Editing 1919 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1919|science}}
{{Science year nav|1919}}

The year '''1919 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* April – [[George Ellery Hale]] and collaborators publish their discovery that the magnetic polarity of [[sunspot]] pairs reverses on an 11-year [[solar cycle]] and that the polarity varies by hemisphere, which becomes known as [[Hale's law]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hale|first1=George E.|last2=Ellerman|first2=Ferdinand|last3=Nicholson|first3=S. B.|last4=Joy|first4=A. H.|title=The Magnetic Polarity of Sun-Spots|journal=The Astrophysical Journal|date=April 1919|volume=49|pages=153|doi=10.1086/142452|bibcode=1919ApJ....49..153H|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Hale's Sunspot Polarity Law|last1=Charbonneau|first1=P.|last2=White|first2=O. R.|date=1995-04-18|publisher=[[High Altitude Observatory]]|url=https://www2.hao.ucar.edu/Education/Sun/hales-sunspot-polarity-law|website=www2.hao.ucar.edu|access-date=2021-08-20|archive-date=2021-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819182851/https://www2.hao.ucar.edu/Education/Sun/hales-sunspot-polarity-law|url-status=live}}</ref>
* The [[International Astronomical Union]] is established in Paris.

==Chemistry==
* June 1 – The term ''covalence'' in relation to [[chemical bond]]ing is first used by [[Irving Langmuir]].<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1021/ja02227a002|volume=41|issue=6|pages=868–934|last=Langmuir|first=Irving|title=The Arrangement of Electrons in Atoms and Molecules|journal=[[Journal of the American Chemical Society]]|year=1919|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429026}}</ref>
* [[Francis William Aston|F. W. Aston]] discovers multiple stable [[isotope]]s for [[neon]].

==History of science==
* [[Leonard Eugene Dickson]] begins publication of ''[[History of the Theory of Numbers]]''.

==Mathematics==
* [[Viggo Brun]] proves [[Brun's theorem]] ''B''<sub>2</sub> for [[twin prime]]s.
* [[G. H. Hardy]] rediscovers [[Pisot–Vijayaraghavan number]]s in the context of [[Diophantine approximation]].

==Medicine==
* Dr [[George Newman (doctor)|George Newman]] is appointed as the first [[Chief Medical Officer (United Kingdom)|Chief Medical Officer]] to the [[Department of Health (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Health]] in [[England and Wales]].

==Physics==
* May 29 – [[Albert Einstein|Einstein's]] theory of [[general relativity]] is tested by [[Arthur Eddington]]'s observation of the "bending of light" during the total [[solar eclipse of May 29, 1919|solar eclipse]] on this day observed in [[Principe]], and by [[Andrew Crommelin]] in [[Sobral, Ceará]], [[Brazil]] (confirmed November 6).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dyson|first=F. W.|author2=Eddington, A. S.|author3=Davidson, C. R.|year=1920|title=A Determination of the Deflection of Light by the Sun's Gravitational Field, from Observations Made at the Solar eclipse of May 29, 1919|journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences]]|volume=220|issue=571–581|pages=291–333|bibcode=1920RSPTA.220..291D|doi=10.1098/rsta.1920.0009|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1432106|doi-access=free}} Paper received October 30, read November 6, published April 27, 1920.</ref>
* [[Arnold Sommerfeld]] and [[Walther Kossel]] publish their [[Sommerfeld–Kossel displacement law|displacement law]].<ref>''Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft''.; {{cite book|last1=Mehra|first1=Jagdish|first2=Helmut|last2=Rechenberg|author-link1=Jagdish Mehra |author-link2=Helmut Rechenberg |title=The Historical Development of Quantum Theory. Vol. 1, Part 1: The Quantum Theory of Planck, Einstein, Bohr and Sommerfeld 1900–1925: its Foundation and the Rise of Its Difficulties|publisher=Springer|year=1982|isbn=978-0-387-95174-4|page=330}}</ref>
* [[James Jeans]] discovers that the dynamical constants of motion determine the distribution function for a system of particles.
* [[Betz's law]] is published by German physicist [[Albert Betz]], indicating the maximum power that can be extracted from the wind, independent of the design of a wind turbine in open flow.

==Psychology==
* In Berlin Dr [[Magnus Hirschfeld]] and [[Arthur Kronfeld]] found the ''[[Institut für Sexualwissenschaft]]''.<ref>[http://www.hirschfeld.in-berlin.de/aus_inst_en.html hirschfeld.in-berlin.de, ''The first Institute for Sexual Science''.]</ref><ref>[http://www.stonewallsociety.com/famouspeople/magnus.htm Famous GLBT & GLBTI People – Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld] stonewallsociety.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Tex-BuFgji0C&pg=PA16 Grossmann, Atina. ''Reforming Sex''. Oxford University Press, 1995.]</ref><ref>[http://www.sgipt.org/gesch/kronf/kronf_e.htm ''In Memory of Arthur Kronfeld''.]</ref>

==Technology==
* First crossings of the Atlantic Ocean by air.
** May 8–27 – United States Navy [[Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company|Curtiss]] [[flying boat]] [[NC-4]] commanded by [[Albert Cushing Read]] makes the first [[transatlantic flight]], from [[Naval Air Station Rockaway]] to [[Lisbon]] via Newfoundland and the [[Azores]].
** June 14–15 – A [[Vickers Vimy]] flown by [[John Alcock (aviator)|John Alcock]] and [[Arthur Whitten Brown]] makes the first [[Transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown|nonstop transatlantic flight]], from [[St. John's, Newfoundland]], to [[Clifden]], Ireland.
** July 2–6 – British [[airship]] [[R34 (airship)|R34]] makes the first transatlantic flight by dirigible, and the first westbound flight, from [[RAF East Fortune]], [[Scotland]], to [[Mineola, New York]].
*May 29 – [[Charles Strite]] files a United States [[patent]] for the electric pop-up bread [[toaster]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Charles Panati|title=Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=utroDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA118|date=15 August 2016|publisher=Book Sales|isbn=978-0-7858-3437-3|pages=118}}</ref>
*October 17 – Dr. [[Frank Conrad]] begins broadcasting from [[KDKA-AM|8XK]] in [[Pittsburgh]] (United States).
* [[Lee De Forest]] files his first United States patent for the [[Phonofilm]] [[sound-on-film]] process.
* United States firearms designer [[John Browning]] finalizes the design of the [[M1919 Browning machine gun]].
* United States firearms designer [[John T. Thompson]] finalizes the design of the [[Thompson submachine gun]].
* A United States patent for the self-folding [[Collar (clothing)|shirt collar]] is obtained by the [[PVH (company)#History|Phillips-Jones Corporation]].

==Awards==
* [[Nobel Prize]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Johannes Stark]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – not awarded
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[Jules Bordet]]

==Births==
* January 23 – [[Hans Hass]] (died [[2013 in science|2013]]), [[Austrians|Austrian]] zoologist and oceanographer.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/science/earth/hans-hass-early-undersea-explorer-dies-at-94.html|title=Hans Hass, 94, early explorer of the world beneath the sea|last=Vitello|first=Paul|date=July 7, 2013|work=[[The New York Times]]|page=A18|access-date=23 March 2014}}</ref>
* February 25 – [[Karl H. Pribram]] (died [[2015 in science|2015]]), Austrian-American neuroscientist.
* April 1 – [[Joseph Murray]] (died [[2012 in science|2012]]), American [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize]]-winning transplant surgeon.
* June 22 – [[Henri Tajfel]] (died [[1982 in science|1982]]), [[Poland|Polish]]-born [[social psychologist]].
* July 26 – [[James Lovelock]] (died [[2022 in science|2022]]), English [[environmentalist]] and [[futurologist]].
* August 12 – [[Margaret Burbidge]], born Eleanor Margaret Peachey (died [[2020 in science|2020]]), English-born American [[astronomer]].
* August 30 – [[Maurice Hilleman]] (died [[2005 in science|2005]]), American [[vaccinologist]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dove|first=Alan|date=April 2005|title=Maurice Hilleman|journal=[[Nature Medicine]]|volume=11|issue=4|pages=S2|doi=10.1038/nm1223|pmid=15812484|s2cid=13028372|issn=1546-170X|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* September 6 – [[Wilson Greatbatch]] (died [[2011 in science|2011]]), American [[biomedical engineer]].
* September 21 – [[Mario Bunge]] (died [[2020 in science|2020]]), [[Argentina|Argentine]]-born philosopher of science.
* November 10 – [[Mikhail Kalashnikov]] (died 2013), Russian [[small arms]] designer.
* December 8 – [[Kateryna Yushchenko (scientist)|Kateryna Yushchenko]] (died [[2001 in science|2001]]), Ukrainian computer scientist and academic.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Perevozchikova |first=O. L. |title=Ekaterina Logvinovna Yushchenko |journal=Cybernetics and Systems Analysis |volume=45 |number=6 |year=2009| page=843}}</ref>

==Deaths==
* January 15 – [[Rosa Luxemburg]] (born [[1871]]), Polish [[Marxist philosophy|Marxist theorist]], [[Philosophy|philosopher]], [[economist]], [[Anti-war movement|anti-war activist]], and [[Revolutionary socialism|revolutionary socialist]].
* February 19 – [[Frederick DuCane Godman]] (born [[1834 in science|1834]]), English [[lepidopterist]], [[entomologist]] and [[ornithologist]].
* April 4 – Sir [[William Crookes]] (born [[1832 in science|1832]]), English [[chemist]] and [[physicist]].
* April 8 – [[Loránd Eötvös]] (born [[1848 in science|1848]]), [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] physicist.
* April 17 – [[Bernhard Sigmund Schultze]] (born [[1827 in science|1827]]), German [[obstetrician]].
* May 8 – [[LaMarcus Adna Thompson]] (born 1848), American inventor.
* c. June 1 – [[Caroline Still Anderson]] (born 1848), African American physician, educator and activist.
* June 30 – [[John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh]] (born [[1842 in science|1842]]), English [[Nobel Prize]]-winning physicist.
* July 15 – [[Emil Fischer]] (born [[1852 in science|1852]]), German Nobel Prize-winning chemist ([[suicide]]).
* July 21 – [[Gustaf Retzius]] (born [[1842 in science|1842]]), Swedish [[anatomist]].
* August 8 – [[Ernst Haeckel]] (born [[1834 in science|1834]]), German [[zoologist]].
* August 23 – [[Augustus George Vernon Harcourt]] (born 1834), English chemist.
* November 23 – [[Henry Gantt]] (born [[1861 in science|1861]]), American [[project engineer]].
* December 16 – [[Julia Lermontova]] (born [[1846 in science|1846]]), Russian chemist.
* December 29 – Sir [[William Osler]] (born [[1849 in science|1849]]), Canadian-born [[physician]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

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[[Category:1919 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1910s in science]]