1553 in science

The year 1553 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.

Astronomy

Leonard Digges publishes his popular English language ephemeris, A General Prognostication.{{cite journal|last=Ronan|first=Colin A.|authorlink=Colin Ronan|title=Leonard and Thomas Digges|journal=Journal of the British Astronomical Association|volume=101|issue=6|year=1991|url=http://www.chocky.demon.co.uk/oas/diggeshistory.html|accessdate=2012-01-25|archive-date=2008-03-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327123909/http://www.chocky.demon.co.uk/oas/diggeshistory.html|url-status=dead}}

'Vigenère cipher' first described by Giovan Battista Bellaso in his book La cifra del. Sig. Giovan Battista Bellaso (Venice).

May 10 – Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor set out from the River Thames to seek the Northeast Passage.{{cite book|first=Bernard|last=Grun|title=The Timetables of History|edition=3rd|location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=1991|isbn=0-671-74919-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/timetablesofhist1991grun/page/245 245]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/timetablesofhist1991grun}}
August 14 – Willoughby sights what is probably Novaya Zemlya.{{cite ODNB|first=James|last=McDermott|title=Willoughby, Sir Hugh (d. 1554?)|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29599|accessdate=2011-10-24|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/29599}}
August – Chancellor enters the White Sea and reaches Arkhangelsk.
Naturalist Pierre Belon publishes {{lang|fr|Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie et autres pays étrangèrs}} (Paris).
Conquistador Pedro Cieza de León publishes the {{lang|es|Primera Parte}} of his {{lang|es|Crónicas del Perú}}.

Venetian mathematician Giambattista Benedetti publishes Resolutio omnium Euclidis problematum, proposing a new doctrine of the speed of bodies in free fall.

Michael Servetus publishes Christianismi Restitutio, including an account of the circulation of the blood.
Publication in Spain of [https://openlibrary.org/works/OL611727W/Libro_del_ejercicio_corporal_y_de_sus_provechos_por_el_cual_cada_uno_podra%CC%81_entender_que%CC%81_ejercicio_le_sea_necesario_para_conservar_su_salud Libro del Exercicio], considered the first book on the benefits of physical exercise for health.

November 23 – Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist (d. 1617)
Robert Hues, English mathematician and geographer (d. 1632)
Thomas Muffet, English naturalist and physician (d. 1604)
Luca Valerio, Italian mathematician[http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/valerio.html The Galileo Project - Valerio (Valeri), Luca] has 1552, but Baldini and Napolitani proved that he was born in 1553. (d. 1618)

February 19 – Erasmus Reinhold, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1511)
August 8 – Girolamo Fracastoro, Italian physician (b. 1478)
October 27 – Michael Servetus, Aragonese polymath (b. 1511) (executed for heresy)
Pierre Desceliers, French cartographer and hydrographer (born c. 1500)