Editing 1950 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1950|science}}
{{Science year nav|1950}}

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[[1949 in science]]<br>
'''1950 in science'''<br>
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[[File:1950_operating_room_in_Milan.jpg | thumb | 220x124px | right | Operating room in Milan in 1950]]
The year '''1950 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] included some significant events.

==Astronomy and space sciences==
* [[Netherlands|Dutch]] astronomer [[Jan Oort]] postulates the existence of an orbiting cloud of [[planet]]s (the [[Oort cloud]]) at the outermost edge of the [[Solar System]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Jan|last=Oort|title=The structure of the cloud of comets surrounding the Solar System and a hypothesis concerning its origin|journal=[[Bulletin of the Astronomical Institutes of the Netherlands]]|volume=11|pages=91–110|year=1950|bibcode=1950BAN....11...91O}}</ref>
* [[Enrico Fermi]] discusses the [[Fermi paradox]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/la-10311-ms.pdf|title="Where is everybody?": An account of Fermi's question|first=Eric M.|last=Jones|series=Los Alamos technical report|date=March 1985}}</ref>

==Biology==
* [[Melvin Calvin]], [[James Bassham]], and [[Andrew Benson]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], discover the [[Calvin cycle]] in [[photosynthesis]].<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Bassham, J.|author2=Benson, A.|author3=Calvin, M.|title=The path of carbon in photosynthesis|url=http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/185/2/781.pdf|journal=[[Journal of Biological Chemistry]]|volume=185|issue=2|pages=781–7|year=1950|pmid=14774424|doi=10.2172/910351|access-date=2011-06-10|archive-date=2009-02-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219123745/http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/185/2/781.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Entomologist]] [[Willi Hennig]] publishes ''Grundzüge einer Theorie der phylogenetischen Systematik'' in [[East Germany]], pioneering the study of [[cladistics]].
* Full-scale release of [[myxomatosis]] for control of the [[Australia]]n [[rabbit]] population.

==Chemistry==
* February 9 – [[Californium]], a [[Radioactive decay|radioactive]] [[actinide]] [[transuranium element]], is first synthesized by [[Stanley Gerald Thompson|Stanley G. Thompson]], [[Kenneth Street, Jr.]], [[Albert Ghiorso]] and [[Glenn T. Seaborg]] at the University of California, Berkeley.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Thompson, S. G.|author2=Street, Jr. K.|author3= Ghiorso, A.|author4= Seaborg, G. T.|title=Element 98|journal=[[Physical Review]]|year=1950|volume=78|issue=3|page=298|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.78.298.2|url=http://escholarship.org/uc/item/44g7z6hk|bibcode=1950PhRv...78..298T|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Thompson, S. G.|author2=Street, Jr. K.|author3=Ghiorso, A.|author4=Seaborg, G. T.|title=The New Element Californium (Atomic Number 98)|journal= Physical Review|year=1950|volume=80|issue=5|page=790|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.80.790|url=http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/documents/fullText/ACC0050.pdf|bibcode=1950PhRv...80..790T}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1=Street, K. Jr.|author2=Thompson, S. G.|author3=Seaborg, G. T.|title=Chemical Properties of Californium|journal=[[Journal of the American Chemical Society]]|year=1950|volume=72|issue=10|page=4832|doi=10.1021/ja01166a528|url=http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA319899&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf|hdl=2027/mdp.39015086449173|access-date=2012-03-17|archive-date=2012-01-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119092943/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA319899&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Computer science==
* March – Publication of [[Claude Shannon]]'s paper "Programming a Computer for Playing Chess", seminal in the development of [[computer chess]] and introducing the [[Shannon number]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Claude E. |last=Shannon |title=Programming a Computer for Playing Chess |journal=[[Philosophical Magazine]] |volume=41 |issue=314 |pages=256–75 |url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/projects/chess/related_materials/text/2-0%20and%202-1.Programming_a_computer_for_playing_chess.shannon/2-0%20and%202-1.Programming_a_computer_for_playing_chess.shannon.062303002.pdf |accessdate=2012-01-20 |date=March 1950 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706211229/http://archive.computerhistory.org/projects/chess/related_materials/text/2-0%20and%202-1.Programming_a_computer_for_playing_chess.shannon/2-0%20and%202-1.Programming_a_computer_for_playing_chess.shannon.062303002.pdf |archivedate=2010-07-06 }}</ref>
* April – Publication of [[Richard Hamming]]'s paper "Error detecting and error correcting codes", seminal in the construction of [[error detection and correction]] codes<ref>{{cite journal|first=R. W.|last=Hamming|title=Error detecting and error correcting codes|url=http://www.lee.eng.uerj.br/~gil/redesII/hamming.pdf|journal=[[Bell System Technical Journal]]|volume=29|issue=2|date=April 1950|pages=147–160|accessdate=2012-05-12|doi=10.1002/j.1538-7305.1950.tb00463.x|hdl=10945/46756|archive-date=2012-10-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015031803/http://www.lee.eng.uerj.br/~gil/redesII/hamming.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Hamming.html|title=Richard Wesley Hamming|first1=J. J.|last1=O'Connor|first2=E. F.|last2=Robertson|authorlink2=Edmund F. Robertson|work=[[MacTutor History of Mathematics archive]]|publisher=[[University of St Andrews]] |accessdate=2012-05-12 |date=January 2012}}</ref> and from which [[Hamming code]] and the [[Hamming distance]] derive.
* August 25 – In the [[early history of video games]], ''[[Bertie the Brain]]'' is first displayed to the public at the [[Canadian National Exhibition]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://spacing.ca/toronto/2014/08/13/meet-bertie-brain-worlds-first-arcade-game-built-toronto/|title=Meet Bertie the Brain, the world's first arcade game, built in Toronto|last=Bateman|first=Chris|date=2014-08-13|journal=[[Spacing (magazine)|Spacing]]|access-date=2014-11-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222164300/http://spacing.ca/toronto/2014/08/13/meet-bertie-brain-worlds-first-arcade-game-built-toronto/|archive-date=2015-12-22|url-status=live}}</ref>
* October – Publication of [[Alan Turing]]'s paper "[[Computing Machinery and Intelligence]]", seminal in the study of [[artificial intelligence]] and presenting the [[Turing test]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=A. M.|last=Turing|title=Computing Machinery and Intelligence|url=http://loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html|journal=[[Mind (journal)|Mind]]|volume=59|issue=236|pages=433–60|doi=10.1093/mind/LIX.236.433|accessdate=2011-11-28|date=October 1950|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080702224846/http://loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html|archive-date=2008-07-02|url-status=dead|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Epstein|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Roberts|editor2-first=Gary|editor3-last=Beber|editor3-first=Grace|title=Parsing the Turing Test: Philosophical and Methodological Issues in the Quest for the Thinking Computer|location=New York|publisher=Kluwer|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4020-6708-2}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[John Forbes Nash, Jr.]] proposes the [[Nash equilibrium]] in [[game theory]], initially in his [[Princeton University|Princeton]] [[Doctor of Philosophy|doctoral]] [[thesis]].<ref>{{citation|first=M. J.|last=Osborne|year=2004|title=An Introduction to Game Theory|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=23}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Equilibrium Points in N-person Games|journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]]|year=1950|pages=48–9|issue=1|pmid=16588946|last=Nash|first=J. F.|volume=36|pmc=1063129|doi=10.1073/pnas.36.1.48 |mr=0031701|bibcode = 1950PNAS...36...48N |doi-access=free}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Nash|first=J. F.|title=The Bargaining Problem|journal=[[Econometrica]]|year=1950|pages=155–62|volume=18 |issue=2|mr=0035977|doi=10.2307/1907266|jstor=1907266}}.</ref>
* The [[prisoner's dilemma]] is framed by [[Merrill Flood]] and [[Melvin Dresher]] at [[RAND Corporation|RAND]] and formalized and named by [[Albert W. Tucker]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Poundstone|first=William|year=1992|title=Prisoner's Dilemma|publisher=Doubleday|location=New York|isbn=978-0385415675|url=https://archive.org/details/prisonersdilemma00poun}}</ref>

==Medicine==
* June 17 – The first cadaveric internal [[kidney transplantation]] is performed on Ruth Tucker, a 44-year-old woman with [[polycystic kidney disease]], at [[Little Company of Mary Hospital (Evergreen Park)]], Illinois. Although the donated kidney is rejected 10 months later because no effective immunosuppressive drugs have been developed at this time, the intervening time gives Tucker's remaining kidney time to recover and she lives another 5 years.<ref>{{cite book|title=Organ transplantation|first=David|last=Petechuk|publisher=Greenwood|year=2006|isbn=978-0-313-33542-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/organtransplanta0000pete/page/11 11]|url=https://archive.org/details/organtransplanta0000pete|url-access=registration|quote=kidney transplant ruth tucker.}}</ref>
* October – [[Australia]]n-born [[Great Britain|British]] [[thoracic surgeon]] [[Norman Barrett]] describes the condition which will become known as [[Barrett's esophagus|Barrett's oesophagus]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Barrett|first=N. R.|title=Chronic Peptic Ulcer of the Œsophagus and 'Œsophagitis'|journal=[[British Journal of Surgery]]|volume=38|issue=150|pages=175–82|date=October 1950|pmid=14791960|doi=10.1002/bjs.18003815005|s2cid=72315839}}</ref>
* November – [[Eugene Roberts (neuroscientist)|Eugene Roberts]] and Sam Frankel of [[Washington University School of Medicine]] report their discovery that [[GABA]] (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is produced from [[glutamic acid]] and accumulates in the mammalian [[central nervous system]], using [[History of chromatography#Martin and Synge and partition chromatography|newly-developed]] techniques of [[chromatography]] to analyze protein-free extracts of mammalian brain.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Spiering|first=Martin J.|date=December 2018|title=The discovery of GABA in the brain|url=https://www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/science/010119/jbc-the-discovery-of-gaba-in-the-brain|journal=Journal of Biological Chemistry|volume=293|issue=49|pages=19159–19160|doi=10.1074/jbc.cl118.006591|issn=0021-9258|pmc=6295731|pmid=30530855|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Roberts|first1=E.|last2=Frankel|first2=S.|date=November 1950|title=gamma-Aminobutyric acid in brain: its formation from glutamic acid|journal=[[Journal of Biological Chemistry]]|volume=187|issue=1|pages=55–63|doi=10.1016/S0021-9258(19)50929-2|doi-access=free|issn=0021-9258|pmid=14794689}}</ref>
* December 11 – The [[typical antipsychotic]] [[Chlorpromazine]] is first synthesized.
* [[Antihistamine]] discovered.
* The [[Duffy antigen]] is identified in a multiply-transfused [[hemophiliac]] patient.<ref>{{cite journal|title=A New Human Blood Group|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|date=1950-02-04|last1=Cutbush|first1=M.|last2=Mollison|first2=P.L.|last3=Parkin|first3=D.M.|volume=165|issue=4188|pages=188–189|doi=10.1038/165188b0|bibcode=1950Natur.165..188C|s2cid=4265241}}</ref>
* An external [[artificial pacemaker]] is developed by [[John Alexander Hopps|John A. Hopps]] in conjunction with [[Wilfred Gordon Bigelow]] at [[Toronto General Hospital]].
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==Physics==
* July – [[Oleg Lavrentiev]] outlines the concept of the [[tokamak]].<ref>{{cite book|first=R. G.|last=Sharma|year=2015|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbvdBgAAQBAJ&q=Tokamak+T-1+1958|title=Superconductivity: Basics and Applications to Magnets|page=311|publisher=Springer|isbn=9783319137131|accessdate=2019-06-27}}</ref>
* [[John Clive Ward|John Ward]] derives the [[Ward–Takahashi identity]] in [[quantum field theory]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=J. C.|last=Ward|title=An identity in quantum electrodynamics|journal=[[Physical Review]]|volume=78|issue=2|page=182|year=1950|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.78.182|bibcode=1950PhRv...78..182W}}</ref>

==Technology==
* October 11 – A [[field-sequential color system]] developed by [[Hungarian American]] engineer Dr. [[Peter Carl Goldmark|Peter Goldmark]] becomes the first [[color television]] system to be adopted for commercial use (by [[CBS]] in the United States), but is abandoned a year later.<ref>{{cite news|title=C.B.S. Color Video Starts Nov. 20; Adapters Needed by Present Sets|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=1950-10-12|page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Radio and Television Regulation: Broadcast Technology in the United States 1920–1960|first=Hugh Richard|last=Slotten|publisher=JHU Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-8018-6450-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cZLQ9R5GKfsC&q=%22Field+sequential+color+system%22&pg=PR11}}</ref>
* [[Canadians]] [[Harry Wasylyk]], Larry Hansen and Frank Plomp introduce the plastic [[bin bag]] for [[Waste|garbage]] collection.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[CBC Television]] |url=http://www.cbc.ca/inventions/inventions.html?inventionID=21 |title=The Greatest Canadian Invention |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030012347/http://www.cbc.ca/inventions/inventions.html?inventionID=21 |archivedate=October 30, 2010 }}</ref>
* First practical [[pager]], developed and manufactured by the Reevesound Company, is introduced for [[physician]]s in the [[New York City]] area.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZyEDAAAAMBAJ&q=popular+science+1950+can+our+jets+support&pg=PA104|title=Pocket Radio Pages Doctors Night Or Day |journal=[[Popular Science]] |date=January 1951}}</ref>

==Events==
* August 12 – In his [[encyclical]] ''[[Humani generis]]'', [[Pope Pius XII]] declares [[evolution]] to be a serious [[hypothesis]] that does not contradict essential [[Roman Catholic]] teachings.
* [[J. Z. Young]] delivers the [[BBC]] [http://www.bbc.co.uk/reithlectures Reith Lectures] on ''[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lxm Doubt and Certainty in Science]'', introducing the radio audience to current developments in [[neurophysiology]].

==Awards==
* [[Fields Medal|Fields Prize in Mathematics]] (first postwar award): [[Laurent Schwartz]] and [[Atle Selberg]]
* [[Nobel Prize]]s
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Cecil Frank Powell]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[Otto Paul Hermann Diels]], [[Kurt Alder]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[Edward Calvin Kendall]], [[Tadeus Reichstein]], [[Philip Showalter Hench]]

==Births==
* March 2 – [[James W. Pennebaker]], [[Americans|American]] [[social psychologist]].
* March 5 – [[Henry Marsh (neurosurgeon)|Henry Marsh]], [[English people|English]] [[neurosurgeon]].
* March 18 – [[Linda Partridge]], English bio[[gerontologist]].
* May 16 – [[Georg Bednorz]], [[Germans|German]] physicist, [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] 1987.
* June 8 – [[Stanley J. Korsmeyer]] (died [[2005 in science|2005]]), American [[cell biologist]].
* July 4 – [[Steven Sasson]], American [[electrical engineer]].
* October 21 – [[Ronald McNair]] (died on mission [[1986 in science|1986]]), [[African American]] physicist and [[astronaut]].
* November 1 – [[Robert B. Laughlin]], American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics 1998.
* November 3 – [[James Rothman]], American [[cell biologist]], [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] 2013.
* November 22 – [[Eva-Maria Neher]], née Ruhr, German [[biochemist]].
* December 13 – [[Julia Slingo]], English [[meteorologist]].
* December 27 – [[Joe Armstrong (programmer)|Joe Armstrong]] (died [[2019 in science|2019]]), English computer scientist.
* December 28 – [[Frank Kelly (mathematician)|Frank Kelly]], British mathematician.

==Deaths==
* February 25 – [[George Minot]] (born [[1885 in science|1885]]), American [[physician]], [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] 1934.
* March – [[John Ryle (physician)|John Ryle]] (born [[1889 in science|1889]]), English [[physician]] and [[epidemiologist]].
* April 1 – [[Charles R. Drew]] (born [[1904 in science|1904]]), African American physician, pioneer in [[blood transfusion]].
* April 28 – [[Oakes Ames (botanist)|Oakes Ames]] (born [[1874 in science|1874]]), American [[botanist]].
* September 10 – [[Annie Montague Alexander]] (born [[1867 in science|1867]]), American [[paleontologist]].
* September 21 – [[Arthur Milne]] (born [[1896 in science|1896]]), English [[space]] [[physicist]].
* December 11 – [[Leslie Comrie]] (born [[1893 in science|1893]]), [[New Zealand]] [[astronomer]] and computing pioneer.

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:1950 In Science}}
[[Category:1950 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1950s in science]]