1661 in science

Biology

• Marcello Malpighi is the first to observe and correctly describe capillaries when he discovers them in a frog's lung.

  Chemistry

• Robert Boyle's The Sceptical Chymist is published in London.

  Environment

• John Evelyn's pamphlet Fumifugium is one of the earliest descriptions of air pollution.

  Publications

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

  Births

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

  Events

• Isaac Newton is admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, as a sizar

  Deaths

• October – Gérard Desargues, French geometer