Editing 1676 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1676|science}}
{{Science year nav|1676}}

The year '''1676 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events.

==Astronomy==
* Summer – The [[Royal Greenwich Observatory]], designed by [[Christopher Wren]], is completed near London.<ref>{{cite book|first=R.|last=Chambers|authorlink=Robert Chambers (publisher born 1802)|title=The Book of Days|url=https://archive.org/details/b22650477_0002|year=1878}}</ref>
* December 7 – [[Danes|Danish]] astronomer [[Ole Rømer]] measures the [[speed of light]] by observing the eclipses of [[Jupiter]]'s [[natural satellite|moons]], obtaining a speed of 140,000 miles per second (approximately 25% too slow).
* [[Edmond Halley]] arrives on the island of [[Saint Helena]], having left the [[University of Oxford]], and sets up an astronomical [[observatory]] to catalogue stars from the [[Southern Hemisphere]].

==Biology==
* [[Antony Van Leeuwenhoek]] discovers [[bacteria]], observed with the [[microscope]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=September 17, 2018|work=India Today |title=How bacteria was discovered by the father of microbiology, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/bacteria-discovery-by-antonie-van-leeuwenhoek-1341671-2018-09-17|access-date=2021-08-30}}</ref>
* [[Francis Willughby]]'s ''Ornithologiae'' is published by [[John Ray]], the foundation of scientific [[ornithology]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Frank N.|last=Egerton|title=A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 18: John Ray and His Associates Francis Willughby and William Derham|url=http://www.esapubs.org/bulletin/current/history_list/history18.pdf|journal=Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America|volume=86|issue=4 |pages=301–313|accessdate=2011-04-26 |date=October 2005|doi=10.1890/0012-9623(2005)86[301:ahotes]2.0.co;2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|authorlink=Geoffrey Keynes|last=Keynes|first=Sir Geoffrey|year=1976|title=John Ray, 1627–1705: a bibliography 1660–1970|publisher=Van Heusden|location=Amsterdam|page=52}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|authorlink=Charles E. Raven|last=Raven|first=Charles E.|year=1942|title=John Ray, naturalist: his life and works|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|authorlink=Alfred Newton|last=Newton|first=Alfred|year=1893|title=Dictionary of Birds|url=https://archive.org/details/adictionarybird00shufgoog|publisher=Black|location=London}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* [[William Briggs (physician)|William Briggs]] publishes an anatomy of the eye (the first in [[England]]), ''Ophthalmographia'', at [[Cambridge]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Barbara Beigun|last=Kaplan|title=Briggs, William (c.1650–1704)|work=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3413|accessdate=2011-10-10|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/3413}} {{ODNBsub}}</ref>
* [[Thomas Sydenham]] publishes the textbook ''{{lang|la|Observationes mediciae}}'', the enlarged 3rd edition of his ''{{lang|la|Methodus curandi febres}}''.

==Paleontology==
* The first [[fossil]]ised bone of what is now known to be a [[dinosaur]] is discovered in England by [[Robert Plot]], the [[femur]] of a [[Megalosaurus]] from a limestone quarry at Cornwell near [[Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Sarjeant|first=William A.S.|editor=Farlow, James O.|editor2=Brett-Surman, Michael K.|title=The Complete Dinosaur|year=1997|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|isbn=0-253-33349-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780253333490/page/3 3–11]|chapter=The earliest discoveries|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780253333490/page/3}}</ref>

==Physics==
* [[Robert Hooke]] first reveals [[Hooke's law]] as a Latin [[anagram]].<ref>The anagram is given in alphabetical order, ''ceiiinosssttuv'', representing {{lang|la|Ut tensio, sic vis}} – "As the extension, so the force": {{cite book|last=Petroski|first=Henry|author-link=Henry Petroski|title=Invention by Design: How Engineers Get from Thought to Thing|url=https://archive.org/details/inventionbydesig00petr|url-access=registration|year=1996|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, MA|isbn=978-0674463684|page=[https://archive.org/details/inventionbydesig00petr/page/11 11]}}</ref>

==Technology==
* July 7 – The first [[clock]]s using a form of [[deadbeat escapement]], constructed by [[Thomas Tompion]] to a design by [[Richard Towneley]], are installed at the [[Royal Greenwich Observatory]].

==Births==
* May 28 – [[Jacopo Riccati]], [[Italian people|Italian]] [[mathematician]] (died [[1754 in science|1754]])
* [[Caleb Threlkeld]], [[Irish people|Irish]] [[botanist]] (died [[1728 in science|1728]])
* [[Maria Clara Eimmart]], German astronomer, engraver and designer  (died [[1707 in science|1707]])

==Deaths==
* May 25 – [[Johann Rahn]], [[Swiss people|Swiss]] mathematician (born [[1622 in science|1622]])
* September 4 – [[John Ogilby]], [[English people|English]] [[cartographer]] (born [[1600 in science|1600]])

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1676 in science| ]]
[[Category:17th century in science]]
[[Category:1670s in science]]