Editing 1947 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1947|science}}
{{Science year nav|1947}}

The year '''1947 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Anthropology==
* August 7 – [[Thor Heyerdahl]]'s [[balsa wood|balsa-wood]] raft, the ''[[Kon-Tiki]]'', smashes into the [[reef]] at [[Raroia]] in the [[Tuamotu Islands]] after a 101-day, 4300-mile (6900-km) journey across the Pacific Ocean, demonstrating that prehistoric peoples could have traveled from South America.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/8/7|title=Wood Raft Makes 4,300-Mile Voyage|work=This Day in History|publisher=[[BBC]]| accessdate=4 July 2010 <!--DASHBot-->}}</ref>

==Astronomy and space exploration==
* February 12 – [[Sikhote-Alin meteorite]] falls to Earth in [[Siberia]], the largest [[iron meteorite]] known to have impacted.<ref>{{cite book|first=O. Richard|last=Orton|title=Rocks From Space|publisher=Mountain Press Publishing|location=Missoula, Montana|edition=2nd|year=1998|page=103|isbn=0-87842-373-7}}</ref>
* February 20 – The first living things sent into space (and returned) are [[Drosophila melanogaster|fruit flies]], accompanied by rye and cotton seeds, aboard a [[V-2]] rocket launched by the [[United States Army Ordnance Corps|U.S. Army Ordnance Corps]] which reaches an altitude of 68 miles (109&nbsp;km).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.postwarv2.com/usa/ws/uars/uars20.html|title=Upper Air Rocket Summary V-2 No. 20| accessdate=11 May 2011 <!--DASHBot-->}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/afspbio/part1.htm|title=The Beginnings of Research in Space Biology at the Air Force Missile Development Center, 1946-1952|accessdate=2008-01-31|work=History of Research in Space Biology and Biodynamics|publisher=[[NASA]]|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080125044753/https://history.nasa.gov/afspbio/part1.htm|archivedate=25 January 2008|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/FactSheets/V2/v-2tab.htm|title=V-2 Firing Tables|accessdate=2008-01-31|publisher=[[White Sands Missile Range]]|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080125175018/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/FactSheets/V2/v-2tab.htm|archivedate=2008-01-25}}</ref>
* [[Bok globule]]s are reported.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bok|first1=Bart J.|authorlink=Bart Bok|last2=Reilly|first2=Edith F.|title=Small Dark Nebulae|journal=[[The Astrophysical Journal]]|volume=105|page=255|date=March 1947|bibcode = 1947ApJ...105..255B|doi=10.1086/144901}}</ref>

==Biology==
* The [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] [[Swift (bird)|Swift]] Research Project, based on the colony at the [[Oxford University Museum of Natural History]], is started by [[David Lack|David and Elizabeth Lack]]. It will still be running more than sixty years later.<ref>{{cite web|title=The swifts in the tower|url=http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/visiting/swifts/index.htm|publisher=Oxford University Museum of Natural History|accessdate=2011-03-17|archive-date=2011-03-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311033849/http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/visiting/swifts/index.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Museum Swifts: the story of the swifts in the tower of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History|first1=Andrew|last1=Lack|authorlink=Andrew Lack (author)|first2=Roy|last2=Overall|publisher=Oxford University Museum of Natural History|year=2002|isbn=0-9542726-0-9}}</ref>
* [[David Lack]] publishes ''Darwin's Finches''.
* ''[[Zika virus]]'' first isolated from a [[rhesus macaque]] in the [[Zika Forest]] of [[Uganda]].
* ''[[Influenza C virus]]'' first isolated.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Asha|first1=Kumari|last2=Kumar|first2=Binod|date=2019-02-05|title=Emerging Influenza D Virus Threat: What We Know so Far!|journal=Journal of Clinical Medicine|volume=8|issue=2|pages=192–|doi=10.3390/jcm8020192|pmc=6406440|pmid=30764577|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Computer science==
* January 25 – [[Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr.]] and Estle Ray Mann file a [[United States patent]] request for an invention described as a "[[cathode-ray tube amusement device]]",<ref>{{Cite patent|country=US|number=2455992|pubdate=1948-12-14|title=Cathode-ray tube amusement device|assign1=Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories Inc.|inventor1-last=Goldsmith Jr.|inventor1-first=Thomas T.|inventor2-last=Estle Ray|inventor2-first=Mann}}</ref> probably the [[first video game]].
* July 29 – After being shut off on November 9, 1946, for a refurbishment and relocation, [[ENIAC]], one of the world's first digital [[computer]]s, is turned on after a memory upgrade at [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]], Maryland. It will remain in continuous operation until October 2, 1955.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/facts/10/40900528/July-29-1947-After-being-shut-off-on|title=July 29, 1947|encyclopedia=Britannica| accessdate=4 July 2010 <!--DASHBot-->}}</ref>
* August 18 – Official start of construction of [[Automatic Computing Engine]] in the United Kingdom.
* September 9 – A [[moth]] lodged in a [[relay]] is found to be the cause of a malfunction in the [[Harvard Mark II]] electromechanical computer, logged as "First actual case of [[Software bug|bug]] being found."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://catb.org/jargon/html/B/bug.html|title='''bug''':n.|work=The Jargon File|accessdate=2012-01-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/main?edan_q=Log+book+with+computer+bug&op=Search|title=Log Book With Computer Bug|publisher=[[National Museum of American History]]|accessdate=2013-01-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140927135534/http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/main?edan_q=Log+book+with+computer+bug&op=Search|archive-date=2014-09-27|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* October – First recorded use of the word ''[[computer]]'' in its modern sense, referring to an electronic digital machine.<ref>{{cite web|title=computer, ''n''.|work=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] online version|publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/37975?redirectedFrom=computer#eid|accessdate=2011-11-29 |date=September 2011}} {{OEDsub}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[John Crank]] and [[Phyllis Nicolson]] describe the [[Crank–Nicolson method]] in [[numerical analysis]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=A practical method for numerical evaluation of solutions of partial differential equations of the heat conduction type|journal=[[Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society]]|volume=43|issue=1|year=1947|pages=50–67|doi=10.1017/S0305004100023197|last1=Crank|first1=J.|authorlink1=John Crank|last2=Nicolson|first2=P.|authorlink2=Phyllis Nicolson|s2cid=16676040}}</ref>
* [[George Dantzig]] publishes the [[simplex algorithm]] for [[linear programming]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Murty|first=Katta G.|title=Linear programming|publisher=Wiley|location=New York|year=1983|isbn=0-471-09725-X|mr=720547}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor=Cottle, Richard W|title=The Basic George B. Dantzig|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2003|first=George B.|last=Dantzig}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=George B.|last1=Dantzig|first2=Mukund N.|last2=Thapa|year=1997|title=Linear programming 1: Introduction|publisher=Springer}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=George B.|last1=Dantzig|first2=Mukund N.|last2=Thapa|year=2003|title=Linear Programming 2: Theory and Extensions|publisher=Springer}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=Michael J.|last=Todd|date=February 2002|title=The many facets of linear programming|journal=Mathematical Programming|volume=91|issue=3|doi=10.1007/s101070100261|pages=417–436|s2cid=6464735}}</ref><ref>''Computing in Science and Engineering'' '''2'''(1) (2000).</ref>

==Medicine==
* January – [[Prosopagnosia]] is first named by German neurologist [[:de:Joachim Bodamer|Joachim Bodamer]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Joachim|last=Bodamer|journal=Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten|title=Die Prosop-Agnosie: Die Agnosie des Physiognomieerkennens|year=1947|volume=179|pages=6–53}}</ref>
* August 20 – [[Doctors' Trial]] concludes, establishing the [[Nuremberg Code]] as a model of [[research ethics]] for [[human subject research]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1353/bhm.2001.0049|title=The Origins of Informed Consent: The International Scientific Commission on Medical War Crimes, and the Nuremburg Code|year=2001|last1=Weindling|first1=Paul|journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine|volume=75|issue=1|pages=37–71|pmid=11420451|s2cid=20239629}}</ref>
* November 29 – [[Mary Barber (bacteriologist)|Mary Barber]] publishes her classic paper on [[antibiotic resistance]] in ''[[Staphylococcus]]'' [[bacteria]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Staphylococcal Infection due to Penicillin-Resistant Strains|first=Mary|last=Barber|journal=[[British Medical Journal]]|date=1947-11-29|volume=2|issue=4534|pages=863–865|doi=10.1136/bmj.2.4534.863|pmc=2056216|pmid=20272443}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|authorlink=Hugh Pennington |last=Pennington |first=Hugh |url=http://www.publicservice.co.uk/feature_story.asp?id=13593 |title=Rooting out the villains |date=2010-02-09 |publisher=Public Service.co.uk |accessdate=2012-12-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228090904/http://www.publicservice.co.uk/feature_story.asp?id=13593 |archivedate=2011-02-28 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Haines|first=Catharine M. C.|year=2001|title=International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950|isbn=1-57607-090-5|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara|url=https://archive.org/details/internationalwom00hain}}</ref>
* The first [[antithyroid agent|antithyroid drug]], [[propylthiouracil]], is introduced in the United States.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Skugor|first1=Mario|last2=Wilder|first2=Jesse Bryant|title=The Cleveland Clinic Guide to Thyroid Disorders|year=2009|location=New York|publisher=Kaplan Publishing|isbn=978-1-4277-9969-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/clevelandclinicg00skug/page/71 71]|url= https://archive.org/details/clevelandclinicg00skug|url-access=registration|quote=propylthiouracil introduced 1947.| accessdate=13 September 2011 <!--DASHBot-->}}</ref>
* The first use of [[defibrillation]] on a human subject is performed by Claude Beck, professor of surgery at [[Case Western Reserve University]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/dittrick/museum/artifacts1/defibrllator.html|title=Claude Beck, defibrillation and CPR|publisher=Case Western Reserve University|year=2010|accessdate=2012-06-13}}</ref>

==Metrology==
* February 23 – The [[International Organization for Standardization]] (ISO) is founded.

==Paleontology==
* April 18 – "[[Mrs. Ples]]" (STS 5), the most complete skull of an ''[[Australopithecus africanus]]'' specimen ever found in [[South Africa]], is discovered at [[Sterkfontein]] ([[Transvaal (province)|Transvaal]]) by [[Robert Broom]] and [[John T. Robinson]].

==Physics==
* June – The [[Doomsday Clock]] of the ''[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'' is introduced.
* June 2 – The [[Shelter Island Conference]] on the Foundations of [[Quantum Mechanics]] convenes in [[New York (state)|New York State]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www7.nationalacademies.org/archives/shelterisland.html|title=The Shelter Island Conference|publisher=The National Academies|accessdate=4 July 2010 <!--DASHBot-->|archive-date=1 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401055459/http://www7.nationalacademies.org/archives/shelterisland.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* August 15 – '[[GLEEP]]' (the Graphite Low Energy Experimental Pile) experimental [[nuclear reactor]] runs for the first time at the [[Atomic Energy Research Establishment]], [[Harwell, Oxfordshire]], the first reactor to operate in [[Western Europe]].
* December 20 – The discovery of [[kaon]] is published in [[Nature (journal)|''Nature'' (journal)]].
* [[Harold Urey]], [[Jacob Bigeleisen]], and [[Maria Mayer]] introduce the [[Urey–Bigeleisen–Mayer equation]], a model for approximating [[isotope fractionation]].<ref name="richet1977">{{cite journal | last1 = Richet | first1 = P. | last2 = Bottinga | first2 = Y. | last3 = Javoy | first3 = M. | title = A Review of Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Sulphur, and Chlorine Stable Isotope Fractionation Among Gaseous Molecules | journal = Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences | year = 1977 | volume = 5 | pages = 65–110 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.ea.05.050177.000433 | bibcode = 1977AREPS...5...65R}}</ref><ref name="urey1947">{{cite journal | last = Urey | first = H.C. | title = The Thermodynamic Properties of Isotopic Substances | journal = Journal of the Chemical Society | year = 1947 | pages = 562–581 | doi = 10.1039/JR9470000562 | pmid = 20249764}}</ref><ref name="bigeleisen1947">{{cite journal | title = Calculation of Equilibrium Constants for Isotopic Exchange Reactions | last1 = Bigeleisen | first1 = J. | last2 = Mayer | first2 = M.G. | journal = The Journal of Chemical Physics | volume = 15 | issue = 5 | year = 1947 | pages = 261–267 | doi = 10.1063/1.1746492 | bibcode = 1947JChPh..15..261B| hdl = 2027/mdp.39015074123996 | hdl-access = free }}</ref>

==Technology==
* February 21 – [[Edwin H. Land]] demonstrates the first practical [[instant camera]], the [[Land Camera]], in New York City. It will first be on commercial sale in December 1948.
* November 13 – First [[AK-47]] [[selective fire|selective-fire]], [[gas operated|gas-operated]] [[assault rifle]] produced in the Soviet Union by [[Mikhail Kalashnikov]].
* November 17–December 23 – [[John Bardeen]] and [[Walter Brattain]] working under [[William Shockley]] at [[AT&T Corporation|AT&T]]'s [[Bell Labs]] in the United States demonstrate the [[transistor]] effect.<ref>{{cite web|title=November 17 – December 23, 1947: Invention of the First Transistor|publisher=[[American Physical Society]]|url=http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200011/history.cfm|accessdate=2013-01-16}}</ref>
* December 11 – A hexagonal [[cellular telephone]] network is proposed by [[Douglas H. Ring]] and [[W. Rae Young]] of [[Bell Labs]] for mobile phones in vehicles.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.privateline.com/archive/Ringcellreport1947.pdf|date=1947-12-11|title=Mobile Telephony – Wide Area Coverage|first=D. H.|last=Ring|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207062016/http://www.privateline.com/archive/Ringcellreport1947.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-02-07|accessdate=2018-07-10}}</ref>
* The [[clavioline]] is invented by [[Constant Martin]].
* The [[disposable nappy]] is invented by [[Valerie Hunter Gordon]].
* [[Raytheon]] produces the first commercial [[microwave oven]].

==Awards==
* [[Nobel Prize]]s<ref>[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/1947.html "Nobel Laureates 1947."]  ''Nobelprize''.</ref>
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Edward Victor Appleton]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – Sir [[Robert Robinson (chemist)|Robert Robinson]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[Carl Ferdinand Cori]], [[Gerty Cori]], [[Bernardo Houssay]]

==Births==
* January 24 – [[Michio Kaku]], American [[theoretical physicist]] and [[Popular science|popularizer of science]].
* January 29 – [[Linda B. Buck]], American [[biologist]], recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]], 2004.
* January 30 – [[Masaki Kashiwara]], Japanese [[mathematician]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=2025: Masaki Kashiwara|url=https://abelprize.no/abel-prize-laureates/2025|access-date=2025-03-28|website=The Abel Prize}}</ref>
* February 4 – [[John Campbell Brown]] (died [[2019 in science|2019]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[astronomer]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Obituary: Professor John Brown OBE, Astronomer Royal for Scotland who used magic tricks to share wonder of the cosmos |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-professor-john-brown-obe-astronomer-royal-scotland-who-used-magic-tricks-share-wonder-cosmos-1398717 |website=www.scotsman.com |access-date=27 May 2021 }}</ref>
* March 16 – [[Keith Devlin]], English-born mathematician and popularizer of science.
* April 18 – [[Chris Rapley]], British climate scientist.
* May 9 – [[Michael Levitt (biophysicist)|Michael Levitt]], South African-born [[computational biologist]], recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]], 2013.
* June 8 – [[Eric F. Wieschaus]], American biologist, recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]], 1995.
* June 15 – [[Alain Aspect]], French quantum physicist, recipient of the [[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>
* June 25 – [[Will Steffen]] (died [[2023 in science|2023]]), American-born Australian chemist.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/31/will-steffen-courageous-climate-scientist-dies-in-canberra-aged-75 Will Steffen, ‘courageous’ climate scientist, dies in Canberra aged 75]</ref>
* July 5 – [[Lalji Singh]] (died [[2017 in science|2017]]), Indian [[biotechnologist]] and [[cytogeneticist]], "father of Indian DNA fingerprinting".
* July 30 – [[Françoise Barré-Sinoussi]], French virologist, recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]], 2008.
* August 21 – [[Margaret Chan]], Hong Kong-born physician.
* December 6 – [[Geoffrey Hinton]], English-born [[cognitive psychologist]] and [[computer scientist]], "godfather of AI", recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2024.
* December 16 – [[Martyn Poliakoff]], British [[chemist]] and popularizer of science.
* [[Stuart W. Jamieson]], [[Rhodesia]]n-born cardiothoracic surgeon.

==Deaths==
* February 12 – [[Moses Gomberg]] (born [[1866 in science|1866]]), American chemist.
* February 25 – [[Friedrich Paschen]] (born [[1865 in science|1865]]), German [[physicist]].
* August 23 – [[Roy Chadwick]] (born [[1893 in science|1893]]), English [[aircraft designer]] (aircraft accident).
* September 15 – [[Annie S. D. Maunder|Annie Maunder]] (born [[1868 in science|1868]]), [[Anglo-Irish]] [[astronomer]].
* October 2 – [[P. D. Ouspensky]] (born [[1878 in science|1878]]), Russian-born philosopher.
* October 4 – [[Max Planck]] (born [[1858 in science|1858]]), German [[quantum physicist]].
* November 17 – [[Emil Racoviță]] (born [[1868 in science|1868]]), [[Romanians|Romanian]] [[biologist]], [[speleologist]] and [[List of polar explorers|polar explorer]].
* December 1
** [[John Fraser (surgeon)|John Fraser]] (born [[1885 in science|1885]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[surgeon]].
** [[G. H. Hardy]] (born [[1877 in science|1877]]), English [[mathematician]].<ref>GRO Register of Deaths: December 1947 4a 204 Cambridge – Godfrey H. Hardy, aged 70.</ref>
* December 17 – [[J. N. Brønsted]] (born [[1879 in science|1879]]), [[Danes|Danish]] [[physical chemist]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1947 In Science}}
[[Category:1947 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1940s in science]]