1518 in science explained

The year 1518 in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed here.

Astronomy

• May 26 – A Transit of Venus occurs.

Exploration

• May 1 – Juan de Grijalva arrives at the Tabasco region of Mexico.^[1]
• Martín Fernández de Enciso publishes his Suma de Geographia in Castile, a summary of world geography incorporating the latest discoveries in the New World.

Mathematics

• Henricus Grammateus publishes Ayn neu Kunstlich Buech in Vienna, containing the earliest printed use of plus and minus signs for arithmetic.^[2] He also publishes Latin: Libellus de compositione regularum pro vasorum mensuratione. Deque arte ista tota theoreticae et practicae and a new musical temperament.^[3]
• Adam Ries publishes German: Rechnung auff der linihen, describing the use of a calculating board, a kind of two-dimensional abacus, for practical arithmetic.^[1]

Medicine

• July – dancing plague, a case of dancing mania, breaks out in Strasbourg.^[4]
• September 23 – College of Physicians founded in London.^[5]
• Jacopo Berengario da Carpi publishes Tractatus de Fractura Calve sive Cranii in Bologna, the first monograph on neurosurgery.^[6]
• Publication of Antonio de Nebrija's Lexicon artis medicamentariae, "which contains the correspondence in vulgar language of the Greek and Latin names of the plants".^[7]

Births

• July 3 - Li Shizhen, Chinese physician, pharmacologist and mineralogist (died 1593)

Notes and References

1. Book: Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History. 3rd. New York. Simon & Schuster. 1991. 231. 0-671-74919-6. registration.
2. http://members.aol.com/jeff570/operation.html Miller, J. et al. "Earliest Uses of Symbols of Operation"
3. Web site: Temperaments IV: Grammateus. Technical Library. Carey Beebe Harpsichords. Sydney. 2012. 2013-08-10.
4. Web site: 'Dancing Plague' and Other Odd Afflictions Explained . Jennifer . Viegas . 2008-08-01 . Discovery News . . 2008-08-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080807123235/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/08/01/dancing-death-mystery.html . 2008-08-07 . dead .
5. Book: Williams, Hywel. Cassell's Chronology of World History. registration. London. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2005. 0-304-35730-8. 197–204.
6. Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
7. Book: León Esteban Mateo . Ramón López Martín . Buenaventura Delgado Criado . Historia de la educación en España y América . La Educación en la España moderna (siglos XVI-XVIII). Volume 2 . Ediciones Morata . Madrid . 1993 . 84-7112-376-2.