1604 in science

The year 1604 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

9 October – The supernova which becomes known as Kepler's Supernova (SN 1604) is first observed from northern Italy. From 17 October, Johannes Kepler begins a year's observation of it from Prague. {{As of|2006}}, this is the last supernova to be observed in the Milky Way, and the last visible by the naked eye until 1987.{{cite web|title=SN 1604, Kepler's Supernova|url=http://seds.org/~spider/spider/Vars/sn1604.html|accessdate=2011-06-22| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20100131163501/http://seds.org/~spider/spider/Vars/sn1604.html| archivedate=31 January 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/detail/nasaNAS~4~4~12406~114566:Three-Great-Eyes-on-Kepler-s-Supern |title=Three Great Eyes on Kepler's Supernova Remnant |publisher=NASA |accessdate=2011-06-22 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101082248/http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/detail/nasaNAS~4~4~12406~114566%3AThree-Great-Eyes-on-Kepler-s-Supern |archivedate=1 November 2012 }}

France begins settlement in French Guiana.
Russian city of Tomsk founded in Siberia.{{cite web|url=http://www.kommersant.com/t-72/r_5/n_416/Tomsk_Region/|title=Tomsk Region|work=Kommersant|accessdate=2011-06-22| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110606082724/http://www.kommersant.com/t-72/r_5/n_416/Tomsk_Region/| archivedate= 6 June 2011 }}

Johannes Kepler describes how the eye focuses light.Astronomiae Pars Optica. Manuscript presented to Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, 1 January.
Hieronymus Fabricius's De formato foetu (On fetus development), an embryology textbook.{{cite book|author=Hieronymus Fabricius|title=De formato foetu, liber|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uIVEAAAAcAAJ|year=1624|publisher=Jacobus De Zetter|language=la}}
Joseph du Chesne's {{lang|la|Ad veritatem hermeticae medicinae ex Hippocratis veterumque decretis ac therapeusi}}.{{cite book|author=Joseph Du Chesne|title=Ad Veritatem Hermeticae Medicinae ex Hippocratis veterumque decretis ac Therapeusi|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_z2ZEYRI5qV0C|year=1605|publisher=Nebenius|language=la}}

Johannes Kepler specifies the law of rectilinear propagation for light waves.
Luca Valerio publishes his treatise on determining the center of gravity of solids, De centro gravitatis solidorum libri tres, in Rome.

1 October – The Wollaton Wagonway, from Strelley, Nottingham, to Wollaton in England, is known to have been completed by this date, being the world's first recorded overland wagonway. It runs for approximately two miles (5 km) and is built by Huntingdon Beaumont for coal haulage.{{cite journal|last=Smith|first=Richard S.|title=England's first rails: a reconsideration|journal=Renaissance & Modern Studies|year=1960|volume=4|pages=119–134}}{{cite journal|last=New|first=John|title=400 years of English railways: Huntingdon Beaumont and the early years|journal=BackTrack|volume=18|year=2004|pages=660–5}}{{cite web|author=Waggonway Research Circle |title=The Wollaton Wagonway of 1604: the World's first overland railway |url=http://www.waggonways.fsnet.co.uk/woll_wag_leaflet_a4.pdf |accessdate=2012-01-16 |date=August 2005 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218183309/http://www.waggonways.fsnet.co.uk/woll_wag_leaflet_a4.pdf |archivedate=18 February 2012 }}

10 March – Johann Rudolf Glauber, German-born chemical engineer (died 1670){{cite web|title=The Galileo Project|url=http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/glauber.html|website=galileo.rice.edu|accessdate=5 April 2018}}