1556 in science
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The year 1556 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.
Astronomy and earth sciences
- January 23 – Shaanxi earthquake in China.{{cite book|author=International Association of Engineering Geology International Congress|title=Proceedings|year=1990|isbn=90-6191-664-X}}{{author?|date= September 2018}}{{title?|date= September 2018}}{{page needed|date= September 2018}} {{verify source|date=September 2018}}
- February – Great Comet of 1556 becomes visible in Europe.{{cite book|last=Seargent|first=David|title=The Greatest Comets in History: Broom Stars and Celestial Scimitars|location=New York|publisher=Springer Science+Business Media|year=2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DFgMAaU3vA8C|isbn=978-0-387-09512-7}}
- Publication of Georgius Agricola's textbook on metal mining and processing, De re metallica (posthumously, at Basel).{{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}}
- Minas de Ríotinto in Huelva, Andalusia, rediscovered.
Life sciences
- Publication in Rome of Juan Valverde de Amusco's Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano, including Realdo Colombo's discovery of pulmonary circulation.
- Publication of the standard reference work on marine animals, Libri de piscibus marinis in quibus verae piscium effigies expressae sunt by Guillaume Rondelet, Chancellor of the University of Montpellier; his anatomical drawing of a sea urchin is the earliest extant depiction of an invertebrate.{{cite book|title=A to Z of marine scientists|last=Charton|first=Barbara|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2003|isbn=978-0-8160-4767-3}} Rondelet's Methodus de materia medicinali et compositione medicamentorum Palavii is also published.
- Cholera outbreak in Oran.
Births
- February 21 – Sethus Calvisius, German musician and astronomer (died 1615)
- August 24 – Sophia Brahe, Danish astronomer (died 1643)
Deaths
- November 10 – Richard Chancellor, English Arctic explorer (drowned at sea) (born c. 1521)
- 'Denis Zachaire', French alchemist (born 1520)