1662
Boyle's Law Published
The Anglo-Irish natural philosopher Robert Boyle, working with his assistant Robert Hooke and a vacuum pump of exquisite construction, demonstrated that the volume of a gas varies inversely with its pressure. Published in The Sceptical Chymist's companion experiments, Boyle's Law was among the first quantitative relationships in chemistry and a foundation stone of modern physics.
Dutch Sell New Netherland Trading Posts
Struggling to defend the colony, the Dutch West India Company began liquidating outlying trading posts along the Hudson and Delaware. The colony of New Netherland, with its Dutch, Walloons, Jews, Africans, and Swedes, would survive two more years before being handed to England without a fight, though its cosmopolitan character would permanently shape the culture of New York.
Royal Society Receives Charter
Charles II formally chartered the Royal Society for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, making London one of the great scientific capitals of Europe. Its motto was Nullius in verba, take nobody's word for it. The first scientific journal, the Philosophical Transactions, would follow three years later, establishing a model for peer-reviewed publication that persists to this day.
Act of Uniformity
The Cavalier Parliament required all English clergymen to use the Book of Common Prayer. Nearly two thousand Puritan ministers who refused were ejected from their livings on Saint Bartholomew's Day. Nonconformity became a hereditary English political tradition; dissent was formally born into England as a minority identity that would produce some of the nation's most original thinkers and reformers.
Want 1662 in context? Print the whole 17th century as a one-sheet timeline chart.
Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1662?
Saeculum lists 4 curated events from 1662. The most significant is Boyle's Law Published: The Anglo-Irish natural philosopher Robert Boyle, working with his assistant Robert Hooke and a vacuum pump of exquisite construction, demonstrated…
What era was 1662 part of?
1662 falls within the Enlightenment (1651-1800). Reason, revolution, and the first global wars.
Which regions saw notable events in 1662?
The curated events from 1662 span Europe and North America.