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Christopher Columbus was born on October 31. Also, Amerigo Vespucci was born on March 9. They where both explorers.
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Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) born.
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Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) attacks practical magic, especially, astrology, as it calls into questions traditional notions of human free will. Which concerns underscores longstanding issues associated with the Condemnations of 1270 and 1277 which seems to have undermined the authority of Aristotle.
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The London College of Physicians is granted a royal charter and functions both as a traditional professional guild as well as a learned society.
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Juan Luis Vives (1492-1540) in his On the Disciplines argues for the reform of education and a more receptive approach to skills traditionally associated with the craft and trade traditions.
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In medicine, Ambroise Paré (1510-1590) introduced new methods in surgery and for treating wounds, arguing for ointments rather than boiling oils.
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Gabriele Falloppio (1523-1562) announces his discovery of the fallopian tubes in his Anatomical Observations.
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Galileo Galilei born at Pisa, Italy, February 16; Michelangelo Buonarroti dies at Florence, 18 February; William Shakespeare born in England, 23 April.
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The noted cartographer Gerard Mercator (1512-1594) publishes his justly famous cartographic projection system.
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Pope Gregory XIII suggested reform of the Julian calendar, thus leading much of Catholic Europe away from the Julian (Old Style) calendar to the Gregorian (New Style).
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Johannes Kepler's Dioptrics analyzes optical refraction and proposes a practical means to improve the Galilean telescope.
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Jan Baptista van Helmont (1579-1644) argues for medical chemistry and the view that 'chemistry' is central to understanding physiology.