1903 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1903 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.
Aeronautics
- December 17 - First documented, successful, controlled, powered flight of an aircraftAircraftAn aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
with a petrol enginePetrol engineA petrol engine is an internal combustion engine with spark-ignition, designed to run on petrol and similar volatile fuels....
by Orville Wright in the Wright FlyerWright FlyerThe Wright Flyer was the first powered aircraft, designed and built by the Wright brothers. They flew it four times on December 17, 1903 near the Kill Devil Hills, about four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, U.S.The U.S...
at Kill Devil Hills, North CarolinaKill Devil Hills, North CarolinaKill Devil Hills is a town in Dare County, North Carolina, USA. The population was 5,897 at the 2000 census.Nearby Kitty Hawk is frequently cited as the location of the Wright brothers' first controlled, powered airplane flights on December 17, 1903...
. - Konstantin TsiolkovskyKonstantin TsiolkovskyKonstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was an Imperial Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory. Along with his followers the German Hermann Oberth and the American Robert H. Goddard, he is considered to be one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics...
begins a series of papers discussing the use of rocketRocketA rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
ry to reach outer space, space suitSpace suitA space suit is a garment worn to keep an astronaut alive in the harsh environment of outer space. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, and are necessary for extra-vehicular activity , work done outside spacecraft...
s, and colonization of the solar systemSolar SystemThe Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
.
Biology
- The type specimen of the vampire squidVampire SquidThe vampire squid is a small, deep-sea cephalopod found throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. Unique retractile sensory filaments justify the Vampire Squid's placement in its own order: Vampyromorphida , which shares similarities with both squid and octopuses...
(Vampyroteuthis infernalis) is described by Carl ChunCarl ChunDr. Carl Chun was a German marine biologist.Chun was born in Höchst, today a part of Frankfurt, and studied zoology at the University of Leipzig where, after posts in Königsberg and Breslau, he was appointed professor for biology in 1892...
. - Formal opening of the Johnston LaboratoriesJohnston LaboratoriesThe Johnston Laboratories at the University of Liverpool in Liverpool, England performed a variety of pathology and medical research during the 20th century. They are now located in what is presently called the Johnston Building. The Laboratories were founded by early University benefactor and...
at the University of LiverpoolUniversity of LiverpoolThe University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...
, LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Mathematics
- Fast Fourier TransformFast Fourier transformA fast Fourier transform is an efficient algorithm to compute the discrete Fourier transform and its inverse. "The FFT has been called the most important numerical algorithm of our lifetime ." There are many distinct FFT algorithms involving a wide range of mathematics, from simple...
algorithm presented by Carle David Tolme RungeCarle David Tolmé RungeCarl David Tolmé Runge was a German mathematician, physicist, and spectroscopist.He was co-developer and co-eponym of the Runge–Kutta method , in the field of what is today known as numerical analysis.-Biography:...
. - Edmund Georg Hermann Landau gives considerably simpler proof of the prime number theorem.
Medicine
- March–April - David BruceDavid Bruce (microbiologist)Major-General Sir David Bruce KCB FRS FRSE was a Scottish pathologist and microbiologist who investigated the Malta-fever and trypanosomes, identifying the cause of sleeping sickness....
identifies the parasitic TrypanosomaTrypanosoma bruceiTrypanosoma brucei is a parasitic protist species that causes African trypanosomiasis in humans and nagana in animals in Africa. There are 3 sub-species of T. brucei: T. b. brucei, T. b. gambiense and T. b. rhodesiense.These obligate parasites have two hosts - an insect vector and mammalian host...
protistProtistProtists are a diverse group of eukaryotic microorganisms. Historically, protists were treated as the kingdom Protista, which includes mostly unicellular organisms that do not fit into the other kingdoms, but this group is contested in modern taxonomy...
as the source of African trypanosomiasis ("sleeping sickness"). - May 10 - Antoni LeśniowskiAntoni LesniowskiAntoni Leśniowski was a Polish surgeon, credited with publishing what may have been the earliest reports of the condition which later became known as Crohn’s disease....
publishes the first article implicating what will later be known as Crohn's diseaseCrohn's diseaseCrohn's disease, also known as regional enteritis, is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, causing a wide variety of symptoms...
, in the PolishPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
weekly medical newspaper Medycyna. - Ernest FourneauErnest FourneauErnest Fourneau was a French medicinal chemist, who played a major role in the discovery of synthetic local anesthetics, as well as in the synthesis of suramin...
synthesizes and 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....
s AmylocaineAmylocaineAmylocaine was the first synthetic local anesthetic. It was synthesized and patented under the name Stovaine by Ernest Fourneau at the Pasteur Institute in 1903. It was formerly used mostly in spinal anesthesia.-External links:...
, the first synthetic local anestheticLocal anestheticA local anesthetic is a drug that causes reversible local anesthesia, generally for the aim of having local analgesic effect, that is, inducing absence of pain sensation, although other local senses are often affected as well...
, under the name Stovaine at the Pasteur InstitutePasteur InstituteThe Pasteur Institute is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who made some of the greatest breakthroughs in modern medicine at the time, including pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax...
.
Physics
- George DarwinGeorge DarwinSir George Howard Darwin, FRS was an English astronomer and mathematician.-Biography:Darwin was born at Down House, Kent, the second son and fifth child of Charles and Emma Darwin...
and John JolyJohn JolyJohn Joly FRS was an Irish physicist, famous for his development of radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer...
claim that radioactivity is partially responsible for the EarthEarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
's heat.
Technology
- Laminated glassLaminated glassLaminated glass is a type of safety glass that holds together when shattered. In the event of breaking, it is held in place by an interlayer, typically of polyvinyl butyral , between its two or more layers of glass. The interlayer keeps the layers of glass bonded even when broken, and its high...
is invented by Edouard Benedictus. - The Lune Valley boiler is patented by John G. A. Kitchen and Ludlow Perkins.
Awards
- Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
s- PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
- Antoine Henri BecquerelHenri BecquerelAntoine Henri Becquerel was a French physicist, Nobel laureate, and the discoverer of radioactivity along with Marie Curie and Pierre Curie, for which all three won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics.-Early life:...
, Pierre CuriePierre CuriePierre Curie was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity and radioactivity, and Nobel laureate. He was the son of Dr. Eugène Curie and Sophie-Claire Depouilly Curie ...
, and Marie CurieMarie CurieMarie Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry... - ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
- Svante August ArrheniusSvante ArrheniusSvante August Arrhenius was a Swedish scientist, originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, and one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry... - 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...
- Niels Ryberg FinsenNiels Ryberg FinsenNiels Ryberg Finsen was a Faroese-Danish physician and scientist of Icelandic descent. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1903 "in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light radiation, whereby he has...
- Physics
Births
- January 22 - Fritz HoutermansFritz HoutermansFriedrich Georg "Fritz" Houtermans was a Dutch-Austrian-German atomic and nuclear physicist born in Zoppot near Danzig, West Prussia...
(d. 19661966 in scienceThe year 1966 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* February 3 - The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon....
), 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...
. - January 27 - John Carew EcclesJohn Carew EcclesJohn Carew Eccles, AC FRS FRACP FRSNZ FAAS was an Australian neurophysiologist who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the synapse. He shared the prize with Andrew Huxley and Alan Lloyd Hodgkin....
(d. 19971997 in scienceThe year 1997 in science and technology involved many significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* January 17 - Explosion of a Delta II rocket carrying a military GPS payload shortly after liftoff from Cape Canaveral....
), psychologistPsychologistPsychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
. - January 28 - Kathleen LonsdaleKathleen LonsdaleDame Kathleen Lonsdale, DBE FRS was a crystallographer, who established the structure of benzene by X-ray diffraction methods in 1929, and hexachlorobenzene by Fourier spectral methods in 1931...
, née Yardley (d. 19711971 in scienceThe year 1971 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* January 31 - Apollo program: Astronauts aboard Apollo 14 lift off for a mission to the moon....
), IrishIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
-born crystallographerCrystallographerCrystallographer could refer to someone who practices:*X-ray crystallography*Crystallography...
. - February 2 - Bartel Leendert van der WaerdenBartel Leendert van der WaerdenBartel Leendert van der Waerden was a Dutch mathematician and historian of mathematics....
(d. 19961996 in scienceThe year 1996 in science and technology involved many significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* January 30 – Comet Hyakutake is discovered.* February 17 – NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft launched...
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - February 22 - Frank P. RamseyFrank P. RamseyFrank Plumpton Ramsey was a British mathematician who, in addition to mathematics, made significant and precocious contributions in philosophy and economics before his death at the age of 26...
(d. 19301930 in scienceThe year 1930 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* February 18 - Pluto is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh.* Bernhard Schmidt invents the Schmidt Camera.-Atmospheric chemistry:...
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - April 6 - Doc Edgerton, (d. 19901990 in scienceThe year 1990 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy and space exploration:* April 24 – The Space Shuttle Discovery places the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit.-Computer science:...
), professorProfessorA professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
electrical engineer. - April 25 - Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov (d. 19871987 in scienceThe year 1987 in science and technology involved many significant events, some listed below.-Astronomy:* February 23 – Supernova 1987a is observed, the first "naked-eye" supernova since 1604.* Asteroid 7816 Hanoi is discovered by Masahiro Koishikawa....
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - May 2 - Benjamin SpockBenjamin SpockBenjamin McLane Spock was an American pediatrician whose book Baby and Child Care, published in 1946, is one of the biggest best-sellers of all time. Its message to mothers is that "you know more than you think you do."Spock was the first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try to understand...
(d. 19981998 in scienceThe year 1998 in science and technology involved many events, some of which are included below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* January–September – Cosmologists from the Supernova Cosmology Project led by Saul Perlmutter and the High-z Supernova Search Team led by Adam Riess and Brian...
), pediatrician, writer. - August 7 - Louis LeakeyLouis LeakeyLouis Seymour Bazett Leakey was a British archaeologist and naturalist whose work was important in establishing human evolutionary development in Africa. He also played a major role in creating organizations for future research in Africa and for protecting wildlife there...
(d. 19721972 in scienceThe year 1972 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* January 5 - President of the United States Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program....
), BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
archaeologist. - October 5 - M. King HubbertM. King HubbertMarion King Hubbert was a geoscientist who worked at the Shell research lab in Houston, Texas. He made several important contributions to geology, geophysics, and petroleum geology, most notably the Hubbert curve and Hubbert peak theory , with important political ramifications. He was often...
(d. 19891989 in scienceThe year 1989 in science and technology involved many significant events, some listed below.-Astronomy:* August – the asteroid 4769 Castalia is the first asteroid directly imaged, by radar from Arecibo....
), geophysicist. - November 7 - Konrad LorenzKonrad LorenzKonrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch...
(d. 19891989 in scienceThe year 1989 in science and technology involved many significant events, some listed below.-Astronomy:* August – the asteroid 4769 Castalia is the first asteroid directly imaged, by radar from Arecibo....
), zoologist. - November 27 - Lars OnsagerLars OnsagerLars Onsager was a Norwegian-born American physical chemist and theoretical physicist, winner of the 1968 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.He held the Gibbs Professorship of Theoretical Chemistry at Yale University....
(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....
), 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...
. - December 28 - John von NeumannJohn von NeumannJohn von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician and polymath who made major contributions to a vast number of fields, including set theory, functional analysis, quantum mechanics, ergodic theory, geometry, fluid dynamics, economics and game theory, computer science, numerical analysis,...
(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....
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
.
Deaths
- February 1 - George Gabriel StokesGeorge Gabriel StokesSir George Gabriel Stokes, 1st Baronet FRS , was an Irish mathematician and physicist, who at Cambridge made important contributions to fluid dynamics , optics, and mathematical physics...
(b. 18191819 in scienceThe year 1819 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Exploration:* A British Arctic expedition under William Edward Parry comprising HMS Hecla and HMS Griper reaches longitude 112°51' W in the Northwest Passage, the furthest west which will be attained by any...
), mathematician and physicist. - March 28 - Emile BaudotÉmile BaudotJean-Maurice-Émile Baudot , French telegraph engineer and inventor of the first means of digital communication Baudot code, was one of the pioneers of telecommunications...
(b. 18451845 in scienceThe year 1845 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Events:* January 14 – Physikalische Gesellschaft zu Berlin established and begins publishing Fortschritte der Physik and Verhandlungen....
), telegraph engineer. - April 28 - Willard Gibbs (b. 18391839 in scienceThe year 1839 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* January - The first parallax measurement of the distance to Alpha Centauri is published by Thomas Henderson.-Biology:...
), physical chemist. - July 21 - Henri Alexis BrialmontHenri Alexis BrialmontHenri Alexis Brialmont was a Dutch-born Belgian military engineer. He was one of the leading fortifications engineers in the 19th century....
(b. 18211821 in scienceThe year 1821 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* Johann Franz Encke calculates that Comet Encke has a periodic orbit, the second comet after Comet Halley for which this has been discovered....
), military engineer.