1553 in science

Astronomy

• Leonard Digges publishes his popular English language ephemeris, A General Prognostication.

Cryptography

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

Exploration

• May 10 – Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor set out from the River Thames to seek the Northeast Passage.
• * August 14 – Willoughby sights what is probably Novaya Zemlya.
• * August – Chancellor enters the White Sea and reaches Arkhangelsk.
• Naturalist Pierre Belon publishes Observations .
• Conquistador Pedro Cieza de León publishes the Primera Parte of his Crónicas del Perú.

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.
• Publication in Spain of , considered the first book on the benefits of physical exercise for health.

Births

• November 23 – Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist
• Robert Hues, English mathematician and geographer
• Thomas Muffet, English naturalist and physician
• Luca Valerio, Italian mathematician

Deaths

• February 19 – Erasmus Reinhold, German astronomer and mathematician
• August 8 – Girolamo Fracastoro, Italian physician
• October 27 – Michael Servetus, Aragonese polymath
• Pierre Desceliers, French cartographer and hydrographer