Editing 1920 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1920|science}}
{{Science year nav|1920}}

The year '''1920 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy and space science==
* January 13 – ''[[The New York Times]]'' ridicules rocket scientist [[Robert H. Goddard]], stating that [[spaceflight]] is impossible. In 1969, with [[Apollo 11]] on its way to the Moon, the newspaper will publicly retract this position.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astronauticsnow.com/history/goddard/index.html|title=Robert H. Goddard Story|work=astronauticsnow|accessdate=2019-07-19}}</ref>
* December 13 – The red giant star [[Betelgeuse]] is the first to have its diameter determined by an optical [[astronomical interferometer]], the [[Michelson stellar interferometer]] on [[Mount Wilson Observatory]]'s reflector telescope.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Michelson|first1=Albert Abraham|last2=Pease|first2=Francis G.|title=Measurement of the diameter of alpha Orionis with the interferometer|journal=[[Astrophysical Journal]]|year=1921|volume=53|issue=5|pages=249–59|type =PDF|doi=10.1086/142603|pmc=<!--none-->|bibcode=1921ApJ....53..249M}}</ref>

==Biology==
* [[Andrew Douglass]] proposes [[dendrochronology]] dating.
* Approximate date – The [[HIV]] [[Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS|pandemic]] almost certainly originates in Léopoldville, modern-day [[Kinshasa]], the capital of the [[Belgian Congo]].<ref>Based on its genetic history. {{cite web|title=HIV pandemic's origins located|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-10-03-hiv-pandemics-origins-located#|publisher=[[University of Oxford]]|date=2014-10-03|accessdate=2014-10-05}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* July 15 – [[Francis William Aston|F. W. Aston]] shows that the molar mass of [[chlorine]] (35.45) is a weighted average of the almost integral masses for the two [[isotope]]s <sup>35</sup>Cl and <sup>37</sup>Cl.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1038/105617a0|title=Isotopes and Atomic Weights|year=1920|last=Aston|first1=F. W.|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|volume=105|issue=2646|pages=617–619|s2cid=4267919|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1531300|accessdate=2023-04-25}}</ref>

==History of science and technology==
* September 10 – [[Newcomen Society]] founded in the United Kingdom for the study of the history of engineering and technology.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Russell|first=Ben|title=A curator at the height of his power: H. W. Dickinson... and the Newcomen Society, 1919–1930|journal=International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology|volume=93|year=2023|pages=1–15}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* October 31 &ndash; Dr. [[Frederick Banting]] of Ontario first records his insight on how to isolate [[insulin]] for the treatment of [[diabetes]];{{Citation needed|date=September 2020}} working with [[Charles Best (medical scientist)|Charles Best]], the first successful human trial of insulin will occur 15 months later.
* [[Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt]] first describes some of the symptoms of what will become known as [[Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease]].
* [[Hydrocodone]], a [[narcotic]] [[analgesic]] closely related to [[codeine]], is first synthesized in Germany by [[Carl Mannich]] and Helene Löwenheim.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Mannich|first1=C.|last2=Löwenheim|first2=Helene|title=Ueber zwei neue Reduktionsprodukte des Kodeins|journal=[[Archiv der Pharmazie]]|year=1920|volume=258|issue=2–4|pages=295–316|doi=10.1002/ardp.19202580218|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1424591}}</ref>
* [[Black Cross Nurses]] founded in the United States.

==Meteorology==
* [[Milutin Milanković]] proposes that long term climatic cycles may be due to changes in the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit and changes in the Earth's obliquity ("[[Milankovitch cycles]]").<ref>''Théorie mathématique des phénomènes thermiques produits par la radiation solaire'' (Paris).</ref>

==Physics==
* [[Megh Nad Saha]] states his ionization equation.
* [[Albert Einstein]] delivers his [[Leiden Lecture]].
* [[Ernest Rutherford]] predicts the existence of the [[neutron]].
* [[James Jeans]] discovers that the dynamical constants of motion determine the distribution function for a system of particles.
* Publication of [[Alan Arnold Griffith|Alan A. Griffith]]'s analysis of the process of [[brittle fracture]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Phenomenon of Rupture and Flow in Solids|jstor=91192|journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]]|volume=A221|issue=582–593|pages=163–98|date=February 1920|doi=10.1098/rsta.1921.0006|bibcode=1921RSPTA.221..163G|last1=Griffith|first1=A. A.|hdl=2027/uiug.30112007702761|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Psychology==
* [[John B. Watson]] conducts the [[Little Albert experiment]] in [[classical conditioning]].

==Technology==
* July 25 – The first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast is made.<ref>{{cite web|title=What happened on July 25|work=Dates in History|url=http://www.datesinhistory.com/jul25.php|accessdate=2012-01-09}}</ref>
* September 29 – First domestic radio sets come to stores in the United States – a [[Westinghouse Electric Corporation|Westinghouse]] radio costs $10. {{Citation needed|date=April 2015}}
* October – Young Russian physicist [[Léon Theremin|Lev Sergeyevich Termen]] first develops the [[electronic musical instrument]] which will become the [[Theremin]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Glinsky|first=Albert|title=Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage|location=Urbana|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=2000|isbn=0-252-02582-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/thereminethermus00glin/page/n47 26]|url=https://archive.org/details/thereminethermus00glin|url-access=registration|accessdate=2012-01-09}}</ref>

==Events==
* April 26 – [[Emil Racoviță]] establishes the world's first institute for the academic study of [[speleology]] at the [[Babeș-Bolyai University|Upper Dacia University]] in [[Cluj-Napoca|Cluj]] (Romania).
* Publication in [[Prague]] of [[Karel Čapek]]'s drama ''[[R.U.R.|R.U.R: Rossum's Universal Robots]]'', introducing the word ''[[Robot]]'' to the world.<ref>{{cite magazine|authorlink=Isaac Asimov|last=Asimov|first=Isaac|title=The Vocabulary of Science Fiction|magazine=[[Asimov's Science Fiction]]  |date=September 1979}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://capek.misto.cz/english/robot.html |first=Dominik |last=Zunt |year=2004 |title=Who did actually invent the word "robot" and what does it mean? |work=Karel Čapek (1890–1938) |accessdate=2011-12-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204135259/http://capek.misto.cz/english/robot.html |archivedate=2012-02-04 }}</ref>

==Births==
* January 20 – [[John Maynard Smith]], British theoretical [[evolutionary biologist]] and [[geneticist]] (died [[2004 in science|2004]]).
* February 7 – [[An Wang]], Chinese-born computer engineer (died [[1990 in science|1990]]).
* February 3 – [[Henry Heimlich]], American thoracic surgeon (died [[2016 in science|2016]]).
* March 11 – [[Nicolaas Bloembergen]], [[Dutch people|Dutch]] [[physicist]], [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize]] laureate (died [[2017 in science|2017]]).
* March 15 – [[E. Donnall Thomas]], American [[physician]], [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize]] laureate.
* March 22 – [[Katsuko Saruhashi]] Japanese [[geochemist]] (died [[2007 in science|2007]]).
* March 23 – [[Barbara Low (biochemist)|Barbara Low]], English-born [[biochemist]] (died [[2019 in science|2019]]).
* April 6 – [[Edmond H. Fischer]], [[Swiss American]] [[biochemist]], [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize]] laureate (died [[2012 in science|2012]])
* April 9 – [[Alex Moulton]], English [[mechanical engineer]] and [[inventor]] (died 2012).
* May 12 – [[Tang Dingyuan]], Chinese physicist (died [[2019 in science|2019]]).
* June 17 – [[François Jacob]], French [[biologist]], [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize]] laureate (died [[2013 in science|2013]]).
* July 10 – [[Owen Chamberlain]], American physicist, [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize]] laureate (died [[2006 in science|2006]]).
* July 11 – [[David Challinor]], American [[biologist]], [[Natural history|naturalist]] and scientific administrator at the [[Smithsonian Institution]] (died [[2008 in science|2008]]).
* July 25 – [[Rosalind Franklin]], English [[X-ray crystallography|crystallographer]] (died [[1958 in science|1958]]).
* July 30 – [[Marie Tharp]], American geologist (died [[2006 in science|2006]]).
* August 15 – [[Eleonore Trefftz]], German molecular and nuclear physicist (died [[2017 in science|2017]]).
* August 22 – [[Denton Cooley]], American cardiac surgeon (died [[2016 in science|2016]]).
* September 29 – [[Peter D. Mitchell]], English [[chemist]], [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize]] laureate (died [[1992 in science|1992]]).
* October 29 – [[Baruj Benacerraf]], [[Venezuela]]n [[immunologist]], [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize]] laureate (died [[2011 in science|2011]]).
* November 13 – [[Abraham Lilienfeld]], American [[epidemiologist]] (died [[1984 in science|1984]]).
* December 6 – [[George Porter]], English [[chemist]], [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize]] laureate (died [[2002 in science|2002]]).

==Deaths==
* January 3 – [[Zygmunt Janiszewski]], [[Poland|Polish]] [[mathematician]] (born [[1888 in science|1888]]).
* January 6 – [[Hieronymus Georg Zeuthen]], [[Denmark|Danish]] mathematician (born [[1839 in science|1839]]).
* March 13 – [[Charles Lapworth]], English [[geologist]] (born [[1842 in science|1842]]).
* March 26 – [[William Chester Minor]], American [[surgeon]] (born [[1834 in science|1834]]).
* March 31 – [[Paul Bachmann]], German mathematician (born [[1837 in science|1837]]).
* April 3 – [[Mary Katharine Brandegee]], American botanist (born [[1844 in science|1844]]).
* April 8 – [[John Brashear]], American astronomer (born [[1840 in science|1840]]).
* April 9 – [[Moritz Cantor]], German historian of mathematics (born [[1829 in science|1829]]).
* April 26 – [[Srinivasa Ramanujan]], Indian mathematician (born [[1887 in science|1887]]).
* June 20
** [[Marie Adolphe Carnot]], French chemist and mining engineer (born [[1839 in science|1839]]).
** [[John Grigg (astronomer)|John Grigg]], New Zealand [[astronomer]] (born [[1838 in science|1838]]).
* August 10 – [[Ádám Politzer]], [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungarian]] [[otologist]] (born [[1835 in science|1835]]).
* August 12 – [[Hermann Struve]], Russian-born astronomer (born [[1854 in science|1854]]).
* August 16 – [[Joseph Norman Lockyer|Norman Lockyer]], English [[astronomer]] (born [[1836 in science|1836]]).
* August 31 – [[Wilhelm Wundt]], German [[physiologist]] and [[psychologist]] (born [[1832 in science|1832]]).
* October 17 – [[Reginald Farrer]], English [[botanist]] (born [[1880 in science|1880]]).
* November 4 – [[Ludwig Struve]], Russian astronomer (born [[1858 in science|1858]]).
* December 3 – [[William de Wiveleslie Abney]], English astronomer and photographer (born [[1843 in science|1843]]).

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1920 In Science}}
[[Category:1920 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1920s in science]]