1661 in science

Last updated October 05, 2025

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.^[1]

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.^[2]

Publications

Abraham Cowley's pamphlet The Advancement of Experimental Philosophy.
Johann Sperling's handbook Zoologia physica (posthumous).

Births

May 3 – Antonio Vallisneri, Italian physician and natural scientist (died 1730)
December 18 – Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor (died 1751)
Guillaume François Antoine, Marquis de l'Hôpital, French mathematician (died 1704)
approx. date – Alida Withoos, Dutch botanical artist (died 1730)

Events

Isaac Newton is admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, as a sizar (June)

Deaths

October – Gérard Desargues, French geometer (born 1591)

References

↑ Cliff, W. J. (1976). Blood Vessels. Cambridge University Press. p. 14. ISBN 0-521-20753-3.
↑ Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Cristopher (1995). The London Encyclopaedia. Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-57688-8.

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[1] Cliff, W. J. (1976). Blood Vessels. Cambridge University Press. p. 14. ISBN 0-521-20753-3.

[2] Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Cristopher (1995). The London Encyclopaedia. Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-57688-8.

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