Editing 1896 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1896|science}}
{{Science year nav|1896}}

The year '''1896 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Chemistry==
* April – [[Svante Arrhenius]] first publishes the "greenhouse law", becoming the first person to predict that emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels and other combustion processes are large enough to cause [[global warming]] through the [[greenhouse effect]].<ref>"On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground". ''London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science''. Extract of paper presented to [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] December 11, 1895.</ref>

==Earth sciences==
* June 15 – The [[1896 Sanriku earthquake]] of 7.2 [[surface wave magnitude]] and [[tsunami]] in [[Japan]] kill 27,000.

==Exploration==
* August – Conclusion of [[Nansen's Fram expedition|Nansen's ''Fram'' expedition]].

==Mathematics==
* The [[prime number theorem]] on the [[distribution of primes]] is proved.<ref name=Crilly>{{cite book|first=Tony|last=Crilly|title=50 Mathematical Ideas you really need to know|location=London|publisher=Quercus|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84724-008-8}}</ref>
* [[Lewis Carroll|Charles L. Dodgson]] publishes the first part of ''Symbolic Logic''.
* [[Karl Pearson]] publishes significant contributions to [[correlation]] and regression.<ref name=Crilly/>

==Meteorology==
* ''[[International Cloud Atlas]]'' first published.

==Microbiology==
* [[Ernest Duchesne]] discovers the [[antibiotic]] properties of [[penicillin]]<ref name="Duchesne 1897">[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DZVXPIK Duchesne 1897], Antagonism between molds and bacteria. An English translation by Michael Witty. Fort Myers, 2013. ASIN B00E0KRZ0E and B00DZVXPIK.</ref> as part of his doctoral research, but this is not followed up at this time.
* [[Ernest Hanbury Hankin]] discovers the antibiotic properties of what will become identified as [[bacteriophage]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|author= Hankin, E. H.|title=L'action bactericide des eaux de la Jumna et du Gange sur le vibrion du cholera |journal= Annales de l'Institut Pasteur|year=1896|volume= 10 |pages= 511–23|language=fr|url= https://archive.org/stream/annalesdelinstit10inst#page/511/mode/1up}}</ref>

==Physics==
* January 12 – H. L. Smith takes the first [[X-ray]] photograph.
* March 1 – [[French people|French]] physicist [[Henri Becquerel]] discovers the principle of [[radioactive decay]] when he exposes [[photographic plate]]s to [[uranium]].
* [[German people|German]] physicist [[Wilhelm Wien]] derives [[Wien approximation]].

==Physiology and medicine==
* July – [[Victor Despeignes]] pioneers [[radiation oncology]] in [[Lyon]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://nuclmed.web.auth.gr/magazine/eng/jan14/11.pdf|title=The physician who first applied radiotherapy, Victor Despeignes, on 1896|journal=Hellenic Journal of Nuclear Medicine|pmid=24563880|date=2014|volume=17|issue=1|pages=45–6|doi=|last1=Sgantzos|first1=M.|last2=Tsoucalas|first2=G.|last3=Laios|first3=K.|last4=Androutsos|first4=G.|access-date=2016-11-05|archive-date=2016-11-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103220524/http://nuclmed.web.auth.gr/magazine/eng/jan14/11.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Antoine Marfan]] first describes the symptoms of [[Marfan syndrome]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Marfan|first=Antoine|year=1896|title=Un cas de déformation congénitale des quartre membres, plus prononcée aux extrémitiés, caractérisée par l'allongement des os avec un certain degré d'amincissement|journal=Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société Médicale des Hôpitaux de Paris|issue=3rd series|volume=13|pages=220–226}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Antoine Bernard-Jean Marfan|url=http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/972.html|website=[[Who Named It?|Whonamedit?]]|access-date=2011-11-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/heart_vascular_institute/conditions_treatments/conditions/marfan_syndrome.html|title=Marfan Syndrome|publisher=Johns Hopkins Medicine|access-date=2011-11-23}}</ref>
* An improved [[sphygmomanometer]], for the measurement of [[blood pressure]], is described by [[Scipione Riva-Rocci]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=A short history of blood pressure measurement|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine|year=1977|first=Jeremy|last=Booth|volume=70|issue=11|pages=793–9|pmid=341169|pmc=1543468|doi=10.1177/003591577707001112}}</ref>
* The 12th edition of [[Richard von Krafft-Ebing]]'s ''[[Psychopathia Sexualis (Richard von Krafft-Ebing book)|Psychopathia Sexualis]]'' introduces the term '[[paedophilia]]'.
* Belgian psychiatrist [[:fr:Jean Crocq (psychiatre)|Jean Crocq]] publishes ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=YW7itQEACAAJ Les nèvroses traumatiques: ètude pathogènique & clinique]''.

==Technology==
* Thomas Ellis Brown produces an innovative design of [[rolling bascule bridge]] for [[Brooklyn]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Notable Bridge Designers and Builders of Connecticut|url=http://www.past-inc.org/historic-bridges/Design-right.html|website=Connecticut's Historic Highway Bridges|access-date=2012-02-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217193337/http://www.past-inc.org/historic-bridges/Design-right.html|archive-date=2007-12-17|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Jesse W. Reno]] produces the first working [[escalator]] ("inclined elevator"), installed at [[Coney Island]], Brooklyn.
* [[Gottlieb Daimler]] produces the first [[truck]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Truck History|url=http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltruck.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711060100/http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltruck.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 11, 2012|publisher=[[About.com]]|access-date=2011-05-28}}</ref>
* [[Léon Serpollet]] invents the [[flash boiler]] for the [[steam car]].
* Captain [[Neville Bertie-Clay]], Superintendent of the [[British Army]] arsenal at [[Dum Dum]] in [[Bengal]], invents an [[expanding bullet]].
* December 11 – [[William Henry Preece|William Preece]] introduces [[Guglielmo Marconi]]'s work in [[wireless telegraphy]] to the general public at a lecture, "Telegraphy without Wires", at the [[Toynbee Hall]] in [[London]].

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Carl Gegenbaur]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=23 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Wollaston Medal|Wollaston Medal for geology]]: [[Eduard Suess]]

==Births==
* January 3 – [[Jay Laurence Lush]] (died [[1982 in science|1982]]), [[Americans|American]] livestock [[geneticist]].
* February 2 – [[Kazimierz Kuratowski]] (died [[1980 in science|1980]]), [[Polish people|Polish]] [[mathematician]].
* February 14 – [[Arthur Milne]] (died [[1950 in science|1950]]), [[English people|English]] [[space]] [[physicist]].
* February 28 – [[Philip Showalter Hench]] (died [[1965 in science|1965]]), American physician, recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]].
* March 29 – [[Wilhelm Ackermann]] (died [[1962 in science|1962]]), [[German people|German]] mathematician.
* April 7 – [[Donald Winnicott]] (died [[1971 in science|1971]]), English [[child psychiatrist]].
* April 14 – [[Priscilla Fairfield Bok]] (died [[1975 in science|1975]]), American astronomer.
* April 30 – [[Hans List]] (died [[1996 in science|1996]]), Austrian inventor.
* May 6 – [[Rolf Maximilian Sievert]] (died [[1966 in science|1966]]), [[Swedish people|Swedish]] physicist.
* May 31 – [[Hilda Lyon]] (died [[1946 in science|1946]]), English [[aeronautical engineer]].
* June 1 – [[Shintaro Uda]] (died [[1976 in science|1976]]), [[Japan]]ese [[electrical engineer]].
* June 7 – [[Robert S. Mulliken]] (died [[1986 in science|1986]]), American physicist, recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].
* July 16 – [[Otmar von Verschuer]] (died [[1969 in science|1969]]), German [[eugenicist]].
* August 15 – [[Gerty Cori]] (née Radnitz) (died [[1957 in science|1957]]), [[Prague]]-born winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

==Deaths==
* June 23 – [[Joseph Prestwich]] (born [[1812 in science|1812]]), [[English people|English]] [[geologist]].
* July 13 – [[August Kekulé]] (born [[1829 in science|1829]]), German [[Organic chemistry|organic]] [[chemist]].
* August 10 – [[Otto Lilienthal]] (born [[1848 in science|1848]]), German [[aviation]] pioneer.
* September 18 – [[Hippolyte Fizeau]] (born [[1819 in science|1819]]), French [[physicist]].
* October 21 – [[James Henry Greathead]] (born [[1844 in science|1844]]), [[British people|British]] [[civil engineer]].
* October 27 – [[H. Newell Martin]] (born [[1848 in science|1848]]),  [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] [[physiologist]].
* November 3 – [[Eugen Baumann]] (born [[1843 in science|1846]]), German [[chemist]].
* November 22 – [[George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.]] (born [[1859 in science|1859]]), [[Americans|American]] [[civil engineer]], inventor of the [[Ferris wheel]].
* December 10 – [[Alfred Nobel]] (born [[1833 in science|1833]]), [[Sweden|Swedish]]-born [[inventor]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1896 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1890s in science]]