The year 1618 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

* March 8 – May 15 –

Johannes 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 ...

formulates the

third law of planetary motion In astronomy, Kepler's laws of planetary motion, published by Johannes Kepler between 1609 and 1619, describe the orbits of planets around the Sun. The laws modified the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus, replacing its circular orbit ...

. * July 21 –

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

(not known at this time) reaches an

aphelion An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ellip ...

. It next comes to aphelion in

1866 Events January–March * January 1 ** Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. ** The last issue of the abolitionist magazine '' The Liberator'' is published. * January 6 – Ottoman tr ...

. *

Johann Baptist Cysat Johann Baptist Cysat (Latinized as Cysatus; in French, Jean-Baptiste Cysat) (c. 1587 – March 17, 1657) was a Swiss Jesuit mathematician and astronomer, after whom the lunar crater Cysatus is named. He was born in Lucerne, as the eighth of 14 ...

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

geometer 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, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

and one of

Christoph Scheiner Christoph Scheiner SJ (25 July 1573 (or 1575) – 18 June 1650) was a Jesuit priest, physicist and astronomer in Ingolstadt. Biography Augsburg/Dillingen: 1591–1605 Scheiner was born in Markt Wald near Mindelheim in Swabia, earlier markgrava ...

's pupils, becomes the first to study a

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

through the telescope and gives the first description of the

nucleus Nucleus ( : nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucle ...

and

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

of a comet. * September 6–25 – The

Great Comet A great comet is a comet that becomes exceptionally bright. There is no official definition; often the term is attached to comets such as Halley's Comet, which during certain appearances are bright enough to be noticed by casual observers who ar ...

of 1618 is visible to the naked eye.

Biology

Fortunio Liceti Fortunio Liceti (Latin: ''Fortunius Licetus''; October 3, 1577 – May 17, 1657), was an Italian physician and philosopher. Life and career He was born prematurely at Rapallo, near Genoa to Giuseppe Liceti and Maria Fini, while the family was m ...

's ''De spontaneo Viventium Ortu'' supports the theory of

spontaneous generation Spontaneous generation is a superseded scientific theory that held that living creatures could arise from nonliving matter and that such processes were commonplace and regular. It was hypothesized that certain forms, such as fleas, could arise fr ...

of organisms.

Medicine

* The

College of Physicians of London The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

publishes the ''Pharmacopœia Londinensis''. ''See:''

Births

* April 2 –

Francesco Maria Grimaldi Francesco Maria Grimaldi, SJ (2 April 1618 – 28 December 1663) was an Italian Jesuit priest, mathematician and physicist who taught at the Jesuit college in Bologna. He was born in Bologna to Paride Grimaldi and Anna Cattani. Work Between 1 ...

, Italian

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 caus ...

, discoverer of the diffraction of light (died 1663) *

Jeremiah Horrocks Jeremiah Horrocks (16183 January 1641), sometimes given as Jeremiah Horrox (the Latinised version that he used on the Emmanuel College register and in his Latin manuscripts), – See footnote 1 was an English astronomer. He was the first person ...

, English

(died 1641)

Deaths

* June 6 – Sir

James Lancaster Sir James Lancaster (c. 1554 – 6 June 1618) was an English privateer and trader of the Elizabethan era. Life and work Lancaster came from Basingstoke in Hampshire. In his early life, he was a soldier and a trader in Portugal. On 10 April 159 ...

, English navigator (born 1554) * October 29 –

Walter Ralegh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...

, English explorer (born c. 1554) *

Luca Valerio Luca Valerio (1553–1618) was an Italian mathematician. He developed ways to find volumes and centers of gravity of solid bodies using the methods of Archimedes. He corresponded with Galileo Galilei and was a member of the Accademia dei Lince ...

, Italian

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, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

(born 1553)

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em 17th century in science 1610s in science