1660 – 1670s

Events in the 1660s 10

• 1599 – 1660 Diego Velázquez Baroque · Spain Diego Velázquez (June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660) was the leading painter of the Spanish Golden Age and court painter to Philip IV. Las Meninas is considered one of the most important paintings in Western art history.
• 1606 – 1669 Rembrandt Dutch Golden Age · Netherlands Rembrandt van Rijn (July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker, master of light and shadow, and one of the greatest portraitists and storytellers in art history. The Night Watch is his most celebrated work.
• 1660 – 1731 Daniel Defoe English novelist Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe, one of the earliest English novels and a foundation of realism in fiction.
• 1661 – 1722 Emperor Kangxi — longest-reigning Chinese emperor 61 years on the throne — a Qing golden age The Kangxi Emperor ruled from 1661 to 1722 — 61 years, the longest reign of any Chinese emperor. He consolidated Qing control over China and Taiwan, repelled Russian expansion in the north (Treaty of Nerchinsk, 1689 — China's first Western-style treaty), patronised arts and scholarship, and commissioned vast encyclopaedias. Under Kangxi the Qing empire reached its greatest stability and prosperity.
• 1665 Hooke discovers the cell Micrographia: the basic unit of life revealed In 1665, Robert Hooke published Micrographia, describing his observations through a microscope. Examining a thin slice of cork, he saw tiny box-like compartments and named them cells — the first use of the word in biology. The book also contained Hooke's observations of insects, fossils, and the wave nature of light, and was the first scientific bestseller, read avidly by Samuel Pepys.
• 1665 – 1683 Van Leeuwenhoek discovers microorganisms Animalcules — the first living bacteria and protozoa seen Between 1665 and 1683, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek of Delft ground lenses of extraordinary quality and used them to discover a previously invisible world. He was the first to observe bacteria (in dental scrapings, 1683), protozoa, sperm cells, red blood cells, and the capillaries connecting arteries and veins that Harvey had predicted. He corresponded with the Royal Society for fifty years, describing over 200 different microorganisms.
• 1666 – 1687 Newton — gravity, light and calculus Principia Mathematica: the laws governing the universe Between 1666 and 1687, Isaac Newton formulated the law of universal gravitation, the three laws of motion, the corpuscular theory of light (showing white light is a spectrum of colours), and co-invented calculus (independently of Leibniz). His Principia Mathematica (1687) unified terrestrial and celestial mechanics, explaining both falling apples and planetary orbits with a single mathematical framework. It is the most influential scientific book ever written.
• 1667 – 1745 Jonathan Swift Irish satirist Swift wrote Gullivers Travels, a sharp satire on politics, science, and human behavior.
• 1668 – 1733 François Couperin French Baroque harpsichordist Known as "Couperin le Grand", he was the leading French keyboard composer of the Baroque era, famous for his elegant harpsichord suites.
• 1669 Steno — fossils and geological strata Fossils are remains of ancient organisms; rock layers record history In 1669, Nicolas Steno (Niels Steensen) published his Prodromus, establishing that fossils are the remains of ancient living organisms, not random shapes in rock. He also formulated the principle of superposition (deeper rock layers are older) and identified the systematic nature of sedimentary strata. These ideas founded stratigraphy and historical geology, and were crucial precursors to Darwin's theory of evolution.