1638 in science

Astronomy

• December 21 – Total eclipse of the Moon falls on the same day as the winter solstice, for the first time in the Common Era.

Geology

• .
• . The epicentre was in Crotone.

Physics

• The final book of the now-blind Galileo, Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche, intorno à due nuove scienze is published in Leiden, dealing with the strength of materials and the motion of objects. In it, he discusses the square–cube law, the law of falling bodies and infinity. He also discusses his experimental method for measuring the speed of light; he has been unable to determine it over a short distance.

Publications

• Publication of The Man in the Moone, or the Discovrse of a Voyage thither "by Domingo Gonsales", an early example of science fiction.

Births

• January 1 – Nicolas Steno, Danish pioneer of geology
• March 28 – Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist
• April 19 - Niccolao Manucci, Italian physician, writer and traveller
• May 11 – Guy-Crescent Fagon, French physician and botanist
• June 8 – Pierre Magnol, French botanist
• June 29 - Heinrich Meibom, German physician and scholar
• July 22 - Theodor Kerckring, Dutch anatomist and chemical physician
• November 21 - Luca Tozzi, Italian physician
• November – James Gregory, Scottish mathematician and astronomer
• Paolo Falconieri, Florentine polymath

Deaths

• February 26 – Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician
• April 15/16 – John Tradescant the elder, English botanist
• October 21 – Willem Blaeu, Dutch cartographer
• October 29 – Adrian von Mynsicht, German alchemist
• December 7 - Epifanio Ferdinando, Italian physician and philosoph