1504 in science

Cartography

• probable date – Pedro Reinel's Atlantic chart is the earliest known nautical chart with a scale of latitudes, and with a wind rose having a clear fleur-de-lys.

Exploration

• February 29 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse this night to convince Jamaican tribesmen to provide him with supplies.
• November 7 – Columbus returns to Spain from his fourth and last voyage, in which he and his younger son, Ferdinand, explored the coast of Central America from Belize to Panama.

Births

• Charles Estienne, French anatomist

Deaths

• June 19 – Bernhard Walther, German astronomer.
• exact date unknown – Domenico [Maria Novara da Ferrara], Italian astronomer.