* 1638 – Tokugawa shogunate forces put down the Shimabara Rebellion when they retake Hara Castle from the rebels.

* Adrian von Mynsicht ( 1603 – 1638 ), German alchemist

* 1638 – Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese ruler of Satsuma ( b. 1576 )

However, this statement for integers can be found already in the work of another French mathematician, Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac ( 1581 – 1638 ).

James Gregory ( 1638 – 1675 ) observed the diffraction patterns caused by a bird feather, which was effectively the first diffraction grating to be discovered.

* 1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.

Nicolas Steno ( 1638 – 1686 ) is credited with the law of superposition, the principle of original horizontality, and the principle of lateral continuity: three defining principles of stratigraphy.

* John Harvard ( clergyman ) ( 1607 – 1638 ), a clergyman after whom Harvard University is named

* 1638 – David Teniers III, Flemish painter ( d. 1685 )

* 1706 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet and courtier ( b. 1638 )

* 1638 – Nicolas Steno, Danish scientist ( d. 1686 )

* 1552 – Gabriello Chiabrera, Italian poet ( d. 1638 )

* 1638 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet ( d. 1706 )

Johann Heinrich Alsted ( March 1588 – November 9, 1638 ) was a German Calvinist minister and academic, known for his varied interests: in Ramism and Lullism, pedagogy and encyclopedias, theology and millennarianism.

* 1638 – Giovanni Buonaventura Viviani, Italian composer and violinist ( d. 1693 )

* Claud Hamilton, 2nd Baron Hamilton of Strabane ( c. 1606 – 1638 )

The second half of the century saw no composers equal in stature, but in the early 17th century Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger ( c. 1580 – 1651 ) and Alessandro Piccinini ( 1566 – 1638 ) revolutionized the instrument's technique and Kapsberger, possibly, influenced the keyboard music of Frescobaldi.

* 1638 – Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, English first Lord of the British Admiralty ( d. 1696 )

* 1638 – Richard Simon, French critic ( d. 1712 )

* 1638 – Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent.

* 1685 – Emperor Go-Sai of Japan ( b. 1638 )

* 1638 – Swedish colonists establish the first European settlement in Delaware, naming it New Sweden.

* 1638 – Queen Catherine of Braganza, consort of Charles II of England ( d. 1705 )

Moses rescued from the Nile, 1638, by Nicolas Poussin

* October 13 – Nicolas Malebranche, French philosopher ( b. 1638 )

Nicolas Malebranche ; ( 6 August 1638 – 13 October 1715 ) was a French Oratorian and rationalist philosopher.

Nicolas Malebranche was born in Paris in 1638, the youngest child of

The brilliant contributions to atomic physics of Niels Bohr ( 1885 – 1962 ), the contributions to linguistics by Otto Jespersen ( 1860 – 1943 ), Ludwig A. Colding's ( 1815 – 1888 ) neglected articulation of the principle of conservation of energy, the pioneering work in anatomy and geology by Nicolas Steno ( 1638 – 1686 ), and the astronomical discoveries of Tycho Brahe ( 1546 – 1601 ) and Ole Rømer ( 1644-1710 ) indicate the range of Danish scientific achievement.

He was the heir presumptive to the throne of France from the death of his brother Nicolas Henri in 1611 until the birth of his elder brother's first son in 1638.

* Nicolas Malebranche ( 1638 – 1715 )

* Nicolas Steno ( 1638 – 1686 ), a pioneer in anatomy and geology

During 1638 and 1639 Lemercier was appointed premier architecte charged with supervision of all the royal building enterprises, in which capacity he fell into a disagreeable dispute with the cultivated Nicolas Poussin about the decorations in the Louvre.

The book claims that the myth of Arcadia and its underground river became a prominent cultural fashion and inspired various artistic works such as Jerusalem Delivered ( 1581 ) by Torquato Tasso, Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia ( 1590 ) by Philip Sidney, Les Bergers d ’ Arcadie ( 1637 – 1638 ) by Nicolas Poussin and the Kubla Khan ( 1816 ) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

In spite of his poverty he managed to get to Rome in 1636 ; there he studied the paintings of Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain and Caravaggio among his eclectic selection of models, until he was forced to flee in 1638, to escape denunciation by the Inquisition for his Protestant faith.

It is believed that the French explorer Jean Nicolet was the first non-Native American to reach Lake Michigan in 1634 or 1638.

* 1581 – Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician ( d. 1638 )

Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy became governor of the French portion of the island in 1638 Owing greater allegiance to the Knights of St John, he soon refused to accept the authority of the King of France.

* October 28 – Cornelius Jansen, French bishop of Ypres and religious reformer ( d. 1638 )

* October 9 – Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician ( d. 1638 )

* April 11 – Richard Simon, French Biblical critic ( b. 1638 )

* September 15 – Edmé Boursault, French writer ( b. 1638 )

In Holland, the Dutch Republic ’ s 17th-century ( 1609 – 1672 ) mercantilist dominion was a first instance of global, commercial hegemony, made feasible with its technological development of wind power and its Four Great Fleets, for the efficient production and delivery of goods and services, which, in turn, made possible its Amsterdam stock market and concomitant dominance of world trade ; in France, King Louis XIV ( 1638 – 1715 ) and ( Emperor ) Napoleon I ( 1799 – 1815 ) established French hegemony via economic, cultural, and military domination of most of Continental Europe.

In 1638, Thomas served in Spanish Flanders, helping to defend the fortress-city of Saint-Omer against a French siege ; in mid-June, he managed to get reinforcements into the place, then with the rest of his small army entrenched about 15 km.

In 1638, Thomas served in Spanish Flanders, helping to defend the fortress-city of Saint-Omer against a French siege ; in mid-June, he managed to get reinforcements into the place, then with the rest of his small army entrenched about 15 km.

Although the first French claims date from 1638, when François Cauche and Salomon Goubert visited in June 1638, the island was officially claimed by Jacques Pronis of France in 1642, when he deported a dozen French mutineers to the island from Madagascar.

During the Thirty Years War, the French attacked in 1638 ( under Cardinal Richelieu ) and 1647.

Richard Simon ( 13 May 1638 – 11 April 1712 ) was a French Oratorian, influential advanced biblical critic, orientalist, and controversialist.

Taking offence at this, John Casimir in 1638 left for Spain to become Viceroy of Portugal, but was captured by French agents and imprisoned by order of Cardinal Richelieu until 1640.

Dom Pierre Pérignon, O. S. B., ( c. 1638 – 14 September 1715 ) was a French Benedictine monk who made important contributions to the production and quality of Champagne wine in an era when the region's wines were predominantly still and red.

On 12 January 1638 de Poincy set sail for the Caribbean on board La Petite Europe On February 20 he took up his commission as Lieutenant Governor of the Isles of America and Captain general of the French at St Kitts.

Henri ( II ) de Rohan ( 21 August 1579 – 13 April 1638 ), Duke of Rohan and Prince of Léon, was a French soldier, writer and leader of the Huguenots.