1501 in science

The year 1501 in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed below.

Astronomy

Nilakantha Somayaji completes his astronomical treatise Tantrasamgraha.
Amerigo Vespucci maps the two stars Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri, as well as the stars of the constellation Crux, which are below the horizon in Europe.

March 25 – Portuguese navigator João da Nova probably discovers Ascension Island.Albuquerque, Afonso de (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=WDAMAAAAIAAJ&q=Conception The commentaries of the great Afonso Dalboquerque, second viceroy of India], Adamant Media Corporation, p.xx. Issue 55. {{ISBN|1-4021-9511-7}}.
November 1 (All Saints) – Amerigo Vespucci discovers and names Baía de Todos os Santos in Brazil.{{cite web | url = http://educacao.uol.com.br/biografias/americo-vespucio.jhtm | title = Américo Vespúcio | year = 2014 | publisher = UOL Educaçao | accessdate = 15 December 2014 | language = pt | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140716163809/http://educacao.uol.com.br/biografias/americo-vespucio.jhtm | archive-date = 16 July 2014 | url-status = dead }}
Gaspar Corte-Real makes the first known landing in North America by a Western European explorer this millennium.{{cite book|first=Bernard|last=Grun|title=The Timetables of History|url=https://archive.org/details/timetablesofhist00grun_0|url-access=registration|edition=3rd|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=1991|page=[https://archive.org/details/timetablesofhist00grun_0/page/223 223]}}
Rodrigo de Bastidas becomes the first European to explore the Isthmus of Panama.

Continuing until 1587, a pandemic outbreak of fever, headache, sweating and black tongue spreads through Europe. Initially called morbus Hungaricus (the Hungarian disease), it will later be regarded as an outbreak of typhus.{{cite book|title=An Introduction to the History of Medicine|last=Garrison|first=Hudson Fielding|year=1921|publisher=Saunders|page=[https://archive.org/details/anintroductiont02garrgoog/page/n243 239]|url=https://archive.org/details/anintroductiont02garrgoog}}

January 17 – Leonhart Fuchs, German botanist (died 1566)
March 23 – Pietro Andrea Mattioli, Italian physician and botanist (died 1577)
September 24 – Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician and physician (died 1576)
approx. date – Garcia de Orta, Portuguese Sephardi Jewish physician (died 1568)