1666 in science
The year 1666 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Events
- December 22 – French Academy of Sciences first meets.
Astronomy
- Publication of Stanisław Lubieniecki's Theatrum Cometicum begins in Amsterdam, the first encyclopedia and atlas of comets.
Botany
Mathematics
- Isaac Newton develops differential calculus.
- Samuel Morland produces several designs of pocket calculating machine and also publishes A New Method of Cryptography.
Physics
- Isaac Newton uses a prism to split sunlight into the component colours of the optical spectrum, assisting understanding of the nature of light.
- Robert Hooke and Giovanni Alfonso Borelli both expound gravitation as an attractive force.
Publications
- Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle upon Tyne, publishes Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, including an attack on Robert Hooke's Micrographia.
Births
- December – Stephen Gray, English scientist
Deaths
- Giovanni Battista Baliani, Genoese physicist
- Song Yingxing, Chinese encyclopedist