1666 in science

Events

• December 22 – French Academy of Sciences first meets.

  Astronomy

• Publication of Stanisław Lubieniecki's Theatrum Cometicum begins in Amsterdam, the first encyclopedia and atlas of comets.

  Botany

• Establishment of Herrenhäuser Gärten, Hanover.

  Mathematics

• Isaac Newton develops differential calculus.
• Samuel Morland produces several designs of pocket calculating machine and also publishes A New Method of Cryptography.

  Physics

• Isaac Newton uses a prism to split sunlight into the component colours of the optical spectrum, assisting understanding of the nature of light.
• Robert Hooke and Giovanni Alfonso Borelli both expound gravitation as an attractive force.

  Publications

• Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, publishes Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, including an attack on Robert Hooke's Micrographia.

  Births

• December – Stephen Gray, English scientist

  Deaths

• Giovanni Battista Baliani, Genoese physicist
• Song Yingxing, Chinese encyclopedist