1602 in science

Astronomy

• Thomas Blundeville publishes The Theoriques of the Seuen Planets, assisted by Lancelot Browne.

  Chemistry

• Vincenzio Cascarido discovers barium sulfide.
• Commencement of publication of Theatrum Chemicum, a compendium of European alchemical writings.

  Exploration

• May 15 – Bartolomew Gosnold becomes the first European to discover Cape Cod.
• Henry Briggs publishes his first mathematical work A Table to find the Height of the Pole, the Magnetical Declination being given in London.

  Medicine

• Felix Plater publishes Praxis medica classifying diseases by their symptoms.

  Physics

• Galileo begins his study of falling bodies.

  Births

• March 18 – Jacques de Billy, French Jesuit mathematician
• August 8 – Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician
• November 20 – Otto von Guericke, German physicist

  Deaths

• July 28 – Peder Sørensen, Danish physician
• Juan de Fuca, Greek navigator