Editing 1898 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1898|science}}
{{Science year nav|1898}}

The year '''1898 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Archaeology==
* The [[Narmer Palette]] is discovered in [[Hierakonpolis]], [[Egypt]].

==Astronomy==
* [[Annie Scott Dill Maunder]] photographs the [[Sun]]'s outer [[solar corona|corona]] during a [[solar eclipse]] in [[India]].
* [[433 Eros]], the first [[near-Earth object]], is discovered.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-207|title=Ten Thousandth Near-Earth Object Unearthed in Space|work=NASA JPL|date=24 June 2013|accessdate=28 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iau.org/public/themes/neo/nea/|title=Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs), A Chronology of Milestones|accessdate=14 August 2013}}</ref>
* [[George Darwin]] proposes that the Earth and Moon had once been one body.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Binder|first=A. B.|title=On the origin of the Moon by rotational fission|journal=The Moon|year=1974|volume=11|issue=2|pages=53–76|bibcode=1974Moon...11...53B|doi=10.1007/BF01877794}}</ref>

==Biology==
* March 26 – The Sabi Game Reserve in [[South Africa]], the first officially designated [[game reserve]], is created.

==Chemistry==
* [[William Ramsay]] and [[Morris Travers]] discover the [[noble gas]]es [[krypton]] (May 30), [[neon]] (June 7) and [[xenon]] (July 12) at [[University College London]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=On the Companions of Argon|first1=William|last1=Ramsay|last2=Travers|first2=Morris W.|journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society]]|location=London|volume=63|issue=1|pages=437–440|year=1898|doi=10.1098/rspl.1898.0057}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Emsley|title=Nature's Building Blocks: an A–Z Guide to the Elements|url=https://archive.org/details/naturesbuildingb0000emsl|url-access=registration|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2001|isbn=0-19-850340-7}}</ref>
* July 28 – [[Maria Sklodowska-Curie|Marie]] and [[Pierre Curie]] announce (at the [[French Academy of Sciences]]) discovery of a substance they call ''[[Polonium]]''.
* December 26 – [[Maria Sklodowska-Curie|Marie]] and [[Pierre Curie]] announce discovery of a substance they call ''[[radium]]''. It is the only moment where 5 elements are discovered the same year.
* [[Hermann Emil Fischer|Emil Fischer]] synthesizes [[purine]].
* [[Richard Willstätter]] analyzes the structure of the [[cocaine]] [[molecule]] in a synthesis derived from [[tropinone]].<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Humphrey, A. J.|author2=O'Hagan, D.|s2cid=228936|title=Tropane alkaloid biosynthesis: a century old problem unresolved|journal=Natural Product Reports|volume=18|issue=5|pages=494–502|year=2001|pmid=11699882|doi=10.1039/b001713m}}</ref>
* [[Polycarbonate]]s are first discovered by German chemist [[Alfred Einhorn]].
* [[Polyethylene]] is first synthesized by German chemist [[Hans von Pechmann]].

==Exploration==
* January 30–February 13 – The [[Belgian Antarctic Expedition]] led by [[Adrien de Gerlache]] on the ''[[RV Belgica (1884)|Belgica]]'' discovers the [[Gerlache Strait]] (originally named the Belgica Strait) and [[Lemaire Channel]] off the west coast of [[Graham Land]] on the [[Antarctic Peninsula]]. The expedition then becomes the first to winter in [[Antarctica]].<ref>{{cite book|first=David E.|last=Yelverton|chapter=The Belgian Antarctic Expedition 1897–1899|title=Quest for a Phantom Strait: the Saga of the Pioneer Antarctic Peninsula Expeditions 1897–1905|location=Burpham|publisher=Polar Publishing|year=2004|isbn=0-9548003-0-3}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Ladislaus Bortkiewicz]] publishes a book about the [[Poisson distribution]], ''The Law of Small Numbers'',<ref>{{cite book|first=Ladislaus|last=von Bortkiewicz|title=Das Gesetz der kleinen Zahlen|url=https://archive.org/details/dasgesetzderkle01bortgoog|location=Leipzig, Germany|publisher=B.G. Teubner|year=1898}} On [https://archive.org/details/dasgesetzderkle00bortgoog/page/n13 page 1], Bortkiewicz presents the Poisson distribution. On [https://archive.org/details/dasgesetzderkle00bortgoog/page/n35 pages 23-25], Bortkiewicz presents his famous analysis of "4. Beispiel: Die durch Schlag eines Pferdes im preussischen Heere Getöteten." (4. Example: Those killed in the Prussian army by a horse's kick.). On pages 17–20 Bortkiewicz presents his analysis of "1. Beispiel: Die Selbstmorde von Kindern in Preussen." (1. Example:  Suicides of children in Prussia.). Bortkiewicz's book is reviewed in: L. v. Bortkewitsch (1898) "Das Gesetz der kleinen Zahlen," ''Monatshefte für Mathematik'', vol. 9, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3sUKAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA39 pages 39-41].</ref> first noting that events with low frequency in a large population follow a Poisson distribution even when the probabilities of the events vary.

==Meteorology==
* [[Vilhelm Bjerknes]] produces the [[primitive equations]] used in [[climate model]]ing.

==Physiology and medicine==
* June 23 – [[Royal Army Medical Corps]] formed within the [[British Army]].<ref>{{cite book|first=John S.G.|last=Blair|title=In Arduis Fidelis: Centenary History of the Royal Army Medical Corps|edition=2nd|location=[Burntisland]|publisher=iynx Publishing|year=2001|isbn=0-9540583-2-1}}</ref>
* October 28 – [[French people|French]] [[serial killer]] [[Joseph Vacher]] is convicted, based largely on [[Forensic science|forensic]] evidence presented by [[Alexandre Lacassagne]].
* [[Paul Flechsig]] divides the [[cytoarchitecture]] of the human brain into 40 areas.<ref>{{cite journal|first=P.|last=Flechsig|title=Neue Untersuchungen über die Markbildung in den menschlichen Grosshirnlappen|journal=Neurologisches Centralblatt|volume=17|pages=977–996|year=1898}}</ref>
* [[Peter Borovsky]], a Russian military surgeon working in [[Tashkent]], publishes the first accurate description of the causative parasite for "''Sart'' sore" (later known as [[leishmaniasis]]).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hoare|first=C. A.|year=1938|title=Early discoveries regarding the parasite of oriental sore|journal=Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene|volume=32|issue=1|pages=67–92|doi=10.1016/S0035-9203(38)90097-5}}</ref>
* [[Patrick Manson]] publishes ''Tropical Diseases: a manual of the diseases of warm climates'' in [[London]], a pioneering [[English language]] textbook in [[tropical medicine]].

==Technology==
* The [[Semi-automatic pistol|semi-automatic]]  [[Luger pistol]] is [[patent]]ed by [[Georg Luger]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Grant|first=Neil|title=The Luger|year=2018|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=Oxford|isbn=9781472819734|series=Weapon 64}}</ref>
* The telegraphone, a [[Magnetic storage|magnetic]] [[wire recording]] machine, is patented by [[Valdemar Poulsen]].

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[William Huggins]]<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: [[Ferdinand Zirkel]]

==Births==
* January 10 – [[Katharine Burr Blodgett]] (died [[1979 in science|1979]]), [[Americans|American]] [[physicist]] and [[chemist]].
* February – [[Guy Stewart Callendar]] (died [[1964 in science|1964]]), English-Canadian thermodynamic engineer and climatologist.
* February 11 – [[Leó Szilárd]] (died [[1964 in science|1964]]), Hungarian-American physicist.
* February 25 – [[William Astbury]] (died [[1961 in science|1961]]), [[English people|English]] physicist and [[Molecular biology|molecular biologist]].
* March 3 – [[Emil Artin]] (died [[1962 in science|1962]]), [[Austria]]n-born [[mathematician]].
* June 26 – [[Willy Messerschmitt]] (died [[1978 in science|1978]]), [[Germans|German]] [[aeronautical engineer]].
* July 29 – [[Isidor Isaac Rabi]] (died [[1988 in science|1988]]), [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galician]]-born [[United States|American]] [[physicist]], winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1944 for invention of the atomic beam magnetic resonance method of measuring magnetic properties of [[atom]]s and [[molecule]]s.
* August 1 – [[Mildred Creak]] (died [[1993 in science|1993]]), English [[child psychologist]].
* August 3 – [[Karl Kehrle]] (Brother Adam, died [[1996 in science|1996]]), German-born Benedictine monk and [[beekeeper]].
* August 28 – [[Albert Claude]] (died [[1983 in science|1983]]), Belgian engineer, scientist, winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] in 1974 for discoveries concerning the structures and functional organization of the cell.
* September 10 – [[Waldo Semon]] (died [[1999 in science|1999]]), American [[inventor]].
* November 16 – [[Warren Sturgis McCulloch]] (died [[1969 in science|1969]]), American [[neurophysiologist]] and [[cybernetics|cybernetician]].
* November 19 – [[Arthur R. von Hippel]] (died [[2003 in science|2003]]), German-born American physicist
* December 11 – [[Benno Mengele]] (died [[1971 in science|1971]]), Austrian electrical engineer

==Deaths==
* January 7 – [[Joseph O'Dwyer]] (born [[1841 in science|1841]]), American physician.
* February 28 (Old Style March 12) – [[Fyodor Pirotsky]] (born [[1845 in science|1845]]), Ukrainian-born Russian military and electrical engineer and inventor.
* March 12 – [[Johann Jakob Balmer|Johann Balmer]] (born [[1825 in science|1825]]), [[Swiss people|Swiss]] mathematician.
* March 15 – [[Henry Bessemer]] (born [[1813 in science|1813]]), [[English people|English]] inventor of the [[Bessemer process]] for steelmaking.
* May 29 – [[Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair]] (born [[1818 in science|1818]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]] chemist.
* August 27 – [[John Hopkinson]] (born [[1849 in science|1849]]), English [[electrical engineer]] (killed in climbing accident).
* September 14 – [[William Seward Burroughs I|William Seward Burroughs]] (born [[1855 in science|1855]]), American inventor of the [[adding machine]].
* November 20 – [[Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet]] (born [[1817 in science|1817]]), English [[civil engineer]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1898 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1890s in science]]