The year 1554 CE in science and technology included a number of events, some of which are listed here. Astronomy Flemish astronomer Johannes Stadius' first published work, Ephemerides novae at auctae, appears in Cologne Biology Bolognese naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi creates a herbarium. Flemish herbalist Rembert Dodoens publishes his herbal Cruydt-Boeck in Antwerp. The guinea pig is first described in the West by Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner. French physician Guillaume Rondelet begins publication of Libri de piscibus marinis in Lyon, a standard work on marine zoology. Hippolito Salviani begins publication of Aquatilium animalium historiae in Rome, a foundation of modern ichthyology. French anatomist Charles Estienne publishes a collection of tracts on agriculture, Praedium Rusticum. Exploration November – English captain John Lok voyages to Guinea. French Franciscan voyager André Thévet publishes his account of an embassy to Constantinople in Cosmographie de Levant (Lyon). Metallurgy Spanish merchant Bartolomé de Medina introduces the patio process, using mercury amalgamation to extract silver from ore, in Pachuca, New Spain (Mexico). Physics Venetian mathematician Giambattista Benedetti publishes two editions of Demonstratio proportionum motuum localium, developing his new doctrine of the speed of bodies in free fall. Technology Completion of the Church of Sant'Andrea in Via Flaminia, Rome, designed by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, the first church of the Italian Renaissance to have an elliptical dome. Births 22 March – Catherine de Parthenay, French noblewoman and mathematician (d. 1631) November – Jakob Christmann, German orientalist and astronomer (died 1613) Probable date James Lancaster, English navigator (died 1618) Walter Ralegh, English explorer (died 1618) Deaths February 21 – Hieronymus Bock, German botanist (born 1498) September 22 – Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, Spanish conquistador (born c. 1510) Tan Yunxian, Chinese physician (born 1461) unknown date – Sir Hugh Willoughby, English explorer (in the Arctic Sea) References 16th century in science 1550s in science