Editing 1899 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1899|science}}
{{Science year nav|1899}}

The year '''1899 in [[science]]''' involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy and space sciences==
* March 18 – [[Phoebe (moon)|Phoebe]], the ninth-known moon of the planet [[Saturn]] is discovered by U.S. astronomer [[William Henry Pickering|William H. Pickering]] from analysis of photographic plates made by a Peruvian observatory seven months earlier, the first discovery of a satellite photographically.
* April 21 – The [[nova]] [[V606 Aquilae]] is first observed from Earth as seen within the [[constellation]] [[Aquila (constellation)|Aquila]]. It fades within six months.
* October 19 – 17-year-old [[Robert H. Goddard]] in Worcester, Massachusetts, receives his inspiration to develop a rocket capable of reaching outer space, after viewing his yard from high in a tree and imagining "how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars, and how it would look on a small scale, if sent up from the meadow at my feet."<ref>{{cite book|first=Milton|last=Lehman|title=Robert H. Goddard: Pioneer of Space Research|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=1988|page=16}}</ref>
* December 2 – During the [[new moon]], a near-grand [[Conjunction (astronomy and astrology)|conjunction]] of the [[naked-eye planet|classical planets]] and several [[binoculars|binocular]] [[Solar System]] bodies occur. The Sun, Moon, [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], [[Mars]] and [[Saturn]] are all within 15° of each other, with [[Venus]] 5° ahead of this conjunction and [[Jupiter]] 15° behind. Accompanying the classical planets in this grand conjunction are [[Uranus]] (technically visible unaided in [[air pollution|pollution]]-free skies), [[Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres]] and [[2 Pallas|Pallas]].
* The 80&nbsp;cm [[refracting telescope]] is completed at [[Potsdam Observatory]].

==Biology==
* May 1 – The [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]] in the United Kingdom acquires its first part of [[Wicken Fen]], making it the country's oldest [[wetland]] [[nature reserve]].
* November 8 – The [[Wildlife Conservation Society|New York Zoological Society]] opens the [[Bronx Zoo|Bronx Zoological Park]] to the public in New York City under the direction of [[William Temple Hornaday]].

==Chemistry==
* [[Actinium]] is discovered by [[André-Louis Debierne]].
* [[Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights|International Committee on Atomic Weights]] established.

==Computing==
* December 31 – Retrospectively, day zero for dates in [[Microsoft Excel]]. This is to ensure backwards compatibility with [[Lotus 1-2-3]], which had a bug misinterpreting 1900 as a leap year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Porter |first=Remy |date=2019-02-05 |title=Set the Flux Capacitor for 12/30/1899 |url=https://thedailywtf.com/articles/set-the-flux-capacitor-for-12-30-1899 |access-date=2022-09-25 |website=The Daily WTF}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=helenclu |title=Excel incorrectly assumes that the year 1900 is a leap year - Office |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshoot/excel/wrongly-assumes-1900-is-leap-year |access-date=2022-09-25 |website=learn.microsoft.com |date=2022-07-22|language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=helenclu |title=Differences between the 1900 and the 1904 date system - Office |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshoot/excel/1900-and-1904-date-system |access-date=2022-09-25 |website=learn.microsoft.com |date=2022-05-05|language=en-us}}</ref>

==Exploration==
* January 23 – The British [[Southern Cross Expedition]] crosses the [[Antarctic Circle]].
* July 31 – The Southern Cross Expedition and explorer [[Carsten Borchgrevink]] first chart [[Duke of York Island (Antarctica)|Duke of York Island]].<ref>{{cite book|first=C. E.|last=Borchgrevink|title=First on the Antarctic Continent: being an account of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1898-1900|location=London|publisher=Newnes|year=1901}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* June 17 – [[David Hilbert]] creates the modern concept of [[geometry]], with the publication of his book ''Grundlagen der Geometrie'' at [[Göttingen]], proposing a formal set, [[Hilbert's axioms]], to replace [[Euclid's elements]].<ref>{{cite book|editor=Volkert, Klaus|year=2015|title=David Hilbert: Grundlagen der Geometrie|publisher=Springer|page=ix}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Grattan-Guinness|first=Ivor|year=2005|title=Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 1640-1940|publisher=Elsevier|page=713}}</ref>
* [[Élie Cartan]] first defines the [[exterior derivative]] in its modern form.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cartan|first=Élie|title=Sur certaines expressions différentielles et le problème de Pfaff|journal=Annales Scientifiques de l'École Normale Supérieure|series=Série 3|volume=16|pages=239–332|publisher=Gauthier-Villars|location=Paris|year=1899|language=French|url=http://www.numdam.org/item?id=ASENS_1899_3_16__239_0|issn=0012-9593|jfm=30.0313.04|format=PDF|accessdate=2018-05-02}}</ref>
* [[Georg Alexander Pick]] publishes his [[Pick's theorem|theorem]] on the area of [[simple polygon]]s.<ref>{{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|page=113}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* [[Bubonic plague]] enters Brazil through the seaport of [[Santos (São Paulo)|Santos]].
* March 6 – [[Felix Hoffmann]] patents [[Aspirin]] and [[Bayer]] registers its name as a trademark in Berlin.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dpma.de/english/our_office/publications/milestones/brandswithhistory/aspirin/index.html|title=Aspirin|date=2022-10-18|access-date=2023-03-06|work=Milestones: Aspirin|publisher=German Patent and Trademark Office}}</ref>
* July 1 – The [[International Council of Nurses]] is founded in London, at a meeting of the Matron's Council of Great Britain and Ireland.<ref>{{cite book|first=Sandra B.|last=Lewenson|title=Taking Charge: Nursing, Suffrage, and Feminism in America, 1873-1920|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|page=95}}</ref>
* October 2 – The [[London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine]] is established by [[Patrick Manson]] at the [[Albert Dock Seamen's Hospital]].

==Paleontology==
* July 4 – The most famous skeleton of a [[dinosaur]] ever found intact, a [[Diplodocus]], is discovered at the Sheep Creek Quarry in the western United States near [[Medicine Bow, Wyoming]]. The expedition team, financed by [[Andrew Carnegie]] for the [[Carnegie Museum of Natural History]] in [[Pittsburgh]] and led by William Harlow Reed, bestows the name "[[Dippy]]" on the ''Diplodocus carnegii'', which becomes well known after Carnegie has plaster cast replicas made for donation to museums all over the world. These dinosaurs are estimated to have roamed in North America more than 152,000,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal|title=A specimen-level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda)|first=Emanuel|last=Tschopp|display-authors=etal|journal=[[PeerJ]]|year=2015}}</ref>

==Physics==
* March 3 – [[Guglielmo Marconi]] conducts radio beacon experiments on Salisbury Plain in England and notices that radio waves are being reflected back to the transmitter by objects they encounter, one of the early steps in the potential for developing [[radar]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uJpNDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Reflected+Back%22+Marconi+%221899%22&pg=PA2|title=Non-Linearities in Passive RFID Systems: Third Harmonic Concept and Applications|isbn=9781119490739|last1=Andia|first1=Gianfranco|last2=Duroc|first2=Yvan|last3=Tedjini|first3=Smail|date=2018-01-19|publisher=Wiley}}</ref> 
* May 8 – [[Ernest Rutherford]] publishes his discovery of two different types of [[radioactive decay|radiation]], [[alpha ray]]s and [[beta ray]]s.
* May 20 – The [[American Physical Society]] is founded at a meeting at [[Columbia University]] by 36 physicists, with a mission "to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics."
* [[Henri Becquerel]] discovers that radiation from [[uranium]] consists of charged particles and can be deflected by [[magnetic field]]s.
* [[Max Planck]] introduces the [[Planck constant]].
* [[Hertha Ayrton]] becomes the first woman to read her own paper (on the [[electric arc]]) before the [[Institution of Electrical Engineers]] in London, of which soon afterwards she is elected the first female member.<ref>{{cite web|title=Archives Biographies: Hertha Ayrton|publisher=[[Institution of Engineering and Technology]]|url=http://www.theiet.org/about/libarc/archives/biographies/ayrtonh.cfm|accessdate=2011-08-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826124515/http://www.theiet.org/about/libarc/archives/biographies/ayrtonh.cfm|archive-date=2010-08-26|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Psychology==
* [[Sigmund Freud]]'s ''Die Traumdeutung'' (''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'') is published (dated 1900).

==Technology==
* January 26 – German inventor [[Karl Ferdinand Braun]] (who will in 1909 share the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] with Marconi) receives British [[Patent]] No. 1899-1862 for his wireless radio invention "Telegraphy without directly connected wire".<ref>{{cite book|first=Anton A.|last=Huurdeman|title=The Worldwide History of Telecommunications|publisher=Wiley|year=2003|page=215}}</ref>
* February 14 – [[Voting machine]]s are approved by the [[Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress]] for use in federal [[election]]s.
* March 11 – [[Waldemar Jungner]] files the patent application for the first [[alkaline battery]] and receives Swedish patent number 11132.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Jungner, Ernst Waldemar|title=Innovators in Battery Technology: Profiles of 95 Influential Electrochemists|first=Kevin|last=Desmond|publisher=McFarland Publishing|year=2016|page=116}}</ref>
* March 22 – London inventor [[Edward Raymond Turner]] applies for a [[patent]] for his [[additive colour]] process for [[colour motion picture film]].<ref>{{cite news|title=World's first colour film footage viewed for first time|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19557914|publisher=[[BBC News]] |accessdate=2020-08-11|date=2012-09-12}}</ref>
* March 27 – [[Guglielmo Marconi]] successfully transmits a radio signal across the [[English Channel]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref>
* May 4 – German-born inventor John Matthias Stroh applies for a patent for the '[[Stroh violin]]', a stringed musical instrument with an amplifying horn attached.<ref>British Patent No. GB9418 granted March 24, 1900.</ref>
* May 26 – The guns of British cruiser HMS ''Scylla'', commanded by Captain [[Percy Scott]], hit their targets 56 out of 70 times after Scott and his crew solve the problem of aiming a ship cannon on rolling seas.<ref>{{cite book|first=Norman|last=Friedman|title=Naval Firepower: Battleship Guns and Gunnery in the Dreadnought Era|publisher=Pen & Sword|location=Barnsley|year=2013|page=18}}</ref>
* June 27 – A patent for a form of [[paperclip]] is applied for by [[Johan Vaaler]], a Norwegian inventor, although it is never put into production.<ref>[https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-paper-clip-4072863 The History and Invention of the Paperclip.]</ref>
* July 18 – The patent for the first [[sofa bed]] (a foldable bed frame that can be stored under the cushions of a couch) is taken out by African American inventor [[Leonard C. Bailey]].<ref>U.S. Patent No. 629,286 granted June 2, 1900.</ref>
* August 23 – The first ship-to-shore test of a wireless radio transmission is made from the U.S. lightship ''LV 70'' with the sending of Morse code signals to a receiving station near San Francisco. The tests are made over 17 days.<ref>{{cite book|first=Betty S.|last=Veronico|title=Images of America: Lighthouses of the Bay Area|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2008|page=34}}</ref>
* September 19 – A patent for the first [[water meter]] is granted to [[Edwin Ford]], the water superintendent for [[Hartford City, Indiana]].
* October 26 – [[Indirect fire]], a shooting technique based on calculating azimuth and inclination to aim a weapon at an enemy that cannot be hit by direct fire, is used for the first time in battle.<ref>{{cite book|first=Frank W.|last=Sweet|title=The Evolution of Indirect Fire|publisher=Backintyme Publishing|year=2000|pages=28–33}}</ref> British gunners in the [[Second Boer War]], using the techniques developed by Russian Lieutenant Colonel K. G. Guk, fire a cannon on a high trajectory toward the Boer Army, with the objective of having the shell coming down on the enemy.
* November 7 – The [[flash-lamp]], the first to use electricity to ignite photographers' [[Flash (photography)#Flash-lamp/Flash powder|magnesium flash powder]], is awarded as U.S. patent 636,492 to [[Joshua Lionel Cohen]]. While flash powder had been in use since 1887, the ignition was more dangerous because it had to be performed manually.
* The first modern step-type [[escalator]] is designed by [[Charles Seeberger]] in the United States.
* [[Hugo Lentz|Hugo Lenz]] first demonstrates Lenz [[poppet valve]] gear, for [[stationary steam engine]]s.
* [[Ernest Godward]] patents the spiral [[hairpin]] in New Zealand.<ref>{{cite news|title=Omnium Gatherum|newspaper=[[Otago Daily Times]] |issue=11521|date=6 September 1899|page=6}}</ref>
* The world's first successful self-propelled steam [[fire engine]], the 'Fire King', is built by [[Merryweather & Sons]] in London and dispatched to [[Port Louis]] on [[Mauritius]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Ron|last=Henderson|title=Fire King|journal=Vintage Spirit|issue=103|date=February 2011|pages=30–34}}</ref>

==Events==
* January 29 – A lawyer for the estate of [[John Ernst Worrell Keely|John W. Keely]], an inventor who had persuaded investors in his Keely Motor Company that an automobile could be created that would operate from Keely's "induction resonance motion motor" which had achieved [[perpetual motion]], reveals that the late Mr. Keely's motor has been a fraud, and that the widow knew nothing of it.<ref>{{cite book|first=Arthur W. J. G.|last=Ord-Hume|title=Perpetual Motion|publisher=Adventures Unlimited Press|year=2015|page=146}}</ref>

==Awards==
* [[Copley Medal]]: [[Lord Rayleigh]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Copley Medal {{!}} British scientific award |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Copley-Medal |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |accessdate=23 July 2020 }}</ref>
* [[Wollaston Medal|Wollaston Medal for Geology]]: [[Charles Lapworth]]

==Births==
* January 12 – [[Paul Hermann Müller]] (died [[1965 in science|1965]]), [[Swiss people|Swiss]] [[chemist]], winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] in [[1948 in science|1948]].
* February 19 – [[Ehrenfried Pfeiffer]] (died [[1961 in science|1961]]), German soil scientist.
* February 27 – [[Charles Best (medical scientist)|Charles Best]] (died [[1978 in science|1978]]), American-born medical scientist.
* April 4  –  [[Hillel Oppenheimer]] (died [[1971 in science|1971]]), German-born Israeli botanist.
* April 11 – [[Percy Lavon Julian]] (died [[1975 in science|1975]]), African American research chemist.
* April 28 – [[Mary Loveless]], née Hewitt (died [[1991 in science|1991]]), American immunologist.
* May 8 – [[Charles Illingworth]] (died [[1991 in science|1991]]), English [[surgeon]].
* May 14 – [[Charlotte Auerbach]] (died [[1994 in science|1994]]), German-Jewish Scottish [[geneticist]] and [[Zoology|zoologist]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Catharine M. C.|last=Haines|title=International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950|location=Santa Barbara|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2001|isbn=978-1-57607-090-1|page=10}}</ref>
* July 3 – [[Ludwig Guttmann]] (died [[1980 in science|1980]]), German-born [[neurologist]] and pioneer of paralympic games.
* July 7 – [[Anna Baetjer]] (died [[1984 in science|1984]]), American [[toxicologist]].
* July 26 – [[Bill Hamilton (engineer)|Bill Hamilton]] (died [[1978 in science|1978]]), New Zealand [[mechanical engineer]].
* September 3 – [[Frank Macfarlane Burnet]] (died [[1985 in science|1985]]), Australian [[Virology|virologist]] best known for his contributions to [[immunology]], winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in [[1960 in science|1960]].
* September 29 – [[László Bíró]] (died 1985), [[Hungarian people|Hungarian]] [[List of inventors|inventor]].
* October 5 – [[Elda Emma Anderson]] (died [[1961 in science|1961]]), American nuclear and health [[physicist]].
* October 18 – [[Janet Vaughan]] (died [[1993 in science|1993]]), English [[physiologist]].
* October 27 – [[Nikolay Dollezhal]] (died [[2000 in science|2000]]), a key figure in Soviet atomic bomb project and chief designer of nuclear reactors.
* November 10 – [[Helen Porter]] (died [[1987 in science|1987]]), English plant physiologist.

==Deaths==
* January 4 – [[Henry Alleyne Nicholson]] (born [[1844 in science|1844]]), [[Great Britain|British]] [[Paleontology|palaeontologist]] and zoologist.
* February 18 – [[Sophus Lie]] (born [[1842 in science|1842]]), [[Norway|Norwegian]] [[mathematician]].
* March 18 – [[Othniel Charles Marsh]] (born [[1831 in science|1831]]), American [[paleontologist]].
* July 16 – [[Margaretta Riley]] (born [[1804 in science|1804]]), British botanist.
* August 9 – [[Edward Frankland]] (born [[1825 in science|1825]]), English [[chemist]].
* August 16 – [[Robert Bunsen]] (born [[1811 in science|1811]]), German [[chemist]], perfector of the [[bunsen burner]].
* October 28 – [[Ottmar Mergenthaler]] (born [[1854 in science|1854]]), [[German American]] inventor.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1899 in science| ]]
[[Category:19th century in science]]
[[Category:1890s in science]]