1654 in science

The year 1654 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Astronomy

 * Sicilian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna publishes De systemate orbis cometici, deque admirandis coeli characteribus including a catalog of comets and nebulae.

Mathematics

 * At the prompting of the Chevalier de Méré, Blaise Pascal corresponds with Pierre de Fermat on gambling problems, from which is born the theory of probability.

Physics

 * May 8 – Otto von Guericke demonstrates the effectiveness of his vacuum pump and the power of atmospheric pressure using the Magdeburg hemispheres before Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, in Regensburg.

Births

 * December 27 – Jakob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (died 1705).
 * John Banister, English missionary and botanist (died 1692).
 * prob. date – Eleanor Glanville, English entomologist (died 1709).

Deaths

 * August 31 – Ole Worm, Danish physician, natural historian and antiquary (born 1588)
 * October 18 – Nicholas Culpeper, English herbalist (born 1616)
 * Giovanni de Galliano Pieroni, Italian military engineer and astronomer (born 1586)