1908 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1908 in science
and technology
involved some significant events, listed below.
in Siberia
, an explosion
believed to have been caused by the air burst
of a large meteoroid
or comet
fragment at an altitude of 5 – above the Earth
's surface.
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.
Archaeology
- A 40,000-year-old NeanderthalNeanderthalThe Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
boy skeleton is found at Le MoustierLe MoustierLe Moustier is an archeological site consisting of two rock shelters in Peyzac-le-Moustier, Dordogne, France. It is known for a fossilized skull of the species Homo neanderthalensis that was discovered in 1909...
in southwest FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Astronomy
- Tunguska eventTunguska event
The Tunguska event, or Tunguska blast or Tunguska explosion, was an enormously powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, at about 7:14 a.m...
in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, an explosion
Explosion
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive"...
believed to have been caused by the air burst
Air burst
An air burst is the detonation of an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target or a delayed armor piercing explosion....
of a large meteoroid
Meteoroid
A meteoroid is a sand- to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System. The visible path of a meteoroid that enters Earth's atmosphere is called a meteor, or colloquially a shooting star or falling star. If a meteoroid reaches the ground and survives impact, then it is called a meteorite...
or comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
fragment at an altitude of 5 – above the Earth
Earth
Earth 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 surface.
Chemistry
- Kikunae IkedaKikunae Ikedawas a Japanese chemist and Tokyo Imperial University professor in Chemistry who, in 1908, uncovered the chemical root behind a taste he named umami. He discovered the common component that produced the flavor of meat, seaweed and tomatoes was glutamate, which produces the sensation of umami.He also...
discovers monosodium glutamateMonosodium glutamateMonosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids....
, the chemical behind the taste of umamiUmamiUmami , popularly referred to as savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes together with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.-Etymology:Umami is a loanword from the Japanese meaning "pleasant savory taste". This particular writing was chosen by Professor Kikunae Ikeda from umai "delicious" and mi ...
. - Heike Kamerlingh OnnesHeike Kamerlingh OnnesHeike Kamerlingh Onnes was a Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate. He pioneered refrigeration techniques, and he explored how materials behaved when cooled to nearly absolute zero. He was the first to liquify helium...
liquefies heliumHeliumHelium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table...
.
Genetics
- G. H. HardyG. H. HardyGodfrey Harold “G. H.” Hardy FRS was a prominent English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis....
and Wilhelm WeinbergWilhelm WeinbergDr Wilhelm Weinberg was a German half-Jewish physician and obstetrician-gynecologist, practicing in Stuttgart, who in a 1908 paper Dr Wilhelm Weinberg (Stuttgart, December 25, 1862 – Tübingen, November 27, 1937) was a German half-Jewish physician and obstetrician-gynecologist, practicing in...
independently formulate the Hardy–Weinberg principle which states that both alleleAllele frequencyAllele frequency or Gene frequency is the proportion of all copies of a gene that is made up of a particular gene variant . In other words, it is the number of copies of a particular allele divided by the number of copies of all alleles at the genetic place in a population. It can be expressed for...
and genotype frequenciesGenotype frequencyIn population genetics, the genotype frequency is the frequency or proportion In population genetics, the genotype frequency is the frequency or proportion In population genetics, the genotype frequency is the frequency or proportion (i.e. 0 In population genetics, the genotype frequency is the...
in a population remain in equilibrium unless disturbed.
Mathematics
- Ernst ZermeloErnst ZermeloErnst Friedrich Ferdinand Zermelo was a German mathematician, whose work has major implications for the foundations of mathematics and hence on philosophy. He is known for his role in developing Zermelo–Fraenkel axiomatic set theory and his proof of the well-ordering theorem.-Life:He graduated...
axiomizes set theorySet theorySet theory is the branch of mathematics that studies sets, which are collections of objects. Although any type of object can be collected into a set, set theory is applied most often to objects that are relevant to mathematics...
, thus avoiding Cantor's contradictions. - Josip PlemeljJosip PlemeljJosip Plemelj was a Slovene mathematician, whose main contributions were to the theory of analytic functions and the application of integral equations to potential theory.- Life :...
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 published by William Sealy GossetWilliam Sealy GossetWilliam Sealy Gosset is famous as a statistician, best known by his pen name Student and for his work on Student's t-distribution....
(anonymously).
Technology
- A long-distance radioRadioRadio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
message is sent from the Eiffel TowerEiffel TowerThe Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
for the first time. - Henry FordHenry FordHenry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
develops the assembly line method of automobile manufacturing and produces the first Model TFord Model TThe Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 1908 to May 1927...
automobile.
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...
- Gabriel LippmannGabriel LippmannJonas Ferdinand Gabriel Lippmann was a Franco-Luxembourgish physicist and inventor, and Nobel laureate in physics for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference.... - 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,...
- Ernest RutherfordErnest RutherfordErnest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics... - 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...
- Ilya Ilyich MechnikovIlya Ilyich MechnikovIlya Ilyich Mechnikov was a Russian biologist, zoologist and protozoologist, best remembered for his pioneering research into the immune system. Mechnikov received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1908, shared with Paul Ehrlich, for his work on phagocytosis...
and Paul EhrlichPaul EhrlichPaul Ehrlich was a German scientist in the fields of hematology, immunology, and chemotherapy, and Nobel laureate. He is noted for curing syphilis and for his research in autoimmunity, calling it "horror autotoxicus"...
- Physics
Births
- January 15 - Edward TellerEdward TellerEdward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
(d. 20032003 in scienceThe year 2003 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Anthropology:*March 13 – The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old upright-walking human footprints have been found in Italy.-Astronomy:...
), 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...
, inventor of the hydrogen bomb. - January 22 - Lev Davidovich Landau (d. 19681968 in scienceThe year 1968 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* Neutron stars; Thomas Gold explains the recently discovered radio pulsars as rapidly rotating neutron stars and subsequent observations confirm the suggestion.-Medicine:* January 2 - Dr...
), 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 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...
. - February 11 - Vivian Ernest Fuchs (d. 19991999 in scienceThe year 1999 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Aeronautics:* February 27 – While trying to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon, Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new endurance record after being in a hot air balloon for 233 hours and 55 minutes.* March 3 –...
), 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...
and explorer. - May 23 - John BardeenJohn BardeenJohn Bardeen was an American physicist and electrical engineer, the only person to have won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice: first in 1956 with William Shockley and Walter Brattain for the invention of the transistor; and again in 1972 with Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer for a...
(d. 19911991 in scienceThe year 1991 in science and technology involved many significant events, some listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* May 18 – Helen Sharman becomes the first British person in space, flying with the Soyuz TM-12 mission...
), physicist, co-inventor of the transistorTransistorA transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
. Only physicist to receive the Nobel Prize in 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...
twice. - September 2 - Nikolai Aleksandrovich KozyrevNikolai Aleksandrovich KozyrevNikolai Alexandrovich Kozyrev was a Russian astronomer/astrophysicist.-Biography:He was born in St. Petersburg, and by 1928 he had graduated from the Leningrad State University. In 1931 he began working at the Pulkovo Observatory, located to the south of Leningrad...
(d. 19831983 in scienceThe year 1983 in science and technology involved many significant events, as listed below.-Biology:* April – Kary Mullis discovers polymerase chain reaction.* May – First report of the virus that causes AIDS....
), Russian 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...
and astrophysicist. - September 6 - Louis EssenLouis EssenLouis Essen FRS O.B.E. was an English physicist whose most notable achievements were in the precise measurement of time and the determination of the speed of light...
(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....
), physicist, co-developer of the first practical atomic clockAtomic clockAn atomic clock is a clock that uses an electronic transition frequency in the microwave, optical, or ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum of atoms as a frequency standard for its timekeeping element...
. - October 10 - Min Chueh ChangMin Chueh ChangDr. Min Chueh Chang , often credited as M.C. Chang, was a Chinese American reproductive biologist. His specific area of study was the fertilisation process in mammalian reproduction...
(d. 19911991 in scienceThe year 1991 in science and technology involved many significant events, some listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* May 18 – Helen Sharman becomes the first British person in space, flying with the Soyuz TM-12 mission...
), embryologist. - October 21 - Elsie WiddowsonElsie WiddowsonDr Elsie Widdowson FRS , was a British scientist responsible for overseeing the government mandated addition of vitamins to food and war-time rationing in Britain during World War II....
(d. 20002000 in scienceThe year 2000 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Astronomy and space exploration:* May 4 – A rare conjunction occurs on the New Moon including all seven of the traditional celestial bodies known from ancient times up until 1781 with the discovery of Uranus...
), nutritionistNutritionistA nutritionist is a person who advises on matters of food and nutrition impacts on health. Different professional terms are used in different countries, employment settings and contexts — some examples include: nutrition scientist, public health nutritionist, dietitian-nutritionist, clinical...
.
Deaths
- January 3 - Charles Augustus YoungCharles Augustus YoungCharles Augustus Young was an American astronomer.He graduated from Dartmouth and later became a professor there in 1865, remaining until 1877 when he went to Princeton....
(b. 18341834 in scienceThe year 1834 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Events:* March - William Whewell first publishes the term scientist in the Quarterly Review, but notes it as "not generally palatable"....
), 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...
. - August 25 - 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:...
(b. 18521852 in scienceThe year 1852 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Aeronautics:* September 24 - French engineer Henri Giffard makes the first airship trip, from Paris to Trappes.-Medicine:...
), 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...
.