The year 1651 in

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

involved some significant events.

Anatomy

* Jean Pecquet publishes ''Experimenta nova anatomica'' which includes his findings on the lymphatic system. *

William Harvey William Harvey (1 April 1578 – 3 June 1657) was an English physician who made influential contributions to anatomy and physiology. He was the first known physician to describe completely, and in detail, pulmonary and systemic circulation ...

describes organ formation in the developing

embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...

in ''

De Generatione William Harvey (1 April 1578 – 3 June 1657) was an English physician who made influential contributions to anatomy and physiology. He was the first known physician to describe completely, and in detail, pulmonary and systemic circulation ...

''.

Astronomy

* William Gilbert's ''De Mundo Nostro Sublunari Philosophia Nova'' ("A New Philosophy of Our Sublunar World") is published posthumously. It theorises that the fixed stars are not all the same distance from Earth, and that the force of

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, ...

holds the

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

s in

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

around the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

. * Italian astronomer

Giovanni Battista Riccioli Giovanni Battista Riccioli (17 April 1598 – 25 June 1671) was an Italian astronomer and a Catholic priest in the Jesuit order. He is known, among other things, for his experiments with pendulums and with falling bodies, for his discussion of ...

's ''Almagestum Novum'' includes a map of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

giving definitive names to many features.

Botany

Begonia ''Begonia'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Begoniaceae. The genus contains more than 2,000 different plant species. The Begonias are native to moist subtropical and tropical climates. Some species are commonly grown ...

s become known in Europe (although discovered by Father Francisco Hernández in Mexico before 1577).

Chemistry

* German scientist Johann Glauber publishes ''Opera omnia chymica (Complete Works of Chemistry)'', a description of different techniques in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. * English

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

John French publishes ''The Art of Distillation'', the first detailed handbook in English on

distillation Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

Medicine

Noah Biggs Noah Biggs was an English medical reformer and alchemical writer of the middle of the seventeenth century. In his ''Chymiatrophilos, mataeotechnia medicinae praxes: The Vanity of the Craft of Physick'', from 1651, he attacked pretentious and quack m ...

publishes to the Parliament of England. *

Nicholas Culpeper Nicholas Culpeper (18 October 1616 – 10 January 1654) was an English botanist, herbalist, physician and astrologer.Patrick Curry: "Culpeper, Nicholas (1616–1654)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004) His boo ...

publishes his

medical astrology Medical astrology or astrological medicine (traditionally known as iatromathematics) is an ancient applied branch of astrology based mostly on ''melothesia'' (Gr. μελοθεσία), the association of various parts of the body, diseases, and ...

treatise, ''Semiotica uranica, or, An Astrological Judgement of Diseases from the Decumbiture of the Sick''. * Jean Pecquet publishes ''Experimenta Nova Anatomica'' in Paris, including his discovery of the ''

Cisterna chyli The cisterna chyli or receptaculum chyli (chy·li pronounced: ˈkī-ˌlī) is a dilated sac at the lower end of the thoracic duct in most mammals into which lymph from the intestinal trunk and two lumbar lymphatic trunks flow. It receives fatty ...

''.

Births

* January 20 –

Edward Tyson Edward Tyson (20 January 1651 – 1 August 1708) was an English scientist and physician. He is commonly regarded as the founder of modern comparative anatomy, which compares the anatomy between species. Biography Tyson was born the son of Edward ...

, English comparative anatomist (died

1708 In the Swedish calendar it was a leap year starting on Wednesday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–June * January 1 – Charles XII of Sweden invades Russia, by crossing the ...

) * April 10 –

Ehrenfried Walter von Tschirnhaus Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus or Tschirnhauß (; 10 April 1651 – 11 October 1708) was a German mathematician, physicist, physician, and philosopher. He introduced the Tschirnhaus transformation and is considered by some to have been the ...

, German mathematician (died

) * August 28 ''(bapt.)'' – Edmund Dummer, English naval engineer (died

1713 Events January–March * January 17 – Tuscarora War: Colonel James Moore leads the Carolina militia out of Albemarle County, North Carolina, in a second offensive against the Tuscarora. Heavy snows force the troops to take ...

) * September 5 ''(bapt.)'' –

William Dampier William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnavig ...

, English explorer and hydrographic surveyor, circumnavigates the world three times (died

1715 Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire in ...

)

Deaths

* September –

Arthur Dee Arthur Dee (13 July 1579 – September or October 1651) was a physician and alchemist. He became a physician successively to Tsar Michael I of Russia and to King Charles I of England. Youth Dee was the eldest son of John Dee by his third wife ...

, English

and

alchemist Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

(born

1579 Year 1579 ( MDLXXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, and a common year starting on Monday of the Proleptic Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 6 – The Union of Arras unites the s ...

) * September 24 –

Étienne Pascal Étienne Pascal (; 2 May 1588 – 24 September 1651) was a French chief tax officer and the father of Blaise Pascal (1623–1662). Biography Pascal was born in Clermont to Martin Pascal, the treasurer of France, and Marguerite Pascal de Mons. H ...

, French

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 ...

(born

1588 Events January–March * January 22 – Pope Sixtus V issues the papal bull '' Immensa aeterni Dei'', a major reorganization of the Roman Curia creating 15 congregations of cardinals, including the Congregation of the ''Index ...

)

References

{{reflist 1651 17th century in science 1650s in science