1501 in science

The year 1501 in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed below.

Astronomy

 * Nilakantha Somayaji completes his astronomical treatise Tantrasamgraha.
 * Amerigo Vespucci maps the two stars Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri, as well as the stars of the constellation Crux, which are below the horizon in Europe.

Exploration

 * March 25 – Portuguese navigator João da Nova probably discovers Ascension Island.
 * November 1 (All Saints) – Amerigo Vespucci discovers and names Baía de Todos os Santos in Brazil.
 * Gaspar Corte-Real makes the first known landing in North America by a Western European explorer this millennium.
 * Rodrigo de Bastidas becomes the first European to explore the Isthmus of Panama.

Medicine

 * Continuing until 1587, a pandemic outbreak of fever, headache, sweating and black tongue spreads through Europe. Initially called morbus Hungaricus (the Hungarian disease), it will later be regarded as an outbreak of typhus.

Births

 * January 17 – Leonhart Fuchs, German botanist (died 1566)
 * March 23 – Pietro Andrea Mattioli, Italian physician and botanist (died 1577)
 * September 24 – Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician and physician (died 1576)
 * approx. date – Garcia de Orta, Portuguese Sephardi Jewish physician (died 1568)

Deaths

 * presumed date – Gaspar Corte-Real, Portuguese explorer (born 1450)