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 Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...

involved some significant events.

Astronomy

* July 16 –

Great conjunction A great conjunction is a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, when the two planets appear closest together in the sky. Great conjunctions occur approximately every 20 years when Jupiter "overtakes" Saturn in its orbit. They are named ...

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-thousandth t ...

and Saturn, the closest together the two planets come until 2020.

Biology

* Apple orchard at Grönsö Manor 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 character ...

is first mentioned in a psychiatric treatise.

Technology

Wilhelm Schickard Wilhelm Schickard (22 April 1592 – 24 October 1635) was a German professor of Hebrew and astronomy who became famous in the second part of the 20th century after Franz Hammer, a biographer (along with Max Caspar) of Johannes Kepler, claim ...

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 o ...

. This will be the first of five unsuccessful attempts at designing a ''direct entry'' calculating clock in the 17th century (including the designs of Tito Burattini,

Samuel Morland Sir Samuel Morland, 1st Baronet (1625 – 30 December 1695), or Moreland, was an English academic, diplomat, spy, inventor and mathematician of the 17th century, a polymath credited with early developments in relation to computing, hydraulics a ...

and René Grillet).

Births

* June 19 – Blaise Pascal, 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, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

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 cau ...

(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 English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 Johann Sigismund Elsholtz (August 26, 1623 – February 28, 1688), (some sources mention his day of birth as August 28, and his death on February 19) was a German naturalist who was a native of Frankfurt an der Oder. Biography Johann Sigism ...

, German naturalist and physician (died 1688) * September 1 – Caspar Schamberger, 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 Bavaria ...

) * 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, Duke ...

) * 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 C ...

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 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 ...

(died 1688) * Margaret Lucas, ''later'' Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,

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 wo ...

(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 Imag ...

)

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) * December 24 –

Michiel Coignet Michiel Coignet (also Quignet, Cognet or Connette in Italian) (1549 in Antwerp – 24 December 1623 in Antwerp) was a Flemish polymath who made significant contributions to various disciplines including cosmography, mathematics, navigation and c ...

, 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 limit ...

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-scal ...

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, an ...

-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 ...

)

References

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