1553 in science

The year 1553 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.

Astronomy

• Leonard Digges publishes his popular English language ephemeris, A General Prognostication.^[1]

Cryptography

• 'Vigenère cipher' first described by Giovan Battista Bellaso in his book La cifra del. Sig. Giovan Battista Bellaso (Venice).

Exploration

• May 10 – Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor set out from the River Thames to seek the Northeast Passage.^[2]
  • August 14 – Willoughby sights what is probably Novaya Zemlya.^[3]
  • August – Chancellor enters the White Sea and reaches Arkhangelsk.
• Naturalist Pierre Belon publishes Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie et autres pays étrangèrs (Paris).
• Conquistador Pedro Cieza de León publishes the Primera Parte of his Crónicas del Perú.^[2]

Physics

• Venetian mathematician Giambattista Benedetti publishes Resolutio omnium Euclidis problematum, proposing a new doctrine of the speed of bodies in free fall.

Physiology and medicine

• Michael Servetus publishes Christianismi Restitutio, including an account of the circulation of the blood.^[2]
• Publication in Spain of Libro del Exercicio, considered the first book on the benefits of physical exercise for health.

Births

• November 23 – Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist (d. 1617)
• Robert Hues, English mathematician and geographer (d. 1632)
• Thomas Muffet, English naturalist and physician (d. 1604)
• Luca Valerio, Italian mathematician^[4] (d. 1618)

Deaths

• February 19 – Erasmus Reinhold, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1511)
• August 8 – Girolamo Fracastoro, Italian physician (b. 1478)
• October 27 – Michael Servetus, Aragonese polymath (b. 1511) (executed for heresy)
• Pierre Desceliers, French cartographer and hydrographer (born c. 1500)