1886 in science

overview of natural science-related events during the year of 1886

19th-century total solar eclipse

Austrium is the name of a new chemical element proposed by Eduard Linnemann in 1886. As a chemist at the German University in Prague he experimented with the mineral orthite (from Arendal in Norway). In the course of his works over several years he detected spectral lines at 4165 and 4030 Angstrom, respectively, which he was not able to ascribe to any then known element. These findings were published only after his death after due consideration on May 6, 1886, by the Academy of Sciences of Prague.