1949 in science

none 1949 science 1949 The year 1949 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below. Astronomy and space exploration January 26 – The Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory in California, the largest aperture optical telescope in the world for 28 years, sees first light. June 14 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, becomes the first mammal in space, in a U.S.-launched V-2 rocket, reaching an altitude of 83 miles (134 km) but dying on impact after a parachute failure. Chemistry Radiocarbon dating technique discovered by Willard Libby and his colleagues at the University of Chicago—work for which Libby will receive the Nobel Prize in 1960. A group including Dorothy Hodgkin publish the three-dimensional molecular structure of penicillin, demonstrating that it contains a β-lactam ring.Crowfoot, D. Bunn, Charles W. Rogers-Low, Barbara W. Turner-Jones, Annette 1949 X-ray crystallographic investigation of the structure of penicillin Clarke, H. T. Johnson, J. R. Robinson, R. Chemistry of Penicillin Princeton University Press 310–367Jenny P. Glusker Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910-1994) Protein Science 1994 3 12 2465–2469 10.1002/pro.5560031233 7757003 2142778 Computer science April – Manchester Mark 1 computer operable at the University of Manchester in England. May 6 – EDSAC, the first practicable stored-program computer, runs its first program at University of Cambridge in England, to calculate a table of squares.Pioneer computer to be rebuilt Cam 62 2011 5 Earth sciences August 5 – Ambato earthquake in Ecuador, measuring 6.8 on the Richter magnitude scale.https://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/today/index.php?month=8&day=5&submit=View+Date Today in Earthquake History: August 5 2009-12-18 2011-07-19 United States Geological Survey https://web.archive.org/web/20110608184553/http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/today/index.php?month=8&day=5&submit=View%2BDate 8 June 2011 live Patomskiy crater in Siberia is discovered by Russian geologist Vadim Kolpakov. History of science Herbert Butterfield publishes The Origins of Modern Science, 1300–1800. Mathematics Ákos Császár discovers the Császár polyhedron. D. R. Kaprekar discovers the convergence property of the number 6174. Medicine The use of lithium salts to control mania is rediscovered by Australian psychiatrist John Cade, the first mood stabilizer.Lithium salts in the treatment of psychotic excitement Cade J. F. J. Medical Journal of Australia 1949 2 18142718 2560740 349–52 https://www.who.int/docstore/bulletin/pdf/2000/issue4/classics.pdf 10 6 June 2011 10.1080/j.1440-1614.1999.06241.x First implant of intraocular lens, by Sir Harold Ridley First Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, a self-report personality test, released. Meteorology January 11 – Los Angeles receives its first recorded snowfall. Philosophy Gilbert Ryle's book The Concept of Mind, a founding document in the philosophy of mind, is published. Physics Freeman Dyson demonstrates the equivalence of the formulations of quantum electrodynamics existing at this time,F. J. Dyson The radiation theories of Tomonaga, Schwinger, and Feynman Physical Review 75 3 486–502 1949 10.1103/PhysRev.75.486 1949PhRv...75..486D free incidentally inventing the Dyson series.F. J. Dyson The S matrix in quantum electrodynamics Physical Review 75 11 1736–1755 1949 10.1103/PhysRev.75.1736 1949PhRv...75.1736D The Lanczos tensor is introduced in general relativity by Cornelius Lanczos.Cornelius Lanczos Lagrangian Multiplier and Riemannian Spaces Reviews of Modern Physics 21 3 1949 497–502 10.1103/RevModPhys.21.497 1949RvMP...21..497L https://cds.cern.ch/record/1062657/files/RevModPhys.21.497.pdf free Pauli–Villars regularization is first published.Pauli W. Wolfgang Pauli Villars F. Felix Villars On the Invariant Regularization in Relativistic Quantum Theory Reviews of Modern Physics 21 3 434–444 1949 1949RvMP...21..434P 10.1103/RevModPhys.21.434 free Zoology J. B. S. Haldane proposes the Darwin as a unit of evolutionary change.J. B. S. Haldane 1949 2405451 Suggestions as to quantitative measurement of rates of evolution Evolution 3 1 51–56 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1949.tb00004.x free Konrad Lorenz publishes King Solomon's Ring (Er redete mit dem Vieh, den Vögeln und den Fischen). Awards Nobel Prizes Physics – Hideki Yukawa Chemistry – William Francis Giauque Medicine – Walter Rudolf Hess, Antonio Caetano De Abreu Freire Egas Moniz Births January 25 – Paul Nurse, English cell biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. February 1 – Alice Alldredge, Australian-born oceanographer. February 17 – Peter Piot, Belgian microbiologist and epidemiologist. February 19 – Danielle Bunten Berry, born Dan(iel Paul) Bunten (died 1998), American software developer. February 22 – Tullio Pozzan (died 2022), Italian biochemist. March 28 – Michael W. Young, American geneticist and chronobiologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. April 5 – Judith Resnik (died 1986), American astronaut. April 18 – Yasumasa Kanada, Japanese mathematician. May 24 – Tomaž Pisanski, Slovenian mathematician. May 26 – Ward Cunningham, American computer programmer. June 2 – Heather Couper (died 2020), English astronomer. July 23 – Andrew Odlyzko, Polish-born American mathematician. August 31 – H. David Politzer, American physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics. November 6 – John Zarnecki, English space scientist November 24 – Sally Davies, English Chief Medical Officer. Michael Houghton, British-born virologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Deaths February 22 – Félix d'Herelle (died 1873), French-Canadian microbiologist, a co-discoverer of bacteriophages. April 28 – Robert Robertson (born 1869), British chemist. May 27 Ægidius Elling (born 1861), Norwegian gas turbine pioneer. Martin Knudsen (born 1871), Danish physicist. August 5 – Ernest Fourneau (born 1872), French medicinal chemist. References Category:20th century in science Category:1940s in science