Editing 1889 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1889|science}}
{{Science year nav|1889}}

The year '''1889 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Biology==
* February 17 – The [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]] is founded in [[Manchester]] (England), originally known as "The Plumage League" to campaign against the use of plumage in women's clothing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rspb.org.uk/about/history/milestones.asp|title=Milestones|publisher=RSPB|access-date=2007-02-19}}</ref>
* [[Francis Galton]] publishes ''Natural Inheritance'', a book which summarizes the results of a number of his papers and inspires [[Karl Pearson]], [[Raphael Weldon]] and others to develop the mathematics and statistics of inheritance and biometry.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bulmer, M. G.|title=Francis Galton: Pioneer of Heredity and Statistics|year=2003|pages=202–203|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vL0hq80XXqMC&pg=PA202}}</ref>
* [[Joseph von Mering]] and [[Oskar Minkowski]] at the [[University of Strasbourg]] demonstrate that a function of the mammalian [[pancreas]] is to produce the [[hormone]] [[insulin]], the lack of which leads to [[diabetes mellitus]].<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Joseph|last1=von Mering|first2=Oskar|last2=Minkowski|title=Diabetes mellitus nach Pankreasextirpation|journal=Centralblatt für klinische Medicin|location=Leipzig|year=1889|volume=10|issue=23|pages=393–394}}</ref>
* [[Hugo de Vries]] publishes ''Intracellular Pangenesis'',<ref>Vries, H. de (1889). ''Intracellulare Pangenese''. Jena: Verlag von Gustav Fischer. Translated in 1908 from German to English by [[C. Stuart Gager]] as ''[http://www.esp.org/books/devries/pangenesis/facsimile/ Intracellular Pangenesis]''. Chicago: Open Court Publishing Co., 1910.</ref> a book which postulates the existence of [[gene]]s.

==Chemistry==
* April – British chemists [[Frederick Abel]] and [[James Dewar]] file their first [[patent]] for the smokeless propellant [[cordite]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Yoel|last=Bergman|title=The Technological Need: Abel & Dewar’s Primary Motive for Inventing Cordite in 1889|journal=British Journal for Military History|issn=2057-0422 |volume=8|issue=3|date=2022-11-28|pages=202-219|doi=10.25602/GOLD.bjmh.v8i3.1651|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365797403_The_Technological_Need_Abel_Dewar's_Primary_Motive_for_Inventing_Cordite_in_1889|accessdate=2025-05-15}}</ref>
* [[Svante Arrhenius]] provides a physical explanation for the [[Arrhenius equation]] on the [[reaction rate constant]].<ref>{{GoldBookRef|title=Arrhenius equation|doi=10.1351/goldbook.A00446
|file=A00446|year=2008}}</ref>

==Earth sciences==
* July 28 – [[1889 Kumamoto earthquake]], recorded as far away as [[Potsdam]], Germany.
* October 6 – [[Mount Kilimanjaro]]'s summit is first reached, by German geologist [[Hans Meyer (geologist)|Hans Meyer]].
* Returning to France from his expedition up the [[Niger River]], [[Louis Gustave Binger]] reveals that the [[Mountains of Kong]] do not exist.<ref>{{cite web|last=Delaney|first=John|title=Evolution of the Map of Central, East & West Africa|url=http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/africa/maps-central/central.html|publisher=Princeton University|work=To the Mountains of the Moon: Mapping African Exploration, 1541-1880|accessdate=2015-08-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828084849/http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/africa/maps-central/central.html|archive-date=2008-08-28|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==History of science==
* [[Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld]] publishes the ''Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of Cartography'' in [[Stockholm]].

==Mathematics==
* [[Joseph Louis François Bertrand]] publishes ''Calcul des probabilités'' ("Calculation of probabilities") containing the [[Bertrand's box paradox]] in [[probability theory]].
* [[Giuseppe Peano]] publishes ''[[Arithmetices principia, nova methodo exposita]]'' ("The principles of arithmetic presented by a new method") containing the [[Peano axioms]] for the [[natural number]]s.

==Medicine==
* May – [[Johns Hopkins Hospital]] opens in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], with senior founding staff comprising [[pathologist]] [[William Henry Welch]], [[surgeon]] [[William Stewart Halsted]], [[gynecologist]] [[Howard Atwood Kelly]] and [[internist]] [[William Osler]], who originates the concept of a [[Residency (medicine)|residency]] for training junior doctors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/about/history/history5.html|title=Johns Hopkins Medicine: The Four Founding Professors}}</ref>
* The [[1889–1890 flu pandemic]] originates in the [[Russian Empire]].

==Paleontology==
* First ''[[Barosaurus]]'' remains excavated in the [[Morrison Formation]] of [[South Dakota]] by [[Othniel Charles Marsh]] and [[John Bell Hatcher]] of [[Yale University]].

==Psychology==
* The [[Müller-Lyer illusion]] is devised.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Müller-Lyer |first=F. C. |year=1889 |title=Optische Urteilstäuschungen |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35372625 |journal=Archiv für Physiologie: Supplement-band |pages=263–270 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library |authorlink=Franz Carl Müller-Lyer}}</ref>

==Technology==
* January 8 – [[Herman Hollerith]] receives a [[patent]] in the [[United States]] for his electric [[tabulating machine]].<ref>{{cite patent|country=US|number=395782|status=patent|title=Art of compiling statistics|inventor=Herman Hollerith|pridate=1884-09-23|gdate=1889-01-08}}</ref>
* March 12 – [[Almon Brown Strowger|Almon B. Strowger]], an undertaker in [[Topeka, Kansas]], files a patent in the United States for an [[automatic telephone exchange]] using the [[Strowger switch]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Roger B.|last=Hill |title=The Early Years of the Strowger System|url=http://www.privateline.com/Switching/EarlyYears.html|journal=Bell Laboratories Record|volume=31|issue=3|pages=95–103|accessdate=2011-11-03|date=March 1953|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025123622/http://www.privateline.com/Switching/EarlyYears.html|archivedate=2011-10-25}}</ref>
* May 6–October 31 – [[Exposition Universelle (1889)|Exposition Universelle]] in [[Paris]], with the [[Eiffel Tower]] as its entrance arch. At 300 m, the tower's height exceeds the previous [[List of tallest buildings and structures in the world|tallest structure in the world]] by 130 m. The [[Galerie des machines]], designed by architect [[Ferdinand Dutert]] and engineer [[Victor Contamin]], at 111 m, spans the longest interior space in the world at this time.
* June 3 – The first long distance [[electric power transmission]] line in the United States is completed, running {{convert|14|mi|km}} between a generator at [[Willamette River|Willamette Falls]] and downtown [[Portland, Oregon]].
* November 23 – The first [[jukebox]] goes into operation, in [[San Francisco]].
* An early method of [[high-voltage direct current]] transmission as developed by [[Swiss people|Swiss]] engineer [[René Thury]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Beaty, Donald|title=Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers|edition=11th|publisher=McGraw Hill|year=1978|display-authors=etal}}</ref> is implemented commercially in [[Italy]] by the ''Acquedotto de Ferrari-Galliera'' company, transmitting 630&nbsp;kW at 14 kV DC over a distance of 120&nbsp;km.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.myinsulators.com/acw/bookref/histsyscable/|title=History of Electrical Systems and Cables|date=2012-01-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=R. M.|last=Black|title=The History of Electric Wires and Cables|publisher=Peter Perigrinus|location=London|year=1983|isbn=0-86341-001-4|pages=94–96}}</ref>
* Probable date – [[Car]] to the design of [[Siegfried Marcus]] completed in Vienna.

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[George Salmon]]<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: [[Thomas George Bonney]]

==Births==
* January 17 – [[Ralph H. Fowler]] (died [[1944 in science|1944]]), [[English people|English]] [[physicist]] and [[astronomer]].
* March 21 – [[Frederick Osborn]] (died [[1981 in science|1981]]), [[Americans|American]] [[philanthropist]] and [[eugenicist]].
* April 21 – [[Paul Karrer]] (died [[1971 in science|1971]]), [[Swiss people|Swiss]] winner of [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].
* May 18 – [[Thomas Midgley Jr.]] (died 1944), American [[chemist]] and [[inventor]].
* June 4 – [[Beno Gutenberg]] (died [[1960 in science|1960]]), [[Germany|German]]-born [[seismologist]].
* June 23 – [[Verena Holmes]] (died [[1964 in science|1964]]), English mechanical engineer and inventor.
* July 18 – [[Axel Boëthius]] (died [[1969 in science|1969]]), [[Swedes|Swedish]] [[archeologist]] of [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] culture.
* July 30 ([[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]] July 17) – [[Vladimir K. Zworykin]] (died [[1982 in science|1982]]), [[Russia]]n-born pioneer of television technology.
* August 1 – [[Walter Gerlach]] (died [[1979 in science|1979]]), [[Germans|German]] physicist.
* August 7 – [[Léon Brillouin]] (died [[1969 in science|1969]]), [[French people|French]] physicist.
* August 11 – [[Ross T. McIntire]] (died [[1960 in science|1960]]), American naval [[surgeon]].
* September 7 – [[Mary Barkas]] (died 1959 or 1961), [[New Zealand]] [[psychiatrist]].
* September 28 – [[Hugh Whistler]] (died [[1943 in science|1943]]), English [[ornithologist]] of India.
* November 20 – [[Edwin Hubble]] (died [[1953 in science|1953]]), American astronomer.
* November 24 – [[William Justin Kroll]] (died [[1973 in science|1973]]), [[Luxembourgers|Luxembourgish]] [[metallurgist]].
* December 21 – [[Sewall Wright]] (died [[1988 in science|1988]]), American [[geneticist]].
* December 29 – [[Vera Fedorovna Gaze]] (died [[1954 in science|1954]]), [[Russians|Russian]] astronomer.
* [[John Ryle (physician)|John Ryle]] (died [[1950 in science|1950]]), English [[physician]] and [[epidemiologist]].

==Deaths==
* January 4 – [[Mary Philadelphia Merrifield]] (born [[1804 in science|1804]]), English algologist.
* February 8 – [[Roberto Duarte Silva]] (born [[1837 in science|1837]]), Portuguese chemist.
* March 8 – [[John Ericsson]] (born [[1803 in science|1803]]), Swedish American mechanical engineer and inventor.
* March 16 – [[Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel]] (born [[1821 in science|1821]]), German [[astronomer]].
* March 22 – [[Sophia Wilkens]] (born [[1817 in science|1817]]), Swedish pioneer in the education of students with intellectual disability.
* April 19 – [[Warren De La Rue]] (born [[1815 in science|1815]]), [[British people|British]] astronomical photographer.
* June 28 – [[Maria Mitchell]] (born [[1818 in science|1818]]), American astronomer.
* July 30 – [[Miles Joseph Berkeley]] (born [[1803 in science|1803]]), English [[botanist]].
* August 21 (O.S. August 9) – Nikolai Annenkov (born [[1819 in science|1819]]), Russian botanist.
* October 11 – [[James Joule]] (born 1818), English [[physicist]].
* October 18 – [[Antonio Meucci]] (born [[1808 in science|1808]]), Italian American inventor.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1889 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1880s in science]]