1886 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1886 in science
and technology
involved some significant events, listed below.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
involved some significant events, listed below.
Medicine
- The classic descriptions of Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease are published by Jean-Martin CharcotJean-Martin CharcotJean-Martin Charcot was a French neurologist and professor of anatomical pathology. He is known as "the founder of modern neurology" and is "associated with at least 15 medical eponyms", including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis...
and his pupil Pierre Marie in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and by Howard H. ToothHoward Henry ToothHoward Henry Tooth, CMG, CB was a British neurologist and one of the discoverers of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.-Early life and education:...
in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. - Edinburgh School of Medicine for WomenEdinburgh School of Medicine for WomenThe Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women was founded by Dr Sophia Jex-Blake in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1886, with support from the National Association for Promoting the Medical Education of Women....
is founded by Dr Sophia Jex-BlakeSophia Jex-BlakeSophia Louisa Jex-Blake was an English physician, teacher and feminist. She was one of the first female doctors in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, a leading campaigner for medical education for women and was involved in founding two medical schools for women, in London and in...
.
Metallurgy
- July 9 - Charles HallCharles Martin HallCharles Martin Hall was an American inventor, music enthusiast, and chemist. He is best known for his invention in 1886 of an inexpensive method for producing aluminium, which became the first metal to attain widespread use since the prehistoric discovery of iron.-Early years:Charles Martin Hall...
files a United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
for the Hall–Héroult process for converting alumina into aluminum by electrolysisElectrolysisIn chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a method of using a direct electric current to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction...
.
Physics
- November 11 - Heinrich Hertz verifies at the University of Karlsruhe the existence of electromagnetic waves.
Technology
- September 21 - William Stanley, Jr.William Stanley, Jr.William Stanley, Jr. was an American physicist born in Brooklyn, New York. In his career, he obtained 129 patents covering a variety of electric devices.-Biography:...
patents the induction coilInduction coilAn induction coil or "spark coil" is a type of disruptive discharge coil. It is a type of electrical transformer used to produce high-voltage pulses from a low-voltage direct current supply...
, the first practical alternating currentAlternating currentIn alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
transformerTransformerA transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through inductively coupled conductors—the transformer's coils. A varying current in the first or primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and thus a varying magnetic field...
device. - Gottlieb DaimlerGottlieb DaimlerGottlieb Daimler was an engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf , in what is now Germany. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development...
produces the first motorboatMotorboatA motorboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.An inboard/outboard contains a hybrid of a...
, Neckar. - Herbert Akroyd StuartHerbert Akroyd StuartHerbert Akroyd-Stuart was an English inventor who is noted for his invention of the hot bulb engine, or heavy oil engine.-Life:...
produces his first prototype heavy oil engines.
Awards
- Copley MedalCopley MedalThe Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society of London for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science, and alternates between the physical sciences and the biological sciences"...
: Franz NeumannFranz Ernst NeumannFranz Ernst Neumann was a German mineralogist, physicist and mathematician.-Biography:Neumann was born in Joachimsthal, Margraviate of Brandenburg, located not far from Berlin. In 1815 he interrupted his studies at Berlin to serve as a volunteer in the Hundred Days against Napoleon, and was... - Wollaston MedalWollaston MedalThe Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London.The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831...
for Geology: Alfred Des CloizeauxAlfred Des CloizeauxAlfred Louis Olivier Legrand Des Cloizeaux was a French mineralogist.Des Cloizeaux was born at Beauvais, in the department of Oise. He studied with Jean-Baptiste Biot at the Collège de France. He became professor of mineralogy at the École Normale Supérieure and afterwards at the Muséum National...
Births
- January 28 - Hidetsugu YagiHidetsugu YagiHidetsugu Yagi was a Japanese electrical engineer. When working at Tohoku University, he wrote several important articles that introduced a new antenna design by his colleague Shintaro Uda to the English-speaking world.The Yagi antenna, patented in 1926, allows directional communication using...
, JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese electrical engineer (d. 19761976 in scienceThe year 1976 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* June 18 – Gravity Probe A, a satellite-based experiment to test Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, is launched....
) - April 5 - Frederick LindemannFrederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount CherwellFrederick Alexander Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell FRS PC CH was an English physicist who was an influential scientific adviser to the British government, particularly Winston Churchill...
, GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-born BritishBritish peopleThe British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
(d. 19571957 in scienceThe year 1957 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* October 4 - Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite....
). - September 26 - Archibald HillArchibald HillArchibald Vivian Hill CH OBE FRS was an English physiologist, one of the founders of the diverse disciplines of biophysics and operations research...
, EnglishEnglish peopleThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
physiologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
(d. 19771977 in scienceThe year 1977 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.- Astronomy and space exploration :* March 10 – Rings of Uranus discovered by Kuiper Airborne Observatory measurements of star occultation....
) - November 20 - Karl von FrischKarl von FrischKarl Ritter von Frisch was an Austrian ethologist who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973, along with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz....
, AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n ethologistEthologyEthology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 19821982 in scienceThe year 1982 in science and technology involved many significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* March 10 – Syzygy: all 9 planets align on the same side of the Sun.-History of science:...
). - December 9 - Clarence BirdseyeClarence BirdseyeClarence Frank Birdseye II was an American inventor who is considered the founder of the modern method of freezing food.- Early work :...
, AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
founder of the modern frozen food industry (d. 19561956 in scienceThe year 1956 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Wesley K. Whitten reports developing eight-cell mouse ova to blastocyst stage in vitro.Computer science-...
).
Deaths
- July 1 - Otto Wilhelm Hermann von AbichOtto Wilhelm Hermann von AbichOtto Wilhelm Hermann von Abich was a German mineralogist and geologist.He was born at Berlin and educated at the local university. His earliest scientific work is related to spinels and other minerals. Later he made special studies of fumaroles, of the mineral deposits around volcanic vents, and...
, German mineralogist and geologistGeologistA geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
(b. 18061806 in scienceThe year 1806 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Botany:* Publication begins in London of the Flora Graeca collected by John Sibthorp.-Mathematics:* Jean-Robert Argand introduces the Argand diagram....
) - August 17 - Aleksandr ButlerovAleksandr ButlerovAleksandr Mikhailovich Butlerov was a Russian chemist, one of the principal creators of the theory of chemical structure , the first to incorporate double bonds into structural formulas, the discoverer of hexamine , and the discoverer of the formose reaction.The...
, RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n chemistChemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
(b. 18281828 in scienceThe year 1828 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* Félix Savary computes the first orbit of a visual double star when he calculates the orbit of the double star Xi Ursae Majoris.-Biochemistry:...
) - November 14 - Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de ChancourtoisAlexandre-Emile Béguyer de ChancourtoisAlexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois was a French geologist and mineralogist who was the first to arrange the chemical elements in order of atomic weights, doing so in 1862. De Chancourtois only published his paper, but did not publish his actual graph with the proposed arrangement...
, FrenchFrench peopleThe French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
mineralogist and geologist (b. 18201820 in scienceThe year 1820 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Christian Friedrich Nasse formulates Nasse's law: hemophilia occurs only in males and is transmitted by asymptomatic females.-Chemistry:...
). - December 26 - Theodor von OppolzerTheodor von OppolzerTheodor von Oppolzer was an Austrian astronomer and mathematician.The son of the physician Johann Ritter von Oppolzer, Theodor was born in Prague, at the time part of the Austrian Empire. He completed his graduate studies in medicine at the University of Vienna, gaining a Ph.D. in 1865...
, Austrian astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
(b. 18411841 in scienceThe year 1841 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Rev. Miles Joseph Berkeley demonstrates that Phytophthora infestans is a fungal infection....
)