Editing 1945 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1945|science}}
{{Science year nav|1945}}

The year '''1945 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.
[[Image:Trinity explosion (color).jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity nuclear test]]]]

==Biology==
* [[Salvador Edward Luria]] and [[Alfred Day Hershey]] independently recognize that [[virus]]es undergo [[mutation]]s.

==Chemistry==
* A team at [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]] led by [[Charles DuBois Coryell|Charles Coryell]] discovers [[chemical element]] 61, the only one still missing between 1 and 96 on the [[periodic table]], which they will name [[promethium]].<ref>{{cite journal|year=2003 |title=Discovery of Promethium |journal=Oak Ridge National Laboratory Review |volume=36 |issue=1 |url=http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v36_1_03/article_02.shtml |accessdate=2011-06-16 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622100448/http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v36_1_03/article_02.shtml |archivedate=2011-06-22 }}</ref> Found by analysis of fission products of irradiated uranium fuel, its discovery is not made public until 1947.
* [[Dorothy Hodgkin]] and C. H. (Harry) Carlisle publish the first three-dimensional molecular structure of a [[steroid]], cholesteryl iodide.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Carlisle|first1=C. H.|last2=Crowfoot|first2=D.|year=1945|title=The crystal structure of cholesteryl iodide|journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society]]|volume=A184|issue=996|pages=64–83|jstor=97644}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=Jenny P.|last=Glusker|title=Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910–1994)|journal=[[Protein Science]]|year=1994|volume=3|issue=12|pages=2465–2469|doi=10.1002/pro.5560031233|pmid=7757003|pmc=2142778}}</ref> In January, Hodgkin also discovers the structure of [[penicillin]], not published until [[1949 in science|1949]].
* A team at [[American Cyanamid]]'s Lederle Laboratories, [[Pearl River, New York]], led by [[Yellapragada Subbarow]], obtain [[folic acid]] in a pure crystalline form.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Angier|first1=R. B.|last2=Boothe|first2=J. H.|last3=Hutchings|first3=B. L.|last4=Mowat|first4=J. H.|last5=Semb|first5=J.|last6=Stokstad|first6=E. L. R.|last7=Subbarow|first7=Y.|last8=Waller|first8=C. W.|last9=Cosulich|first9=D. B.|last10=Fahrenbach|first10=M. J.|last11=Hultquist|first11=M. E.|last12=Kuh|first12=E.|last13=Northey|first13=E. H.|last14=Seeger|first14=D. R.|last15=Sickels|first15=J. P.|last16=Smith Jr|first16=J. M.|title=Synthesis of a Compound Identical with the L. Casei Factor Isolated from Liver|doi=10.1126/science.102.2644.227|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|volume=102|issue=2644|pages=227–228|year=1945|pmid=17778509|bibcode=1945Sci...102..227A}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hoffbrand|first1=A. V.|last2=Weir|first2=D. G.|year=2001|title=The history of folic acid|journal=[[British Journal of Haematology]]|volume=113|issue=3|pages=579–589|doi=10.1046/j.1365-2141.2001.02822.x|pmid=11380441}}</ref>

==Computer science==
* June 30 – Distribution of [[John von Neumann]]'s ''[[First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC]]'', containing the first published description of the logical design of a computer with [[Stored-program computer|stored-program]] and instruction data stored in the same address space within the memory ([[von Neumann architecture]]).
* July – Publication of [[Vannevar Bush]]'s article "[[As We May Think]]" proposing a [[proto-hypertext]] [[collective memory]] machine which he calls '[[memex]]'.
* November – Assembly of the world's first general purpose electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer ([[ENIAC]]), is completed in the United States, covering {{convert|1800|sqft|m2}} of floor space, and the first set of calculations is run on it.

==History of science and technology==
* [[Douglas Guthrie]]'s ''[[A History of Medicine]]'' is published in the U.K.

==Mathematics==
* [[George Stigler]] solves the [[Stigler diet]] problem heuristically.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Cost of Subsistence|first=George J.|last=Stigler|journal=[[Journal of Farm Economics]]|volume=27|issue=2|pages=303–314|jstor=1231810|date=May 1945|doi=10.2307/1231810}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* February – Raymond L. Libby of American Cyanamid's research laboratories at [[Stamford, Connecticut]], announces a method of orally administering the antibiotic [[penicillin]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Penicillin Pills May Replace Injection|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19450216&id=N0waAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7wwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2626,3158721|newspaper=[[The Milwaukee Sentinel]]|date=1945-02-16|accessdate=2012-05-22}}</ref>
* The [[Amsler grid]] is introduced for monitoring of the central [[visual field]].

==Meteorology==
* High-altitude west-to-east winds across Pacific, discovered by Japanese in 1942 and by Americans in 1944, are dubbed "[[jet stream]]".

==Physics==
* July 16 – [[Nuclear testing]]: the [[Trinity test]], the first test of an [[nuclear weapon|atomic bomb]], using 6 kilograms of [[plutonium]], succeeds in detonating an explosion equivalent to that of 20 kilotons of TNT.
* August 6 and 9 – [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] make the world aware of the power of nuclear weapons.
* August 12 – The [[Smyth Report]] is released by the United States government, informing the public of the basics of [[nuclear fission]] and its military and civilian applications, and emphasizing the role played by physics in the development of the atomic bomb.
* August 21 – American physicist [[Harry Daghlian]] accidentally drops a [[tungsten carbide]] brick onto a [[plutonium–gallium alloy]] bomb core, exposing himself to a lethal dose of [[neutron radiation]] and becoming the first known fatality due to a [[criticality accident]] 25 days later.

==Technology==
* [[March 2]] – The [[Bachem Ba 349]] ''Natter'' is launched from [[Stetten am kalten Markt]]. The ''Natter'' is the first manned rocket, developed as an anti-aircraft weapon. The launch fails and the pilot dies.<ref>''Year by Year – 1945''. [[History International]].</ref>
* October – [[Arthur C. Clarke]] puts forward the idea of a [[Geosynchronous satellite|geosynchronous]] [[communications satellite]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/clarke/ww2.asp|first=Arthur C.|last=Clarke|title=Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?|accessdate=2019-05-20|journal=[[Wireless World]]|date=October 1945|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061107121143/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/clarke/ww2.asp|archivedate=2006-11-07|url-status=dead|pages=305–6}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://lakdiva.org/clarke/1945ww/1945ww_058.jpg|title=Peacetime Uses for V2|format=JPG|journal=Wireless World|date=February 1945|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070315181210/http://lakdiva.org/clarke/1945ww/1945ww_058.jpg|archivedate=2007-03-15|url-status=live|accessdate=2007-02-08}}</ref>
* November – [[Slinky]] toy first demonstrated by engineer [[Richard T. James]] in [[Philadelphia]].
* The first [[desalination]] plant becomes operational.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://worldwater.org/data20062007/Table22.pdf|title=Installed Desalination Capacity by Year, Number of Plants, and Total Capacity, 1945 to 2004|access-date=2013-07-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131126115625/http://www.worldwater.org/data20062007/Table22.pdf|archive-date=2013-11-26|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Institutions==
* [[Kathleen Lonsdale]] and [[Marjory Stephenson]] become the first women elected as Fellows of the [[Royal Society]] of London.

==Publications==
* [[Argentine]] [[physicist]] [[Ernesto Sabato]] publishes ''Uno y el Universo'' ("One and the Universe"), a collection of essays criticizing the apparent moral neutrality of science and warning of dehumanization in technological societies.
* First book in the ''[[New Naturalist]]'' series is published in the United Kingdom, [[E. B. Ford]]'s ''Butterflies''.

==Awards==
* [[Nobel Prize]]s
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Wolfgang Pauli]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[Artturi Ilmari Virtanen]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – Sir [[Alexander Fleming]], [[Ernst Boris Chain]], Sir [[Howard Walter Florey]]

==Births==
* January 4 – [[Richard R. Schrock]], American [[chemist]], [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize]] laureate.
* February 9 – [[Yoshinori Ohsumi]], Japanese [[cell biologist]], [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize]] laureate.
* February 26 – [[Michael Marmot]], English [[epidemiologist]].
* February 28 – [[Alexey Ekimov]], Russian-born [[chemist]], [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize]] laureate.
* March 31 – [[Edwin Catmull]], American [[computer scientist]].
* April 11 – [[John Krebs, Baron Krebs|John Krebs]], English [[zoologist]].
* April 24 – [[Larry Tesler]] (died [[2020 in science|2020]]), American computer scientist.
* April 30 – [[Michael J. Smith (astronaut)|Mike Smith]] (killed [[1986 in science|1986]] in rocket accident), American [[astronaut]].
* May 3 – [[Jeffrey C. Hall]], American [[geneticist]] and [[Chronobiology|chronobiologist]], [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize]] laureate.
* May 20 – [[Anton Zeilinger]], [[Austrians|Austrian]] quantum physicist, [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize]] laureate.<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>
* July 7 – [[Adele Goldberg (computer scientist)|Adele Goldberg]], American computer scientist.
* July 19 – [[Richard Henderson (biologist)|Richard Henderson]], [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[molecular biologist]], [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize]] laureate.
* August 1 – [[Douglas Osheroff]], American [[physicist]], [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize]] laureate.
* September 18 – [[John McAfee]] (presumed suicide [[2021 in science|2021]]), [[British American]] [[computer programmer]].
* September 19 – [[Ruxandra Sireteanu]] (died [[2008 in science|2008]]), [[Romanians|Romanian]] [[neuroscientist]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ganea|first=Constanþa|title=Ruxandra Sireteanu-Constantinescu (1945-2008)|journal=Curierul de Fizica|volume=63|number=1|year=2009|page=18| language=RO}}</ref>
* October 2 – [[Martin Hellman]], American [[cryptologist]].
* Undated – [[Lyn Evans]], [[Welsh people|Welsh]] physicist.

==Deaths==
* March 23 – [[Napier Shaw|Sir Napier Shaw]] (born [[1854 in science|1854]]), English [[meteorologist]].
* April 22 – [[Wilhelm Cauer]] (born [[1900 in science|1900]]), German mathematician and electronic engineer, shot during Battle of Berlin.
* May 12 – [[Julius Fromm]] (born [[1883 in science|1883]]), German businessman, inventor known for the [[Condom machine]] 
* May 14 – [[Isis Pogson]] (born [[1852 in science|1852]]), English [[astronomer]] and meteorologist.
* August 4 – [[Gerhard Gentzen]] (born [[1909 in science|1909]]), German [[mathematician]], starved in prison camp.
* August 10 – [[Robert Goddard (scientist)|Robert Goddard]] (born [[1882 in science|1882]]), American [[rocket]] scientist, throat cancer.
* August 31 – [[Stefan Banach]] (born [[1892 in science|1892]]), Polish [[mathematician]], lung cancer.
* September 15 – [[Richard Friedrich Johannes Pfeiffer]] (born [[1858 in science|1858]]), German [[physician]] and [[bacteriologist]].
* September 24 – [[Hans Geiger]] (born [[1882 in science|1882]]), German [[inventor]] of the [[Geiger counter]].
* October 1 – [[Walter Bradford Cannon]] (born [[1871 in science|1871]]), American [[physiologist]].
* November 20 – [[Francis William Aston]] (born [[1877 in science|1877]]), English chemist, [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize]] laureate.
* December 4 – [[Thomas Hunt Morgan]] (born [[1866 in science|1866]]), American [[biologist]], [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize]] laureate.
* December 11 – [[Charles Fabry]] (born [[1867 in science|1867]]), French [[Optical physics|optical physicist]].
* December 21/22 – [[Arthur Korn]] (born [[1870 in science|1870]]), German-born inventor.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1945 In Science}}
[[Category:1945 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1940s in science]]