Astronomy The earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley. Chemistry Albert Einstein and Marian Smoluchowski find the Einstein-Smoluchowski formula for the attenuation coefficient due to density fluctuations in a gas Physics German physicist Theodor Wulf climbs the Eiffel Tower with an electrometer and discovers the first evidence of cosmic rays Hans Reissner and Gunnar Nordström defines Reissner-Nordström singularity, Hermann Weyl solves special case for a point-body source Technology The first live musical radio program. Lee De Forest broadcasts a live performance of Enrico Caruso from the Metropolitan Opera Henri Fabre becomes the first person to fly a seaplane after taking off from a water runway near Martigues, France Henri Coanda makes first short flight in a plane with a jet engine Nobel Prize Johannes Diderik van der Waals is awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics Otto Wallach is awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry Albrecht Kossel is awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine Births February 9 - Jacques Monod, future biochemist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965 February 13 - William Bradford Shockley, future physicist March 11 - Robert Havemann, future chemist May 12 - Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, future chemist Deaths May 12 - William Huggins, astronomer (* 1824) May 27 - Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch, bacteriologist
