The year 1912 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.
Archaeology
* December 6 – The
Nefertiti Bust is found at
Amarna in Egypt by the
German Oriental Company (Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft – DOG), led by German archaeologist
Ludwig Borchardt.
Astronomy
* At the beginning of this year an extreme decadal variation in
length of day produces mean solar days having a duration of 86400.00389 seconds of
Terrestrial Time (or
ephemeris time), the slowest rotation of Earth's
crust ever to be recorded.
Biology
* July 23 –
Horace Donisthorpe first discovers ''
Anergates atratulus'' in the
New Forest, England.
*
Reginald Punnett is appointed as first
Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics in the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
(U.K.), probably the oldest chair of
genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...
in the English-speaking world.
Chemistry
*
Peter Debye derives the
T-cubed law for the low temperature
heat capacity of a
nonmetallic solid.
*
Casimir Funk introduces the concept of
vitamin
Vitamins are Organic compound, organic molecules (or a set of closely related molecules called vitamer, vitamers) that are essential to an organism in small quantities for proper metabolism, metabolic function. Nutrient#Essential nutrients, ...
s.
*
J. J. Thomson finds the first evidence for multiple
isotope
Isotopes are distinct nuclear species (or ''nuclides'') of the same chemical element. They have the same atomic number (number of protons in their Atomic nucleus, nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemica ...
s of a stable (non-radioactive) element as part of his exploration into the composition of
canal rays (positive ions).
*
Fritz Klatte, a German chemist working for Griesheim-Elektron, discovers
polyvinyl acetate and applies for a
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
for preparing the monomer,
vinyl acetate, by addition of
acetic acid
Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main compone ...
to
acetylene using a
mercuric chloride catalyst although it is not successfully commercialized at this time.
*
Wilbur Scoville devises the
Scoville scale for measuring the heat of peppers.
* December 24 –
Merck files
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
applications for synthesis of the
entactogenic drug
MDMA, developed by
Anton Köllisch.
Earth sciences
* January –
Alfred Wegener proposes a fully formulated theory of
continental drift and gives the supercontinent
Pangaea its name.
* June 6 – The
Novarupta volcano on the
Alaska Peninsula comes into being through a
VEI 6 eruption, the largest this century.
Exploration
* January 17 – British polar explorer
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott (6 June 1868 – ) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–04 and the Terra Nova Expedition ...
and a team of four reach the
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...
to find that
Amundsen has beaten them to it. They will die on the return journey, just eleven miles from a polar base (March 16–29).
* March 7 –
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegians, Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Am ...
announces in
Hobart
Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...
that his expedition reached the
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...
on last December 14.
History of science
* November 20 –
History of Medicine Society holds its first meeting, under the chairmanship of Sir
William Osler, in London.
*
Georgius Agricola
Georgius Agricola (; born Georg Bauer; 24 March 1494 – 21 November 1555) was a German Humanist scholar, mineralogist and metallurgist. Born in the small town of Glauchau, in the Electorate of Saxony of the Holy Roman Empire, he was b ...
's ''
De re metallica'' (
1556) is first published in an English translation, made by
Herbert and
Lou Henry Hoover, in London.
*
Voynich manuscript discovered.
Mathematics
* Publication of the 2nd volume of ''
Principia Mathematica'' by
Alfred North Whitehead and
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...
, one of the most important and seminal works in mathematical logic and philosophy.
*
Karl F. Sundman solves the
''n''-body problem for ''n''=3.
*
Axel Thue discovers
Pisot–Vijayaraghavan numbers.
Medicine
*
Harvey Cushing identifies
Cushing's disease, caused by a malfunction of the
pituitary gland.
*
Solomon Carter Fuller first names
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
.
*
Hakaru Hashimoto first describes the symptoms of
Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
Metallurgy
*
Krupp engineers Benno Strauss and Eduard Maurer patent
austenitic stainless steel
Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...
(October 17) and
Elwood Haynes (in the United States) and
Harry Brearley (of
Brown-Firth in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
, England) independently discover
martensitic stainless steel alloys.
Meteorology
* April 5 –
Milutin Milanković's
Contribution to the mathematical theory of climate', his first work in this field, is published in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
.
Paleontology
* December 18 – Skull of "
Piltdown Man" presented to the
Geological Society of London as the
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
ised remains of a previously unknown form of
early human. It is revealed to be a hoax in
1953
Events
January
* January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma.
* January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo.
* January 14
** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...
.
[
]
Physics
* November 11 – Lawrence Bragg presents his derivation of Bragg's law for the angles for coherent and incoherent scattering
In physics, scattering is a wide range of physical processes where moving particles or radiation of some form, such as light or sound, are forced to deviate from a straight trajectory by localized non-uniformities (including particles and radiat ...
from a crystal lattice.
* Max von Laue suggests using crystal lattices to diffract X-rays.
* Walter Friedrich and Paul Knipping diffract X-rays in zinc blende.
* Victor Hess discovers that the ionization
Ionization or ionisation is the process by which an atom or a molecule acquires a negative or positive Electric charge, charge by gaining or losing electrons, often in conjunction with other chemical changes. The resulting electrically charged at ...
of air increases with altitude, indicating the existence of cosmic radiation.
Psychology
* Carl Jung publishes ''Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido'' ('' Psychology of the Unconscious''), based on lectures delivered at Fordham University
Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...
and precipitating a break with Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
.
* Sabina Spielrein delivers her paper on "Destruction as the Cause of Coming Into Being" to the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society.
Technology
* April 14–15 – Sinking of the ''Titanic'': The ocean liner strikes an iceberg and sinks on her maiden voyage from the United Kingdom to the United States.[
* The British ]Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
introduces the director ship gun fire-control system using the Dreyer Table, a mechanical analogue computer.
* The Sperry Corporation
Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...
develops the first gyroscopic autopilot ("gyroscopic stabilizer apparatus") for aviation use.
* The earth inductor compass is first patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
ed by Donald M. Bliss.
Other events
* American ornithologist Robert Ridgway publishes ''Color Standards and Color Nomenclature''.
* Conférence internationale de l'heure radiotélégraphique.
* First International Congress of Eugenics held in London with the support of Leonard Darwin, Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
, Auguste Forel, Alexander Graham Bell, Charles Davenport and other prominent scientists.
Awards
* Nobel Prize
** Physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
– Gustaf Dalén
** Chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
– Victor Grignard; Paul Sabatier
** Medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
– Alexis Carrel
Births
* January 21 – Konrad Emil Bloch (died 2000), German-born biochemist
Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...
, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
* January 27 – Francis Rogallo (died 2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
), American aeronautical engineer.
* January 30 – Werner Hartmann (died 1988), German physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
.
* February 13 – Natan Yavlinsky (died 1962
The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War.
Events January
* January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...
), Russian nuclear physicist.
* February 25 – Preben von Magnus (died 1973
Events January
* January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
), Danish virologist.
* March 1 – Boris Chertok (died 2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
), Russian rocket designer.
* March 19 – Bill Frankland (died 2020), English immunologist.
* March 23 – Wernher von Braun (died 1977), German-born physicist and engineer.
* April 19 – Glenn T. Seaborg (died 1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
), American physical chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...
, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
* May 22 – Herbert C. Brown (died 2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
), English-born chemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
* May 28 – Ruby Payne-Scott (died 1981), Australian radioastronomer.
* May 30 – Julius Axelrod (died 2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
), American biochemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
* May 31 – Chien-Shiung Wu (died 1997), Chinese-American nuclear physicist, winner of the Wolf Prize in Physics.
* June 23 – Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer ...
(died 1954), English computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science.
Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...
.
* June 30 – Ludwig Bölkow (died 2003), German aeronautical engineer.
* August 11 – Norman Levinson (died 1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
), American mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
.
* August 13 – Salvador Luria (died 1991), Italian-born biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
* August 30 – Edward Mills Purcell (died 1997), American physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
* September 7 – David Packard (died 1996), American electronics engineer.
* September 22 – Herbert Mataré (died 2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
), German physicist.
* October 1 – Kathleen Ollerenshaw (died 2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
), English mathematician.
* November 14 – Tung-Yen Lin (died 2003), Chinese-born civil engineer.
* November 19 – George Emil Palade (died 2008), Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n-born microbiologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
* November 22 – Paul Zamecnik (died 2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
), American scientist playing a central role in the early history of molecular biology.
Deaths
* February 10 – Joseph Lister (born 1827), English inventor of antiseptic.
* February 12 – Osborne Reynolds (born 1842), British physicist.
* March 19 – Thomas Harrison Montgomery Jr. (born 1873), American zoologist and cell biologist.
* March 28 – Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran (born 1838), French chemist.
* March 29
** Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott (6 June 1868 – ) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–04 and the Terra Nova Expedition ...
(born 1868), English Antarctic
The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole.
The Antar ...
explorer
Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...
.
** Edward Wilson (born 1872), English physician and naturalist.
* April 18 – Martha Ripley (born 1843), American physician.
* May 4 – Nettie Stevens (born 1861), American geneticist.
* May 30 – Wilbur Wright (born 1867), American aviation pioneer.
* July 17 – Henri Poincaré (born 1854), French mathematician.
* August 7 – François-Alphonse Forel (born 1841), Swiss
Swiss most commonly refers to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Swiss may also refer to: Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss Café, an old café located ...
pioneer of limnology.
* November 23 – Charles Bourseul (born 1829), French telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
engineer.
* December 17 – Spiru Haret (born 1851), Romanian mathematician, astronomer and politician.
* December 21 – Paul Gordan (born 1837), German Jewish mathematician, "the king of invariant theory".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1912 In Science
20th century in science
1910s in science