Editing 1948 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1948|science}}
{{Science year nav|1948}}

The year '''1948 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy and space science==
* February 16 – [[Miranda (moon)|Miranda]], innermost of the large [[moons of Uranus]], is discovered by [[Gerard Kuiper]] from the [[McDonald Observatory]] in Texas.<ref>{{cite book|last=Moore|first=Patrick|authorlink=Patrick Moore|year=1995|title=The Guinness Book of Astronomy|edition=5th|location=Enfield, UK|publisher=Guinness Publishing|isbn=978-0851126432|page=110}}</ref>
* October 10 – An [[R-1 (missile)]] on test becomes the first [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] launch to enter space.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/r/r-1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820192642/http://www.astronautix.com/r/r-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 20, 2016|title=R-1|last=Wade|first=Mark|accessdate=2020-12-06}}</ref>

==Biology==
* August 7 – Teaching and research in [[Mendelian inheritance|Mendelian]] [[genetics]] is prohibited in the [[Soviet Union]] in favour of [[Lysenkoism|Lysenkoist]] theories of the [[inheritance of acquired characteristics]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Joravsky|first=David|title=The Lysenko Affair|url=https://archive.org/details/lysenkoaffair0000jora|url-access=registration|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1970|series=Russian Research Center studies, 61|isbn=978-0-674-53985-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The descent of Lysenko|last=Cohen|first=Barry M.|journal=The Journal of Heredity|volume=56|pages=229–233|year=1965|issue=5|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a107425}}</ref>
* October 5 – Delegates to a conference organised by Sir [[Julian Huxley]] at [[Fontainebleau]] agree to formation of the [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fni.no/YBICED/97_04_christoffersen.pdf |last=Christoffersen |first=Leif E. |year=1994 |title=IUCN: A Bridge-Builder for Nature Conservation |work=Green Globe YearBook |accessdate=2011-11-02 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216230117/http://www.fni.no/YBICED/97_04_christoffersen.pdf |archivedate=2008-12-16 }}</ref>
* November 20 – The [[South Island takahē]], a flightless bird generally thought to have been [[extinct]] for fifty years, is rediscovered by [[Geoffrey Orbell]] near [[Lake Te Anau]] in the [[South Island]] of [[New Zealand]].
* Last recorded sighting of the [[Caspian tiger]] in [[Kazakhstan]].
* Publication of [[Henry Fairfield Osborn, Jr.|Fairfield Osborne]]'s ''[[Our Plundered Planet]]'', a [[Malthusian]] critique of human environmental destruction.<ref>{{cite book|last=Netzley|first=Patricia|title=Environmental Literature|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=1999|location=California|isbn=978-1-57607-000-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Post War Intellectual Roots of the Population Bomb: Fairfield Osborne's ''Our Plundered Planet'' and William Vogt's ''Road to Survival'' in retrospect |first1=Pierre |last1=Desrochers |first2=Christine |last2=Hoffbauer |journal=The Electronic Journal of Sustainable Development |url=http://www.dpi.inpe.br/sil/cst310/Aula2_fundamentos/THE_POST_WAR_INTELLECTUAL_ROOTS_OF_THE_POPULATION_BOMB_-_FAIRFIELD_OSBORNS_OUR_PLUNDERED_PLANET_AND_WILLIAM_VOGTS_ROAD_TO_SURVIVAL_IN_RETROSPECT.pdf |year=2009 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=73–97 |accessdate=2011-12-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302185414/http://www.dpi.inpe.br/sil/cst310/Aula2_fundamentos/THE_POST_WAR_INTELLECTUAL_ROOTS_OF_THE_POPULATION_BOMB_-_FAIRFIELD_OSBORNS_OUR_PLUNDERED_PLANET_AND_WILLIAM_VOGTS_ROAD_TO_SURVIVAL_IN_RETROSPECT.pdf |archivedate=2012-03-02 }}</ref>

==Computer science==
* May 12 – World's first [[stored-program computer]] operates, the mechanical ARC (Automatic Relay Calculator) at [[Birkbeck College, University of London]] (largely built by [[Kathleen Booth]]).<ref>{{cite news|first=Martin|last=Campbell-Kelly|title=Kathleen Booth|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|location=London|date=2022-11-12|page=9 (Journal)|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/10/kathleen-booth-obituary|accessdate=2022-11-13}}</ref>
* June 21 – World's first working [[Computer program|program]] run on an electronic stored-program computer, the [[Manchester Baby]] (written by [[Tom Kilburn]]).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Enticknap|first=Nicholas|title=Computing's Golden Jubilee|journal=Resurrection|issue=20|publisher=Computer Conservation Society|date=Summer 1998|url=http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res20.htm#d|issn=0958-7403|accessdate=2011-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120109142655/http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res20.htm#d|archive-date=2012-01-09|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* July–October – [[Claude E. Shannon]] publishes "[[A Mathematical Theory of Communication]]" in ''[[Bell System Technical Journal]]'', regarded as a foundation of [[information theory]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=James|first=Ioan|year=2009|title=Claude Elwood Shannon 30 April 1916 – 24 February 2001|journal=[[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]]|volume=55|pages=257–265|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2009.0015|doi-access=free}}</ref> introducing the concept of [[Shannon entropy]] and adopting the term ''[[Bit]]''.

==History of science==
* December 17 – The original ''[[Wright Flyer]]'' goes on display in the [[Smithsonian Institution]].

==Medicine and human sciences==
* January 5 – The first [[Kinsey Reports|Kinsey Report]], ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'', is published in the [[United States]].
* April 7 –  The [[World Health Organization]] is established by the [[United Nations]].
* July 5 – The [[National Health Service]] begins functioning in the [[United Kingdom]], giving the right to universal healthcare, free at point of use.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/lostdecade/timeline_html.shtml|title=The Lost Decade Timeline|publisher=[[BBC]]|accessdate=2007-09-25|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821133044/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/lostdecade/timeline_html.shtml|archivedate=2006-08-21}}</ref>
* Winter 1948/49 – Outbreak of [[Akureyri disease]] in Iceland.
* In [[psychology]], [[Bertram Forer]] demonstrates the [[Barnum effect]] (that people tend to accept generalised descriptions of personality as uniquely applicable to themselves).
* [[Julius Axelrod]] and [[Bernard Brodie (biochemist)|Bernard Brodie]] identify the [[analgesic]] properties of [[acetaminophen]].

==Meteorology==
* March 25 – Meteorologists at [[Tinker Air Force Base]] in [[Oklahoma City]] issue the world's first [[tornado]] [[Weather forecasting|forecast]], for the second of the [[1948 Tinker Air Force Base tornadoes]].

==Physics==
* April 1 – Physicists [[Ralph Asher Alpher]] and [[George Gamow]] publish the [[Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper]] about the [[Big Bang]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Alpher |first1=R. A. |first2=H. |last2=Bethe |authorlink2=Hans Bethe |first3=G. |last3=Gamow |date=1948-04-01 |title=The Origin of Chemical Elements |journal=[[Physical Review]] |volume=73 |issue=7 |pages=803–804 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.73.803 |bibcode=1948PhRv...73..803A |doi-access=free }}</ref>
* May 29 – [[Casimir effect]] predicted by Dutch physicist [[Hendrik Casimir]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Casimir|first=H. B. G.|date=1948|title=On the attraction between two perfectly conducting plates|url=https://www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00018547.pdf|journal=Proc. Kon. Ned. Akad. Wet.|volume=51|pages=793}}</ref>
* [[Herbert Fröhlich]] makes a key breakthrough in understanding [[superconductivity]], at the [[University of Liverpool]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Science Places Liverpool|url=http://www.scienceplaces.org/liverpool/liverpool_list.html|year=2008|accessdate=2011-03-20}}</ref>

==Technology==
* June 18 – [[Columbia Records]] unveil the [[LP record]]s developed by [[Peter Carl Goldmark|Peter Goldmark]] of [[CBS Laboratories]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Goldmark|first=Peter|title=Maverick Inventor: My Turbulent Years at CBS|location=New York|publisher=Saturday Review Press|year=1973|isbn=978-0-8415-0046-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Columbia Diskery: CBS Show Microgroove Platters to Press; Tell How It Began|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=1948-06-26|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Marmorstein|first=Gary|title=The Label: the Story of Columbia Records|location=New York|publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press|year=2007|isbn=978-1-56025-707-3|page=165}}</ref>
* First modern long-span permanent [[box girder bridge]] completed, between [[Cologne]] and [[Deutz, Cologne|Deutz]].<ref>{{cite book|first=David J.|last=Brown|title=Bridges|location=London|publisher=Mitchell Beazley|year=1993|isbn=978-1-85732-163-0|page=94}}</ref>

==Publications==
* First publication of [[Norbert Wiener]]'s ''Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine''.
* Publication in Britain of the novel ''[[No Highway]]'' by former [[aeronautical engineer]] [[Nevil Shute]], dealing with the effects of [[metal fatigue]] on aircraft.

==Awards==
* [[Nobel Prize]]s
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[Paul Hermann Muller|Paul Hermann Müller]]

==Births==
* January 30 – [[Akira Yoshino]], [[Japanese people|Japanese]] chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
* March 1 – [[Alison Richard]], [[English people|English]] [[primatologist]] and academic.
* March 9 – [[László Lovász]], [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] [[computer scientist]].
* March 21 – [[Robert Watson (scientist)|Robert Watson]], [[British people|British]] atmospheric chemist.
* May – [[David Mabberley]], English-born plant taxonomist.
* June 13 – [[Nina L. Etkin]] (died [[2009 in science|2009]]), [[Americans|American]] [[Anthropology|anthropologist]] and [[biologist]].
* June 28 – [[Kenneth Alan Ribet]], American mathematician.
* July 20 – [[Martin Green (professor)|Martin Green]], [[Australians|Australian]] [[solar cell]] researcher.
* August 4 – [[Giorgio Parisi]], [[Italians|Italian]] theoretical physicist, recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]].
* August 7 – [[James P. Allison]], American immunologist, recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]].
* August 25 – [[Nicholas A. Peppas]], [[Greeks|Greek]] [[Chemical engineering|chemical]] and [[Biomedical engineering|biomedical engineer]].
* August 29 – [[Robert S. Langer]], American biomedical engineer.
* August 30 – [[Victor Skumin]], [[Russian scientists#Physicians and psychologists|Russian scientist]], [[psychiatrist]] and [[psychologist]]; describes [[:fr:Syndrome de Skumin|Skumin syndrome]] in 1978.
* September 2 – [[Christa McAuliffe]], born Sharon Christa Corrigan (died [[1986 in science|1986]]), American [[astronaut]].
* October 29 – [[Frans de Waal]], [[Dutch people|Dutch]] primatologist.
* October 31 – [[Mu-ming Poo]], [[Chinese people|Chinese]] [[neuroscientist]].
* December 30 – [[Randy Schekman]], American [[cell biologist]], recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
* [[Margaret Allen]], American [[cardiothoracic surgeon]].
* [[Robert Plomin]], American-born [[psychologist]].

==Deaths==
* January 30 – [[Orville Wright]] (born [[1871 in science|1871]]), [[United States|American]] pioneer [[aviator]].
* May 26 – Sir [[George Newman (doctor)|George Newman]] (born [[1870 in science|1870]]), [[English people|English]] public health physician.
* June 10 – [[Philippa Fawcett]] (born [[1868 in science|1868]]), English mathematician.
* June 21 – [[D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson]] (born [[1860 in science|1860]]), [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[biologist]].
* December 12 – [[Marjory Stephenson]] (born [[1885 in science|1885]]), English [[biochemist]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1948 In Science}}
[[Category:1948 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1940s in science]]