Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
1928 in science
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] --> {{Year nav topic5|1928|science}} {{Science year nav|1928}} The year '''1928 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below. ==Anthropology== * [[Americans|American]] anthropologist [[Margaret Mead]] publishes ''[[Coming of Age in Samoa]]'', "a psychological study of primitive youth for Western civilization". ==Archaeology== * The old [[Canaan]]ite city of [[Ugarit]] is rediscovered. ==Biology== * January β [[Frederick Griffith]] reports the results of [[Griffith's experiment]], indirectly proving the existence of [[DNA]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Griffith|first=Fred.|title=The Significance of Pneumococcal Types|journal=Journal of Hygiene|publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=27|issue=2|pages=113β159|pmid=20474956|pmc=2167760|doi=10.1017/S0022172400031879|jstor=4626734 |date=January 1928}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Downie|first=A. W.|title=Pneumococcal transformation β a backward view: Fourth Griffith Memorial Lecture|journal=[[Microbiology (journal)|Journal of General Microbiology]]|url=http://mic.sgmjournals.org/content/73/1/1.full.pdf|volume=73|issue=1|pages=1β11|year=1972|doi=10.1099/00221287-73-1-1|pmid=4143929|accessdate=2011-11-30|doi-access=free}}</ref> * September 28 β Scottish-born microbiologist [[Alexander Fleming]], at [[St Mary's Hospital, London]], accidentally rediscovers the [[antibiotic]] which he will call [[Penicillin]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Dubey|first=R. C.|title=Text book of Microbiology|publisher=S. Chand & Company Ltd|location=New Delhi|year=1999|isbn=9788121926201|page=579}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.rsc.org/pdf/pressoffice/2003/penicillin.pdf|publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry|location=London|title=Culture shock will highlight penicillin discovery|date=2003-09-02|accessdate=2011-11-30}}</ref> forgotten since [[Ernest Duchesne]]'s original discovery in [[1896 in science|1896]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DZVXPIK|first=E.|last=Duchesne|orig-year=1897|title=Antagonism between molds and bacteria|location=Fort Myers|year=2013}} An English translation by Michael Witty. ASIN B00E0KRZ0E and B00DZVXPIK.</ref> * [[Americans|American]] [[biogerontologist]] [[Raymond Pearl]] publishes his ''Rate of Living Hypothesis'', proposing that lifespan is shorter in animals with faster metabolisms.<ref>{{cite book|first=Raymond|last=Pearl|year=1928|title=The Rate of Living, Being an Account of Some Experimental Studies on the Biology of Life Duration|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location=New York}}</ref> == Chemistry == * The [[Diels-Alder reaction]] is first described by German chemists [[Otto Diels]] and [[Kurt Alder]]. * [[Bubble gum]] is invented by [[Walter Diemer]] in the United States. ==Computer science== * April β [[Leslie Comrie]] publishes an article "On the Construction of Tables by Interpolation", describing the use of [[punched card]] equipment for [[interpolation|interpolating]] tables of data, and becomes the first to use such equipment for scientific calculations, using [[Fourier transform|Fourier synthesis]] to compute the principal terms in the motion of the [[Moon]] for 1935β2000. ==History of science== * [[Florian Cajori]] begins publication of ''[[A History of Mathematical Notations]]''. ==Mathematics== * [[David Hilbert]] and [[Wilhelm Ackermann]] publish ''[[Principles of Mathematical Logic|GrundzΓΌge der theoretischen Logik]]'', a pioneering elementary text in [[first-order logic]] stating the ''[[Entscheidungsproblem]]''.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Hendricks, Vincent|year=2004|title=First-order logic revisited|location=Berlin|publisher=Logos Verlag|isbn=978-3-8325-0475-5|series=Logische Philosophie, 12|display-editors=etal}}</ref> * [[John von Neumann]] publishes ''Zur Theorie der Gesellschaftsspiele'', a text in [[game theory]]. ==Medicine== * October 12 β An '[[Negative pressure ventilator|iron lung]]' [[medical ventilator]] designed by [[Philip Drinker]] and [[Louis Agassiz Shaw, Jr.]], is used for the first time, at [[Boston Children's Hospital]] in the United States for treatment of [[poliomyelitis]]. * ''[[Dementia pugilistica]]'' is first described by forensic pathologist Dr. [[Harrison Stanford Martland]], chief medical examiner of [[Essex County, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Martland|first=H. S.|title=Punch Drunk|journal=[[Journal of the American Medical Association]]|volume=91|issue=15|pages=1103β1107|year=1928|doi=10.1001/jama.1928.02700150029009}}</ref> ==Physics== * February 28 β [[C. V. Raman]] and [[K. S. Krishnan]] discover [[Raman scattering]] in liquids.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Raman|first=C. V.|title=A new radiation|journal=Indian Journal of Physics|year=1928|volume=2|pages=387β398|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2289/2135|accessdate=2013-04-14}}</ref> * [[Paul Dirac]] proposes the [[Dirac equation]] as a [[Special relativity|relativistic]] [[equation of motion]] for the [[wavefunction]] of the [[electron]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dirac|first=P. A. M.|title=The Quantum Theory of the Electron|journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society A]] |date=1928-02-01|volume=117|issue=778|pages=610β624|doi=10.1098/rspa.1928.0023|bibcode=1928RSPSA.117..610D|doi-access=free}}</ref> leading him to predict the existence of the [[positron]], the electron's [[antiparticle]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Dirac|first=Paul A. M.|date=1933-12-12|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1933/dirac-lecture.html|title=Theory of Electrons and Positrons|publisher=The Nobel Foundation|accessdate=2011-06-22| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604044718/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1933/dirac-lecture.html| archivedate=4 June 2011 | url-status=live}}</ref> * [[Hermann Weyl]] publishes ''[[Gruppentheorie und Quantenmechanik]]'' in Leipzig.<ref>{{cite book|first=David|last=Speiser|chapter=''Gruppentheorie und Quantenmechanik'': The Book and its Position in Weyl's Work|date=2011|title=Crossroads: History of Science, History of Art|pages=79β99|editor-last=Williams|editor-first=Kim|place=Basel|publisher=Springer|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-0348-0139-3_7|isbn=978-3-0348-0138-6}}</ref> ==Technology== * February 8 β British inventor [[John Logie Baird]] broadcasts a transatlantic television signal from London to [[Hartsdale, New York]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Transatlantic Television in 1928|url=http://www.bairdtelevision.com/1928.html|work=Baird Television|accessdate=2015-09-29}} Extract from ''[[The New York Times]]'' 1928-02-09.</ref> * June 11 ** [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] inventor [[KΓ‘lmΓ‘n Tihanyi]] files [[patent]]s in [[Germany]], the [[United Kingdom]] and [[France]] for a [[cathode ray]] television transmission system.<ref>''[http://v3.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?DB=EPODOC&adjacent=true&locale=en_V3&FT=D&date=19301111&CC=GB&NR=313456A&KC=A Improvements in television apparatus]''. European Patent Office, Patent No. GB313456. Convention date (Germany): 1928-06-11, UK application: 1928-06-11, published: 1930-11-11, retrieved: 2009-12-25. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160202032140/http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?DB=EPODOC&adjacent=true&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=19301111&CC=GB&NR=313456A&KC=A Archived] 2012-02-20.</ref> ** The [[Lippisch Ente]] becomes the first aircraft to fly under [[rocket]] power, completing a {{convert|1,500|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us|adj=on}} circuit of the landing strip at the [[Wasserkuppe]] in Germany as part of the [[Opel RAK]] program led by [[Max Valier]] and [[Fritz von Opel]]. * July 3 ** British inventor [[John Logie Baird]] demonstrates the world's first [[color television]] transmission, using scanning discs.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Hutchinson Factfinder|publisher=Helicon|year=1999|isbn=978-1-85986-000-7 }}</ref> ** [[Ulster]]-born engineer [[Harry Ferguson]] obtains a British patent for his [[three-point linkage]] for [[tractor]]s.<ref>No. 320084.</ref> * July 7 β The first machine-sliced and machine-wrapped loaf of bread is sold in [[Chillicothe, Missouri]], using [[Otto Frederick Rohwedder]]'s technology. * September 3 β [[Philo Farnsworth]] demonstrates to the Press the world's first working [[History of television#Electronic television|all-electronic television]] system, employing electronic scanning in both the pickup and display devices.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/philo.html |title=Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906-1971) |work=The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco |accessdate=2011-06-22 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622033654/http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/philo.html |archivedate=22 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Farnsworth|first=Elma G.|year=1989|title=Distant Vision: Romance & Discovery on an Invisible Frontier|location=Salt Lake City|publisher=PemberleyKent|page=[https://archive.org/details/distantvisionrom00farn/page/108 108]|isbn=978-0-9623276-0-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/distantvisionrom00farn/page/108}}</ref> * December β Completion of the [[Maurzyce Bridge]] near [[Εowicz]] in central [[Poland]], the world's first road bridge of wholly [[Welding|welded]] construction, designed by [[Stefan BryΕa]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chen|first1=Wai-Fah|last2=Duan|first2=Lian|title=Handbook of International Bridge Engineering|year=2013|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4398-1029-3|pages=600β01}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Pescatore|first1=Jean-Pierre|last2=Borgeot|first2=Jean-Henri|year=2010|chapter=Chapter 10: Welding Steel Structures|editor1-last=Blondeau|editor1-first=Regis|title=Metallurgy and mechanics of welding: processes and industrial application|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9780470393895|page=359}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wojdyga|first1=Piotr|year=2009|title=Mosty firmy K. Rudzki i S-ka|trans-title=Bridges of K. Rudzki and Co.|journal=Rocznik MiΕsko Mazowiecki|volume=2009|issue=17|pages=63β74|issn=1232-633X|url=http://mazowsze.hist.pl/19/Rocznik_Minsko_Mazowiecki/437/2009/15610/|format=pdf|accessdate=2013-11-07|archive-date=2013-12-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002551/http://mazowsze.hist.pl/19/Rocznik_Minsko_Mazowiecki/437/2009/15610/|url-status=dead}}</ref> * The [[concrete pump]] is invented by German [[Max Giese]]. * [[Magnetic tape]] is invented by German [[Fritz Pfleumer]]. ==Publications== * [[Arthur Eddington]] publishes the popular text ''The Nature of the Physical World'' in the [[United Kingdom]], including a statement of the [[infinite monkey theorem]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Various works by (and about) Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, which are very difficult to obtain elsewhere|url=http://www.allais.info/priorartdocs/eddington.htm|accessdate=2012-05-31}}</ref> ==Awards== * [[Nobel Prize]]s ** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] β [[Owen Willans Richardson]] ** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] β [[Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus]] ** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] β [[Charles Jules Henri Nicolle]] ==Births== * January 4 β [[Henry T. Lynch]] (died [[2019 in science|2019]]), American cancer geneticist. * January 12 β [[Gerald Russell]] (died [[2018 in science|2018]]), British [[psychiatrist]]. * January 14 β [[Hans Kornberg]] (died 2019), German-English biochemist.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/12/18/professor-sir-hans-kornberg-german-born-biochemist-master-christs/ |title = Professor Sir Hans Kornberg, German-born biochemist and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge who did pioneering research into how bacteria work β obituary|newspaper = The Telegraph|date = 18 December 2019}}</ref> * February 14 β [[Sergey Kapitsa]] (died [[2012 in science|2018]]), Russian physicist and demographer. * February 18 β [[John Ostrom]] (died [[2005 in science|2005]]), American [[paleontologist]]. * March 8 β [[Gerald Bull]] (killed [[1990 in science|1990]]), Canadian ballistics [[engineer]]. * March 14 β [[Frank Borman]] (died [[2023 in science|2023]]), American astronaut. * March 25 β [[Jim Lovell]], American astronaut. * March 28 β [[Alexander Grothendieck]] (died [[2014 in science|2014]]), German-born French [[mathematician]], pioneer of modern [[algebraic geometry]]. * April 6 β [[James Watson]], American [[geneticist]]. * April 20 β [[Charles David Keeling]] (died [[2005 in science|2005]]), American [[atmospheric chemist]], [[geochemist]] and [[Oceanography|oceanographer]]. * April 29 β [[Heinz Wolff]] (died [[2017 in science|2017]]), German-born British [[bioengineer]] and science populariser. * May 2 β [[Hans Trass]] (died 2017), Estonian ecologist and botanist. * May 4 β [[Bill Mollison]] (died [[2016 in science|2016]]), Australian biologist, pioneer of [[permaculture]]. * May 23 β [[Jean E. Sammet]] (died [[2017 in science|2017]]), American computer programmer. * May 26 β [[Jack Kevorkian]] (died [[2011 in science|2011]]), American [[pathologist]], advocate of [[euthanasia]]. * June 2 β [[Wu Xinzhi]] (died [[2021 in science|2021]]), Chinese [[paleoanthropologist]]. * June 13 β [[John Forbes Nash, Jr.]] (died [[2015 in science|2015]]), American mathematician, [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]] laureate. * June 25 β [[Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov]] (died 2017), Russian physicist, [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize]] laureate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/02/science/alexei-abrikosov-nobel-laureate-in-physics-dies.html|title=Alexei Abrikosov, Nobel Laureate in Physics, Dies at 88|work=The New York Times|author=Kenneth Chang|date=2 Apr 2017|access-date=22 May 2019}}</ref> * July 6 β [[Bernard Malgrange]] (died [[2024 in science|2024]]), French mathematician. * July 12 β [[Elias James Corey]], American chemist, [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize]] laureate.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Allerson |first=Charles R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jEy67gEvIuMC&pg=PA750 |title=Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, 1901-1992 |date=30 October 1993 |publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation |isbn=978-0-8412-2690-6 |editor-last=James |editor-first=Laylin K. |pages=750 |chapter=Elias J. Corey}}</ref> * July 23 β [[Vera Rubin]], nΓ©e Cooper (died 2016), American [[astronomer]]. * August 25 β [[Herbert Kroemer]], German-born physicist, [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize]] laureate.<ref>{{cite book|author=Herbert Kroemer|title=Selected Works Of Professor Herbert Kroemer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jljICgAAQBAJ&pg=PA76|date=9 May 2008|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-4474-68-9|pages=76}}</ref> * September 7 β [[Donald Henderson]] (died 2016), American [[epidemiologist]]. * October 7 β [[Lorna Wing]], nΓ©e Tolchard (died 2014), English psychiatrist. * October 25 β [[Peter Naur]] (died 2016), Danish data scientist. * October 26 β [[Erich Kukk]] (died [[2017 in science|2017]]), Estonian phycologist and conservationist. * October 30 β [[Daniel Nathans]] (died [[1999 in science|1999]]), American microbiologist, [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] laureate.<ref>{{cite book|author=United States Congress|title=Departments of Labor and Health, Education, and Welfare Appropriations for 1980: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, First Session|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Zi2AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA430|year=1979|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=430}}</ref> * November 22 β [[William Gilbert Chaloner|Bill Chaloner]] (died 2016), English [[palaeobotanist]]. * November 28 β [[Tove Birkelund]] (died 1986), Danish historical geologist. * December 26 β [[Martin Cooper (inventor)|Martin Cooper]], American "father of the [[mobile phone]]". ==Deaths== * February 4 β [[Hendrik Lorentz]] (born [[1853 in science|1853]]), [[Dutch people|Dutch]] [[physicist]] and [[Nobel laureate]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Grundmann | first = Siegfried | title = The Einstein dossiers : science and politics--Einstein's Berlin period with an appendix on Einstein's FBI file | publisher = Springer | location = Berlin New York | year = 2005 | isbn = 9783540311041 | page=238 }}</ref> * February 5 β [[Xavier Arnozan]] (born [[1852 in science|1852]]), [[French people|French]] [[physician]].<ref>{{Base LΓ©onore|19800035/241/31985}}</ref> * February 8 β [[Theodor Curtius]] (born [[1857 in science|1857]]), German chemist.<ref>{{cite book | last = Daintith | first = John | title = Biographical encyclopedia of scientists | publisher = Institute of Physics Pub | location = Bristol Philadelphia | year = 1994 | isbn = 9780750302876 | page=195}}</ref> * March 19 ** [[David Ferrier]] (born [[1843 in science|1843]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]]-born [[neurologist]]. ** [[Emil Wiechert]] (born [[1861 in science|1861]]), German physicist and geophysicist.<ref>Bormann, P. (Ed.). (2012). Dedication to the 150th birthday of Emil Wiechert (1861-1928). In P. Bormann (Ed.), New Manual of Seismological Observatory Practice 2 (NMSOP 2) (pp. 1-2). Potsdam: Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ.</ref> * March 21 β [[Edward Walter Maunder|E. Walter Maunder]] (born [[1851 in science|1851]]), English [[astronomer]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Obituary Notices: Fellows:- Maunder, Edward Walter|journal=[[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]]|date=February 1929|volume=89|page=313|url=http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/seri/MNRAS/0089//0000317.000.html?high=512695a29c29710|bibcode = 1929MNRAS..89..313.|doi=10.1093/mnras/89.4.313|doi-access=free}}</ref> * April 2 β [[Theodore William Richards]] (born [[1868 in science|1868]]), American chemist, [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize]] laureate.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1914/richards/facts/|title=Theodore W. Richards - Facts|website=NobelPrize.org|access-date=August 22, 2021}}</ref> * May 21 β [[Hideyo Noguchi]] (born [[1876 in science|1876]]), Japanese [[bacteriologist]]. * August 30 β [[Wilhelm Wien]] (born [[1864 in science|1864]]), German physicist.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1911/wien/facts/|title=Wilhelm Wien - Facts|website=NobelPrize.org|access-date=22 August 2021}}</ref> * October 29 β [[John Macintyre]] (born [[1857 in science|1857]]), Scottish [[laryngologist]] and pioneer [[radiographer]]. ==References== {{reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:1928 In Science}} [[Category:1928 in science| ]] [[Category:20th century in science]] [[Category:1920s in science]]
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page
(
help
)
:
Template:Base LΓ©onore
(
edit
)
Template:Cite book
(
edit
)
Template:Cite journal
(
edit
)
Template:Cite news
(
edit
)
Template:Cite press release
(
edit
)
Template:Cite web
(
edit
)
Template:Convert
(
edit
)
Template:Reflist
(
edit
)
Template:Science year nav
(
edit
)
Template:Short description
(
edit
)
Template:Year nav topic5
(
edit
)