Editing 1940 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1940|science}}
{{Science year nav|1940}}

The year '''1940 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Biochemistry==
* August 24 – [[Howard Florey]] and a team including [[Ernst Chain]], [[Arthur Duncan Gardner]], [[Norman Heatley]], M. Jennings, J. Orr-Ewing and G. Sanders at the [[Sir William Dunn School of Pathology]], [[University of Oxford]], publish their laboratory results showing the ''[[in vivo]]'' bactericidal action of [[penicillin]]. They have also purified the drug.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Drews|first=Jürgen|s2cid=1827304|date=March 2000|title=Drug Discovery: a Historical Perspective|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|volume=287|issue=5460|pages=1960–4|doi=10.1126/science.287.5460.1960|pmid=10720314|bibcode=2000Sci...287.1960D }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Patrick|last=Robertson|title=The Shell Book of Firsts|location=London|publisher=Ebury Press|year=1974|page=124}}</ref> On December 25 they seed their first batch of culture with spores of penicillin to grow it in medicinal quantity.
* The [[antibiotic]] [[dactinomycin]] (actinomycin D) is first isolated by [[Selman Waksman]] and [[H. Boyd Woodruff]] at [[Rutgers University]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Waksman|first1=S. A.|last2=Woodruff|first2=H. B.|title=Bacteriostatic and bacteriocidal substances produced by soil actinomycetes|journal=[[Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine]]|volume=45|pages=609–614|year=1940|doi=10.3181/00379727-45-11768|s2cid=84774334}}</ref>

==Biology==
* February 2 – The first [[transposon]]s are discovered in [[maize]] (''Zea mays'', aka corn) by [[Barbara McClintock]].
* March 11 – [[Ed Ricketts]], [[John Steinbeck]] and six others leave [[Monterey, California|Monterey]] for the [[Gulf of California]] on a marine invertebrate collecting expedition.

==Chemistry==
* February 27 – The [[radioactive]] [[isotope]] [[carbon-14]] is discovered by [[Martin Kamen]] and [[Sam Ruben]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kamen|first=Martin D.|year=1963|title=Early History of Carbon-14: Discovery of this supremely important tracer was expected in the physical sense but not in the chemical sense|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|volume=140|issue=3567|pages=584–590|doi=10.1126/science.140.3567.584|jstor=1710512|pmid=17737092|bibcode=1963Sci...140..584K }}</ref>
* May 15 – Women's [[stocking]]s made of [[nylon]] are first placed on sale across the United States.<ref>{{cite web|title=the history of nylon |url=http://www.caimateriali.org/index.php?id=32 |first=L. |last=Trossarelli |publisher=Club Alpino Italiano, Centro Studi Materiali e Tecniche |year=2010 |accessdate=2012-02-28 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425044410/http://www.caimateriali.org/index.php?id=32 |archivedate=2012-04-25 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* December 14 – [[Plutonium]] is first synthesized by a team led by [[Glenn T. Seaborg]] and [[Edwin McMillan]] at the University of California, Berkeley by bombarding [[uranium-238]] with [[deuteron]]s.
* The radioactive [[Chemical element|element]] [[Astatine]] is synthesized by [[Dale R. Corson]], [[Kenneth Ross MacKenzie]] and [[Emilio Segrè]] at the University of California, Berkeley.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Artificially Radioactive Element 85|first1=D. R.|last1=Corson|first2=K. R.|last2=MacKenzie|first3=E.|last3=Segrè|journal=[[Physical Review]]|volume=58|pages=672–678|year=1940|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.58.672|issue=8|bibcode=1940PhRv...58..672C}}</ref>
* [[Neptunium]], the first [[Transuranium element|transuranic]] element, is synthesized by [[Edwin McMillan]] and [[Philip H. Abelson]] at the University of California, Berkeley.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.57.1185.2|title=Radioactive Element 93|year=1940|last1=Mcmillan|first1=Edwin|journal=Physical Review|volume=57|pages=1185–6|last2=Abelson|first2=Philip Hauge|issue=12|bibcode=1940PhRv...57.1185M|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Louis Plack Hammett]] coins the term ''[[Physical organic chemistry]]'' when he uses it as the title of a textbook published in New York.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hammond|first=George S.|authorlink=George S. Hammond|title=Physical organic chemistry after 50 years: It has changed, but is it still there?|url=http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/1997/pdf/6909x1919.pdf|journal=[[Pure and Applied Chemistry]]|publisher=[[IUPAC]]|year=1997|volume=69|issue=9|pages=1919–22|accessdate=2014-01-22|doi=10.1351/pac199769091919|s2cid=53723796}}</ref>
* [[Robert McCance]] and [[Elsie Widdowson]] published the standard text ''The Chemical Composition of Foods''.<ref>{{cite ODNB|first=Roger|last=Whitehead|title=Widdowson, Elsie May (1906–2000)|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/74313|accessdate=2011-08-10|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/74313}}</ref>

==Computer science==
* January 8 – In the [[history of computing hardware]], [[Bell Labs]]' Complex Number Computer, a [[relay]]-based calculator for [[complex numbers]], is completed under the direction of [[George Stibitz]] in New York City.<ref>{{Ref patent|country=US|number=2668661|status=patent|title=Complex Computer|gdate=1954-02-09|assign1=[[American Telephone & Telegraph]]}}</ref>
* May–August – [[Alan Turing]] and [[Gordon Welchman]] at the United Kingdom [[Government Code and Cypher School]], [[Bletchley Park]], design the British [[Bombe]]s to help [[Cryptanalysis of the Enigma|decrypt]] [[Wehrmacht]] [[Enigma machine]] signals.<ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Michael|authorlink=Michael Smith (newspaper reporter)|title=Station X: the Codebreakers of Bletchley Park|edition=rev.|series=Pan Grand Strategy Series|year=2007|publisher=Pan Macmillan|location=London|isbn=978-0-330-41929-1}}</ref>
* September 9 – George Stibitz first demonstrates remote operation of a computer, using a modified [[Teleprinter|teletype]] working over telegraph lines between an [[American Mathematical Society]] conference at [[Dartmouth College]] in New Hampshire and the Complex Number Computer in New York.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ritchie|first=David|date=1986|chapter=George Stibitz and the Bell Computers|title=The Computer Pioneers|url=https://archive.org/details/computerpioneers00ritc|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/computerpioneers00ritc/page/39 39]|location=New York|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=067152397X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AsvSBQAAQBAJ&q=%22Complex%20computer%22%201939&pg=PA481|title=History of Computing in the Twentieth Century|last=Metropolis|first=Nicholas|year=2014|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=9781483296685|page=481}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Dalakov|first1=Georgi|title=Relay computers of George Stibitz|url=http://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Relays/Stibitz.html|website=History of Computers: Hardware, Software, Internet|accessdate=2015-03-30}}</ref>

==Exploration==
* December – [[Finn Ronne]] and [[Carl R. Eklund|Carl Eklund]] of the [[United States Antarctic Service]] determine that [[Alexander Island|Alexander I Land]] is an island.<ref>{{gnis|id=236|type=antarid}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Siple|first=Paul|authorlink=Paul Siple|title=Obituary: Carl R. Eklund, 1909-1962|journal=[[Arctic (journal)|Arctic]]|volume=16|year=1963|pages=147–148|url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic16-2-147.pdf|publisher=Arctic Institute of North America|accessdate=2013-01-19| issue=2 |  doi=10.14430/arctic3531}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Friedrich Wilhelm Levi]] introduces the [[Levi graph]] in a series of lectures on [[finite geometry]] at the [[University of Calcutta]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Levi|first=F. W.|mr=0006834|publisher=University of Calcutta|title=Finite Geometrical Systems|year=1942}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* At [[Johns Hopkins Hospital]] in the United States, Dr. Austin T. Moore (1899–1963) performs the first [[hip replacement]] to use [[vitallium]].
* German optometrist [[Heinrich Wöhlk]] produces fully plastic [[contact lens]]es.

==Metallurgy==
* [[William Justin Kroll]] devises the [[Kroll process]].

==Physics==
* January 5 – [[FM radio]] demonstrated to the [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]] for the first time.
* March – [[Frisch–Peierls memorandum]]: [[Otto Frisch]] and [[Rudolf Peierls]], at this time working at the [[University of Birmingham]] in England, calculate that an [[atomic bomb]] could be produced using very much less enriched [[uranium]] than has previously been supposed, making it a practical proposition.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gowing|first=Margaret|authorlink=Margaret Gowing|title=Britain and Atomic Energy, 1935–1945|year=1964|location=London|publisher=Macmillan Publishing|oclc=3195209|pages=40–43}}</ref>
* April 10 –  [[MAUD Committee]] first convened in Britain to consider the feasibility of an atomic bomb.
* [[Cavity magnetron]] invented by [[John Randall (physicist)|John Randall]] and [[Harry Boot]].
* [[Spontaneous fission]] first observed by [[Georgy Flyorov]] and [[Konstantin Petrzhak]].

==Technology==
* May 26 – First free flight of [[Igor Sikorsky]]'s [[Vought-Sikorsky VS-300]] [[helicopter]], in the United States.
* September 21 – [[American Bantam]] deliver the first prototype BRC Quarter-Ton General Purpose Vehicle – the [[four-wheel drive]] [[Jeep]], designed by [[Karl Probst]].<ref>{{cite web|author=((Auto Editors of Consumer Guide))|title=1906-1939 Jeep: Jeep Makes History|url=http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1906-1939-jeep4.htm|work=HowStuffWorks|accessdate=2012-05-31|archive-date=2012-05-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501212215/http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1906-1939-jeep4.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* November 7 – The new [[Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940)|Tacoma Narrows Bridge]] collapses due to [[aeroelastic flutter]].
* [[Donald Leslie]] demonstrates the [[Leslie speaker]], intended as an adjunct to the [[Hammond organ]].

==Other events==
* September–November – The [[Tizard Mission]], a British technical and scientific mission, exchanges information on wartime scientific advances with the United States, including [[radar]] (in particular a greatly improved [[cavity magnetron]]), [[Frank Whittle]]'s [[jet engine]], the [[Frisch–Peierls memorandum]] on feasibility of an atomic bomb and work of the '[[Tube Alloys]]' project on production of [[enriched uranium]].

==Births==
* January 8
** [[Mark Bretscher]], English biologist and academic
** [[Brian Josephson]], Welsh-born theoretical physicist and winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]].
* April 1 – [[Wangari Maathai]], née Muta (died [[2011 in science|2011]]), [[Kenya]]n [[biologist]] and winner of the [[Nobel Peace Prize]].
* April 18 – [[Joseph L. Goldstein]], American [[biochemist]] and winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]].
* May 17 – [[Alan Kay]], American computer scientist and winner of the [[Turing Award]].
* June 1 – [[Kip Thorne]], American gravitational physicist and winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]].
* June 5 – [[Dickson Despommier]], American [[microbiologist]], [[ecologist]] and Professor of [[Public health]] in Environmental Health Sciences at [[Columbia University]].
* June 22 – [[Daniel Quillen]] (died 2011), American [[mathematician]].
* July 15 – [[Stephen Jacobsen]] (died [[2016 in science|2016]]), American [[bioengineer]] and [[roboticist]].
* July 30 – [[Clive Sinclair]] (died [[2021 in science|2021]]), English inventor.
* September 12 – [[Joachim Frank]], German-born [[biophysicist]] and winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].
* September 26 – [[Louise Johnson]] (died [[2012 in science|2012]]), British [[biochemist]] and protein [[Crystallography|crystallographer]].
* November 20 – [[Arieh Warshel]], [[Israel]]i-born winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].
* November 26 – [[Enrico Bombieri]], Italian-born mathematician.
* [[Judith Pipher]], American [[astrophysicist]].
* December 24 – [[Anthony Fauci]], American physician-scientist and immunologist.

==Deaths==
* March 9 – [[Robert Gunther]] (born [[1869 in science|1869]]), English historian of science.
* April 13 – [[Pierre Marie]] (born [[1853 in science|1853]]), French [[neurologist]].
* April 29 – [[Edgar Buckingham]] (born [[1867 in science|1867]]), American physicist.
* June 17 – [[Arthur Harden]] (born [[1865 in science|1865]]), English [[biochemist]] and Nobel laureate in chemistry.
* June 21 – [[John T. Thompson]] (born [[1860 in science|1860]]), American inventor.
* July 31 – [[Louis Charles Christopher Krieger]] (born [[1873 in science|1873]]), American [[mycologist]].
* August 30 – [[J. J. Thomson]] (born [[1856 in science|1856]]), English physicist and Nobel laureate in physics.
* November 8 – [[Arthur Vierendeel]] (born [[1852 in science|1852]]), [[Belgians|Belgian]] [[civil engineer]].
* November 17 – [[Raymond Pearl]] (born [[1879 in science|1879]]), American [[biologist]].
* December 16 – [[Eugène Dubois]] (born [[1858 in science|1858]]), [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[paleoanthropology|paleoanthropologist]].
* December 17 – [[Alicia Boole Stott]] (born [[1860 in science|1860]]) [[British people|British]] mathematician.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1940 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1940s in science]]