1556 in science
The year 1556 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.
Astronomy and earth sciences
- January 23 – Shaanxi earthquake in China.
- February – Great Comet of 1556 becomes visible in Europe.
- Publication of Georgius Agricola's textbook on metal mining and processing, De re metallica.
- Minas de Ríotinto in Huelva, Andalusia, rediscovered.
Life sciences
- Publication in Rome of Juan Valverde de Amusco's Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano, including Realdo Colombo's discovery of pulmonary circulation.
- Publication of the standard reference work on marine animals, Libri de piscibus marinis in quibus verae piscium effigies expressae sunt by Guillaume Rondelet, Chancellor of the University of Montpellier; his anatomical drawing of a sea urchin is the earliest extant depiction of an invertebrate. Rondelet's Methodus de materia medicinali et compositione medicamentorum Palavii is also published.
- Cholera outbreak in Oran.
Births
- February 21 – Sethus Calvisius, German musician and astronomer
- August 24 – Sophia Brahe, Danish astronomer
Deaths
- November 10 – Richard Chancellor, English Arctic explorer
- 'Denis Zachaire', French alchemist