1617 in science

The year 1617 in science and technology involved some significant events.

Discoveries

* The hypogaeum of the family Cornelii Scipiones is discovered, and it is later excavated and pillaged in 1780‑81.

Technology

* Napier’s Bones (or the Rabdologia), a clever multiplication tool is invented by mathematician John Napier (1550-1617), a baron of Scotland.

Publications

* John Napier - "Rabdologiae", describing the Napier’s Bones calculation device.

Births

* Ralph Cudworth, the most systematic thinker among the group known as the Cambridge Platonists (d. 1688).

Deaths

* February 6 - Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist (born 1553)
* April 4 - John Napier, Scottish mathematician (born 1550)
* May 7 - David Fabricius Frisian astronomer (born 1564)