1500 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1500 CE in science
and technology
included many events, some of which are listed here.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
included many events, some of which are listed here.
Astronomy
- June 1–24 - Johannes WernerJohannes WernerJohann Werner was a German parish priest in Nuremberg and a mathematician...
tracks the movement of a cometCometA comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
. - November 5–6 - Nicolaus CopernicusNicolaus CopernicusNicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
observes a lunar eclipseLunar eclipseA lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes behind the Earth so that the Earth blocks the Sun's rays from striking the Moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, a lunar eclipse can only occur the night of a...
from RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Cartography
- Map of Juan de la CosaMap of Juan de la CosaThe map or chart of Juan de la Cosa is a mappa mundi painted on parchment, 93 cm high and 183 cm wide, currently preserved at the Museo Naval of Madrid . A line of text on the map says it was made by cartographer and sailor Juan de la Cosa in 1500 in the Andalusian port city of Puerto de Santa...
, the earliest to show the AmericasAmericasThe Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
. - approx. date - Johannes StabiusJohannes StabiusJohannes Stabius was an Austrian cartographer of Vienna who developed, around 1500, the heart-shape projection map later developed further by Johannes Werner. It is called the Werner map projection, but also the Stabius-Werner or the Stab-Werner projection...
introduces the "Werner projectionWerner projectionThe Werner projection is a pseudoconic equal-area map projection sometimes called the Stab-Werner or Stabius-Werner projection. Like other heart-shaped projections, it is also categorized as cordiform...
".
Cryptography
- approx. date - Johannes TrithemiusJohannes TrithemiusJohannes Trithemius , born Johann Heidenberg, was a German abbot, lexicographer, historian, cryptographer, polymath and occultist who had an influence on later occultism. The name by which he is more commonly known is derived from his native town of Trittenheim on the Mosel in Germany.-Life:He...
of Spanheim writes Steganographia ("hidden writing"). Copies of the manuscript circulate for a hundred years.
Earth science
- Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, 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.
Exploration
- March 9–April 22 - Expedition of Pedro Álvares CabralPedro Álvares CabralPedro Álvares Cabral was a Portuguese noble, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the discoverer of Brazil. Cabral conducted the first substantial exploration of the northeast coast of South America and claimed it for Portugal. While details of Cabral's early life are sketchy, it...
, with thirteen caravelCaravelA caravel is a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave her speed and the capacity for sailing to windward...
s, sails from LisbonLisbonLisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
to BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, which he claims for PortugalPortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. - August 10 - Diogo DiasDiogo DiasDiogo Dias, also known as Diogo Gomes, was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer. He was the brother of Bartolomeu Dias and discovered some of the Cape Verde islands together with António Noli....
becomes the first European to sight the island of MadagascarMadagascarThe Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
(which he names São Lourenço, on account of it being found on St. Lawrence's day). - Alonso de OjedaAlonso de OjedaAlonso de Ojeda was a Spanish navigator, governor and conquistador. His name is sometimes spelled Alonzo and Oxeda.-Early life:...
and Amerigo VespucciAmerigo VespucciAmerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer. The Americas are generally believed to have derived their name from the feminized Latin version of his first name.-Expeditions:...
return to SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
from their expedition to VenezuelaVenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
.
Medicine
- approx. date - Jakob NuferJakob NuferJakob Nufer was a Swiss pig-gelder who, around 1500, reportedly performed the first successful Caesarean section in history in which the mother survived....
, a SwissOld Swiss ConfederacyThe Old Swiss Confederacy was the precursor of modern-day Switzerland....
pigPigA pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
gelderGeldingA gelding is a castrated horse or other equine such as a donkey or a mule. Castration, and the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male horse to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday...
, supposedly performs the first recorded successful caesarean sectionCaesarean sectionA Caesarean section, is a surgical procedure in which one or more incisions are made through a mother's abdomen and uterus to deliver one or more babies, or, rarely, to remove a dead fetus...
on a living woman.
Pharmaceutics
- Hieronymus Brunschwygk's Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus, known as the "Small Book (of Distillation)", describes medicinal herbs and the construction of stillStillA still is a permanent apparatus used to distill miscible or immiscible liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor...
s for processing them. He will publish his "Big Book", dealing with the same subjects, in 1512.
Technology
- Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
draws a wheel-lock musketMusketA musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
, 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 matchMatchA match is a tool for starting a fire under controlled conditions. A typical modern match is made of a small wooden stick or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface...
ignition, about 15 years later. - RiflingRiflingRifling is the process of making helical grooves in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis...
in gun barrels is introduced: grooves are cut in spirals into the interior of the barrels, imparting a stabilizing spin to the projectile. - Defence of PisaPisaPisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
demonstrates the effectiveness of the trace italienne form of fortificationFortificationFortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
. - LeonardoLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
designs the first helicopterHelicopterA helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
(although it is probably unworkable). - Ottavio de'Petrucci prints music with movable typeMovable typeMovable type is the system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document ....
in VeniceVeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
.
Births
- Hernando de AlarcónHernando de AlarcónHernando de Alarcón, a Spanish navigator of the 16th century, noted for having led an early expedition to the Baja California peninsula, meant to be coordinated with Francisco Vasquéz de Coronado's overland expedition, and for penetrating the lower Colorado River, perhaps as far as the modern...
, SpanishSpanish peopleThe Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
navigatorNavigatorA navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
(d. 15411541 in scienceThe year 1541 in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.-Cartography:* Gerardus Mercator makes his first terrestrial globe, for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor....
) - Ruy López de VillalobosRuy López de VillalobosRuy López de Villalobos was a Spanish explorer who sailed the Pacific from Mexico to establish a permanent foothold for Spain in the East Indies, which was near the Line of Demarcation between Spain and Portugal according to the Treaty of Saragossa in 1529...
, Spanish explorer (d. 15461546 in scienceThe year 1546 in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.-Medicine:* Antonio Musa Brassavola of Ferrara publishes the first definitely recorded successful tracheostomy....
) - approx. date
- Pierre DesceliersPierre DesceliersPierre Desceliers was a French cartographer of the Renaissance and an eminent member of the Dieppe School of Cartography. He is considered the father of French hydrography....
, FrenchFrench peopleThe French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
cartographer (d. 1558) - Ambrosius EhingerAmbrosius EhingerAmbrosius Ehinger, also Dalfinger, Thalfinger, was a German conquistador and the first governor of the Welser concession, also known as “Little Venice” , in New Granada, now Venezuela and Colombia.Ehinger was a factor in Madrid for the Welser...
, BavariaBavariaBavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n explorer of South AmericaSouth AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
(k. 15331533 in scienceThe year 1533 in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.-Astronomy:* Petrus Apianus publishes at Ingolstadt Apiani Horoscopion and Buch Instrument ....
) - Bartolomeo MarantaBartolomeo MarantaBartolomeo Maranta, also Bartholomaeus Marantha was an Italian physician, botanist, and literary theorist.The Marantaceae, a family of herbaceous perennials related to the gingers, are named after him...
, ItalianItalian peopleThe Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
physicianPhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and botanist (d. 15711571 in scienceThe year 1571 in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.-Mathematics:* François Viète begins publication of Francisci Vietœi universalium inspectionum ad canonem mathematicum liber singularis containing many trigonometric tables and formulas on the sine...
) - Walther H. Ryff, German science writer (d. 15481548 in scienceThe year 1548 in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.-Events:* February 14 - Battle of Uedahara: Firearms are used for the first time on the battlefield in Japan....
) - Niccolò Fontana TartagliaNiccolò Fontana TartagliaNiccolò Fontana Tartaglia was a mathematician, an engineer , a surveyor and a bookkeeper from the then-Republic of Venice...
, Italian mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
(d. 1557)
- Pierre Desceliers
Deaths
- May 28 - Bartolomeu DiasBartolomeu DiasBartolomeu Dias , a nobleman of the Portuguese royal household, was a Portuguese explorer who sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, the first European known to have done so.-Purposes of the Dias expedition:...
, PortuguesePortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
explorer (b. c.1451) (drowned at sea)