Editing 1884 in science

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{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2012}}
{{Year nav topic5|1884|science}}
{{Science year nav|1884}}

The year '''1884 in science''' and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

==Chemistry==
* October 14 – [[George Eastman]] is granted his first [[patent]]s for photographic [[roll film]] in the United States.
* [[Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff|J. H. van 't Hoff]] proposes the [[Arrhenius equation]] for the temperature dependence of the [[reaction rate constant]], and therefore, rate of a chemical reaction.<ref>[https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/A00446 Arrhenius equation] – IUPAC Goldbook definition</ref>
* [[Hermann Emil Fischer]] proposes the structure of [[purine]], a key component in many biomolecules, which he synthesizes in 1898; he also begins work on the chemistry of [[glucose]] and related [[sugar]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title= Emil Fischer: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1902|work=Nobel Lectures, Chemistry 1901–1921|publisher=Elsevier Publishing Company|year=1966|url= http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1902/fischer-bio.html|accessdate= 2007-02-28}}</ref>
* [[Henry Louis Le Chatelier]] develops [[Le Chatelier's principle]], which explains the response of dynamic [[chemical equilibrium|chemical equilibria]] to external stresses.<ref>{{cite book|title=Henry Louis Le Châtelier|series=World of Scientific Discovery|publisher=Thomson Gale|year=2005|url=http://www.bookrags.com/biography/henry-louis-le-chatelier-wsd/|accessdate=2007-03-24}}</ref>
* [[Paul Vieille]] invents [[Poudre B]], the first [[smokeless powder]] for firearms.<ref>{{cite book|last=Davis|first=Tenney L.|title=The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives|year=1943|pages=289–292|location=New York|publisher=Wiley}}</ref>

==Climatology==
* The [[Köppen climate classification]] scheme is first published by German-Russian botanist [[Wladimir Köppen]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Köppen |first=Wladimir |date=1884 |title=Die Wärmezonen der Erde, nach der Dauer der heissen, gemässigten und kalten Zeit und nach der Wirkung der Wärme auf die organische Welt betrachtet |trans-title=The thermal zones of the earth according to the duration of hot, moderate and cold periods and to the impact of heat on the organic world) |url=https://boris.unibe.ch/9257/1/s9.pdf |url-status= |journal=Meteorologische Zeitschrift |publication-date=2011 |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=351–360 |bibcode=2011MetZe..20..351K |doi=10.1127/0941-2948/2011/105 |s2cid=209855204 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2 September 2016 |translator1-first=E. |translator1-last=Volken |translator2-first=S |translator2-last=Brönnimann}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Georg Cantor]] introduces the [[Cantor function]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Ludwig|last=Scheeffer|title=Allgemeine Untersuchungen über Rectification der Curven|journal=[[Acta Mathematica]]|volume=5|year=1884|pages=49–82|doi=10.1007/BF02421552|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Gottlob Frege]] publishes ''Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik'' ("The Foundations of Arithmetic") presenting a theory of [[logicism]].
* [[Edwin Abbott Abbott]] (as "A Square") publishes ''[[Flatland|Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions]]'', a mathematical [[novella]].

==Medicine==
* January 7 – German microbiologist [[Robert Koch]] isolates ''[[Vibrio cholerae]]'', the [[cholera]] [[bacillus]], working in India.<ref>Koch, R. (20 March 1884) {{lang|de|2=[https://books.google.com/books?id=yY41AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA191 "Sechster Bericht der deutschen wissenschaftlichen Commission zur Erforschung der Cholera"]}} (Sixth report of the German scientific commission for research on cholera), ''{{lang|de|Deutsche medizinische Wochenscrift}}'' (German Medical Weekly), '''10''' (12):  191–192. On page 191, he mentions the characteristic comma shape of ''Vibrio cholerae'':  ''"{{lang|de|Im letzten Berichte konnte ich bereits gehorsamst mittheilen, dass an den Bacillen des Choleradarms besondere Eigenschaften aufgefunden wurden, durch welche sie mit aller Sicherheit von anderen Bakterien zu unterscheiden sind. Von diesen Merkmalen sind folgende die am meisten charakteristischen: Die Bacillen sind nicht ganz geradlinig, wie die übrigen Bacillen, sondern ein wenig gekrümmt, einem Komma ähnlich.}}"'' (In the last report, I could already respectfully report that unusual characteristics were discovered in the bacteria of enteric cholera, by which they are to be distinguished with complete certainty from other bacteria. Of these features, the following are the most characteristic: the bacteria are not quite straight, like the rest of the bacilli, but a little bent, similar to a comma.)</ref> Koch and [[Friedrich Loeffler]] formulate [[Koch's postulates]] on the causal relationship between [[microbe]]s and diseases. Loeffler also discovers the causative organism for [[diphtheria]], ''Corynebacterium diphtheriae''.
* Dr [[Takaki Kanehiro]] of the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] conducts a [[controlled experiment]] demonstrating that deficient diet is the cause of [[beriberi]], but mistakenly concludes that sufficient protein alone would prevent it.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rosenfeld|first=L.|title=Vitamine—vitamin: the early years of discovery|journal=Clin Chem|volume=43|pages=680–5|year=1997|issue=4|pmid=9105273|doi=10.1093/clinchem/43.4.680|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Georg Theodor August Gaffky|Georg Theodor Gaffky]] isolates the pathogenic [[bacillus]] ''[[salmonella typhi]]'' as the cause of [[typhoid fever]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gaffky|first=G. T. A.|year=1884|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6lQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA372|title=Zur Aetiology des Abdominaltyphus|journal=Mittheilungen aus dem Kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamte|volume=2|pages=372–420}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Hardy, A.|title=Food, hygiene, and the laboratory. A short history of food poisoning in Britain, circa 1850-1950|journal=Social History of Medicine|volume=12|issue=2|pages=293–311|date=August 1999|pmid=11623930|doi=10.1093/shm/12.2.293}}</ref>
* [[Ophthalmologist]] [[Karl Koller (ophthalmologist)|Karl Koller]] announces his use of a [[local anesthetic]] ([[cocaine]]) in surgery;<ref>At a medical congress in [[Heidelberg]], [[Germany]], September 15. {{cite journal|last1=Honegger|first1=H.|last2=Hessler|first2=H.|title=[Discovery of local anesthesia by Karl Koller. I]|journal=Klinische Monatsblätter für Augenheilkunde|volume=157|issue=3|pages=428–38|location=West Germany|issn=0023-2165|pmid=4922411|language=German|date=September 1970}}</ref> Jellinek also demonstrates cocaine's effects as an anesthetic on the [[respiratory system]].
* [[Friedrich Schultze]] first describes the disorder that will become known as [[Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Enersen|first=Ole Daniel|url=http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/30.html|title=Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease|work=[[Who Named It?|Whonamedit?]]|accessdate=April 12, 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628223408/http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/30.html|archivedate= June 28, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* First known case of [[artificial insemination]] by [[sperm donation]]: William H. Pancoast, a professor in Philadelphia, takes sperm from his "best looking" student to inseminate an anesthetized woman without her knowledge, not reported for 25 years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/01/first-artificial-insemination/423198/|title=The First Artificial Insemination Was an Ethical Nightmare|last=Yuko|first=Elizabeth|date=2016-01-08|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kramer |first=Wendy |date=2016-05-10 |title=A Brief History of Donor Conception |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-brief-history-of-donor-conception_b_9814184 |access-date=2021-07-29 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Medical World |date=April 1909 |pages=163–164 |title=Letter to the Editor: Artificial Impregnation |url=http://familyscholars.org/2011/02/17/4579/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724221400/http://familyscholars.org/2011/02/17/4579/ |archive-date=2012-07-24 }} (cited in {{cite journal|author1=Gregoire, A.  |author2=Mayer, R.|year=1964|title=The impregnators|journal=Fertility and Sterility|volume=16|pages=130–4 | pmid = 14256095|doi=10.1016/s0015-0282(16)35476-0|doi-access=}})</ref>
* Among the papers on [[brain function]] published by [[Vladimir Bekhterev]] is a study on the formation of the human conception of space.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Alexander|last=Petrunkevitch|title=Russia's Contribution to Science|journal=Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Sciences|volume=23|year=1920|page=232}}</ref>

==Physics==
* [[Ludwig Boltzmann]] derives the [[Stefan–Boltzmann law]] on blackbody radiant flux from thermodynamic principles.

==Technology==
* February 12 – [[Lewis Waterman]] gets his first [[patent]] for a capillary feed [[fountain pen]] in the United States.<ref>{{US patent|293545}}.</ref>
* May 16 – [[Angelo Moriondo]] of [[Turin]] is granted a [[patent]] for an [[espresso machine]].<ref>#33/256. ''Bollettino delle privative industriali del Regno d’Italia'' 2nd Series '''15''' (1884) pp. 635–655.</ref>
* June 13 – [[LaMarcus Adna Thompson]] opens the "Gravity Pleasure [[Switchback Railway]]" at [[Coney Island]], New York City.
* October – [[Hiram Stevens Maxim|Hiram Maxim]] first demonstrates the [[Maxim gun]], the first self-powered machine gun (using [[recoil operation]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=McCallum|first=Iain|title=Blood Brothers – Hiram and Hudson Maxim: Pioneers of Modern Warfare|publisher=Chatham Publishing|location=London|year=1999|isbn=978-1-86176-096-8|page=49}}</ref>
* Fall – [[Chester H. Pond]] invents the first electrical self-winding clock.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kane|first=Joseph Nathan|year=1997|title=Famous First Facts: A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries and Inventions in the United States|edition=5th|publisher=H. W. Wilson|page=[https://archive.org/details/famousfirstfacts00kane_0/page/605 605]|isbn=0824209303|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/famousfirstfacts00kane_0/page/605}}</ref>
* [[Charles Algernon Parsons|Charles Parsons]] invents the modern [[steam turbine]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.universityscience.ie/pages/scientists/sci_charles_parsons.php|title=Charles Parsons (1854–1931)|access-date=2024-11-03|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110063209/http://www.universityscience.ie/pages/scientists/sci_charles_parsons.php|archive-date=2008-01-10|work=Profiles of Scientists from Irish Universities|via=Wayback Machine}}</ref>
* [[Charles Renard]] and [[Arthur Constantin Krebs]] make a fully controllable free-flight in [[French Army]] airship ''[[La France (airship)|La France]]'' with an electric motor.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Winter|first1=Lumen|last2=Degner|first2=Glenn|title=Minute Epics of Flight|location=New York|publisher=Grosset & Dunlap|year=1933|pages=49–50}}</ref>
* Hungarian engineers [[Károly Zipernowsky]], [[Ottó Bláthy]] and [[Miksa Déri]] invent the closed core high efficiency [[transformer]] and [[Alternating current|AC]] parallel power distribution.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Guarnieri|first=M.|year=2013|title=Who Invented the Transformer?|journal=IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine|volume=7|issue=4|pages=56–59|doi= 10.1109/MIE.2013.2283834}}</ref>
* [[Thomas Parker (inventor)|Thomas Parker]] builds a practical production [[electric car]] in Wolverhampton (England) using his own specially designed high-capacity rechargeable batteries.
* Mexican General [[Manuel Mondragón]] designs an early form of the [[Mondragón rifle]], the world's first automatic rifle.

==Other events==
* September 24 – [[Smeaton's Tower]] opened to the public on [[Plymouth Hoe]] as a monument to the history of civil engineering.<ref>{{cite web|website=The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History|publisher=Plymouth Data|last=Moseley|first=Brian|title=Smeaton's Tower|date=August 2007|url=http://www.plymouthdata.info/Memorial-Smeaton%27s%20Tower.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110316120322/http://www.plymouthdata.info/Memorial-Smeaton%27s%20Tower.htm|archivedate=2011-03-16|accessdate=2015-02-13}}</ref>
* October 22 – [[International Meridian Conference]] in Washington, D.C. fixes the [[Greenwich meridian]] as the world's prime meridian.
* [[Sophie Bryant]] becomes the first woman in England to be awarded the degree of [[Doctor of Science]], by the [[University of London]]. Also in this year, she is the first woman to publish a paper with the [[London Mathematical Society]].
* [[Sofia Kovalevskaya]] is appointed "Professor Extraordinarius" in mathematics at [[Stockholm University]] and becomes the editor of ''[[Acta Mathematica]]''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Roger|last=Cooke|title=The Mathematics of Sonya Kovalevskaya|url=https://archive.org/details/mathematicsofson0000cook|url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=Springer-Verlag|year=1984|isbn=978-0-387-96030-2}}</ref>

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Carl Ludwig]]<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: [[Albert Jean Gaudry]]

==Births==
* January 26 – [[Edward Sapir]] (died [[1939 in science|1939]]), Pomeranian-born anthropological linguist.
* January 28
** [[Auguste Piccard]] (died [[1962 in science|1962]]), [[Swiss (people)|Swiss]] [[physicist]] and [[List of explorers|explorer]].
** [[Jean Piccard]] (died [[1963 in science|1963]]), Swiss-born [[chemist]] and explorer.
* March 24 – [[Chika Kuroda]] (died [[1968 in science|1968]]), Japanese chemist.
* July 2 – [[Alfons Maria Jakob]] (died [[1931 in science|1931]]), German [[neuropathologist]].
* July 4 – [[Eleanor Williams]] (died [[1963 in science|1963]]), [[Australia]]n [[bacteriologist]] and [[serologist]].
* February 23 – [[Casimir Funk]] (died [[1967 in science|1967]]), [[Polish people|Polish]] [[biochemist]], coiner of the term [[vitamin]].
* August 5 – [[Ludwik Hirszfeld]] (died [[1954 in science|1954]]), Polish [[microbiologist]] and [[Serology|serologist]].
* August 31 – [[George Sarton]] (died [[1956 in science|1956]]), [[Flemish people|Flemish]] historian of science.
* November 8 – [[Hermann Rorschach]] (died [[1922 in science|1922]]), Swiss [[psychiatrist]].

==Deaths==
* January 6 – [[Gregor Mendel]] (born 1822), Silesian [[geneticist]].
* February 7 – [[Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt]] (born 1825), German astronomer.
* May 10 – [[Charles-Adolphe Wurtz]] (born 1817), Alsatian French [[chemist]].
* May 12 – [[Robert Angus Smith]] (born 1817), British atmospheric chemist.
* May 13 – [[Cyrus McCormick]] (born 1809), American inventor.
* July 18 – [[Ferdinand von Hochstetter]] (born 1829), German geologist.
* July 20 – Sir [[Caesar Hawkins]] (born 1798), English [[surgeon]].
* November 3 - [[Antoine Constant Saucerotte]] (born [[1805 in science|1805]]), [[French people|French]] [[physician]]<ref name="Léonore">{{Base Léonore|LH/2463/9}}</ref>
* November 11 – [[Alfred Brehm]] (born 1829), German [[zoologist]].
* November 25 – [[Hermann Kolbe]] (born 1818), German chemist.

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

[[Category:1884 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1880s in science]]