Editing 1901 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1901|science}}
{{Science year nav|1901}}

The year '''1901 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Biology==
* [[Okapi]], a relative of the [[Giraffe]] found in the [[rainforest]]s around the [[Congo River]] in north east [[Zaire]], is discovered (previously known only to local natives).<ref>{{Cite news |date=1901 |title=The Okapi |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/185052 |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=Forest and stream |publisher=[Forest and Stream Publishing Co.] |volume=v.57 (1901)}}</ref>
* Publication of [[Robert Ridgway]]'s ''The Birds of North and Middle America'' by the [[Smithsonian Institution]] begins.
* [[Edmund Selous]] publishes the book ''Bird Watching'' in the U.K., giving rise to the term ''[[birdwatching]]''.

==Chemistry==
* [[May 27]] – The [[Edison Storage Battery Company]] is founded in [[New Jersey]].
* [[June 17]] – [[Europium]] is discovered by [[Eugène-Anatole Demarçay]].
* [[Hermann Emil Fischer|Emil Fischer]], in collaboration with [[Ernest Fourneau]], synthesizes the [[dipeptide]], [[glycylglycine]], and also publishes his work on the [[hydrolysis]] of [[casein]].
* [[Edith Humphrey]] becomes (probably) the first British woman to obtain a doctorate in chemistry, at the [[University of Zurich]].<ref>''Über die Bindungsstelle der Metalle in ihren Verbindungen und über Dinitritoäthylendiaminkobaltisalze''.</ref>

==Computing==
* December 13 (20:45:52) – Retrospectively, this becomes the earliest date representable with a signed [[32-bit]] integer on digital computer systems that reference time in seconds since the [[Unix epoch]].

==Exploration==
* August 6 – [[Discovery Expedition|''Discovery'' Expedition]]: [[Robert Falcon Scott]] sets sail on the [[RRS Discovery|RRS ''Discovery'']] to explore the [[Ross Sea]] in [[Antarctica]].

==History of Science==
* September 25 – Establishment of ''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften'', the world's first [[history of science]] society.<ref>{{cite web|title=DGGMNT|url=http://www.dggmnt.de/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110&Itemid=215|accessdate=2011-10-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302032105/http://www.dggmnt.de/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110&Itemid=215|archive-date=2012-03-02|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* April – [[Henri Lebesgue]] defines [[Lebesgue integration]] for some function f(x).<ref>''[[Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Sciences]]''.</ref>
* May/June – [[Russell's paradox]]: [[Bertrand Russell]] shows that [[Georg Cantor]]'s [[naive set theory]] leads to a contradiction.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xg6QpedPpcsC&pg=PA350|last=Griffin|first=N.|chapter=The Prehistory of Russell's Paradox|title=One Hundred Years of Russell's Paradox: mathematics, logic, philosophy|editor=Link, Godehard|page=350|year=2004|isbn=978-3-11-017438-0}}</ref>
* [[Élie Cartan]] develops the [[exterior derivative]].
* [[Leonard Eugene Dickson]] publishes ''Linear groups with an exposition of the Galois field theory'' in [[Leipzig]], advancing the [[classification of finite simple groups]] and listing almost all [[Non-abelian group|non-abelian]] [[simple group]]s having order less than one billion.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Parshall|first=K. H.|year=1991|title=A study in group theory: Leonard Eugene Dickson's Linear groups|journal=Mathematical Intelligencer|volume=13|pages=7–11|authorlink=Karen Parshall|doi=10.1007/bf03024065}}</ref>
* [[Aleksandr Lyapunov]] proves the [[central limit theorem]] rigorously using characteristic functions.<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=141}}</ref>

==Paleontology==
* Publication begins of ''A Monograph of British Graptolites'' by [[Gertrude Elles|Gertrude L. Elles]] and [[Ethel Shakespear|Dr Ethel M. R. Wood]], edited by [[Charles Lapworth]].

==Photography==
* [[Eastman Kodak]] introduce the [[120 film]].

==Physics==
* January 23 – [[Guglielmo Marconi]] sends a radio signal 299&nbsp;km (186&nbsp;mi) 'over the horizon' in the British Isles from [[Niton]] on the [[Isle of Wight]] to [[The Lizard]] in [[Cornwall]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Peter|last=Stanier|title=Cornwall's Industrial Heritage|location=Chacewater|publisher=Twelveheads|year=2010|isbn=978-0-906294-57-4|page=14}}</ref>
* December 12 – Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signal, sent from [[Poldhu]] in Cornwall, England, to [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]], the letter "S" in [[Morse code|Morse]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Gordon|last=Bussey|title=Marconi's Atlantic Leap|location=Coventry|publisher=Marconi|year=2000|isbn=0-9538967-0-6}}</ref>
* [[Albert Einstein]] publishes his conclusions on [[capillarity]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=A.|last=Einstein|title=Folgerungen aus den Capillaritätserscheinungen|url=http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/annalen/history/einstein-papers/1901_4_513-523.pdf|journal=[[Annalen der Physik]]|volume=309|issue=3|pages=513–523|year=1901|doi=10.1002/andp.19013090306|bibcode=1901AnP...309..513E}}</ref>
* [[Owen Richardson]] describes the phenomenon in [[thermionic emission]] which gives rise to Richardson's Law.<ref>{{cite web|author=Nobel Foundation|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1928: Owen Willans Richardson|url=http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1928/richardson-bio.html|work=Nobelprize.org|year=1928|accessdate=2012-01-17}}</ref>
* [[Ivan Yarkovsky]] describes the [[Yarkovsky effect]], a [[Heat|thermal]] force acting on rotating bodies in space, in a pamphlet on "The density of light ether and the resistance it offers to motion" published in [[Bryansk]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=The nearly forgotten scientist Ivan Osipovich Yarkovsky|last=Beekman|first=George|journal=[[Journal of the British Astronomical Association]]|volume=115|issue=4|pages=207–212|bibcode=2005JBAA..115..207B}}</ref>

==Physiology and medicine==
* November 25 – [[Auguste Deter]] is first examined by Dr [[Alois Alzheimer]] in [[Frankfurt|Frankfort]] leading to a diagnosis of the [[Alzheimer's disease|condition that will carry Alzheimer's name]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/177.html|title=Alois Alzheimer|work=[[Who Named It?|Whonamedit?]]|accessdate=2011-10-21}}</ref>
* [[Takamine Jōkichi|Jōkichi Takamine]] isolates and names [[adrenaline]] from mammalian organs.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Takamine|first=J.|title=The isolation of the active principle of the suprarenal gland|work=The Journal of Physiology|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1901|pages=xxix-xxx|volume=27|doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1902.sp000893|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVEq06Ym6qcC&pg=RA1-PR29#PRA1-PR29,M1|pmc=1403136}} See also ''American Journal of Pharmacy'' '''73''' (1901):525.</ref>
* [[Ivan Pavlov]] develops the theory of the "[[Classical conditioning|conditional reflex]]".<ref>{{cite book|last=Todes|first=Daniel Philip|title=Pavlov's Physiology Factory|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2002|location=Baltimore|pages=232 ''et seq''|isbn=0-8018-6690-1}}</ref>
* [[Georg Kelling]] of [[Dresden]] performs the first "coelioscopy" ([[laparoscopic surgery]]), on a dog.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Georg Kelling (1866-1945): the root of modern day minimal invasive surgery. A forgotten legend?|author=Schollmeyer, Thoralf|journal=Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics|date=November 2007|volume=276|issue=5|pages=505–9|doi=10.1007/s00404-007-0372-y|pmid=17458553|display-authors=etal}}</ref>
* [[William C. Gorgas]] controls the spread of [[yellow fever]] in [[Cuba]] by a [[mosquito]] eradication program.<ref>{{cite book|page=474|first=Roy|last=Porter|authorlink=Roy Porter|title=The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: a medical history of humanity from antiquity to the present|location=London|publisher=HarperCollins|year=1997|isbn=0-00-215173-1}}</ref>
* Scottish military doctor [[William Boog Leishman]] identifies organisms from the spleen of a patient who had died from "[[Dum Dum]] fever" (later known as [[leishmaniasis]]) and proposes them to be [[trypanosomes]], found for the first time in India.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Leishman|first=W. B.|year=1903|title=On the possibility of the occurrence of trypanomiasis in India|journal=[[BMJ|The British Medical Journal]]}}</ref>
* An improved [[sphygmomanometer]], for the measurement of [[blood pressure]], is invented and popularized by [[Harvey Williams Cushing|Harvey Cushing]].
* [[Karl Landsteiner]] discovers the existence of different human [[blood type]]s
* German [[Oscar Troplowitz]] invents for [[Beiersdorf]] the medical plaster patch 'Leukoplast'.

==Psychology==
* [[Edward B. Titchener]]'s textbook ''Experimental Psychology'' popularizes the [[Ebbinghaus illusion]].

==Technology==
* May 16 – [[TS King Edward|TS ''King Edward'']] is launched at [[William Denny and Brothers]]' shipyard in [[Dumbarton]], [[Scotland]]. The first commercial merchant vessel propelled by [[steam turbine]]s, she enters excursion service on the [[Firth of Clyde]] on July 1.
* July 10 – The world's first passenger-carrying [[trolleybus]] in regular service operates on the [[Biela Valley Trolleybus]] route at [[Königstein, Saxony|Koeninggstein]] in Germany, pioneering Max Schiemann's under-running trolley current collection system.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Frank|last=Dittmann|title=Die gleislose Bielatalbahn|journal=Sächsische Heimatblätter|issue=3|year=1991|issn=0486-8234|pages=177–180}}</ref>
* August 30 – [[Hubert Cecil Booth]] [[patent]]s the electrically powered [[vacuum cleaner]] in the United Kingdom<ref>{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref>
* November 30 – [[Frank Hornby]] of [[Liverpool]] is granted a U.K. patent for the construction toy that will become [[Meccano]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=GB190100587&F=0|accessdate=2010-08-14|title=Hornby's 1901 patent}}</ref>
* December 3 – [[King C. Gillette]] files a U.S. patent application for his design of [[safety razor]] utilizing thin, disposable blades of stamped [[Razor blade steel|steel]].<ref>{{patent|US|775134|"Razor"}}</ref>
* {{not a typo|[[Theodor Rall]]}} patents his design of [[rolling lift bridge]].<ref name="Rall patent">{{cite web|title=Patent number 669348: T. Rall movable bridge|date=1901|publisher=[[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] (referenced online by [[Google Patents]])|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US669348|access-date=April 21, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Mike|last=Clarke|title=A Brief History of Movable Bridges|url=http://www.mikeclarke.myzen.co.uk/Movable%20Bridges.html|date=2009-01-05|accessdate=2012-02-09}}</ref>
* German engineer [[Richard Fiedler]] invents the modern [[flamethrower]], the [[Kleinflammenwerfer]].
* [[Ernest Godward]] invents the [[spiral hairpin]] in New Zealand.

==Publications==
* [[H. G. Wells]]' "[[scientific romance]]" ''[[The First Men in the Moon]]'' and his collected articles on [[futurology]] ''Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress Upon Human Life and Thought''.

==Awards==
* First [[Nobel Prize]]s awarded
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Wilhelm Röntgen]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[J. H. van 't Hoff]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[Emil Adolf von Behring]]
* [[Copley Medal]] – [[J. Willard Gibbs]]<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 Barrois]]

==Births==
* January 14 – [[Alfred Tarski]] (died [[1983 in science|1983]]), [[Polish Jew]]ish [[logician]] and [[mathematician]].
* January 18 – [[Frank Zamboni]] (died [[1988 in science|1988]]), American inventor 
* February 28 – [[Linus Pauling]] (died [[1994 in science|1994]]), American [[chemist]], [[Nobel Prize]] winner for chemistry and peace.
* March 2 – [[Grete Hermann]] (died [[1984 in science|1984]]), German mathematician and philosopher
* March 6 – [[Rex Wailes]] (died [[1986 in science|1986]]), English engineer and historian of technology.
* March 9 – [[Joachim Hämmerling]] (died [[1980 in science|1980]]), German-born Danish biologist.
* April 13 – [[Jacques Lacan]] (died [[1981 in science|1981]]), French [[psychoanalyst]].
* April 23 – [[E. B. Ford]] (died [[1988 in science|1988]]), English [[Ecological genetics|ecological geneticist]] and [[lepidopterist]].
* April 29 – [[Hirohito]] (died [[1989 in science|1989]]), marine biologist and [[Emperor of Japan]].
* May 21 – [[Manfred Aschner]] (died [[1989 in science|1989]]), German-born Israeli microbiologist and entomologist.
* July 2 – [[Esther Somerfeld-Ziskind]] (died [[2002 in science|2002]]), American neurologist and psychiatrist.
* August 8 – [[Ernest Lawrence]] (died [[1958 in science|1958]]), American nuclear scientist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939.
* August 10 – [[Franco Rasetti]] (died [[2001 in science|2001]]), Italian [[physicist]].
* September 15 – [[Elie Carafoli]] (died [[1983 in science|1983]]), [[Aromanians|Aromanian]] aeronautical engineer.
* September 29 – [[Enrico Fermi]] (died [[1954 in science|1954]]), Italian nuclear physicist.
* October 8 – [[Mark Oliphant]] (died [[2000 in science|2000]]), Australian nuclear physicist.
* November 6 – [[Kathleen Mary Drew-Baker]] (died [[1957 in science|1957]]), British [[phycologist]].
* December 5 – [[Werner Heisenberg]] (died [[1976 in science|1976]]), German [[theoretical physicist]].
* December 16 – [[Margaret Mead]] (died [[1978 in science|1978]]), American [[cultural anthropologist]].
* December 20 – [[Robert J. Van de Graaff]] (died [[1967 in science|1967]]), American physicist.

==Deaths==
* January 21 – [[Elisha Gray]] (born [[1835 in science|1835]]), American [[electrical engineer]].
* February 11 – [[Henry Willis]] (born [[1821 in science|1821]]), English organ builder.
* February 21 – [[George Francis FitzGerald|George FitzGerald]] (born [[1851 in science|1851]]), Irish [[physicist]].
* April 16 – [[Henry Augustus Rowland]] (born [[1848 in science|1848]]), American [[physicist]].
* September 10 – [[Emanuella Carlbeck]] (born [[1829 in science|1829]]), Swedish pioneer in the education of students with intellectual disability.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1901 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1900s in science]]