Editing 1948 in science (section)

==Biology==
* August 7 – Teaching and research in [[Mendelian inheritance|Mendelian]] [[genetics]] is prohibited in the [[Soviet Union]] in favour of [[Lysenkoism|Lysenkoist]] theories of the [[inheritance of acquired characteristics]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Joravsky|first=David|title=The Lysenko Affair|url=https://archive.org/details/lysenkoaffair0000jora|url-access=registration|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1970|series=Russian Research Center studies, 61|isbn=978-0-674-53985-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The descent of Lysenko|last=Cohen|first=Barry M.|journal=The Journal of Heredity|volume=56|pages=229–233|year=1965|issue=5|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a107425}}</ref>
* October 5 – Delegates to a conference organised by Sir [[Julian Huxley]] at [[Fontainebleau]] agree to formation of the [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fni.no/YBICED/97_04_christoffersen.pdf |last=Christoffersen |first=Leif E. |year=1994 |title=IUCN: A Bridge-Builder for Nature Conservation |work=Green Globe YearBook |accessdate=2011-11-02 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216230117/http://www.fni.no/YBICED/97_04_christoffersen.pdf |archivedate=2008-12-16 }}</ref>
* November 20 – The [[South Island takahē]], a flightless bird generally thought to have been [[extinct]] for fifty years, is rediscovered by [[Geoffrey Orbell]] near [[Lake Te Anau]] in the [[South Island]] of [[New Zealand]].
* Last recorded sighting of the [[Caspian tiger]] in [[Kazakhstan]].
* Publication of [[Henry Fairfield Osborn, Jr.|Fairfield Osborne]]'s ''[[Our Plundered Planet]]'', a [[Malthusian]] critique of human environmental destruction.<ref>{{cite book|last=Netzley|first=Patricia|title=Environmental Literature|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=1999|location=California|isbn=978-1-57607-000-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Post War Intellectual Roots of the Population Bomb: Fairfield Osborne's ''Our Plundered Planet'' and William Vogt's ''Road to Survival'' in retrospect |first1=Pierre |last1=Desrochers |first2=Christine |last2=Hoffbauer |journal=The Electronic Journal of Sustainable Development |url=http://www.dpi.inpe.br/sil/cst310/Aula2_fundamentos/THE_POST_WAR_INTELLECTUAL_ROOTS_OF_THE_POPULATION_BOMB_-_FAIRFIELD_OSBORNS_OUR_PLUNDERED_PLANET_AND_WILLIAM_VOGTS_ROAD_TO_SURVIVAL_IN_RETROSPECT.pdf |year=2009 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=73–97 |accessdate=2011-12-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302185414/http://www.dpi.inpe.br/sil/cst310/Aula2_fundamentos/THE_POST_WAR_INTELLECTUAL_ROOTS_OF_THE_POPULATION_BOMB_-_FAIRFIELD_OSBORNS_OUR_PLUNDERED_PLANET_AND_WILLIAM_VOGTS_ROAD_TO_SURVIVAL_IN_RETROSPECT.pdf |archivedate=2012-03-02 }}</ref>