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The year 1603 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

  • Johann Bayer publishes the star atlas Uranometria, the first to cover the entire celestial sphere, and introducing a new system of star designation which becomes known as the Bayer designation.
  • Dutch explorer Frederick de Houtman publishes his observations of the southern hemisphere constellations.

Exploration

  • Acadia, the French colony in North America, is founded.

Mathematics

  • Pietro Cataldi finds the sixth and seventh perfect numbers.

Medicine

  • Girolamo Fabrici studies leg veins and notices that they have valves which only allow blood to flow toward the heart.

Institutions

  • August 17 – Accademia dei Lincei, the oldest scientific academy in the world, is founded in Rome by Federico Cesi.

Births

  • September 15 – John Jonston, Polish naturalist and physician (died 1675)
  • Blaise Francois Pagan, French military engineer (died 1665)
  • Abel Tasman, Dutch explorer (died 1659)

Deaths

  • February 23 – François Viète, French mathematician (born 1540)
  • Robert Alaine, English astronomer (born 1558)

References