1646 in science

Technology

• Pascal's law, a law of hydrostatics is developed, stating that, in a perfect fluid, the pressure exerted on it anywhere is transmitted equally.

Publications

• Dr Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica is published in London, introducing the words electricity, medical, pathology, hallucination and computer to the English language and casting doubt on the theory of spontaneous generation.

Births

• April 20 – Charles Plumier, French botanist (died 1704)
• July 1 – Gottfried Leibniz, German scientist and mathematician (died 1716)

Deaths

• November 29 – Laurentius Paulinus Gothus, Swedish theologian and astronomer (born 1565)

References

References

1. Williams, Hywel. (2005). "Cassell's Chronology of World History". Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
2. Chalmers, Gordon. (1937). "The Lodestone and the Understanding of Matter in Seventeenth Century England". Philosophy of Science.