1501 in science
The year 1501 in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed below.
Astronomy
- Nilakantha Somayaji completes his astronomical treatise Tantrasamgraha.
- Amerigo Vespucci maps the two stars Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri, as well as the stars of the constellation Crux, which are below the horizon in Europe.
Exploration
- March 25 – Portuguese navigator João da Nova probably discovers Ascension Island.
- November 1 – Amerigo Vespucci discovers and names Baía de Todos os Santos in Brazil.
- Gaspar Corte-Real makes the first known landing in North America by a Western European explorer this millennium.
- Rodrigo de Bastidas becomes the first European to explore the Isthmus of Panama.
Medicine
- Continuing until 1587, a pandemic outbreak of fever, headache, sweating and black tongue spreads through Europe. Initially called morbus Hungaricus, it will later be regarded as an outbreak of typhus.
Births
- January 17 – Leonhart Fuchs, German botanist
- March 23 – Pietro Andrea Mattioli, Italian physician and botanist
- September 24 – Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician and physician approx. date – Garcia de Orta, Portuguese Sephardi Jewish physician