Editing 1941 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1941|science}}
{{Science year nav|1941}}

The year '''1941 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Biology==
* [[George Wells Beadle]] and [[Edward Lawrie Tatum]] publish "Genetic Control of Biochemical Reactions in Neurospora" which shows that specific genes code for specific proteins.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=G. W.|last1=Beadle|first2=E. L|last2=Tatum|title=Genetic Control of Biochemical Reactions in Neurospora|journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]]|location=United States|volume=27|issue=11|pages=499–506|doi=10.1073/pnas.27.11.499|pmid=16588492|pmc=1078370|bibcode=1941PNAS...27..499B|year=1941|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[John William Field]] develops [[Field stain]] to detect malarial parasites.<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.e-mjm.org/1981/v36n2/Obituaries.pdf |title=Obituaries|work=[[Medical Journal of Malaysia]]|volume=36| number=2|date=June 1981| accessdate =4 May 2015}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* February 23 – Chemical element 94, [[plutonium]], is first synthesized by [[Glenn T. Seaborg]], [[Arthur C. Wahl]], [[Joseph W. Kennedy]] and [[Emilio Segrè]]. It is kept secret until after the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]], as it is being developed for the first [[nuclear weapon|atomic bombs]].
* [[Folic acid]] is first isolated via extraction from [[spinach]] leaves by [[Herschel K. Mitchell]], [[Esmond E. Snell]] and [[Roger J. Williams]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Mitchell|first1=H. K.|last2=Snell|first2=E. E.|last3=Williams|first3=R. J.|title=The concentration of "folic acid"|journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society|volume=63|issue=8|page=2284|year=1941|doi=10.1021/ja01853a512}}</ref>
* The first polyester fibre, [[polyethylene terephthalate]] (terylene), is [[patent]]ed by [[John Rex Whinfield]], James T. Dickson and their employer the [[Calico Printers' Association]] of [[Manchester]], England.

==Computer science==
* May 12 – German engineer [[Konrad Zuse]] presents the [[Z3 (computer)|Z3]], the world's first working [[Computer programming|programmable]], [[Turing completeness|Turing complete]], fully automatic computer, to an audience of aviation engineers in Berlin.
* [[John Vincent Atanasoff]] and [[Clifford E. Berry]] develop the [[Atanasoff–Berry Computer]].

==History of science==
* [[Charles Singer]]'s ''A Short History of Science to the Nineteenth Century'' published in the U.K.

==Mathematics==
* [[Cahit Arf]] defines the [[Arf invariant]] of a nonsingular [[quadratic form]] over a field of [[characteristic 2]].

==Medicine==
* February 12 – Reserve Constable [[Albert Alexander (police officer)|Albert Alexander]], a sepsis patient at the [[Radcliffe Infirmary]] in [[Oxford]], becomes the first person treated with [[penicillin]] intravenously, by [[Howard Florey]]'s team, injected by Dr Charles Fletcher. He reacts positively but there is insufficient supply of the drug to reverse his terminal infection. A successful treatment is achieved during May.<ref>{{cite book|first=Patrick|last=Robertson|title=The Shell Book of Firsts|location=London|publisher=Ebury Press|year=1974|pages=124–5}}</ref>
* April – [[Birmingham Accident Hospital]] opens as the world's first [[trauma centre]] in [[Birmingham]], England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trauma.org/archive/history/systems.html|title=1941 First Trauma Centre Birmingham Accident Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre, Birmingham, UK|work=Trauma Systems|publisher=Trauma.org|accessdate=2016-03-26|archive-date=2009-08-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826122159/http://www.trauma.org/archive/history/systems.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* ''[[Goodman & Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics|The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics]]'' is first published in New York City by [[Alfred Gilman Sr.|Alfred Gilman]] and [[Louis S. Goodman]], pharmacologists at the [[Yale School of Medicine]].<ref name="Ritchie">{{cite book|last=Ritchie|first=Murdoch|authorlink=J. Murdoch Ritchie|title=A Biographical Memoir of Albert Gilman|year=1996|publisher=National Academies Press|url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/gilman-alfred.pdf|accessdate=2015-03-26|pages=60–63}}</ref>

==Mineralogy==
* German mineralogist [[Karl Hugo Strunz]]'s ''Mineralogische Tabellen'' introduces [[Nickel–Strunz classification]] of [[mineral]]s.<ref>{{cite book|first=Eberhard|last=Knobloch|title=The shoulders on which we stand/Wegbereiter der Wissenschaft|year=2003|publisher=Springer|language=German, English|isbn=3-540-20557-8|pages=170–173}}</ref>

==Physics==
* June – British scientist [[Geoffrey Ingram Taylor|G. I. Taylor]] predicts the blast effects from an [[atomic bomb]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Geoffrey|last=Taylor|title=The formation of a blast wave by a very intense explosion|journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society]]|location=London|volume=A201|year=1950|pages=159 ff|jstor=98395}} The report was classified when written.</ref>
* June 28 – [[President of the United States]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] signs [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16137# Executive Order 8807] creating the [[Office of Scientific Research and Development]] with [[Vannevar Bush]] as its director. The office is charged with production of an atomic bomb.<ref>{{cite book|authorlink=Richard G. Hewlett|last1=Hewlett|first1=Richard G.|last2=Anderson|first2=Oscar E.|title=The New World, 1939–1946|location=University Park, Pennsylvania|publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press|year=1962|isbn=0-520-07186-7|oclc=637004643|pages=40–41}}</ref>
* October 1 – Artificial [[nuclear transmutation]] of [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] into [[gold]] by [[fast neutrons]] is reported in ''[[Physical Review]]''.<ref>{{cite journal | url =https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.60.473 |title=Transmutation of Mercury by Fast Neutrons|author1=R. Sherr |author2=K. T. Bainbridge |author3=H. H. Anderson|journal=Physical Review| date= 1 October 1941|volume=60 |issue=7 |pages=473–479 | accessdate =20 June 2022|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.60.473|bibcode=1941PhRv...60..473S |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* December 2 – First [[calutron]] operated.
[[Image:Gloster E28-39 first prototyp lr.jpg|thumb|The [[Gloster E.28/39]], the first British aircraft to fly with a turbojet engine]]

==Technology==
* May 15 – First flight of the [[Gloster E.28/39]], the first British [[jet aircraft]].
* September 1 – The [[rocket plane|rocket-powered]] [[interceptor aircraft]] [[Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet]] is first flown.
* November – Prototype [[AI Mk. VIII radar]], the first operational [[microwave]]-frequency [[aircraft interception radar|aircraft interception (AI) radar]], introduced by the British [[Royal Air Force]].

==Events==
* February 20 – Polish [[microbiologist]] [[Ludwik Hirszfeld]], his wife, Hanka, and daughter are forced to move into the [[Warsaw ghetto]]; here for two years he organizes anti-[[epidemic]] measures and [[vaccination]] campaigns against [[typhus]] and [[typhoid]], as well as conducting secret medical courses.

==Awards==
* July 4 – [[Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell|Frederick Lindemann]] is raised to the [[British peerage]] as Baron Cherwell.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35217|date=11 July 1941|page=3991}}</ref>

==Births==
* January 16 – [[András Sárközy]], [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] [[mathematician]].
* January 24 – [[Dan Shechtman]], [[Israel]]i winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] (2011).
* February 12 – [[Dennis Sullivan]], American mathematician.
* March 10 – [[George P. Smith (chemist)|George P. Smith]], American [[biochemist]], winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] (2018).
* March 14 – [[Michael Berry (physicist)|Michael Berry]], English [[mathematical physicist]].
* March 26 – [[Richard Dawkins]], British [[Evolutionary biology|evolutionary biologist]].
* March 27 – [[Simon Campbell]], British chemist.
* April 23 – [[Ray Tomlinson]] (died [[2016 in science|2016]]), American computer scientist.
* April 28 – [[Karl Barry Sharpless]], American chemist, twice winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] (2001, 2022).<ref>{{cite press release|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022|date=2022-10-05|publisher=The Nobel Prize|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2022/press-release/|accessdate=2022-10-06}}</ref>
* May 25 – [[Uta Frith]], German-born British [[developmental psychologist]].
* June 20 – [[Robert D. Acland]] (died [[2016 in science|2016]]), English-born [[Microsurgery|microsurgeon]].
* July 23 – [[Pierre Agostini]], French [[experimental physicist]], winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (2023).
* August 2 – [[Jules A. Hoffmann]], [[Luxembourg]]-born winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (2011).
* August 22 – [[Peter Murray-Rust]], British [[chemist]] and [[Herman Skolnik Award]] winner.
* September 2 – [[Shasanka Mohan Roy]], [[Indian people|Indian]] [[quantum physicist]].
* September 9 – [[Dennis Ritchie]] (died [[2011 in science|2011]]), American [[computer scientist]].
* September 10 – [[Stephen Jay Gould]] (died [[2002 in science|2002]]), American [[paleontologist]]/[[evolutionist]].
* December 22 – [[M. Stanley Whittingham]], English-born solid-state chemist, winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] (2019).
* [[Vivian Pinn]], American [[physician]].

==Deaths==
* February 21 – Sir [[Frederick Banting]] (born [[1891 in science|1891]]), Canadian discoverer of [[insulin]], winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] ([[1923 in science|1923]]) (military aircraft accident).
* April 5 – Sir [[Nigel Gresley]] (born [[1876 in science|1876]]), English steam locomotive engineer (''[[LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman|Flying Scotsman]]'' and ''[[LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard|Mallard]]'').
* April 13 – [[Annie Jump Cannon]] (born [[1863 in science|1863]]), American astronomer.
* April 17 – [[Hans Driesch]] (born [[1867 in science|1867]]), German biologist and philosopher.
* June 1 – [[Hans Berger]] (born [[1873 in science|1873]]), German neurologist.
* June 6 – [[Louis Chevrolet]] (born [[1878 in science|1878]]), [[Switzerland|Swiss]]-born race driver and automobile builder in the United States.
* July 11 – Sir [[Arthur Evans]] (born [[1851 in science|1851]]), English [[archaeologist]].
* July 26 – [[Henri Lebesgue]] (born [[1875 in science|1875]]), French mathematician.
* August 14 – [[Paul Sabatier (chemist)|Paul Sabatier]] (born [[1854 in science|1854]]), French chemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1912).
* August 30 – [[Peder Oluf Pedersen]] (born [[1874 in science|1874]]), Danish engineer and physicist.
* September 9 – [[Hans Spemann]] (born [[1869 in science|1869]]), German embryologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1935).
* November 10 – [[Carrie Derick]] (born [[1862 in science|1862]], Canadian botanist and geneticist.
* November 18 – [[Walther Nernst]] (born [[1864 in science|1864]]), German [[physical chemist]].
* November 22 – [[Kurt Koffka]] (born [[1886 in science|1886]], German-born psychologist.
* December 11 – [[Émile Picard]] (born [[1856 in science|1856]]), French mathematician.
* December 29 – [[Tullio Levi-Civita]] (born [[1873 in science|1873]]), Italian mathematician.

==References==
{{reflist}}

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