1610 in science

Astronomy

• January 7 – Galileo Galilei first observes the four large Galilean moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Callisto, Europa and Io, although he is unable to distinguish the latter two until the following night. In the same year he publishes his first observations by telescope in a short treatise entitled Sidereus Nuncius.
• December – English scientist Thomas Harriot becomes one of the first to view sunspots through a telescope
• The Orion Nebula is discovered by Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc.

  Medicine

• Diphtheria epidemic in Naples, during which Marco Aurelio Severino performs successful tracheotomies.

  Technology

• Jean Beguin publishes Tyrocinium Chymicum, the first book of chemistry lectures.
• Tinsel is invented by a German silversmith, who uses real silver for the metal strands.
• Bagels are created in Krakow, Poland and given as gifts to women after childbirth.

  Births

• March 1 – John Pell, English mathematician
• Maria Cunitz, Silesian astronomer
• Marie Meurdrac, French chemist and alchemist

  Deaths

• Abul Qasim ibn Mohammed al-Ghassani, Moroccan physician
• Nikola Vitov Gučetić, Ragusan polymath
• Peter Lowe, Scottish surgeon
• Paarangot Jyeshtadevan Namboodiri, Keralan mathematician and astronomer
• December 31 – Ludolph van Ceulen, German mathematician