1553 in science

The year 1553 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here.

Astronomy

 * Leonard Digges publishes his popular English language ephemeris, A General Prognostication.

Cryptography

 * 'Vigenère cipher' first described by Giovan Battista Bellaso in his book La cifra del. Sig. Giovan Battista Bellaso (Venice).

Exploration

 * May 10 – Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor set out from the River Thames to seek the Northeast Passage.
 * August 14 – Willoughby sights what is probably Novaya Zemlya.
 * August – Chancellor enters the White Sea and reaches Arkhangelsk.
 * Naturalist Pierre Belon publishes Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie et autres pays étrangèrs (Paris).
 * Conquistador Pedro Cieza de León publishes the Primera Parte of his Crónicas del Perú.

Physics

 * Venetian mathematician Giambattista Benedetti publishes Resolutio omnium Euclidis problematum, proposing a new doctrine of the speed of bodies in free fall.

Physiology and medicine

 * Michael Servetus publishes Christianismi Restitutio, including an account of the circulation of the blood.
 * Publication in Spain of Libro del Exercicio, considered the first book on the benefits of physical exercise for health.

Births

 * November 23 – Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist (d. 1617)
 * Robert Hues, English mathematician and geographer (d. 1632)
 * Thomas Muffet, English naturalist and physician (d. 1604)
 * Luca Valerio, Italian mathematician (d. 1618)

Deaths

 * February 19 – Erasmus Reinhold, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1511)
 * August 8 – Girolamo Fracastoro, Italian physician (b. 1478)
 * October 27 – Michael Servetus, Aragonese polymath (b. 1511) (executed for heresy)
 * Pierre Desceliers, French cartographer and hydrographer (born c. 1500)