1666

Years:
1663 1664 1665 - 1666 - 1667 1668 1669

Decades:
1630s 1640s 1650s - 1660s - 1670s 1680s 1690s

Centuries:
16th century - 17th century - 18th century

1666 by topic:
Arts and Science
Architecture - Art - Literature - Music - Science
Lists of leaders
Colonial governors - State leaders
Birth and death categories
Births - Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments - Disestablishments
Works category
Works

1666 (MDCLXVI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). Often called Annus Mirabilis, this is the year talked about by the poem Annus Mirabilis. This year also saw a great advance in mathematics and physics by Isaac Newton. The year is also known for having all the Roman numerals used in order from biggest to smallest value.

Events

August 5 - English fleet beats Dutch under Michiel de Ruyter.
September 2 - Great Fire of London: A large fire breaks out in London in the house of Charles II's baker on Pudding Lane near London Bridge. The fire burns for three days destroying 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral, but only 16 people are known to have died.
September 5 - Great Fire of London ends.

Sir Isaac Newton uses a prism to split sunlight into its component colors, which helped us understand the nature of light more comprehensively. (See optical spectrum).
Lund University founded in Lund, Sweden.
Jean Talon completes a census of New France, the first census in North America.
Louis XIV founds the French Academy of Sciences.

January 20 - Anne of Austria, queen of Louis XIII of France and regent (born 1601)
January 22 - Shah Jahan, Mughal Emperor of India (born 1592)
January 24 - Johann Andreas Herbst, German composer (born 1588)
February 24 - Nicholas Lanier, English composer (born 1588)
June 30 - Alexander Brome, English poet (born 1620)
July 5 - Albert VI of Bavaria (born 1584)
August 15 - Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German Jesuit missionary (born 1591)
August 26 - Frans Hals, Dutch painter (born 1580)
October 29 - Edmund Calamy the Elder, English Presbyterian leader (born 1600)
October 29 - James Shirley, English dramatist (born 1596)
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Italian painter (born 1591)
Sir William Clarke, British politician
Sir Richard Fanshawe, British diplomat and translator (born 1608)
Philip Fruytiers, Flemish painter (born 1627)
James Howell, British writer (born c.1594)