Overview of the events of 1889 in science
The year 1889 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.
January 8 – Herman Hollerith receives a patent in the United States for his electric tabulating machine .[ 10]
March 12 – Almon B. Strowger , an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas , files a patent in the United States for an automatic telephone exchange using the Strowger switch .[ 11]
May 6–October 31 – Exposition Universelle in Paris , with the Eiffel Tower as its entrance arch. At 300 m, the tower's height exceeds the previous tallest structure in the world by 130 m. The Galerie des machines , designed by architect Ferdinand Dutert and engineer Victor Contamin , at 111 m, spans the longest interior space in the world at this time.
June 3 – The first long distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles (23 km) between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon .
November 23 – The first jukebox goes into operation, in San Francisco .
An early method of high-voltage direct current transmission as developed by Swiss engineer René Thury [ 12] Italy by the Acquedotto de Ferrari-Galliera company, transmitting 630 kW at 14 kV DC over a distance of 120 km.[ 13] [ 14]
Probable date – Car to the design of Siegfried Marcus completed in Vienna. January 17 – Ralph H. Fowler (died 1944 ), English physicist and astronomer .
March 21 – Frederick Osborn (died 1981 ), American philanthropist and eugenicist .
April 21 – Paul Karrer (died 1971 ), Swiss winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry .
May 18 – Thomas Midgley Jr. (died 1944), American chemist and inventor .
June 4 – Beno Gutenberg (died 1960 ), German -born seismologist .
June 23 – Verena Holmes (died 1964 ), English mechanical engineer and inventor.
July 18 – Axel Boëthius (died 1969 ), Swedish archeologist of Etruscan culture.
July 30 (O.S. July 17) – Vladimir K. Zworykin (died 1982 ), Russian -born pioneer of television technology.
August 1 – Walter Gerlach (died 1979 ), German physicist.
August 7 – Léon Brillouin (died 1969 ), French physicist.
August 11 – Ross T. McIntire (died 1960 ), American naval surgeon .
September 7 – Mary Barkas (died 1959 or 1961), New Zealand psychiatrist .
September 28 – Hugh Whistler (died 1943 ), English ornithologist of India.
November 20 – Edwin Hubble (died 1953 ), American astronomer.
November 24 – William Justin Kroll (died 1973 ), Luxembourgish metallurgist .
December 21 – Sewall Wright (died 1988 ), American geneticist .
December 29 – Vera Fedorovna Gaze (died 1954 ), Russian astronomer.
John Ryle (died 1950 ), English physician and epidemiologist .January 4 – Mary Philadelphia Merrifield (born 1804 ), English algologist.
February 8 – Roberto Duarte Silva (born 1837 ), Portuguese chemist.
March 8 – John Ericsson (born 1803 ), Swedish American mechanical engineer and inventor.
March 16 – Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel (born 1821 ), German astronomer .
March 22 – Sophia Wilkens (born 1817 ), Swedish pioneer in the education of students with intellectual disability.
April 19 – Warren De La Rue (born 1815 ), British astronomical photographer.
June 28 – Maria Mitchell (born 1818 ), American astronomer.
July 30 – Miles Joseph Berkeley (born 1803 ), English botanist .
August 21 (O.S. August 9) – Nikolai Annenkov (born 1819 ), Russian botanist.
October 11 – James Joule (born 1818), English physicist .
October 18 – Antonio Meucci (born 1808 ), Italian American inventor.
^ "Milestones" . RSPB. Retrieved 2007-02-19 .^ Bulmer, M. G. (2003). Francis Galton: Pioneer of Heredity and Statistics 202– 203. ^ von Mering, Joseph; Minkowski, Oskar (1889). "Diabetes mellitus nach Pankreasextirpation". Centralblatt für klinische Medicin . 10 (23). Leipzig: 393– 394. ^ Vries, H. de (1889). Intracellulare Pangenese . Jena: Verlag von Gustav Fischer. Translated in 1908 from German to English by C. Stuart Gager as Intracellular Pangenesis
^ Bergman, Yoel (2022-11-28). "The Technological Need: Abel & Dewar's Primary Motive for Inventing Cordite in 1889" . British Journal for Military History . 8 (3): 202– 219. doi :10.25602/GOLD.bjmh.v8i3.1651 . ISSN 2057-0422 . Retrieved 2025-05-15 . ^ IUPAC , Compendium of Chemical Terminology Arrhenius equation ". doi :10.1351/goldbook.A00446 ^ Delaney, John. "Evolution of the Map of Central, East & West Africa" . To the Mountains of the Moon: Mapping African Exploration, 1541-1880 . Princeton University. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2015-08-21 . ^ "Johns Hopkins Medicine: The Four Founding Professors" .^ Müller-Lyer, F. C. (1889). "Optische Urteilstäuschungen" . Archiv für Physiologie: Supplement-band : 263– 270 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.^ US patent 395782 , Herman Hollerith, "Art of compiling statistics", issued 1889-01-08 ^ Hill, Roger B. (March 1953). "The Early Years of the Strowger System" . Bell Laboratories Record . 31 (3): 95– 103. Archived from the original on 2011-10-25. Retrieved 2011-11-03 . ^ Beaty, Donald; et al. (1978). Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers (11th ed.). McGraw Hill. ^ "History of Electrical Systems and Cables" . 2012-01-23.^ Black, R. M. (1983). The History of Electric Wires and Cables . London: Peter Perigrinus. pp. 94– 96. ISBN 0-86341-001-4 ^ "Copley Medal | British scientific award" . Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved 23 July 2020 .