Editing 1897 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1897|science}}
{{Science year nav|1897}}

The year '''1897 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.
[[File:Turbinia At Speed.jpg|thumb|300px|''[[Turbinia]]'' photographed by [[Alfred John West|Alfred J. West]]]]
==Chemistry==
* April 30 – [[J. J. Thomson]] first describes his discovery of the [[electron]], in England.<ref>{{cite web|title=Joseph John "J. J." Thomson |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/joseph-john-j-j-thomson|publisher=[[Science History Institute]]|accessdate=20 March 2018}}</ref><ref name=Bowden>{{cite book|last1=Bowden|first1=Mary Ellen|title=Chemical achievers : the human face of the chemical sciences|url=https://archive.org/details/chemicalachiever0000bowd|url-access=registration|date=1997|publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation|location=Philadelphia, PA|isbn=9780941901123|chapter=Joseph John Thomson|pages=[https://archive.org/details/chemicalachiever0000bowd/page/67 67-69]}}</ref>

==Earth sciences==
* June 12 – [[1897 Assam earthquake]] of magnitude of 8.0 rocks [[Assam]], [[India]], killing over 1,500 people.

==History of science and technology==
* [[Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld]] publishes ''Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of Charts and Sailing Directions'' in [[Stockholm]].
* [[Boulton and Watt]]'s [[Smethwick Engine]] of [[1779 in science|1779]] (superseded 1892) is dismantled for preservation by the [[Birmingham Canal Navigations]] company, initially at its [[Ocker Hill]] depot in the West Midlands of England.

==Mathematics==
* [[David Hilbert]] unifies the field of [[algebraic number theory]] with his treatise ''[[Zahlbericht]]''.
* [[John Edward Campbell]] originates the [[Baker–Campbell–Hausdorff formula]] for multiplication of exponentials in [[Lie algebra]]s.<ref>''[[Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society]]'' '''28''' (1897) 381–390, '''29''' (1898) 14–32.</ref>
* [[Raoul Bricard]] investigates and classifies [[flexible polyhedra]], defining the [[Bricard octahedron]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=R.|last=Bricard|url=http://www-mathdoc.ujf-grenoble.fr/JMPA/PDF/JMPA_1897_5_3_A5_0.pdf|title=Mémoire sur la théorie de l’octaèdre articulé|journal=[[Journal de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées]]|volume=3|year=1897|pages=113–150|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717152710/http://www-mathdoc.ujf-grenoble.fr/JMPA/PDF/JMPA_1897_5_3_A5_0.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-17}}</ref>
* [[Henri Brocard]] begins publication of his source book on geometric [[curve]]s, ''Notes de Bibliographie des Courbes Géométriques'', in [[Bar-le-Duc]].<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=3610034|first=Laura|last=Guggenbuhl|authorlink= Laura Guggenbühl |title=Henri Brocard and the Geometry of the Triangle|journal=The Mathematical Gazette|location=London|publisher=[[Mathematical Association]]|volume=37|issue=322|date=December 1953|pages=241–243}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first1=Maria do Céu |last1=Silva |first2=António Leal |last2=Duarte |first3=Carlos Correia |last3=de Sá |title=Gallery: Francisco Gomes Teixeira |journal=CIM Bulletin |publisher=Centro Internacional de Matemática |volume=16 |url=http://at.yorku.ca/i/a/a/h/61.dir/number16.htm |accessdate=2012-01-25|date=June 2004|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716134701/https://at.yorku.ca/i/a/a/h/61.dir/number16.htm|archivedate=2011-07-16}}</ref>

==Physiology, medicine and pharmacology==
* May 6 – [[John Jacob Abel]] announces the successful isolation of [[epinephrine]] ([[adrenaline]]) in a paper read before the Association of American Physicians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Abel |first=John J. |last2=Crawford |first2=Albert C. |date=July 1897 |title=On the Blood-Pressure-Raising Constituent of the Suprarenal Capsule |url=https://archive.org/details/onbloodpressure00crawgoog |journal=Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital |page=151 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
* August 10 – [[History of aspirin]]: At the German [[Bayer]] chemical and dyestuffs company, pharmacist [[Felix Hoffmann]] successfully synthesizes [[acetylsalicylic acid]], a synthetically altered version of [[salicin]], as a less-irritating replacement for standard common salicylate medicines, after isolating a compound from a plant of the ''[[Spiraea]]'' family; the company markets it under the brand name '[[Aspirin]]'.<ref>{{cite book|first=Diarmuid|last=Jeffreys|title=Aspirin: The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug|url=https://archive.org/details/aspirinremarkabl00jeff|url-access=registration|location=London|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/aspirinremarkabl00jeff/page/70 70]}}</ref>
* August 20 – [[Ronald Ross]] discovers the [[malaria]] ''[[Plasmodium]]'' in an ''[[Anopheles]]'' [[mosquito]], demonstrating the [[Transmission (medicine)|transmission]] mechanism for the disease.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/ross.html|title=Ross and the Discovery that Mosquitoes Transmit Malaria Parasites|publisher=[[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]]|year=2010|accessdate=2011-06-14}}</ref>
* [[Danes|Danish]] [[veterinarian]] [[Bernhard Lauritz Frederik Bang|Bernhard Bang]] isolates ''[[Brucella abortus]]'' as the agent of [[Brucellosis]].
* [[Luther Emmett Holt|L. Emmett Holt]] publishes the standard textbook ''The Diseases of Infancy and Childhood'' in [[New York City|New York]].
* [[Charles Sherrington]] introduces the term '[[synapse]]'.

==Psychology==
* [[Émile Durkheim]] publishes his classic study ''[[Suicide (Durkheim book)|Le Suicide]]''.

==Technology==
* January 22 – The word ''[[computer]]'' is first used to refer to a mechanical calculation device, in this date's issue of the journal ''Engineering''.<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''. {{cite book|first=Lisa|last=McCoy|title=Computers and Programming|url=https://archive.org/details/computersprogram0000mcco|url-access=registration|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2010|page=[https://archive.org/details/computersprogram0000mcco/page/1 1]}}</ref>
* May 11 – A patent is awarded for the invention of the first automotive [[muffler]], with the granting by the U.S. Patent Office of application number 582,485 to [[Milton Reeves]] and his brother Marshall T. Reeves, of the Reeves Pulley Company of [[Columbus, Indiana]].<ref>[https://patents.google.com/patent/US582485 "Exhaust Muffler for Engines"]; [http://www.k3ir.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/QRZnewsSep2014.pdf QRZ News, September 2014] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717014931/http://www.k3ir.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/QRZnewsSep2014.pdf |date=2015-07-17 }}</ref>
* May 13 – [[Guglielmo Marconi]] sends the first ever [[Wireless telegraphy|wireless]] communication over open sea when the message "Are you ready" is transmitted across the [[Bristol Channel]] from [[Lavernock Point]] in [[South Wales]] to [[Flat Holm]] Island, a distance of {{convert|6|km|mi}}.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[BBC Wales]]|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/historyhunters/locations/pages/3_1_flatholm.shtml|title=Marconi's Waves|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070120163444/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/historyhunters/locations/pages/3_1_flatholm.shtml|archivedate=2007-01-20|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* May 17 – Launch of the ''Holland VI'' (later {{USS|Holland|SS-1}}), designed by [[John Philip Holland]], at [[Lewis Nixon (naval architect)|Lewis Nixon's]] [[Crescent Shipyard]] in [[Elizabeth, New Jersey]]; this is the first [[submarine]] having power to run submerged for any considerable distance, and the first to combine [[electric motor]]s for submerged travel and gasoline ([[Otto engine|Otto]]) engines for use on the surface.
* June 26 – At the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Fleet review (Commonwealth realms)#Queen Victoria|Fleet Review]], [[Charles Algernon Parsons|Charles Parsons]] gives a spectacular display of the unprecedented speed attainable by his [[steam turbine]]-powered ''[[Turbinia]]''.<ref>{{cite web|first=Phil |last=Russell |url=http://www.btinternet.com/~philipr/Parsons.htm |work=Navies in Transition |title=Sir Charles Algernon Parsons (1854-1931) |year=1999 |accessdate=2010-09-09 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113095736/http://www.btinternet.com/~philipr/Parsons.htm |archivedate=2010-01-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* August 10 – [[Rudolf Diesel]] demonstrates his first commercially successful [[Diesel engine]] in [[Augsburg]].
* August 31 – [[Thomas Edison]] is granted a [[patent]] for the [[Kinetoscope]], a precursor of the [[movie projector]].
* [[Hiram Percy Maxim|Hiram P. Maxim]] develops the [[muffler]] in conjunction with the firearm silencer ([[suppressor]]).
* The [[Dahlander pole changing motor]] is patented.
* The Daimler Victoria, the world's first [[taximeter|meter]]-equipped (and gasoline-powered) [[taxicab]], is built by [[Gottlieb Daimler]].

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Albert von Kölliker]]<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]]: [[Wilfred Hudleston]]

==Births==
* January 1 – [[Ana Aslan]] (died [[1988 in science|1988]]), Romanian biologist.
* February 27 – [[Bernard Lyot]]  (died [[1952 in science|1952]]), French astronomer.
* March 24 – [[Wilhelm Reich]] (died [[1957 in science|1957]]), Austrian [[psychoanalyst]].
* May 16  – [[Zvi Sliternik]] (died [[1993 in science|1993]]), Israeli [[entomologist]]. 
* July 20 – [[Tadeusz Reichstein]] (died [[1996 in science|1996]]), Polish-born [[Nobel Prize]]-winning [[chemist]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Tadeus Reichstein - Biographical|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1950/reichstein-bio.html|website=www.nobelprize.org|accessdate=21 February 2018}}</ref>
* August 5 – [[Joan Beauchamp Procter]] (died [[1931 in science|1931]]), [[English people|English]] [[herpetologist]].
* August 12 – [[Otto Struve]] (died [[1963 in science|1963]]), Ukrainian-born [[astronomer]].
* October 6 – [[Florence B. Seibert]] (died [[1991 in science|1991]]), American [[biochemist]].
* September 1 – [[Mary Cover Jones]] (died [[1987 in science|1987]]), [[Americans|American]] [[Behaviour therapy|behavioral therapist]].
* September 12 – [[Irène Joliot-Curie]] (died [[1956 in science|1956]]), French chemist.
* November 4 – [[C. B. van Niel]] (died [[1985 in science|1985]]), Dutch-born [[microbiologist]].
* November 13 – [[Tilly Edinger]] (died [[1967 in science|1967]]), German-born [[Paleoneurology|paleoneurologist]].
* December 22 – [[Vojtěch Jarník]] (died [[1970 in science|1970]]), Czech mathematician.

==Deaths==
* January 25 – [[David Kirkaldy]] (born [[1820 in science|1820]]), [[Scotland|Scottish]]-born engineer, pioneer of materials testing.
* February 7 – [[Galileo Ferraris]], Italian physicist and engineer (born [[1847 in science|1847]])<ref>{{cite book|title=Alta frequenza|publisher=Associazione elettrotecnica italiana|year=1978|page=531-2}}</ref>
* February 19 – [[Karl Weierstrass]] (born [[1815 in science|1815]]), [[Germans|German]] [[mathematician]].
* March 15 – [[James Joseph Sylvester]] (born [[1814 in science|1814]]), [[England|English]] [[mathematician]].
* April 12 – [[Edward Drinker Cope]] (born [[1840 in science|1840]]), American [[paleontologist]].
* May 6
** [[Edward James Stone]] (born [[1831 in science|1831]]), [[English people|English]] [[astronomer]].
** [[Alfred Des Cloizeaux]] (born [[1817 in science|1817]]), [[French people|French]] [[mineralogist]].
* May 7 – [[Abraham Dee Bartlett]] (born [[1812 in science|1812]]), English [[zoologist]].
* August 27 – [[Eduard von Hofmann]] (born [[1837 in science|1837]]), [[Austrians|Austrian]] [[forensic pathologist]].
* October 19 – [[George Pullman]] (born [[1831 in science|1831]]), American inventor.
* October 31 – [[Samuel Haughton]] (born [[1821 in science|1821]]), [[Irish people|Irish]] scientific [[polymath]].
* November 1 – [[Peter Bellinger Brodie]] (born [[1815 in science|1815]]), English [[geologist]] and clergyman.
* November 14 – [[Thomas W. Evans]] (born [[1823 in science|1823]]), American-born [[dentist]].<ref>{{citation|editor-last=Johnson|editor-first=Rossiter|editor2-last=Brown|editor2-first=John Howard|title=The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans|publisher=The Biographical Society|volume=4|place=Boston, MA|year=1904|contribution=Thomas William Evans|contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1IDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT25#PPT24,M1|access-date=2009-06-12}}.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1897 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1890s in science]]