The Common Era Year of 1665, part of the 17th Century
1664 1665 1666
Born in 1665:
Passed away in 1665:
- January 12: Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician, dies in Castres. (b. August 16 1601, aged 63)
- September 17: King Philip IV of Spain, also known as King Philip III of Portugal, dies in Madrid. (b. April 8 1605, aged 60)
- November 19: French painter Nicholas Poussin dies in Rome. (b. June 1594, aged 71)
- December 10: Tarquinio Merula, Italian composer, dies in Cremona. (b. 1594 or 1595, aged ca. 70)
- Biagio Marini, Italian composer, dies in Venice. (b. ca. 1587-1597, aged ca. 73)
These (and other) things happened in 1665:
- The Great Plague of London, lasting from June until November, kills 75,000 people, close to a quarter of the population. 12,000 die in a single week in September. King Charles II flees to Salisbury with his court.
- English physicist Robert Hooke becomes Curator at the Royal Society. He studies and compares the microscopic structure of organic samples, naming and describing cells for the first time in history in Micrographia. In it, he also notes the "black spot" in soap bubbles, states his theory of heat, his wave theory of light, and the nature of combustion. The same year, he is nominated Professor of Geometry at Gresham College. He corresponded with Huygens, Boyle and Newton.
- Italian physicist and mathematician Francesco Grimaldi's wave theory of light is published two years after his death.
- Dutch astronomer and physicist Christiaan Huygens also investigates waves and states Huygens' Principle. Also, while recovering from an illness, he noticed that two of the large pendulum clocks in his room were beating in unison, and would always return to this synchronized pattern. Having invented the pendulum clock only eight years earlier, he set out to investigate the phenomenon. His letters, written in Latin to his father, are considered to be the first recorded example of synchronized oscillators.
- Irish chemist and natural philosopher Robert Boyle is given the honorary title of M.D. at Oxford, and makes several observations on the theory of heat and combustion.
- English mathematician and physicist Isaac Newton studies the principles of mechanics. He recognizes that all matter attracts all other matter, even though the gravitational force between small was too small to be measured at the time. He receives his B.A. at Cambridge University, returns home to avoid the plague, and develops calculus, applying fluxions to find the tangent and radius of curvature at any point on a curve in November.
- Giovanni Domenico Cassini determines the period of rotation of Jupiter, Mars and Venus, and while attempting to map Jupiter, discovers its Giant Red Spot.
- Le Journal des Savants is first published in France, and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society is first published in England.
- English poet Edward Herbert, Lord Herbert of Cherbury publishes his Occasional Verses.
- (Some sources suggest 1663.) John Milton finishes Paradise Lost, which will be published in 1667.
- A young Turkish-Jewish Rabbi by the name of Shabbetai Zevi (or Sjabtai Tswi) proclaims himself Messiah and gains support throughout Europe and the Middle East. He confronts Sultan Muhammad IV of the Ottoman Empire, demanding Eretz Israel on behalf of the Jewish people, but faced with a choice between death and conversion, choses Islam. A sect of converts, believing that this was part of the Messianic plan will prevail into the twentieth century.
- The construction of the church Sant'Andrea al Quirinale in Rome, begun in 1658 as drawn by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, is completed.
- When the Spanish King dies, his son-in-law, Louis XIV of France invades Spanish Netherlands, present-day Belgium, and the Franche-Comté, present-day Burgundy, citing his wife's heritage. The conflict eventually led to the War of the Spanish Succession.
- The Second of the Anglo-Dutch Wars is officially declared by King Charles II of England in March. The first battle, the Battle of Lowestoft, is fought on June 13. Duke James of York, later King James II, and his men on the Royal Charles sunk sixteen Dutch ships and killed over 2,000 men, including Admiral Jacob Opdam. The English proceed to invade the Dutch mainland, but are quickly expelled, and suffer many humiliating defeats in several battles fought against Dutch Amdmiral Michiel de Ruyter.
- The Carignan-Salières Regiment, become the first regular troops from France to arrive in New France, present-day Canada, to aid the colonists in fighting the Iroquois. From June to September, some 1,200 soldiers arrive in Quebec under the leadership of Lieutenant General Alexander de Prouville, Sieur de Tracy.
- Meanwhile, Jean Talon begins to conduct a New France census, which will be completed the following year, largely by personally visiting every de jure principale.
1664 1665 1666
17th century
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