1554 in science

• 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==

• March 22 – Catherine de Parthenay, French noblewoman and mathematician (died 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==