lake Mälaren. It lies in Enköping Municipality, Sweden. History and architecture There has been a small village on the site o ...

in Sweden planted; it will still be productive into the 21st century.

Psychology

Erotomania Erotomania, also known as de Clérambault's Syndrome, named after French psychiatrist Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault, is listed in the DSM-5 as a subtype of a delusional disorder. It is a relatively uncommon paranoid condition that is characte ...

is first mentioned in a psychiatric treatise.

Technology

* Wilhelm Schickard draws a calculating clock on a letter to

Kepler Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws of ...

. This will be the first of five unsuccessful attempts at designing a ''direct entry''

calculating A calculation is a deliberate mathematical process that transforms one or more inputs into one or more outputs or ''results''. The term is used in a variety of senses, from the very definite arithmetical calculation of using an algorithm, to th ...

clock in the 17th century (including the designs of Tito Burattini, Samuel Morland and René Grillet).

Births

* June 19 –

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pascal's earlies ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate ca ...

(died

1662 Events January–March * January 4 – Dziaddin Mukarram Shah becomes the new Sultan of Kedah, an independent kingdom on the Malay Peninsula, upon the death of his father, Sultan Muhyiddin Mansur. * January 10 – At the ...

) * July 12 – Elizabeth Walker, English pharmacist (died

1690 Events January–March * January 2 – The Ottoman Empire defeats Serbian rebels and Austrian troops in battle at Kaçanik Gorge, prompting more than 30,000 Serb refugees to flee northward from Kosovo, Macedonia and Sandžak to the Aus ...

) * August 26 – Johann Sigismund Elsholtz, German naturalist and physician (died

1688 Events January–March * January 2 – Fleeing from the Spanish Navy, French pirate Raveneau de Lussan and his 70 men arrive on the west coast of Nicaragua, sink their boats, and make a difficult 10 day march to the city of ...

) * September 1 –

Caspar Schamberger Caspar Schamberger (1 September 1623 in Leipzig, Germany – 8 April 1706) was a German surgeon. His name represents the first school of Western medicine in Japan and the beginning of ''rangaku'', or Dutch studies. Schamberger grew up in war-to ...

, German surgeon and merchant (died

1706 In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Monday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 26 – War of Spanish Succession: The uprising by Bavarian ...

) * September 23 –

Georg Balthasar Metzger Georg Balthasar Metzger (23 September 1623 – 9 October 1687) was a German physician and scientist notable as one of the four founding members of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in Schweinfurt. Biography He was born in Schweinfurt. In ...

, German physician and scientist (died

1687 Events January–March * January 3 – With the end of latest of the Savoyard–Waldensian wars in the Duchy of Savoy between the Savoyard government and Protestant Italians known as the Waldensians, Victor Amadeus III of Sardi ...

) * October 9 –

Ferdinand Verbiest Father Ferdinand Verbiest (9 October 1623 – 28 January 1688) was a Flemish Jesuit missionary in China during the Qing dynasty. He was born in Pittem near Tielt in the County of Flanders (now part of Belgium). He is known as Nan Huairen () in Chi ...

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium ...

Jesuit

Sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the e ...

and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either o ...

(died

) * Margaret Lucas, ''later'' Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, English

natural philosopher Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science. From the ancient wor ...

(died

1673 Events January–March * January 22 – Impostor Mary Carleton is hanged at Newgate Prison in London, for multiple thefts and returning from penal transportation. * February 10 – Molière's ''comédie-ballet'' ''The Imagi ...

)

Deaths

* May 26 –

Francis Anthony Francis Anthony (16 April 1550 – 26 May 1623) was a 16th-century physician and chemist. His father, Derrick Anthony, was a goldsmith in London, employed in the jewel office of Queen Elizabeth. He attended the University of Cambridge, receivin ...

, English apothecary and physician (born

1550 __NOTOC__ Year 1550 ( MDL) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June * January 6 – Spanish Captain Hernando de Santana founds the city of Vall ...

) * December 24 – Michiel Coignet, Flemish

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

cosmographer The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-sca ...

and

scientific instrument A scientific instrument is a device or tool used for scientific purposes, including the study of both natural phenomena and theoretical research. History Historically, the definition of a scientific instrument has varied, based on usage, laws, a ...

-maker (born

1549 __NOTOC__ Year 1549 ( MDXLIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Kingdom of England, it was known as "The Year of the Many-Headed Monster", because of the unusually high n ...

)

References

{{reflist 17th century in science 1620s in science