1588 in science
The year 1588 in science and technology, Armada year, included a number of events, some of which are listed here.
Astronomy
- Tycho Brahe publishes De mundi aetheri recentioribus phaenomenis in Uraniborg.
- Giovanni Paolo Gallucci publishes his star atlas Theatrum Mundi et Temporis.
History of science
- October 7 – The first biography of Nicolaus Copernicus is completed by Bernardino Baldi.
Mathematics
- Pietro Cataldi discovers the sixth and seventh Mersenne primes by this year.
- Giovanni Antonio Magini is chosen over Galileo to occupy the chair of mathematics at the University of Bologna after the death of Egnatio Danti.
- Ferdinando I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, appoints Galileo to the professorship of mathematics at the University of Pisa.
Medicine
- Joachim Camerarius the younger publishes Hortus medicus.
- Thomas Muffet publishes Nosomantica Hippocratea.
Technology
- Agostino Ramelli publishes Le diverse et artificiose Machine del Capitano Agostino Ramelli, Dal Ponte Della Tresia Ingegniero del Christianissimo Re di Francia et di Pollonia in Paris.
Births
- May 2 – Étienne Pascal, French mathematician
- May 13 – Ole Worm, Danish physician, natural historian and antiquary
- September 8 – Marin Mersenne, French mathematician
- December 10 – Isaac Beeckman, Dutch philosopher and scientist
- Jean-Jacques Chifflet, French physician and antiquary
- Jan Janssonius, Dutch cartographer
- Cassiano dal Pozzo, Italian scholar and patron
Deaths
- February 24 – Johann Weyer, Dutch physician and occultist
- March 1 – Jacques Daléchamps, French physician and botanist
- March 10 – Theodor Zwinger the elder, Swiss philosopher, physician and encyclopedist
- May 5 – Giorgio Biandrata, Italian court physician
- October 2– Bernardino Telesio, Italian philosopher and natural scientist
- Leonardo Fioravanti, Bolognese physician
- Jacques le Moyne, French scientific illustrator