1606 in science

The year 1606 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Frontispiece of the book Regimiento de Navegación by Andrés García os Céspedes, published in 1606.

Cryptography

• The cryptographic text Steganographia, written by Johannes Trithemius c.1499/1500, is published in Frankfurt.

Exploration

• February 26
  • Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon makes the first confirmed sighting of Australia by a European.
  • Pedro Fernandes de Queirós discovers the Pitcairn Islands.
• March – The Dutch ship Duyfken, under Captain Willem Janszoon, explores the western coast of Cape York Peninsula.^[1]
• May – Pedro Fernandes de Queirós discovers the islands of Vanuatu; believing them to be Australia, he names them La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo.^[2]
• October – Luís Vaz de Torres is the first European to sail through the Torres Strait.

Mathematics

• Giovanni Antonio Magini devises trigonometric tables of high accuracy.

Physics

• Approx. date – Galileo invents a thermometer based on the expansion of gas.^[3]

Technology

• The first recorded instance of a bayonet published in the Chinese military treatise Binglu [zh].

Births

• January 4 (bapt.) – Edmund Castell, English orientalist (died 1685)

Deaths

• September 28 – Nicolaus Taurellus, German philosopher and scientist (born 1547)
• November 13 – Girolamo Mercuriale, Italian physician and historian (born 1530)
• Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, Dutch nautical chart maker (born 1533/4)

References

1. McHugh, Evan (2006). 1606: An Epic Adventure. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-86840-866-8.
2. Richardson, William A. R. (2008). Was Australia Charted Before 1606: the Jave la Grande Inscriptions. Australia: Everbest. p. 20.
3. Drake, Stillman (2003). Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography. Mineola, NY: Dover. p. 121.