1670 in science

Botany

• John Ray publishes Catalogus plantarum Angliæ, the basis of all later floras of England.
• The predecessor of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is opened as a physic garden by Drs Robert Sibbald and Andrew Balfour in Holyrood, Edinburgh, Scotland.

  Earth sciences

• Jean Picard calculates the Earth radius to within 0.44% of the modern value.
• Agostino Scilla publishes La vana speculazione disingannata dal senso: lettera risponsiva c. i corpi marini, che petrificati si trovano in varii luoghi terrestri in Naples, arguing for an organic origin for fossils.

  Technology

• The first longcase clock is built in England by William Clement.

  Births

• February 25 – Maria Margarethe Kirch born Winckelmann, German astronomer

  Deaths

• March 10 – Johann Rudolf Glauber, German chemist
• May 21 – Niccolò Zucchi, Italian astronomer