1888 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1888 in science
and technology
involved some significant events, listed below.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
involved some significant events, listed below.
Astronomy
- January 3 - The 91 cm refracting telescopeRefracting telescopeA refracting or refractor telescope is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image . The refracting telescope design was originally used in spy glasses and astronomical telescopes but is also used for long focus camera lenses...
at Lick ObservatoryLick ObservatoryThe Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, USA...
is first used. The James Lick telescopeJames Lick telescopeThe James Lick Telescope is an antique refracting 36 inch telescope built in 1889 that can still be viewed through today...
is the largest refractor in the world at this time, and the observatoryObservatoryAn observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
is the first established at the top of a mountain. - The 76 cm refracting telescope is completed at Nice ObservatoryNice ObservatoryThe Observatoire de Nice is an astronomical observatory located in Nice, France on the summit of Mont Gros. The observatory was initiated in 1879 by the banker Raphaël Bischoffsheim...
.
Biology
- The isolation of ricinRicinRicin , from the castor oil plant Ricinus communis, is a highly toxic, naturally occurring protein. A dose as small as a few grains of salt can kill an adult. The LD50 of ricin is around 22 micrograms per kilogram Ricin , from the castor oil plant Ricinus communis, is a highly toxic, naturally...
is described by Peter Hermann StillmarkPeter Hermann StillmarkIn 1888 at the University in Dorpat, now Tartu in Estonia under prof. Robert Kobert's supervision Peter Hermann Stillmark completed his doctoral thesis "Über Ricin, ein giftiges Ferment aus den Samen von Ricinus comm. L. und einigen anderen Euphorbiaceen", which is a description of the isolation...
and marks the foundation of a new branch of science called lectinLectinLectins are sugar-binding proteins that are highly specific for their sugar moieties. They play a role in biological recognition phenomena involving cells and proteins. For example, some viruses use lectins to attach themselves to the cells of the host organism during infection...
ology.
Chemistry
- Methyl isocyanateMethyl isocyanateMethyl isocyanate is an organic compound with the molecular formula CH3NCO. Synonyms are isocyanatomethane, methyl carbylamine, and MIC. Methyl isocyanate is an intermediate chemical in the production of carbamate pesticides . It has also been used in the production of rubbers and adhesives...
is discovered. - Henri-Louis Le Chatelier states that the response of a chemical system perturbed from equilibriumChemical equilibriumIn a chemical reaction, chemical equilibrium is the state in which the concentrations of the reactants and products have not yet changed with time. It occurs only in reversible reactions, and not in irreversible reactions. Usually, this state results when the forward reaction proceeds at the same...
will be to counteract the perturbation.
Geography
- January 27 - The National Geographic SocietyNational Geographic SocietyThe National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
is founded in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
by Gardiner Greene HubbardGardiner Greene HubbardGardiner Greene Hubbard was a U.S. lawyer, financier, and philanthropist. He was one of the founders of the Bell Telephone Company and the first president of the National Geographic Society.- Biography :...
.
Mathematics
- The American Mathematical SocietyAmerican Mathematical SocietyThe American Mathematical Society is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, which it does with various publications and conferences as well as annual monetary awards and prizes to mathematicians.The society is one of the...
is founded by Thomas FiskeThomas FiskeThomas Scott Fiske was an American mathematician. He was born in New York City and graduated in 1885 from Columbia University, where he was a fellow, assistant, tutor, instructor, and adjunct professor until 1897, when he became professor of mathematics. In 1899 he was acting dean of Barnard...
. - Hilbert's basis theoremHilbert's basis theoremIn mathematics, specifically commutative algebra, Hilbert's basis theorem states that every ideal in the ring of multivariate polynomials over a Noetherian ring is finitely generated. This can be translated into algebraic geometry as follows: every algebraic set over a field can be described as the...
is first proved by David HilbertDavid HilbertDavid Hilbert was a German mathematician. He is recognized as one of the most influential and universal mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental ideas in many areas, including invariant theory and the axiomatization of...
. - Francis GaltonFrancis GaltonSir Francis Galton /ˈfrɑːnsɪs ˈgɔːltn̩/ FRS , cousin of Douglas Strutt Galton, half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an English Victorian polymath: anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician, and statistician...
introduces the concept of correlationCorrelationIn statistics, dependence refers to any statistical relationship between two random variables or two sets of data. Correlation refers to any of a broad class of statistical relationships involving dependence....
in statistics. - Sofia KovalevskayaSofia KovalevskayaSofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya , was the first major Russian female mathematician, responsible for important original contributions to analysis, differential equations and mechanics, and the first woman appointed to a full professorship in Northern Europe.She was also one of the first females to...
discovers the 'Kovalevskaya TopKovalevskaya TopThe Kovalevskaya Top is one of a brief list of known examples of integrable rigid body motion . It was discovered by Sofia Kovalevskaya in 1888 and presented in her paper 'Sur Le Probleme De La Rotation D'Un Corps Solide AutourD'Un Point Fixe' ....
'.
Meteorology
- The global atmospheric temperature returns to normal, five years after the 18831883 in scienceThe year 1883 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Geology:* August 26 - Krakatoa begins its final phase of eruptions at 1:06pm local time. These produce a number of tsunami, mainly in the early hours of the next day, which result in about 36,000 deaths on the...
eruption of KrakatoaKrakatoaKrakatoa is a volcanic island made of a'a lava in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. The name is used for the island group, the main island , and the volcano as a whole. The island exploded in 1883, killing approximately 40,000 people, although some estimates...
(Krakatau). The volcanic dust veil, that had created spectacular atmospheric effects, also acted as a solar-radiationRadiationIn physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
filter, lowering global temperatures by as much as 1.2 degrees Celsius in the year after the eruption.
Neuroscience
- Giovanni Martinotti describes cortical cells later known as Martinotti cellMartinotti cellMartinotti cells are small multipolar neurons with short branching dendrites. They are scattered throughout various layers of the cerebral cortex, sending their axons up to the cortical layer I where they form axonal arborization...
s.
Technology
- August 10 - Gottlieb DaimlerGottlieb DaimlerGottlieb Daimler was an engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf , in what is now Germany. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development...
flies in an airshipAirshipAn airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
designed by Dr. Frederich WölfertFriedrich Hermann WölfertFriedrich Hermann Wölfert was a German publisher and aviation pioneer.-Early life:...
powered by a Daimler Motoren GesellschaftDaimler Motoren GesellschaftDaimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft was a German engine and later automobile manufacturer, in operation from 1890 until 1926. Founded by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, it was based first in Cannstatt...
-built petrol engine. - September 4 - George EastmanGeorge EastmanGeorge Eastman was an American innovator and entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and invented roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream...
registers the trademarkTrademarkA trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
Kodak, and receives a patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
for his cameraCameraA camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
which uses roll film. - October 14 - Louis Le PrinceLouis Le PrinceLouis Aimé Augustin Le Prince was an inventor who is considered by many film historians as the true father of motion pictures, who shot the first moving pictures on paper film using a single lens camera....
shoots the first recorded filmFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Roundhay Garden SceneRoundhay Garden SceneRoundhay Garden Scene is an 1888 short film directed by inventor Louis Le Prince. It was recorded at 12 frames per second, runs for 2.11 seconds and is the oldest surviving film.-Overview:...
, in LeedsLeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, using a single lens camera and Eastman paper film. - December 7 - John Boyd DunlopJohn Boyd DunlopJohn Boyd Dunlop was a Scottish inventor. He was one of the founders of the rubber company that bore his name, Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company....
patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s the pneumatic bicycle tyreTireA tire or tyre is a ring-shaped covering that fits around a wheel rim to protect it and enable better vehicle performance by providing a flexible cushion that absorbs shock while keeping the wheel in close contact with the ground...
. - Emile BerlinerEmile BerlinerEmile Berliner or Emil Berliner was a German-born American inventor. He is best known for developing the disc record gramophone...
invents the gramophone recordGramophone recordA gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
. - Nikola TeslaNikola TeslaNikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
patents the induction motorInduction motorAn induction or asynchronous motor is a type of AC motor where power is supplied to the rotor by means of electromagnetic induction. These motors are widely used in industrial drives, particularly polyphase induction motors, because they are robust and have no brushes...
. - The ballpoint penBallpoint penA ballpoint pen is a writing instrument with an internal ink reservoir and a sphere for a point. The internal chamber is filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at its tip during use by the rolling action of a small sphere...
is invented by John Loud.
Awards
- Copley MedalCopley MedalThe Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society of London for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science, and alternates between the physical sciences and the biological sciences"...
: Thomas Henry Huxley - Wollaston MedalWollaston MedalThe Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London.The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831...
for Geology: Henry Benedict MedlicottHenry Benedict MedlicottHenry Benedict Medlicott was an Irish geologist who worked in India.-Early life:He was born in Loughrea, County Galway, Ireland, the son of the Church of Ireland Rector of Loughrea, Samuel Medlicott and his wife Charlotte , daughter of Henry Benedict Dolphin, C. B...
Births
- February 14 - Robert RemakRobert Remak (mathematician)Robert Erich Remak was a German mathematician. He is chiefly remembered for his work in group theory . His other interests included algebraic number theory, mathematical economics and geometry of numbers...
(d. 19421942 in scienceThe year 1942 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* February 27 - James Stanley Hey, a British Army research officer, first detects radio waves emitted by the sun, helping to pioneer radio astronomy....
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - February 17 - Otto SternOtto SternOtto Stern was a German physicist and Nobel laureate in physics.-Biography:Stern was born in Sohrau, now Żory in the German Empire's Kingdom of Prussia and studied at Breslau, now Wrocław in Lower Silesia....
(d. 19691969 in scienceThe year 1969 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* January 15 - The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.* March 3 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module....
), physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
, Nobel laureate in PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
in 19431943 in scienceThe year 1943 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* July 21 - Living specimens of Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the Dawn Redwood, previously known only as a Mesozoic fossil, are located in China....
. - June 12 - Zygmunt JaniszewskiZygmunt JaniszewskiZygmunt Janiszewski was a Polish mathematician.-Life:His mother was Julia Szulc-Chojnicka. His father, Czeslaw Janiszewski, was a graduate of the University of Warsaw and was an important person in finance, being the director of the Société du Crédit Municipal in Warsaw.Janiszewski taught at the...
(d. 19201920 in scienceThe year 1920 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-History of science and technology:* Newcomen Society founded in the United Kingdom for the study of the history of engineering and technology.-Medicine:...
), mathematician. - August 13 - John Logie BairdJohn Logie BairdJohn Logie Baird FRSE was a Scottish engineer and inventor of the world's first practical, publicly demonstrated television system, and also the world's first fully electronic colour television tube...
(d. 19461946 in scienceThe year 1946 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* November 10 - Peter Scott opens the Slimbridge Wetland Reserve in England.* Karl von Frisch publishes "Die Tänze der Bienen" ....
), inventor. - November 15 - Harald Ulrik Sverdrup (d. 19571957 in scienceThe year 1957 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* October 4 - Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite....
), meteorologist and oceanographer.
Deaths
- January 19 - Anton de BaryAnton de BaryHeinrich Anton de Bary was a German surgeon, botanist, microbiologist, and mycologist ....
(b. 18311831 in scienceThe year 1831 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* January 7 - Great Comet of 1831 first observed by John Herapath....
), surgeonSurgerySurgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
, botanist, microbiologistMicrobiologistA microbiologist is a scientist who works in the field of microbiology. Microbiologists study organisms called microbes. Microbes can take the form of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists...
, and mycologist. - March 9 - Robert Gordon LathamRobert Gordon LathamRobert Gordon Latham FRS was an ethnologist and philologist.Born at Billingborough, Lincolnshire, Latham studied philology in Scandinavia. He graduated from King's College, Cambridge in 1833, becoming a Fellow of King's...
(b. 18121812 in scienceThe year 1812 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Humphry Davy publishes in London.-Geophysics:...
), ethnologist and philologist. - March 15 - Squire WhippleSquire WhippleSquire Whipple C.E. was a civil engineer born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, USA. His family moved to New York when he was thirteen. He studied at Fairfield Academy. He graduated from Union College after only one year...
(b. 18041804 in scienceThe year 1804 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space science:* April 5 - High Possil meteorite falls in Scotland.* September 1 - Karl Ludwig Harding discovers the asteroid Juno.-Botany:...
), civil engineerCivil engineerA civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
. - May 21 - Friedrich GerkeFriedrich Clemens GerkeFriedrich Clemens Gerke was a German writer, journalist, musician and pioneer of telegraphy who revised the Morse code in 1848. It is Gerke's notation which is used today.-Life:...
(b. 18011801 in scienceThe year 1801 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* January 1 - Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi makes the first discovery of an asteroid, Ceres, which is briefly considered to be the eighth planet....
), pioneer of telegraphyTelegraphyTelegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages via some form of signalling technology. Telegraphy requires messages to be converted to a code which is known to both sender and receiver...
. - August 23 - Philip Henry GossePhilip Henry GossePhilip Henry Gosse was an English naturalist and popularizer of natural science, virtually the inventor of the seawater aquarium, and a painstaking innovator in the study of marine biology...
(b. 18101810 in scienceThe year 1810 in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed here.-Medicine:* John Haslam, resident apothecary at Bethlem Hospital in London, produces the book Illustrations of Madness: Exhibiting a Singular Case of Insanity, And a No Less Remarkable Difference in Medical...
), scienceScienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
writer. - August 24 - Rudolf ClausiusRudolf ClausiusRudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius , was a German physicist and mathematician and is considered one of the central founders of the science of thermodynamics. By his restatement of Sadi Carnot's principle known as the Carnot cycle, he put the theory of heat on a truer and sounder basis...
(b. 18221822 in scienceThe year 1822 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Geology:* Friedrich Mohs introduces his system of classifying minerals and his scale of mineral hardness....
), physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
. - September 12 - Richard Anthony ProctorRichard Anthony ProctorRichard Anthony Proctor was an English astronomer.He is best remembered for having produced one of the earliest maps of Mars in 1867 from 27 drawings by the English observer William Rutter Dawes....
(b. 18371837 in scienceThe year 1837 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* August 9 - Edward C. Herrick, in New Haven, Connecticut, identifies the Perseids as an annual phenomenon....
), astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
. - November 1 - Nikolai PrzhevalskyNikolai PrzhevalskyNikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky and Prjevalsky, ; —), was a Russian geographer of Polish background and explorer of Central and Eastern Asia. Although he never reached his final goal, Lhasa in Tibet, he travelled through regions unknown to the west, such as northern Tibet, modern Qinghai and...
(b. 18391839 in scienceThe year 1839 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* January - The first parallax measurement of the distance to Alpha Centauri is published by Thomas Henderson.-Biology:...
), explorer.