Editing 1890 in science (section)

==Technology==
* May – [[Herbert Akroyd Stuart]], in collaboration with Charles Richard Binney and [[Richard Hornsby & Sons]], files a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[patent]] for ''Improvements in Engines Operated by the Explosion of Mixtures of Combustible Vapour or Gas and Air'', the first successful design of [[hot bulb engine]], which will be produced as the heavy-oil [[Hornsby-Akroyd oil engine]].<ref>British Patent 7146. {{cite web|title=The Akroyd Oil Engine |work=Ray Hooley's – Ruston-Hornsby – Engine Pages |url=http://www.oldengine.org/members/ruston/History6.htm |accessdate=2011-05-31 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524213717/http://www.oldengine.org/members/ruston/History6.htm |archivedate=24 May 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* August 6 – At [[Auburn Correctional Facility|Auburn Prison]] in [[New York (state)|New York]], [[William Kemmler]] becomes the first person to be [[capital punishment|executed]] in the [[Alternating current|AC]] [[electric chair]].
* October 9 – The first brief flight of [[Clément Ader]]'s steam-powered [[fixed-wing aircraft]] ''Eole'' takes place in [[Satory]], [[France]]. It flies uncontrolled approximately {{convert|50|m|ft|abbr=on}} at a height of 20&nbsp;cm, the first take-off of a powered airplane solely under its own power.<ref>{{cite web|first=Tom D|last=Crouch|title=Clément Ader|work=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/5780/Clement-Ader|accessdate=2011-03-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.flyingmachines.org/ader.html|first=Carroll|last=Gray|title=Clement Ader 1841–1925|work=Flying Machines|date=1998–2003|accessdate=2011-03-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=Charles H.|last=Gibbs-Smith|authorlink=Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith|title=Hops and Flights: A Roll Call of Early Powered Take-offs|journal=[[Flight International|Flight]]|volume=75|page=468|year=1959|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959%20-%200937.html|accessdate=2011-03-03}}</ref>
* Approximate date – British civil engineer [[Ernest William Moir]] invents the [[airlock]] while working in New York.
* Scottish American chemist [[William Morrison (chemist)|William Morrison]] produces the first successful practical [[History of the electric vehicle|electric road vehicle]] in the United States.
* The precut [[paperboard]] box is invented by [[Robert Gair]], a [[Brooklyn]] printer and packaging producer.
* The [[Hurter and Driffield]] [[film speed]] measurement system is described.