1588 in science

The year 1588 in science and technology, Armada year, included a number of events, some of which are listed here.

Astronomy

 * Tycho Brahe publishes De mundi aetheri recentioribus phaenomenis in Uraniborg.
 * Giovanni Paolo Gallucci publishes his star atlas Theatrum Mundi et Temporis (Theater of the world and time).

History of science

 * October 7 – The first biography of Nicolaus Copernicus (died 1543) is completed by Bernardino Baldi.

Mathematics

 * Pietro Cataldi discovers the sixth and seventh Mersenne primes by this year.
 * Giovanni Antonio Magini is chosen over Galileo to occupy the chair of mathematics at the University of Bologna after the death of Egnatio Danti.
 * Ferdinando I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, appoints Galileo to the professorship of mathematics at the University of Pisa.

Medicine

 * Joachim Camerarius the younger publishes Hortus medicus.
 * Thomas Muffet publishes Nosomantica Hippocratea.

Technology

 * Agostino Ramelli publishes Le diverse et artificiose Machine del Capitano Agostino Ramelli, Dal Ponte Della Tresia Ingegniero del Christianissimo Re di Francia et di Pollonia in Paris.

Births

 * May 2 – Étienne Pascal, French mathematician (died 1651)
 * May 13 – Ole Worm, Danish physician, natural historian and antiquary (died 1655)
 * September 8 – Marin Mersenne, French mathematician (died 1648)
 * December 10 – Isaac Beeckman, Dutch philosopher and scientist (died 1637)
 * Jean-Jacques Chifflet, French physician and antiquary (died 1660)
 * Jan Janssonius, Dutch cartographer (died 1664)
 * Cassiano dal Pozzo, Italian scholar and patron (died 1657)

Deaths

 * February 24 – Johann Weyer, Dutch physician and occultist (born 1515)
 * March 1 – Jacques Daléchamps, French physician and botanist (born 1513)
 * March 10 – Theodor Zwinger the elder, Swiss philosopher, physician and encyclopedist (born 1533)
 * May 5 – Giorgio Biandrata, Italian court physician (born 1515)
 * October 2– Bernardino Telesio, Italian philosopher and natural scientist (born 1509)
 * Leonardo Fioravanti, Bolognese physician (born 1517)
 * Jacques le Moyne, French scientific illustrator (born c. 1533)