Editing 1932 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1932|science}}
{{Science year nav|1932}}

The year '''1932 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy and space sciences==
* August 10 – A 5.1&nbsp;kg [[chondrite]]-type [[meteorite]] breaks into fragments and strikes earth near the town of [[Archie, Missouri]].
* [[Estonia]]n astronomer [[Ernst Öpik]] postulates that [[long-period comet]]s originate in an orbiting cloud (the Öpik–[[Oort cloud]]) at the outermost edge of the [[Solar System]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=E.|last=Öpik |title=Note on Stellar Perturbations of Nearly Parabolic Orbits|journal=Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences|volume=67|issue=6|pages=169–183|doi=10.2307/20022899|jstor=20022899 |date=October 1932|bibcode=1932PAAAS..67..169O }}</ref>

==Biology==
* English [[geneticist]] [[C. D. Darlington]] publishes ''Recent Advances in Cytology'', describing the mechanics of [[chromosomal crossover]]<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Benirschke|first1=K.|title=The Man Who Invented the Chromosome: A Life of Cyril Darlington|doi=10.1093/jhered/esh080|journal=[[Journal of Heredity]]|volume=95|issue=6|pages=541–542|year=2004|doi-access=free}}</ref> and its role in [[evolution]]ary science.
* English geneticist [[J. B. S. Haldane]] publishes ''The Causes of Evolution'', unifying the findings of Mendelian [[genetics]] with those of evolutionary science.
* American [[physiologist]] [[Walter Bradford Cannon]] publishes ''The Wisdom of the Body'', developing and popularising the concept of [[homeostasis]].
* A flock of [[Soay sheep]] is translocated from [[Soay, St Kilda|Soay]] to [[Hirta]] (also in the depopulated [[archipelago]] of [[St Kilda, Scotland]]) by conservationist [[John Crichton-Stuart, 4th Marquess of Bute]].
* The [[heath hen]] becomes extinct in North America.

==Earth sciences==
* [[Braggite]] is first described, the first mineral discovered with the assistance of [[X rays]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mindat.org/min-751.html|title=Braggite|publisher=Mindat.org|accessdate=2011-08-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/braggite.pdf|chapter=Braggite|title=Handbook of Mineralogy|date=2001–2005|publisher=Mineral Data Publishing|accessdate=2011-08-18}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Inductive dimension#Relationship between dimensions|Menger-Nöbeling theorem]].
* [[John von Neumann]] makes foundational contributions to [[ergodic theory]] in a series of papers.<ref>{{cite journal|first=John|last=von Neumann|title=Proof of the Quasi-ergodic Hypothesis|year=1932|journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]]|volume=18|pages=70–82|doi=10.1073/pnas.18.1.70|pmid=16577432|issue=1|pmc=1076162|bibcode=1932PNAS...18...70N |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=John|last=von Neumann|title=Physical Applications of the Ergodic Hypothesis|year=1932|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=18|pages=263–266|doi=10.1073/pnas.18.3.263|pmid=16587674|issue=3|pmc=1076204|jstor=86260|bibcode=1932PNAS...18..263N|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|authorlink=Paul Halmos|quote=if von Neumann had never done anything else, they would have been sufficient to guarantee him mathematical immortality.|title=Von Neumann on Measure and Ergodic Theory|first=Paul R.|last=Halmos|journal=[[Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society]]|volume=64|issue=3|year=1958|pages=86–94|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1958-10203-7|doi-access=free|url=https://projecteuclid.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-american-mathematical-society/volume-64/issue-3.P2/Von-Neumann-on-measure-and-ergodic-theory/bams/1183522373.pdf}}</ref>
* [[Rózsa Péter]] presents the results of her paper on [[recursive function theory]], "Rekursive Funktionen," to the [[International Congress of Mathematicians]] in Zurich, Switzerland.
* December – [[Marian Rejewski]] of the [[Poland|Polish]] [[Biuro Szyfrów]] applies pure mathematics – [[permutation group]] theory – to breaking the [[Wehrmacht|German armed forces]]' [[Enigma machine]] ciphers.<ref>{{cite book|authorlink=David Kahn (writer)|first=David|last=Kahn|title=The Codebreakers|edition=2nd|year=1996|page=974}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kozaczuk|first=Władysław|authorlink=Władysław Kozaczuk|year=1984|title=Enigma: How the German Machine Cipher was Broken, and how it was Read by the Allies in World War Two|location=Frederick, Md|publisher=University Publications of America|isbn=978-0-89093-547-7|pages=234–236}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* January 5 – The [[pathology]] of [[Cushing's syndrome]] is first described by [[Harvey Cushing]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Harvey|last=Cushing|title=The basophil adenomas of the pituitary body and their clinical manifestations (pituitary basophilism)|journal=[[Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital]]|volume=50|pages=137–95|year=1932}} Reprinted in {{cite journal|last1=Cushing|first1=Harvey|title=The basophil adenomas of the pituitary body|journal=Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England|date=April 1969|volume=44|issue=4|pages=180–1|pmid=19310569|pmc=2387613}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Dr. Cushing Dead; Brain Surgeon, 70. A Pioneer Who Won Fame as Founder of New School of Neuro-Surgery. Discovered Malady Affecting Pituitary Gland. Was Noted Teacher and Author|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/10/08/archives/drcushing-dead-brain-surgeon-70-a-pioneer-who-won-fame-as-founder.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=8 October 1939|accessdate=2010-03-21}}</ref>
* [[Americans|American]] [[gastroenterology|gastroenterologist]] [[Burrill Bernard Crohn]] and colleagues describe a series of patients with "regional ileitis", inflammation of the [[terminal ileum]], the area most commonly affected by the condition which will become known as [[Crohn's disease]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Crohn|first1=B. B.|last2=Ginzburg|first2=L.|last3=Oppenheimer|first3=G. D.|title=Regional ileitis: a pathologic and clinical entity, 1932|journal=Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine|volume=67|issue=3|pages=263–8|year=2000|pmid=10828911}}</ref>
* [[Grace Medes]] discovers tyrosinosis, the [[metabolic disorder]] later known as [[Type I tyrosinemia]].
* Swedish neurosurgeon [[Herbert Olivecrona]] performs the first surgical excision of an intracranial [[arteriovenous malformation]].
* [[Rudolf Schindler (doctor)|Rudolph Schindler]] introduces the first semi-flexible [[gastroscope]], in Germany.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Schäfer|first1=P. K.|last2=Sauerbruch|first2=T.|title=Rudolf Schindler (1888–1968) – 'Vater' der Gastroskopie|journal=Zeitschrift für Gastroenterologie|volume=42|issue=6|pages=550–6|year=2004|doi=10.1055/s-2004-813178|pmid=15190453}}{{Dead link|date=February 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* Commencement of the 40-year [[Tuskegee syphilis experiment]] by the [[U.S. Public Health Service]] to study the natural progression of untreated [[syphilis]] in poor [[African-American]] [[sharecroppers]] in [[Alabama]] without their [[Medical ethics#Informed consent|informed consent]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm|title=The Tuskegee Timeline|publisher=[[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]]|date=2011-06-15|accessdate=2011-09-30}}</ref>
* First published use of the term ''[[Medical genetics]]'', in an article by [[Madge Macklin|Madge Thurlow Macklin]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Peter S.|last=Harper|title=A Short History of Medical Genetics|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-19-518750-2|page=281}}</ref>
* [[Gerhard Domagk]] develops a chemotherapeutic cure for [[streptococcus]]

==Pharmacology==
* [[Albert Szent-Györgyi]] and [[Charles Glen King]] identify [[ascorbic acid]] as an [[anti-scorbutic]].
* December 25 – [[IG Farben]] file a [[patent]] application in Germany for the medical application of the first [[Sulfonamide (medicine)|sulfonamide]] drug, Sulfonamidochrysoidine (KI-730; which will be marketed as [[Prontosil]]), following [[Gerhard Domagk]]'s laboratory demonstration of its properties as an [[antibiotic]] at the conglomerate's [[Bayer AG|Bayer]] laboratories.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lesch|first=J. E.|title=The First Miracle Drugs: How the Sulfa Drugs Transformed Medicine|chapter=Prontosil|pages=51–61|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-19-518775-5}}</ref>

==Physics==
* April 14 – [[John Cockcroft]] and [[Ernest Walton]] focus a proton beam on lithium and split its nucleus.
* May – [[Radio Luxembourg]] begins high-powered [[longwave]] test transmissions aimed directly at the [[British Isles]] which prove, inadvertently, to be the first radio modification of the [[ionosphere]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/alaska.edu/gakonahaarpoon/operations-news|title=Operations News|work=Gakona HAARPoon|location=Alaska|date=2017-02-19|accessdate=2022-11-16}}</ref>
* May 10 – [[James Chadwick]] discovers the [[neutron]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=J.|last=Chadwick|title=Possible Existence of a Neutron|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|volume=129|page=312|date=September 1932|issue=3252|doi=10.1038/129312a0|bibcode=1932Natur.129Q.312C|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Existence of the Neutron|first=J.|last=Chadwick|journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society]]|volume=A136|issue=830|year=1932|pages=692–708|doi=10.1098/rspa.1932.0112|doi-access=free|bibcode=1932RSPSA.136..692C}}</ref> [[Werner Heisenberg]] explains its symmetries by introducing the concept of [[isospin]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=W.|last=Heisenberg|year=1932|title=Über den Bau der Atomkerne|journal=[[Zeitschrift für Physik]]|volume=77|issue=1–2|pages=1–11|doi=10.1007/BF01342433|bibcode=1932ZPhy...77....1H |s2cid=186218053}}</ref>
* August 2 – The [[positron]] is observed by [[Carl David Anderson|Carl Anderson]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Carl D.|last=Anderson|year=1932|title=The Apparent Existence of Easily Deflectable Positives|jstor=1658257|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|volume=76|issue=1967|pages=238–9|doi=10.1126/science.76.1967.238|pmid=17731542|bibcode=1932Sci....76..238A}}</ref>
* November 1 – The [[Kennedy–Thorndike experiment]] is published, showing that measured time as well as length is affected by motion, in accordance with the theory of [[special relativity]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kennedy|first1=Roy J.|last2=Thorndike|first2=Edward M.|year=1932|title=Experimental Establishment of the Relativity of Time|journal=[[Physical Review]]|volume=42|issue=3|pages=400–418|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.42.400|bibcode=1932PhRv...42..400K}}</ref>
* [[John von Neumann]] rigorously establishes a mathematical framework for [[quantum mechanics]] in ''Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik''.
* [[Zero-length spring]]s are invented, revolutionizing [[seismometer]]s and [[gravimeter]]s.

==Awards==
* [[Nobel Prize]]s
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Werner Heisenberg|Werner Karl Heisenberg]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[Irving Langmuir]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – Sir [[Charles Scott Sherrington|Charles Sherrington]], [[Edgar Douglas Adrian|Edgar Adrian]]

==Births==
* January 16 – [[Dian Fossey]] (murdered [[1985 in science|1985]]), [[Americans|American]] [[primatologist]].
* February 7 – [[Alfred Worden]] (died [[2020 in science|2020]]), American [[astronaut]].
* February 10 – [[Robert Taylor (computer scientist)|Robert Taylor]] (died [[2017 in science|2017]]), American computer scientist.
* March 10 – [[Udupi Ramachandra Rao]] (died 2017), [[Indian people|Indian]] [[space scientist]].
* March 14 – [[Joseph Bryan Nelson]] (died [[2015 in science|2015]]), British [[ornithologist]].
* March 15 – [[Alan Bean]] (died [[2018 in science|2018]]), American astronaut.
* March 21 – [[Walter Gilbert]], American chemist and [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel]] laureate
* March 24 – [[Lodewijk van den Berg]] (died [[2022 in science|2022]]), Dutch-born American chemical engineer and astronaut
* April 26 – [[Michael Smith (chemist)|Michael Smith]] (died [[2000 in science|2000]]), English-born [[biochemist]], recipient of the 1993 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].
* May 22 – [[Robert Spitzer (psychiatrist)|Robert Spitzer]] (died 2015), American [[psychiatrist]].
* July 10 – [[Ioan Pușcaș]] (died 2015), Romanian gastroenterologist.
* July 31 – [[John Searle]], American philosopher of the mind and language.
* August 4 – [[Frances E. Allen]] (died 2020), American computer scientist, [[Turing Award]] winner.
* August 15 – [[Robert L. Forward]] (died [[2002 in science|2002]]), American [[science fiction]] author and [[physicist]].
* August 18 – [[Luc Montagnier]] (died [[2022 in science|2022]]), French [[virology|virologist]] and joint recipient of the 2008 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for the discovery of the [[human immunodeficiency virus]] (HIV). 
* September 18 – [[Nikolai Rukavishnikov]] (died 2002), Russian [[Astronaut|cosmonaut]].
* September 29 – [[Rainer Weiss]], German-born American physicist, joint recipient of the 2017 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] for detection of [[gravitational wave]]s.
* October 1 – [[Biswa Ranjan Nag]] (died [[2004 in science|2004]]), Indian physicist.
* October 3 – [[Terence English]], [[South Africa]]n-born [[cardiac surgeon]].
* October 13 – [[John G. Thompson]], American [[mathematician]].
* November 6 – [[François Englert]], Belgian [[theoretical physicist]], joint recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovery of the [[Higgs mechanism]].
* December 15 – [[John Meurig Thomas]] (died [[2020 in science|2020]]), [[Welsh people|Welsh]] physical chemist.

==Deaths==
* February 29 – [[George Claridge Druce]] (born [[1850 in science|1850]]), English [[botanist]].
* March 14 – [[George Eastman]] (born [[1854 in science|1854]]), American [[photography]] pioneer (suicide).
* April 3 – [[Wilhelm Ostwald]] (born [[1853 in science|1853]]), [[Baltic German]] [[chemist]].
* April 20 – [[Giuseppe Peano]] (born [[1858 in science|1858]]), Italian [[mathematician]].
* May 29 – [[Cuthbert Christy]] (born [[1863 in science|1863]]), English medical investigator, [[zoologist]] and explorer.
* June 21 – [[Major Taylor]] (born [[1878 in science|1878]]), [[African American]] racing cyclist.
* July 9 – [[King Camp Gillette]] (born [[1855 in science|1855]]), American [[inventor]].
* July 14 – [[Fran Jesenko]] (born [[1875 in science|1875]]), Slovene botanist and [[plant geneticist]].
* July 22 – [[Reginald Fessenden]] (born [[1866 in science|1866]]), Canadian American [[radio broadcasting]] pioneer.
* August 9 – [[John Charles Fields]] (born 1863), Canadian mathematician.
* September 16 – Sir [[Ronald Ross]] (born [[1857 in science|1857]]), British [[physiologist]].
* November 12 – Sir [[Dugald Clerk]] (born [[1854 in science|1854]]), Scottish-born [[mechanical engineer]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1932 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1930s in science]]