Editing 1908 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1908|science}}
{{Science year nav|1908}}

The year '''1908 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Archaeology==
* March – A 40,000-year-old [[Neanderthal]] boy skeleton is found at [[Le Moustier]] in southwest France by [[Otto Hauser]].

==Astronomy==
* If its start and end are defined using [[Solar time|mean solar time]] then due to the extreme [[length of day]] variation this is the longest year of the [[Julian calendar]] or [[Gregorian calendar]], having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of [[Terrestrial Time]] (or [[ephemeris time]]).<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A]]|issn=0080-4614|last1=Stephenson|first1=F. R.|last2=Morrison|first2=L. V.|last3=Whitrow|first3=G. J.|year=1984|volume=313|issue=1524|pages=47–70|url=http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/313/1524/47.full.pdf+html|format=PDF|title=Long-Term Changes in the Rotation of the Earth: 700 B.C. to A.D. 1980|doi=10.1098/rsta.1984.0082 |bibcode=1984RSPTA.313...47S|s2cid=120566848 |access-date=2012-05-24|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
* [[January 3]] – The total [[solar eclipse of January 3, 1908]] is visible in the Pacific Ocean and is the 46th solar eclipse of [[Solar Saros 130]].
* [[June 28]] – The annular [[solar eclipse of June 28, 1908]] is visible from Central America, North America, Atlantic Ocean and Africa and is the 33rd solar eclipse of [[Solar Saros 135]].
* {{OldStyleDateNY |June&nbsp;30 |June&nbsp;17 }} – [[Tunguska event]] in [[Siberia]], an [[explosion]] believed to have been caused by the [[air burst]] of a large [[meteoroid]] or [[comet]] fragment at an altitude of {{convert|5|–|10|km|0}} above the Earth's surface.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pasechnik|first=I. P.|chapter=Refinement of the moment of explosion of the Tunguska meteorite from the seismic data|title=Cosmic Matter and the Earth|location=Novosibirsk|publisher=Nauka|year=1986|page=66|language=Russian}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Farinella|first1=Paolo|last2=Foschini|first2=L.|last3=Froeschlé|first3=Christiane|last4=Gonczi|first4=R.|last5=Jopek|first5=T. J.|last6=Longo|first6=G.|last7=Michel|first7=Patrick|url=http://www-th.bo.infn.it/tunguska/aah2886.pdf|title=Probable asteroidal origin of the Tunguska Cosmic Body|journal=[[Astronomy and Astrophysics]]|volume=377|issue=3|pages=1081–1097|year=2001|doi=10.1051/0004-6361:20011054 |access-date=2011-08-23 |bibcode=2001A&A...377.1081F|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Trayner|first=Chris|title=Perplexities of the Tunguska Meteorite|journal=[[The Observatory (journal)|The Observatory]]|volume=114|pages=227–231|year=1994|bibcode=1994Obs...114..227T}}</ref>
* November – [[George Ellery Hale]] publishes his observation that [[sunspot]]s have a [[magnetic field]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hale|first=G. E.|year=1908|title=On the Probable Existence of a Magnetic Field in Sun-Spots|journal=The Astrophysical Journal|volume=28|pages=315|bibcode=1908ApJ....28..315H|doi=10.1086/141602|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[December 23]] – The hybrid [[solar eclipse of December 23, 1908]] is visible from Atlantic Ocean and is the 23rd solar eclipse of [[Solar Saros 140]].

==Chemistry==
* [[Kikunae Ikeda]] discovers [[monosodium glutamate]], the chemical behind the taste of [[umami]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Kikunae Ikeda Sodium Glutamate|url=http://www.jpo.go.jp/seido_e/rekishi_e/kikunae_ikeda.htm|work=History of Industrial Property Rights|publisher=Japan Patent Office|date=2002-10-07|access-date=2010-11-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071028131520/http://www.jpo.go.jp/seido_e/rekishi_e/kikunae_ikeda.htm|archive-date=2007-10-28|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Heike Kamerlingh Onnes]] liquefies [[helium]].

==Climatology==
* This is the coldest recorded year since 1880, according to [[NASA]] reports.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/|title=Data.GISS: GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP v4)|website=data.giss.nasa.gov|access-date=January 23, 2016|archive-date=May 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517042108/https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Earth sciences==
* [[December 28]] – The 7.1 {{M|w}} [[1908 Messina earthquake]] shakes [[Southern Italy]] with a maximum [[Mercalli intensity scale|Mercalli intensity]] of XI (''Extreme'').

==Genetics==
* July – [[G. H. Hardy]] and [[Wilhelm Weinberg]] independently formulate the [[Hardy–Weinberg principle]] which states that both [[Allele frequency|allele]] and [[genotype frequency|genotype frequencies]] in a population remain in equilibrium unless disturbed.<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=148}}</ref>

==History of science==
* Site of [[Ulugh Beg Observatory]] located in [[Samarkand]] by Russian archaeologist V. L. Vyatkin.
* [[National Technical Museum (Prague)]] founded.

==Mathematics==
* [[Ernst Zermelo]] axiomizes [[set theory]], thus avoiding Cantor's contradictions.
* [[Josip Plemelj]] solves the Riemann problem about the existence of a differential equation with a given [[monodromic group]] and uses Sokhotsky-Plemelj formulae.
* [[Student's t-distribution|Student's ''t''-distribution]] published by [[William Sealy Gosset]] (pseudonymously).<ref>{{cite journal|author=Student|date=March 1908|title=The probable error of a mean|journal=[[Biometrika]]|volume=6|issue=1|pages=1–25|url=http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/maths/histstat/student.pdf|doi=10.1093/biomet/6.1.1|access-date=2011-10-08|hdl=10338.dmlcz/143545}}</ref>

==Paleontology==
* c. September – [[Edmontosaurus mummy AMNH 5060|''Edmontosaurus'' mummy AMNH 5060]], an exceptionally well-preserved [[fossil]] [[dinosaur]], is discovered near [[Lusk, Wyoming]].

==Physics==
* [[Hans Geiger]] and [[Ernest Rutherford]] invent the [[Geiger counter]].
* [[Gustav Mie]] publishes the [[Mie scattering|Mie solution]] to [[Maxwell's equations]] on the [[scattering]] of [[electromagnetic radiation]] by a [[sphere]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Gustav |last=Mie |title=Beiträge zur Optik trüber Medien, speziell kolloidaler Metallösungen |journal=[[Annalen der Physik]] |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=377–445 |year=1908 |doi=10.1002/andp.19083300302 |bibcode=1908AnP...330..377M |doi-access=free }} [https://web.archive.org/web/20050505165710/http://diogenes.iwt.uni-bremen.de/vt/laser/papers/RAE-LT1873-1976-Mie-1908-translation.pdf English translation], [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716152805/http://diogenes.iwt.uni-bremen.de/vt/laser/papers/SAND78-6018-Mie-1908-translation.pdf American translation]</ref>

==Physiology and medicine==
* April 27 – First Congress for Freudian Psychology, held in [[Salzburg]].
* [[Swiss people|Swiss]] [[psychiatrist]] [[Eugen Bleuler]] introduces the term ''[[schizophrenia]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kuhn|first=R.|title=Eugen Bleuler's concepts of psychopathology|journal=History of Psychiatry|volume=15|issue=59 Pt 3|year=2004|pages=361–6|doi=10.1177/0957154X04044603|pmid=15386868|s2cid=5317716 }}</ref>
* [[Austrian American]] [[pathologist]] [[Leo Buerger]] gives the first accurate pathological description of ''[[Thromboangiitis obliterans]]'' ("Buerger's disease") at [[Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan)]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Buerger |first=Leo |title=Thrombo-angiitis obliterans: a study of the vascular lesions leading to presenile spontaneous gangrene |journal=The American Journal of the Medical Sciences |volume=136 |issue=4 |pages=567–80 |year=1908 |doi=10.1097/00000441-190810000-00011 |pmid=29015658 |pmc=5202473 }}</ref>
* [[Victor Horsley]] and R. Clarke invents the [[stereotactic method]].
* [[Margaret Reed Lewis]], working in Berlin, becomes probably the first person successfully to grow mammalian tissue ''in vitro''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Corner|first=George W.|author-link=George W. Corner|title=Warren Harmon Lewis, June 17, 1870 – July 3, 1964|journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences|number=39|year=1967|pages=323–358|url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/lewis-warren-h.pdf}}</ref>

==Technology==
* January 12 – A long-distance radio message is sent from the [[Eiffel Tower]] for the first time.
* July 8 – The paper [[coffee filter]], created by German [[housewife]] [[Melitta Bentz]], is patented.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dpma.de/english/our_office/publications/ingeniouswomen/110jahrekaffeefilter/index.html|title=Melitta Bentz, mother of filter coffee: inventor and entrepreneur|website=German Patent and Trade Mark Office|access-date=2022-04-06}}</ref>
* June 22 – [[James M. Spangler]] [[patent]]s the upright portable [[vacuum cleaner]] in the United States.
* September 27 – The first of [[Henry Ford]]'s [[Ford Model T]] automobiles is produced in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]].<ref>{{cite press release|title=Model T Facts|url=https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2013/08/05/model-t-facts.html|publisher=Ford|location=US|access-date=2013-04-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928165026/https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2013/08/05/model-t-facts.html|archive-date=2013-09-28|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* December 7 – Lee Newman files a patent for a felt-tipped [[marker pen]] in the United States.<ref>Lee W. Newman, Marking Pen, [https://patents.google.com/patent/US946149A U.S. Patent 946,149]. Granted January 11, 1910.</ref>

==Awards==
* [[Nobel Prize]]s
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Gabriel Lippmann]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[Ernest Rutherford]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] – [[Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov]] and [[Paul Ehrlich]]

==Births==
* January 15 – [[Edward Teller]] (died [[2003 in science|2003]]), [[Hungary|Hungarian]]-born [[physicist]], inventor of the [[hydrogen bomb]].
* January 18 – [[Jacob Bronowski]] (died [[1974 in science|1974]]), [[Poland|Polish]]-born scientific [[polymath]].
* January 22 – [[Lev Davidovich Landau]] (died [[1968 in science|1968]]), Russian [[physicist]].
* February 11 – [[Vivian Fuchs]] (died [[1999 in science|1999]]), English [[geologist]] and [[List of explorers|explorer]].
* February 25 – [[Mary Locke Petermann]] (died [[1975 in science|1975]]), American cellular [[biochemist]].
* March 15 – [[Thure von Uexküll]] (died [[2004 in science|2004]]), German pioneer of [[psychosomatic medicine]].
* May 14 – [[Nicholas Kurti]], born Kürti Miklós (died [[1998 in science|1998]]), Hungarian-born physicist.
* May 23 – [[John Bardeen]] (died [[1991 in science|1991]]), American physicist, co-inventor of the [[transistor]], only physicist to receive the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] twice.
* September 2 – [[Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrev]] (died [[1983 in science|1983]]), Russian [[astronomer]] and [[astrophysicist]].
* September 6 – [[Louis Essen]] (died [[1997 in science|1997]]), English physicist, co-developer of the first practical [[atomic clock]].
* September 18 – [[Victor Ambartsumian]] (died [[1996 in science|1996]]), Soviet Armenian theoretical astrophysicist.<ref>{{cite web|title=Viktor Amazaspovich Ambartsumian – Armenian astronomer|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Viktor-Amazaspovich-Ambartsumian|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=21 February 2018}}</ref>
* October 10 – [[Min Chueh Chang]] (died [[1991 in science|1991]]), [[China|Chinese]]-born [[embryologist]].
* October 21 – [[Elsie Widdowson]] (died [[2000 in science|2000]]), English [[nutritionist]].
* November 4 – [[Joseph Rotblat]] (died [[2005 in science|2005]]), Polish-born physicist.
* December 24 – [[Noël Poynter]] (died [[1979 in science|1979]]), English [[medical historian]].

==Deaths==
* January 3 – [[Charles Augustus Young]] (born [[1834 in science|1834]]), American [[astronomer]].
* August 25 – [[Henri Becquerel]] (born [[1852 in science|1852]]), French [[physicist]].
* November 20 – [[Georgy Voronoy]] (born [[1868 in science|1868]]), Russian mathematician.

==References==
{{reflist}}

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[[Category:1908 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1900s in science]]