1661 in science
The year 1661 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Biology
- Marcello Malpighi is the first to observe and correctly describe capillaries when he discovers them in a frog's lung.
Chemistry
- Robert Boyle's The Sceptical Chymist is published in London.
Environment
- c. May 1 – John Evelyn's pamphlet Fumifugium is one of the earliest descriptions of air pollution.
Publications
- Abraham Cowley's pamphlet The Advancement of Experimental Philosophy.
- Johann Sperling's handbook Zoologia physica.
Births
- May 3 – Antonio Vallisneri, Italian physician and natural scientist
- December 18 – Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor
- Guillaume François Antoine, Marquis de l'Hôpital, French mathematician approx. date – Alida Withoos, Dutch botanical artist
Events
- Isaac Newton is admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, as a sizar