Editing 1946 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1946|science}}
{{Science year nav|1946}}

The year '''1946 in science''' and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* January 10 – The [[Signal Corps (United States Army)|United States Army Signal Corps]]' [[Project Diana]] bounces [[radar]] waves off the Moon.
* [[Reginald Aldworth Daly]] of [[Harvard University]] first proposes a [[giant impact hypothesis]] to account for formation of the Moon.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Origin of the Moon and Its Topography|first=Reginald A.|last=Daly|journal=[[Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society]]|volume=90|issue=2|year=1946|pages=104–19|jstor=3301051}}</ref>

==Biology==
* November 10 – [[Peter Scott (conservationist)|Peter Scott]] opens the [[WWT Slimbridge|Slimbridge Wetland Reserve]] in [[England]].
* December 2 – The [[International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling]] is signed in Washington, D.C. to "provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry" through establishment of the [[International Whaling Commission]].
* [[Karl von Frisch]] publishes "Die Tänze der Bienen" ("The dances of the bees").<ref>''Österreichische Zoologische Zeitschrift'' '''1''': pp. 1–48.</ref>
* [[Edmund Jaeger]] discovers and later documents, in [[The Condor (journal)|''The Condor'']],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jaeger|first=Edmund C.|title=Further Observations on the Hibernation of the Poor-will|journal=[[The Condor (journal)|The Condor]]|date=May–June 1949|volume=51|series=3|pages=105–109|quote=Earlier I gave an account (Condor, 50, 1948:45) of the behavior of a Poor-will (''Phalaenoptilus nuttallinii'') which I found in a state of profound torpidity in the winter of 1946–47 in the [[Chuckawalla Mountains]] of the [[Colorado Desert]], California.|jstor=1365104|issue=3|oclc=478309773|issn=0010-5422|doi=10.2307/1365104}} (photographs by Kenneth Middleham)</ref> a state of extended [[torpor]], approaching [[hibernation]], in a bird, the [[common poorwill]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Hiltner|first=Nita|title=A Look Back|newspaper=[[The Press-Enterprise]]|location=Riverside, California|publisher=Enterprise Media|date=2011-02-20|url=http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/riverside/riverside-headlines-index/20110227-a-look-back.ece|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131020614/http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/riverside/riverside-headlines-index/20110227-a-look-back.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 31, 2013|access-date=2011-11-15}}</ref>

==Cartography==
* The [[Chamberlin trimetric projection]] is developed by Wellman Chamberlin for the [[National Geographic Society]].<ref>{{cite book|publisher=National Geographic Society|location=Washington, D.C.|title=The Round Earth on Flat Paper: Map Projections Used by Cartographers|year=1947|first=Wellman|last=Chamberlin|asin=B000WTCPXE}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* The structure of the alkaloid [[strychnine]] is determined by English organic chemist [[Robert Robinson (chemist)|Robert Robinson]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Robinson|first=R.|year=1946|title=The constitution of strychnine|journal=Experientia|volume=2|issue=1|page=1946|doi=10.1007/BF02154708|pmid=21012825}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Briggs|first1=L. H.|last2=Openshaw|first2=H. T.|last3=Robinson|first3=Robert|year=1946|title=Strychnine and brucine. Part XLII. Constitution of the neo-series of bases and their oxidation products|journal=[[Journal of the Chemical Society]]|location=London|page=903|doi=10.1039/JR9460000903}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Openshaw|first1=H. T.|last2=Robinson|first2=R.|year=1946|title=Constitution of Strychnine and the Biogenetic Relationship of Strychnine and Quinine|journal=Nature|volume=157|issue=3988|pages=438|doi=10.1038/157438a0|pmid=21024272|bibcode=1946Natur.157..438O|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Computer science==
* February 14–15 – [[ENIAC]], the first non-classified all-electronic [[Turing complete]] computer, built under the direction of [[J. Presper Eckert]] and [[John Mauchly]], is announced and dedicated at the [[University of Pennsylvania]]'s [[Moore School of Electrical Engineering]].<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/facts/10/40945235/1946-The-all-electronic-ENIAC-Electronic-Numerical "1946."] ''Britannica''.</ref> It is programmable by [[plugboard]] and uses [[conditional branch]]ing.
* December 11 – [[Frederic Calland Williams]] receives a [[patent]] for a [[random-access memory]] device.<ref>{{cite web|title=Computing timeline|url=http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/cgi/computing-timeline.pl|publisher=[[The Centre for Computing History]]|access-date=2012-01-29}}</ref>

==Earth sciences==
* [[Arthur Holmes]] estimates the [[age of the Earth]], using [[uranium–lead dating]].

==Mathematics==
* June – [[Joseph Berkson]] describes [[Berkson's Paradox]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Berkson|first=Joseph|date=June 1946|title=Limitations of the Application of Fourfold Table Analysis to Hospital Data|journal=[[Biometrics (journal)|Biometrics Bulletin]]|volume=2|issue=3|pages=47–53|doi=10.2307/3002000|jstor=3002000|pmid=21001024}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* July 14 – Dr. [[Benjamin Spock]]'s ''[[The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care]]'' is first published in [[New York (state)|New York]]; it becomes one of the biggest best-sellers of all time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1998/03/17/echoes-from-the-baby-boom-appreciation-for-50-years-parents-turned-to-the-book-by-dr-benjamin-spock-for-the-most-common-sense-advice-about-raising-children/|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|title=Echoes from the baby boom appreciation: for 50 years, parents turned to the book by Dr. Benjamin Spock for the most common-sense advice about raising children|first=Patricia|last=Meisol|date=17 March 1998|access-date=2010-03-31|archive-date=2010-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100516023311/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-03-17/features/1998076006_1_spock-raising-children-parents/2|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Harold Gillies]] begins to perform [[sex reassignment surgery]] on [[Michael Dillon]], including the first [[phalloplasty]] for a [[trans man]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/books/review/Roach.t.html|title=Girls Will Be Boys|first=Mary|last=Roach|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=2007-03-18|access-date=2007-03-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120714071814/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/books/review/Roach.t.html |archive-date=July 14, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Chance Brothers]] of [[Smethwick]], England, produce the first all-glass [[syringe]] with interchangeable barrel and plunger, allowing easy mass-sterilisation of components.
* [[Alfred Gilman, Sr.|Alfred Gilman]], with Frederick S. Philips, first publish the results of trials of anti-[[cancer]] [[chemotherapy]], using [[mechlorethamine]], carried out with Louis S. Goodman.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gilman|first1=Alfred|last2=Philips|first2=Frederick S.|title=The Biological Actions and Therapeutic Applications of the Β-Chloroethyl Amines and Sulfides|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|volume=103|issue=2675|pages=409–15, 436|date=5 April 1946|bibcode = 1946Sci...103..409G |doi = 10.1126/science.103.2675.409|pmid=17751251|jstor=1673195}}</ref><ref>{{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>

==Physics==
* January 1 – [[Atomic Energy Research Establishment]] established at [[Harwell, Oxfordshire]] under [[John Cockcroft]].
* May 21 – [[Manhattan Project]] physicist [[Louis Slotin]] accidentally triggers a [[fission reaction]] at the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]] and gives himself a lethal dose of [[hard radiation]], making him the second victim of a [[criticality accident]] in history.
* The [[BBGKY hierarchy]] of equations for ''s''-particle distribution functions is applied to the derivation of kinetic equations by [[Nikolay Bogolyubov]] in a paper received in July 1945 and published in 1946 in Russian<ref>{{cite journal|first=N. N.|last=Bogoliubov|title=Kinetic Equations|journal=[[Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics]]|volume=16|issue=8|pages=691–702|year=1946}}</ref> and in English.<ref>{{cite journal|first=N. N.|last=Bogoliubov|title=Kinetic Equations|journal=Journal of Physics USSR|volume=10|issue=3|pages=265–274|year=1946}}</ref> The related kinetic transport theory is considered by [[John Gamble Kirkwood]] in a paper<ref>{{cite journal|first=John G.|last=Kirkwood|title=The Statistical Mechanical Theory of Transport Processes I. General Theory|journal=[[Journal of Chemical Physics]]|volume=14|issue=3|pages=180|date=March 1946|doi=10.1063/1.1724117|bibcode=1946JChPh..14..180K }}</ref> received in October 1945 and published in March 1946. The first paper by [[Max Born]] and [[Herbert S. Green]] considering a general kinetic theory of liquids is received in February 1946 and published on 31 December 1946.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=M.|last1=Born|first2=H. S.|last2=Green|title=A General Kinetic Theory of Liquids I. The Molecular Distribution Functions|journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society]] A|volume=188|pages=10–18|date=31 December 1946|bibcode = 1946RSPSA.188...10B|doi = 10.1098/rspa.1946.0093|doi-access=}}</ref>

==Technology==
* July 24 – First [[Martin-Baker]] [[ejection seat]] live-tested from a jet aircraft over England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.martin-baker.com/Products/Ejection-Seats/Mk--1-to-Mk--9/Mk--1.aspx|title=Mk. 1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714042715/http://www.martin-baker.com/Products/Ejection-Seats/Mk--1-to-Mk--9/Mk--1.aspx|date=2011-07-14|publisher=Martin-Baker|url-status=dead|accessdate=2012-10-31|archive-date=2011-07-14}}</ref>

==Awards==
* [[Nobel Prize]]s<ref>[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/1946.html "Nobel Laureates 1946."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109135254/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/1946.html |date=2010-01-09 }}  ''Nobelprize''.</ref>
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Percy Williams Bridgman]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[James B. Sumner]], [[John Howard Northrop]], [[Wendell Meredith Stanley]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[Hermann Joseph Muller]]

==Births==
* February 26 – [[Ahmed Zewail]] (died [[2016 in science|2016]]), Egyptian-born "father of [[femtochemistry]]", recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]]
* May 11 – [[Robert Jarvik]], American co-inventor of the [[Jarvik-7]] [[artificial heart]]
* June 13 – [[Paul L. Modrich]], American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
* June 24 – [[Ellison Onizuka]] (killed [[1986 in science|1986]]), American [[astronaut]]
* July 2 – [[Richard Axel]], American [[physiologist]], recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]]
* August 2 – [[Nigel Hitchin]], English mathematician
* August 5 – [[Shirley Ann Jackson]], African American physicist
* August 11 – [[Marilyn vos Savant]], American polymath
* September 7 – [[Francisco Varela]] (died [[2001 in science|2001]]), Chilean-born [[biologist]] and [[philosopher]]
* September 8 – [[Aziz Sancar]], Turkish biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
* September 9 – [[Adrian Smith (statistician)|Adrian Smith]], English statistician, [[President of the Royal Society]]
* September 28 – [[Morinobu Endo]], Japanese [[chemist]]
* October 14 – [[Kay Redfield Jamison]], American [[clinical psychologist]]
* October 17 – [[Carol Dweck]], American [[social psychologist]]
* October 29 – [[Peter Barnes (respiratory scientist)|Peter Barnes]], English respiratory scientist
* December 31 – [[Roy Porter]] (died [[2002 in science|2002]]), English [[medical historian]]
* [[Faiza Al-Kharafi]], Kuwaiti electrochemist

==Deaths==
* March 8 – [[Frederick W. Lanchester]] (born [[1868 in science|1868]]), English [[Automotive engineering|automotive engineer]].
* March 23 – [[Gilbert N. Lewis]] (born [[1875 in science|1875]]), American [[chemist]]; first to isolate [[deuterium]].
* March 26 – [[Gerhard Heilmann|Gerhard Heilman]] (born [[1859 in science|1859]]), Danish paleo-ornithologist.
* May 2 – [[Simon Flexner]] (born [[1863 in science|1863]]), American [[pathologist]] and [[bacteriologist]].
* June 14 – [[John Logie Baird]] (born [[1888 in science|1888]]), Scottish-born [[inventor]].
* August 13 – [[H. G. Wells]] (born [[1866 in science|1866]]), English novelist and scientific populariser.
* September 16 – [[James Jeans]] (born [[1877 in science|1877]]), English [[mathematician]] and [[scientist]].
* October 2 – [[Ignacy Mościcki]] (born [[1867 in science|1867]]), [[chemist]] and [[List of Presidents of Poland|President of Poland]].
* October 4 – [[Barney Oldfield]] (born [[1878 in science|1878]]), American automobile racer.
* December 2 – [[Hilda Lyon]] (born [[1896 in science|1896]]), English [[aeronautical engineer]].
* [[Israel Aharoni]] (born [[1882 in science|1882]]), Russian-born Jewish [[zoologist]].

==References==
{{reflist|35em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1946 In Science}}
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