1661 in science
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The year 1661 in science and technology involved some significant events.
Biology
- Marcello Malpighi is the first to observe and correctly describe capillaries when he discovers them in a frog's lung.{{cite book|title=Blood Vessels|last=Cliff|first=W. J.|year=1976|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-20753-3|page=14}}
Chemistry
- Robert Boyle's The Sceptical Chymist is published in London.
Environment
- John Evelyn's pamphlet Fumifugium is one of the earliest descriptions of air pollution.{{cite book|title=The London Encyclopaedia|first1=Ben|last1=Weinreb|first2=Cristopher|last2=Hibbert|publisher=Macmillan|year=1995|isbn=0-333-57688-8}}
Publications
- Abraham Cowley's pamphlet The Advancement of Experimental Philosophy.
- Johann Sperling's handbook Zoologia physica (posthumous).
Births
- May 3 – Antonio Vallisneri, Italian physician and natural scientist (died 1730)
- December 18 – Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor (died 1751)
- Guillaume François Antoine, Marquis de l'Hôpital, French mathematician (died 1704)
- approx. date – Alida Withoos, Dutch botanical artist (died 1730)
Events
- Isaac Newton is admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, as a sizar (June)
Deaths
- October – Gérard Desargues, French geometer (born 1591)