Editing 1942 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1942|science}}
{{Science year nav|1942}}

The year '''1942 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* February 27 – [[James Stanley Hey]], a [[British Army]] research officer, first detects [[radio waves]] emitted by the [[Sun]], helping to pioneer [[radio astronomy]].<ref>{{cite book|first=J. S.|last=Hey|title=The Radio Universe|edition=2nd|publisher=[[Pergamon Press]]|location=Oxford|year=1975|isbn=0-08-018760-9}}</ref>
* October 3 – The first [[V-2 rocket]] is successfully launched from [[Test Stand VII]] at [[Peenemünde]], [[Germany]], flying a distance of 147&nbsp;km and reaching a height of 84.5&nbsp;km, becoming the first man-made object to reach space.

==Biology==
* [[Germans|German]] [[pathologist]] [[Max Westenhöfer]] first puts forward an [[aquatic ape hypothesis]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Westenhöfer|first=M.|year=1942|title=Der Eigenweg des Menschen|publisher=Mannstaedt & Co}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* Cyanoacrylate adhesive is invented by [[Harry Coover]] of [[Eastman Kodak]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/coover.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040930063103/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/coover.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2004-09-30|title=Inventor of the Week Archive |publisher=Lemelson-MIT Program|accessdate=2010-02-13 |date=September 2004}}</ref>
* Eastman Kodak first market [[Kodacolor (still photography)|Kodacolor]] [[Negative (photography)#Negative film|color negative film]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/kodakHistory/1930_1959.shtml|title=History of Kodak – 1930-1959|publisher=Kodak|accessdate=2012-01-10|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090822065342/http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/kodakHistory/1930_1959.shtml|archivedate=2009-08-22}}</ref>

==Computer science==
* [[John Vincent Atanasoff|John V. Atanasoff]] with [[Clifford Berry]] successfully test the [[Atanasoff–Berry Computer]], the first [[electronics|electronic]] [[Digital data|digital]] [[computing]] device.<ref>{{cite book|year=1976|editor-last=Ralston|editor-first=Anthony|editor2-last=Meek|editor2-first=Christopher|title=Encyclopedia of Computer Science|edition=2nd|pages=488–489|isbn=0-88405-321-0}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* December – [[Raphaël Salem]] and [[Donald C. Spencer]] publish a progression-free [[Salem–Spencer set]] of the numbers from <math>1</math> to <math>n</math> of size proportional to <math>n^{1-\varepsilon}</math>, for every <math>\varepsilon>0</math>.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Salem|first1=R.|author1-link=Raphaël Salem|last2=Spencer|first2=D. C.|author2-link=Donald C. Spencer|date=December 1942|doi=10.1073/pnas.28.12.561|issue=12|journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]]|location=United States|pages=561–563|title=On sets of integers which contain no three terms in arithmetical progression|volume=28|pmc=1078539|pmid=16588588|bibcode=1942PNAS...28..561S|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Physics==
* August 13 – [[United States]] [[Chief of Engineers]], [[Major General (United States)|Major General]] [[Eugene Reybold]] formally establishes the 'Manhattan Engineer District' of the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]] to undertake production facility construction work for what will become known as the [[Manhattan Project]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Broad|first=William J.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/science/30manh.html|title=Why They Called It the Manhattan Project|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=30 October 2007|accessdate=2010-10-27}}</ref>
* December 2 – [[Chicago Pile-1]], the first [[nuclear reactor]], goes critical under the squash court of the [[University of Chicago]], thanks to the efforts of [[Enrico Fermi]], [[Leó Szilárd]], [[George Weil]] and the rest of the Chicago pile team.

==Physiology and medicine==
* November 1 – [[Klinefelter syndrome]] is first described by American endocrinologist [[Harry Klinefelter]].<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Klinefelter, H. F. jr|author2=Reifenstein, E. C. jr|author3=Albright, F.|year=1942|title=Syndrome characterized by gynecomastia, aspermatogenesis without a-Leydigism and increased excretion of follicle-stimulating hormone|journal=The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism|volume=2|issue=11|pages=615–624|doi=10.1210/jcem-2-11-615}}</ref>
* [[Alfred Gilman, Sr.|Alfred Gilman]], [[Louis S. Goodman]] and Frederick S. Philips first carry out trials of anti-[[cancer]] [[chemotherapy]], using [[mechlorethamine]].<ref>Not published until [[1946 in science|1946]]. {{cite journal|last=Gilman|first=Alfred|title=The Initial Clinical Trial of Nitrogen Mustard|journal= American Journal of Surgery|year=1963|volume=105|pages=574–578|pmid=13947966|doi=10.1016/0002-9610(63)90232-0|issue=5}}</ref>
* The first practical [[oximeter]] is described by [[Glenn Allan Millikan]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Millikan|first=G. A.|year=1942|title=The oximeter: an instrument for measuring continuously oxygen saturation of arterial blood in man|journal=[[Review of Scientific Instruments]]|volume=13|issue=10|pages=434–444|doi=10.1063/1.1769941|bibcode=1942RScI...13..434M}}</ref>

==Psychology==
* Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, [[Isabel Briggs Myers]], produce the first [[Myers-Briggs Type Indicator|Briggs-Myers Type Indicator]].

==Technology==
* March – [[Isaac Asimov]]'s [[Three Laws of Robotics]] are introduced in his short story "[[Runaround (story)|Runaround]]" published in ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact|Astounding Science-Fiction]]''.
* July 18 – [[Messerschmitt Me 262]] [[jet aircraft]] prototype makes its first flight under jet power.
* August 11 – Composer [[George Antheil]] and actress [[Hedy Lamarr]] are granted a [[United States]] [[patent]]<ref>[https://patents.google.com/patent/US2292387 #2,292,387.]</ref> for a [[frequency-hopping spread spectrum]] communication system intended to make radio-guided [[torpedo]]es harder to detect.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Tony|last=Long|url=https://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2011/08/0811hedy-lamar-george-antheil-torpedo-patent|title=This Day in Tech: Aug. 11, 1942: Actress + Piano Player = New Torpedo|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|date=2011-08-11|accessdate=2012-09-26}}</ref>
* October 2 – The first American-built jet aircraft, the [[Bell P-59 Airacomet]] fighter prototype, makes its first official flight.<ref>{{cite book|last=Angelucci|first=Enzo|title=The American Fighter: the Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft from 1917 to the present|location=New York|publisher=Orion Books|year=1987|page=50}}</ref>
* November 26 – First operational military [[Bailey bridge]] erected by British [[Royal Engineers]] over the [[Medjerda River]] near [[Majaz al Bab]] in [[Tunisia]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Harpur|first=Brian|title=A bridge to victory: the untold story of the Bailey Bridge|publisher=HMSO|location=London|year=1991|isbn=0117726508|page=69}}</ref>
* [[Walter Bruch]] operates a [[closed-circuit television]] system to monitor the V-2 rocket launches.<ref>{{cite book|authorlink=Tim Harford|first=Tim|last=Harford|title=The Next Fifty things that made the modern economy|location=London|publisher=Bridge Street Press|year=2020|isbn=9781408712665|pages=151–2}}</ref>

==Births==
* January 8 – [[Stephen Hawking]], [[English people|English]] [[cosmologist]] and best-selling author of ''[[A Brief History of Time]]'' (died [[2018 in science|2018]])
* January 12 – [[Michel Mayor]], [[Swiss people|Swiss]] [[astronomer]], recipient of a [[Nobel Prize in Physics]]
* January 27 – [[Tasuku Honjo]], Japanese immunologist, recipient of a [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]]
* March 27 – [[John Sulston]], English molecular biologist, recipient of a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (died 2018)
* May 24 – [[Fraser Stoddart]], Scottish-born chemist, recipient of a [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] (died [[2024 in science|2024]])
* June 8 – [[Jacques Dubochet]], Swiss [[biophysicist]], recipient of a Nobel Prize in Chemistry
* August 24 – [[Karen Uhlenbeck]], [[Americans|American]] mathematician
* October 20 – [[Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard]], German developmental geneticist, recipient of a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
* November 14 – [[Hanna von Hoerner]], German [[astrophysicist]] (died [[2014 in science|2014]])
* November 22 – [[Guion Bluford]], African American aerospace engineer and astronaut
* November 30 – [[André Brahic]], [[French people|French]] astrophysicist (died [[2016 in science|2016]])
* December 1 – [[John Clauser]], American quantum physicist, recipient of a Nobel Prize in Physics<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2022/press-release/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 2022|date=2022-10-04|work=[[Nobel Prize]]|publisher=[[The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]|access-date=2022-10-06}}</ref>

==Deaths==
* March 12 – [[William Henry Bragg|Sir William Henry Bragg]], English recipient of a [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (born [[1862 in science|1862]])
* March 14 – [[Friedrich Karl Georg Fedde]], German [[botanist]] (born [[1873 in science|1873]])
* May 19 – [[Joseph Larmor]], Irish physicist (born [[1857 in science|1857]])
* August 6 – [[Valdemar Poulsen]], Danish audio engineer (born [[1869 in science|1869]])
* August 12 – [[Sabina Spielrein]], [[Russians|Russian]] [[psychoanalyst]], in Zmievskaya Balka massacre<ref>{{cite web|title=Rostov Jewish Community Calls For Survivors, Children to Remember Zmievskaya Balka|url=http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2029053/Rostov-Jewish-Community-Calls-For-Survivors-Children-to-Remember-Zmievskaya-Balka.html|publisher=[[Chabad Lubavitch]]|date=2010-05-31|accessdate=2012-01-04}}</ref> (born [[1885 in science|1885]])
* September 22 – [[Isaak Bacharach]], German [[mathematician]] (born [[1854 in science|1854]])
* October 5 – [[Dorothea Klumpke]], [[Americans|American]] [[astronomer]] (born [[1861 in science|1861]])
* October 27 –  [[Alfred Baker (academic)|Alfred Baker]], [[Canadians|Canadian]] mathematician (born [[1848 in science|1848]])
* November 3 – [[Ernest Gibbins]], English [[entomologist]], speared by [[Uganda]]n tribesmen amongst whom he was working (born [[1900 in science|1900]]).
* November 5 – [[Alexis Carrel]], [[French people|French]] surgeon, [[biologist]] and winner of a [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (born [[1873 in science|1873]])
* November 13 – [[Robert Remak (mathematician)|Robert Remak]], German mathematician, in [[Auschwitz]] (born [[1888 in science|1888]])
* December 21 – [[Franz Boas]], German American [[anthropologist]] (born [[1858 in science|1858]])
* [[Vernon Orlando Bailey]], [[Americans|American]] [[naturalist]] (born [[1864 in science|1864]])
* [[Amelia Chopitea Villa]], Bolivia's first female physician (born [[1900 in science|1900]])

==References==
{{reflist}}

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[[Category:1942 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1940s in science]]