Editing 1883 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1883|science}}
{{Science year nav|1883}}

The year '''1883 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* March 2 – The [[Hong Kong Observatory]] is established.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hko.gov.hk/abouthko/history_e.htm|title=History of the Hong Kong Observatory|date=2011-05-20|publisher=Hong Kong Observatory|access-date=2011-08-07|archive-date=2019-01-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190111223013/http://www.hko.gov.hk/abouthko/history_e.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* April 5 – [[Liquid oxygen]] is produced for the first time.
* [[Svante Arrhenius]] develops [[ion]] theory to explain conductivity in [[electrolyte]]s.<ref name="CHF">{{cite web|title=Svante August Arrhenius|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/svante-august-arrhenius|website=Science History Institute|accessdate=21 March 2018}}</ref><ref name=Bowden>{{cite book|last1=Bowden|first1=Mary Ellen|title=Chemical achievers : the human face of the chemical sciences|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/chemicalachiever0000bowd|chapter-url-access=registration|date=1997|publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation|location=Philadelphia, PA|isbn=9780941901123|chapter=Svante August Arrhenius|pages=[https://archive.org/details/chemicalachiever0000bowd/page/32 32–34]}}</ref>
* The [[Claus process]] is first [[patent]]ed by German chemist [[Carl Friedrich Claus]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kutney|first1=Gerald|title=Sulfur: History, Technology, Applications & Industry|date=2007|publisher=ChemTec Publishing|isbn=9781895198379|page=62|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O4rzzkUQyzIC&pg=PA62|language=en}}</ref>
* The [[Schotten–Baumann reaction]] is first described by chemists [[Carl Schotten]] and [[Eugen Baumann]].

==Earth sciences==
* August 26 – [[Krakatoa]] begins its final phase of eruptions at 1:06{{nbsp}}pm 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 islands of [[Sumatra]] and [[Java (island)|Java]]. The final explosion at 10:02{{nbsp}}am on August 27 destroys the island of Krakatoa itself and is heard up to 3000 miles away.
* [[Vasily Dokuchaev]] publishes ''Russian Chernozem''.

==Genetics==
* The concept and term ''[[Eugenics]]'' are formulated by [[Francis Galton]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Galton|first=Francis|title=Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development|url=https://archive.org/details/inquiriesintohu00galtgoog|publisher=Macmillan|year=1883|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/inquiriesintohu00galtgoog/page/n217 199]}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* German psychiatrist [[Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum]] identifies a disorder characterized by recurring mood cycles which he and his student [[Ewald Hecker]] name [[cyclothymia]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Baethge|first1=C.|last2=Salvatore|first2=P.|last3=Baldessarini|first3=R. J.|title=Cyclothymia, a circular mood disorder|journal=History of Psychiatry|date=September 2003|volume=14|issue=55 Pt 3|pages=377–390|pmid=14621693|doi=10.1177/0957154X030143008|s2cid=145076032}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Koukopoulos|first1=A.|title=Ewald Hecker's description of cyclothymia as a cyclical mood disorder: its relevance to the modern concept of bipolar II|journal=Journal of Affective Disorders|date=January 2003|volume=73|issue=1–2|pages=199–205|pmid=12507752|doi=10.1016/S0165-0327(02)00326-9}}</ref>
* [[Thomas Clouston (psychiatrist)|Thomas Clouston]] publishes ''Clinical Lectures on Mental Diseases''.
* [[Emil Kraepelin]] publishes ''Compendium der Psychiatrie''.
* ''[[Journal of the American Medical Association]]'' first published under this title.

==Physics==
* [[Osborne Reynolds]] popularizes use of the [[Reynolds number]] in [[fluid mechanics]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Reynolds|first=Osborne|year=1883|title=An experimental investigation of the circumstances which determine whether the motion of water shall be direct or sinuous, and of the law of resistance in parallel channels|journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]]|volume=174|pages=935–982|jstor=109431|doi=10.1098/rstl.1883.0029|doi-access=free|bibcode=1883RSPT..174..935R}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Rott|first=N.|s2cid=54583669|title=Note on the history of the Reynolds number|journal=[[Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics]]|volume=22|issue=1|year=1990|pages=1–11|doi=10.1146/annurev.fl.22.010190.000245|bibcode=1990AnRFM..22....1R}}</ref>

==Technology==
* January 19 –  The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires begins service in [[Roselle, New Jersey]], United States, installed by [[Thomas Edison]].
* May 24 – [[Brooklyn Bridge]] opens to traffic in [[New York City|New York]]. Designed by [[John A. Roebling]] with project management assisted by his wife [[Emily Warren Roebling|Emily]], its main [[Suspension bridge|suspension]] span of {{convert|1595|ft|6|in|m}} [[List of longest suspension bridge spans#History of longest suspension spans|exceeds the previous record]] by {{convert|330|ft|m}}, and will not be surpassed for twenty years.
* [[Charles Fritts]] constructs the first [[solar cell]] using the [[semiconductor]] [[selenium]] on a thin layer of [[gold]] to form a device giving less than 1% efficiency.

==Zoology==
* August 12 – The last [[quagga]] dies at the [[Artis Magistra zoo]] in [[Amsterdam]].

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin|William Thomson]], Lord Kelvin<ref>{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |accessdate=23 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Wollaston Medal]] for Geology: [[William Thomas Blanford]]

==Births==
* January 4 – [[Johanna Westerdijk]] (died [[1961 in science|1961]]), [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[Plant pathology|plant pathologist]].
* February 10 – [[Edith Clarke]] (died [[1959 in science|1959]]), American electrical engineer, inducted into the [[National Inventors Hall of Fame]].
* March 4 – [[Julius Fromm]] (died [[1945 in science|1945]]), German businessman, inventor known for the [[Condom machine]] 
* May 5 – [[Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler]] (died [[1966 in science|1966]]), American mathematician.
* May 13 – [[Georgios Papanikolaou]] (died [[1962 in science|1962]]), [[Greece|Greek]]-born [[cytopathologist]], [[inventor]] of the [[Pap smear]].
* June 24 – [[Victor Francis Hess]] (died [[1964 in science|1964]]), [[Americans|American]] [[physicist]].
* July 15 – [[Orii Hyōjirō]] (died [[1970 in science|1970]]), Japanese animal specimen collector.
* August 4 – [[Sydney Smith (forensic expert)|Sydney Smith]] (died [[1969 in science|1969]]), [[New Zealand]]-born [[Forensic pathology|forensic pathologist]].
* August 6 – [[Constance Georgina Adams]] (died [[1968 in science|1968]]), South African botanist.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rall |first=Maureen |title=Petticoat Pioneers: The History of the Pioneer Women who Lived on the Diamond Fields in the Early Years| location=Kimberley, South Africa |publisher=Kimberley Africana Library |year=2002 |page=117 |isbn=978-0-62027-613-9}}</ref>
* October 2 – [[Karl von Terzaghi]] (died [[1963 in science|1963]]), [[Austria]]n "father of [[soil mechanics]]".
* October 8 – [[Otto Heinrich Warburg]] (died [[1970 in science|1970]]), [[Germans|German]] [[physiologist]], winner of the 1931 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]].

==Deaths==
* January 23 – [[George Miller Beard]] (born [[1839 in science|1839]]), American [[neurologist]].
* April 10 - [[Maurice Krishaber]] (born [[1836 in science|1836]]), naturalised French [[Hungarian people|Hungarian]] [[otorhinolaryngologist]].<ref name=":1">{{Base Léonore|LH/1409/37}}</ref>
* April 14 – [[William Farr]] (born [[1807 in science|1807]]), [[English people|English]] [[epidemiologist]].
* April 28 – Rev. [[John Russell (parson)|John Russell]] (born [[1795 in science|1795]]), English [[dog breeder]].
* May 13 – [[James Young (Scottish chemist)|James Young]] (born [[1811 in science|1811]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[chemist]].
* June 18 – [[John James Waterston|John Waterston]] (born 1811), Scottish physicist and [[civil engineer]] (drowned).
* June 26 – General Sir [[Edward Sabine]] (born [[1788 in science|1788]]), [[Anglo-Irish]] physicist, [[astronomer]] and [[List of explorers|explorer]].
* September 15 – [[Joseph Plateau]] (born [[1801 in science|1801]]), [[Belgians|Belgian]] physicist.
* December 8 – [[François Lenormant]] (born [[1837 in science|1837]]), [[French people|French]] [[Assyriology|assyriologist]] and [[Numismatics|numismatist]].
* December 13 – [[John Stringfellow]] (born [[1799 in science|1799]]), English pioneer of heavier-than-air flight.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1883 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1880s in science]]