1500 in science
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The year 1500 CE in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed here.
Contents |
[edit] Astronomy
- June 1–24 - Johannes Werner tracks the movement of a comet.
- November 5–6 - Nicolaus Copernicus observes a lunar eclipse from Rome.
[edit] Cartography
- Map of Juan de la Cosa, the earliest to show the Americas.[1]
- approx. date - Johannes Stabius introduces the "Werner projection".
[edit] Cryptography
- approx. date - Johannes Trithemius of Spanheim writes Steganographia ("hidden writing"). Copies of the manuscript circulate for a hundred years.
[edit] Earth science
- Leonardo da Vinci, finding many fossils in canal building sites, proposes that fossil shells of marine animals are found on mountains because Earth undergoes transformations that cause areas once submerged to become exposed.
[edit] Exploration
- March 9–April 22 - Expedition of Pedro Álvares Cabral, with thirteen caravels, sails from Lisbon to Brazil, which he claims for Portugal.[2]
- August 10 - Diogo Dias becomes the first European to sight the island of Madagascar (which he names São Lourenço, on account of it being found on St. Lawrence's day).
- Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci return to Spain from their expedition to Venezuela.[2]
[edit] Medicine
- approx. date - Jakob Nufer, a Swiss pig gelder, supposedly performs the first recorded successful caesarean section on a living woman.[2]
[edit] Pharmaceutics
- Hieronymus Brunschwygk's Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus, known as the "Small Book (of Distillation)", describes medicinal herbs and the construction of stills for processing them.[2][3] He will publish his "Big Book", dealing with the same subjects, in 1512.
[edit] Technology
- Leonardo da Vinci draws a wheel-lock musket, the first known appearance of this type of ignition, in which a spring mechanism causes a ratchet to strike sparks from iron and pyrites or flint. It will come into use, replacing match ignition, about 15 years later.
- Rifling in gun barrels is introduced: grooves are cut in spirals into the interior of the barrels, imparting a stabilizing spin to the projectile.[citation needed]
- Defence of Pisa demonstrates the effectiveness of the trace italienne form of fortification.
- Leonardo designs the first helicopter (although it is probably unworkable).
- Ottavio de'Petrucci prints music with movable type in Venice.[2]
[edit] Births
- Hernando de Alarcón, Spanish navigator (d. 1541)
- Ruy López de Villalobos, Spanish explorer (d. 1546)
- approx. date
- Pierre Desceliers, French cartographer (d. 1558)
- Ambrosius Ehinger, Bavarian explorer of South America (k. 1533)
- Bartolomeo Maranta, Italian physician and botanist (d. 1571)
- Paarangot Jyeshtadevan Namboodiri, Keralan mathematician and astronomer (d. 1610)
- Walther H. Ryff, German science writer (d. 1548)
- Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician (d. 1557)
[edit] Deaths
- May 28 - Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer (b. c.1451) (drowned at sea)[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Martín Merás, Luisa (2000). "La carta de Juan de la Cosa: interpretación e historia" (in Spanish). Monte Buciero (Ayuntamiento de Santoña) 4: 71–86. ISSN 1138-9680. http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/fichero_articulo?codigo=206305&orden=72914. Retrieved 2011-08-06.
- ^ a b c d e f Grun, Bernard (1991). The Timetables of History (3rd ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-74919-6.
- ^ Gille, Bertrand (1978). Histoire des techniques. Paris: Gallimard. ISBN 978-2-07-010881-7.
