Editing 1953 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1953|science}}
{{Science year nav|1953}}

The year '''1953''' involved numerous significant events in [[science]] and [[technology]], including the first description of the [[DNA]] [[double helix]], the discovery of [[neutrino]]s, and the release of the first [[polio]] [[vaccine]].

==Biology==
* February 15 – [[Linus Pauling]] proposes a DNA triple helix structure,<ref>{{cite journal|title=A Proposed Structure For The Nucleic Acids|first1=Linus|last1=Pauling|first2=Robert B.|last2=Corey|authorlink2=Robert Corey|journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]]|date=1953-02-15|volume=39|issue=2|pages=84-97|url=https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.39.2.84}}</ref> which is rapidly shown to be incorrect.
[[File:DNA Structure+Key+Labelled.png|thumb|right|250px|25 April 1953: the [[DNA]] [[double helix]] is first formally described.]]
* February 28 – Francis Crick and James Watson enter [[The Eagle, Cambridge]], for a pub lunch announcing "We have discovered the secret of life."<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Watson|title=[[The Double Helix]]|year=1968}}</ref>
* April 25 – [[Francis Crick]] and [[James D. Watson]] of the U.K. [[Medical Research Council (United Kingdom)|Medical Research Council]]'s Unit for Research on the Molecular Structure of Biological Systems at the [[Cavendish Laboratory]] in the [[University of Cambridge]] publish "[[Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid]]" in the British journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Watson|first1=J. D.|last2=Crick|first2=F. H. C.|year=1953|title=Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid|volume=171|pages=737–738|journal=Nature|issue=4356|doi=10.1038/171737a0|pmid=13054692|bibcode=1953Natur.171..737W|s2cid=4253007}}</ref> Their work is often ranked as one of the most dramatic biological discoveries of the 20th century, because of the structural beauty and functional logic of the [[DNA|DNA double helix]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/25/newsid_2932000/2932793.stm|title=Scientists describe 'secret of life'|publisher=[[BBC]]|work=On This Day|access-date=January 10, 2008|date=April 25, 1953|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222124939/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/25/newsid_2932000/2932793.stm|archive-date=December 22, 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1962, they will share the [[Nobel Prize in Medicine]] with [[Maurice Wilkins]], who publishes [[X-ray crystallography]] results for DNA in the same issue of ''Nature'' in 1953.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Wilkins, M. H. F. |author2-link=Alex Stokes |author2=Stokes, A. R. |author3-link=Herbert Wilson |author3=Wilson, H. R. |url=http://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/wilkins.pdf|title=Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids|volume=171|pages=738–740|journal=Nature|year=1953|access-date=March 1, 2011|doi=10.1038/171738a0|pmid=13054693|issue=4356|bibcode=1953Natur.171..738W|s2cid=4280080 }}</ref> The third related article published at the same time is by [[Rosalind Franklin]] and [[Raymond Gosling]], on "Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate".<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Rosalind E.|last1=Franklin|first2=R. G.|last2=Gosling|title=Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate|url=http://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/franklingosling.pdf|volume=171|pages=740–741|journal=Nature|year=1953|access-date=March 1, 2011|doi=10.1038/171740a0|pmid=13054694|issue=4356|bibcode=1953Natur.171..740F|s2cid=4268222}}</ref><ref>[http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/tp/10scientists.htm Francis Crick (1916–2004) and James Watson (b. 1928) together discovered the double helix structure of DNA, the "blueprint of life." Surprisingly, when ...] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407024345/http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/tp/10scientists.htm |date=2015-04-07 }} ''history1900s.about.com''</ref>

==Chemistry==
* May 15 – [[Stanley Miller]] publishes results from the [[Miller experiment|Miller–Urey experiment]] in the journal ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]''. These surprise many chemists, by showing that organic molecules present in living organisms can form easily from simple inorganic chemicals.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=1680569|first=Stanley L.|last=Miller|s2cid=38897285|title=A Production of Amino Acids Under Possible Primitive Earth Conditions|journal=Science|volume=117|year=1953|pages=528–9|doi=10.1126/science.117.3046.528|pmid=13056598|issue=3046|bibcode = 1953Sci...117..528M }}</ref>
* [[Rudolph Pariser]], [[Robert G. Parr]] and [[John Pople]] publish their computational [[quantum chemistry]] theory for approximating [[molecular orbital]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|title=A Semi‐Empirical Theory of the Electronic Spectra and Electronic Structure of Complex Unsaturated Molecules. II|author1=Pariser R. |author2=Parr R. G. |year=1953|journal=[[Journal of Chemical Physics]]|volume=21|issue=5|page=767|doi=10.1063/1.1699030|bibcode=1953JChPh..21..767P }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Electron interaction in unsaturated hydrocarbons|author=Pople, J. A.|year=1953|journal=[[Transactions of the Faraday Society]]|volume=49|page=1375|doi=10.1039/tf9534901375}}</ref>
* [[Ziegler–Natta catalyst]] invented by [[Karl Ziegler]] and [[Giulio Natta]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology|publisher=Wiley-VCH
|first1=Giuliano|last1=Cecchin|first2=Giampiero|last2=Morini|first3=Fabrizio|last3=Piemontesi|title=Ziegler–Natta Catalysts|year=2003|doi=10.1002/0471238961.2609050703050303.a01|isbn=0471238961}}</ref>

==Computer sciences==
* October – [[UNIVAC 1103]] launched.
* [[Tom Kilburn]] at the [[University of Manchester]] completes a device called MEG, which performs [[floating-point]] calculations. This machine evolves into the first [[transistor]]ized computer, the [[Metropolitan-Vickers|Metro-Vickers]] MV950, ultimately leading to the mass production of computers.
* [[Alan Turing]] publishes an article describing the first 1,104 zeroes of the [[Riemann zeta-function]], the culmination of fifteen years of work on how to use computers to tackle a fundamental problem in number theory.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Alan M.|last=Turing|title=Some calculations of the Riemann zeta-function|journal=[[Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society]]|year=1953|volume=3|pages=99–117|doi=10.1112/plms/s3-3.1.99}}</ref>

==Earth sciences==
* [[Maurice Ewing]] and [[Bruce Heezen]] discover the deep canyon running along the center of the [[Mid-Atlantic Ridge]], an important contribution to the theory of [[plate tectonics]].<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Ewing, Maurice |author2=Heezen, Bruce C. |author3=Ericson, D. B. |author4=Northrop, John |author5=Dorman, James |title=Exploration of the Northwest Atlantic Mid-ocean Canyon|journal=Bulletin of the Geological Society of America|volume=64|pages=865–868|doi=10.1130/0016-7606(1953)64[865:EOTNAM]2.0.CO;2|issue=7|issn=0016-7606|bibcode=1953GSAB...64..865E|date=July 1953}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Klaus Roth]] publishes a theorem regarded as a milestone in [[arithmetic combinatorics]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Roth|first=K. F.|doi=10.1112/jlms/s1-28.1.104|journal=[[Journal of the London Mathematical Society]]|mr=0051853|pages=104–109|series=2nd series|title=On certain sets of integers|volume=28|year=1953}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Chen|first1=William|last2=Vaughan|first2=Robert|author2-link=Bob Vaughan|date=2017-06-14|title=Klaus Friedrich Roth, 29 October 1925–10 November 2015|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=63|pages=487–525|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2017.0014|issn=0080-4606|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Medicine and human sciences==
* February 13 – [[Christine Jorgensen]], the first widely known American [[transsexual]], returns to New York after successful [[sexual reassignment surgery]] in Denmark.
* March 26 – [[Jonas Salk]] announces his [[polio]] [[vaccine]].
* May 6 – The first successful [[open heart surgery]] on a human utilizing a [[cardiopulmonary bypass]] pump ("heart-lung machine") is performed by [[John Heysham Gibbon|John Gibbon]] at [[Thomas Jefferson University Hospital]] in [[Philadelphia]] when he repairs an [[atrial septal defect]] in 18-year-old Cecilia Bavolek.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cohn|first=Lawrence H.|title=Fifty years of open-heart surgery|journal=[[Circulation (journal)|Circulation]]|volume=107|issue=17|pages=2168–70|date=May 2003|pmid=12732590|doi=10.1161/01.CIR.0000071746.50876.E2|url=http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=12732590|access-date=April 15, 2013|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Levy">{{cite journal |last1=Levy |first1=Adam |title=The heart of invention |journal=Knowable Magazine |date=12 January 2021 |doi=10.1146/knowable-011221-1 |doi-access=free |url=https://knowablemagazine.org/article/health-disease/2021/the-heart-invention |access-date=25 March 2022 }}</ref>
* July 11 – [[Andrew Watt Kay]] publishes his augmented [[histamine]] test.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kay|first=A. W.|year=1953|title=Effect of Large Doses of Histamine on Gastric Secretion of HCl|journal=[[The BMJ|British Medical Journal]]|volume=2|issue=4827|pages=77–80|doi=10.1136/bmj.2.4827.77|issn=0959-8138|pmc=2028464|pmid=13051582}}</ref>
* August 18 – The second of the controversial [[Kinsey Reports]] on human sexuality, ''[[Sexual Behavior in the Human Female]]'', is published in the United States.
* September 1 – American [[neurosurgeon]] [[William Beecher Scoville]] performs an experimental [[segmental resection]] on [[Henry Molaison]] ("H.M.") at [[Hartford Hospital]] (Connecticut) in an attempt to control his severe [[epilepsy]], involving removal of most of H.M.'s medial [[temporal lobe]]s on both hemispheres including the [[Hippocampus|hippocampi]], [[amygdalae]] and [[entorhinal cortex]] (the major sensory input to the hippocampi), and rendering him a continuing subject for the study of [[memory]] formation and [[cognitive neuropsychology]].<ref>{{Cite journal|first1=William Beecher|last1=Scoville|first2=Brenda|last2=Milner|authorlink2=Brenda Milner|year=1957|title=Loss of recent memory after bilateral hippocampal lesions|journal=[[Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry]]|volume=20|pages=11–21|pmid=13406589|pmc=497229|doi=10.1136/jnnp.20.1.11|issue=1}}</ref>
* September 4 – The discovery of [[REM sleep]] is first published by researchers [[Eugene Aserinsky]] and [[Nathaniel Kleitman]] of the [[University of Chicago]].<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Eugene|last1=Aserinsky|first2=Nathaniel|last2=Kleitman|s2cid=43636051|title=Regularly Occurring Periods of Eye Motility, and Concomitant Phenomena, During Sleep|journal=Science|volume=118|year=1953|pages=273–274|jstor=1680525|doi=10.1126/science.118.3062.273|pmid=13089671|issue=3062|bibcode = 1953Sci...118..273A }}</ref>
* American scientist [[Winston Price]] isolates the first [[rhinovirus]], the most prevalent cause of the [[common cold]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Davison|first=Nicola|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/oct/06/why-cant-we-cure-the-common-cold|title=Why can't we cure the common cold?|date=2017-10-06|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=2020-02-20|location=London|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
* [[Cincinnati]] [[psychiatrist]] Max Lurie and Harry Salzer coin the term ''[[antidepressant]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Healy|first=D.|editor=Weissman, M.M.|title=The treatment of depression: bridging the 21st century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAmBVolIG5kC|access-date=May 28, 2009|year=2001|publisher=American Psychiatric Pub|isbn=978-0-88048-397-1|pages=10–11|chapter=The Antidepressant Drama|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAmBVolIG5kC}}</ref>
* [[B. F. Skinner]] publishes the book ''Science and Human Behavior'',<ref>Skinner, B. F. (1953). ''Science and Human Behavior''. New York: Macmillan. {{ISBN|0-02-929040-6}}.</ref> a controversial attempt to apply the results of [[Behaviorism|behavioral studies]] of laboratory animals to human psychology.

==Paleontology==
* 20 November – Authorities at the [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]] in London announce that the [[human skull|skull]] of [[Piltdown Man]] (allegedly an [[early human]] discovered in [[1912 in science|1912]]) is a hoax.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Solution of the Piltdown Problem|author1=Weiner, J. S.|author2-link=Kenneth Oakley|author2=Oakley, K. P.|author3-link=Wilfrid Le Gros Clark|author3=Le Gros Clark, W. E.|journal=Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology Series|volume=2|issue=3|pages=141–6|date=1953-11-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Piltdown Man forgery|newspaper=[[The Times]]|location=London|date=1953-11-21|page=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,823171,00.html |title=End as a Man |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=1953-11-30 |access-date=2010-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030234043/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C823171%2C00.html |archive-date=2010-10-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=978-0-14-102715-9|year=2006}}</ref>

==Physics==
* [[Frederick Reines]] and [[Clyde Cowan]] perform the first [[neutrino]] detection experiments, constructing the first neutrino detector (a [[cadmium]]-water target) and using the [[Hanford Site]] nuclear facility in [[Washington (state)|Washington state]] as the neutrino source.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=F.|last1=Reines|first2=C. L. Jr.|last2=Cowan|title=Detection of the Free Neutrino |journal=[[Physical Review]] |volume=92|issue=3|pages=830–831 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.92.830|bibcode=1953PhRv...92..830R  |date=November 1953|doi-access=free}}</ref> This work, first discussed with [[Enrico Fermi]] and others in 1951–2, leads to the 1995 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]].
* [[Enrico Fermi]], [[John Pasta]], [[Stanislaw Ulam]], and [[Mary Tsingou]] conduct computer simulations of a vibrating string that included a non-linear term in what became known as the [[Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou experiment]].
* [[Charles Kittel]] publishes his influential textbook ''[[Introduction to Solid State Physics]]'' in the United States.

==Technology==
* September 16 – Epic film ''[[The Robe (film)|The Robe]]'' is released in the United States as the first [[widescreen]] [[anamorphic format]] movie, filmed in [[CinemaScope]].
* December 17 – The [[NTSC]] [[color television]] standard is agreed for the United States.
* [[J. C. Bamford]] of England introduce the [[backhoe loader]].
* The [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] completes development of the SSM-A-17 Corporal I rocket. This is the first American surface-to-surface [[ballistic missile]], powered by a liquid-fuelled motor utilizing [[nitric acid]] as the [[oxidizer]].

==Events==
* January 13 – "[[Doctors' plot]]": The state newspaper ''[[Pravda]]'' publishes an article alleging that many of the Soviet Union's top doctors are part of a major plot to poison the country's senior political and military leaders.<ref>{{Cite web|date=20 July 1998|title=Doctors' Plot {{!}} alleged conspiracy, Soviet Union [1953]|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Doctors-Plot|url-status=live|access-date=|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906021014/https://www.britannica.com/event/Doctors-Plot |archive-date=2015-09-06 }}</ref> 
* February 16 – The [[Pakistan Academy of Sciences]] is established.
* October 9 – As part of an extended series of publications on science, [[Pope Pius XII]] publishes "The Technician", which instructs scientists to restrict themselves to the study of physical [[matter]] and do nothing to undermine the idea of a non-material [[Soul (spirit)|soul]] or a [[God#God in monotheistic religions|Superior Being]]. "The Technician" is delivered as a papal address on October 9.
* [[Rudolf Carnap]] publishes an article called "Testability and Meaning" in ''Readings in the Philosophy of Science'', which moves away from the philosophical position of [[logical positivism]] with respect to science (particularly the heavily mathematical sciences, such as physics). Carnap instead emphasizes the idea that progress in science depends on the gradual accumulation of many small results that support human understanding of the world, a view more in line with [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]]'s later philosophy and the biological sciences.

==Prizes==

===Nobel Prize===
{{main|List of Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine|List of Nobel laureates in Physics|List of Nobel laureates in Chemistry}}
* 1953 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]]: [[Hans Adolf Krebs]] and [[Fritz Albert Lipmann]]
* 1953 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]]: [[Frits Zernike]]
* 1953 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]]: [[Hermann Staudinger]]

==Births==
* January 2 – [[Vincent Racaniello]], American [[virologist]].
* January 17 – [[Ingeborg Hochmair]] (née Desoyer), [[Austrians|Austrian]] [[electrical engineer]].
* January 21 – [[Paul Allen]], American entrepreneur, co-founder of [[Microsoft]] (d. [[2018 in science|2018]]).
* January 25 – [[Mark Walport]], English [[Medicine|medical scientist]] and [[Government Chief Scientific Adviser (United Kingdom)]].
* May 14 – [[Martin Page (botanist)|Martin Page]], English [[botanist]].
* May 15 – [[Athene Donald]] (née Griffith), English [[experimental physicist]].
* May 17 – [[Maria Petrou]], Anglo-[[Greek people|Greek]] [[artificial intelligence]] researcher (d. [[2012 in science|2012]]).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/science-obituaries/9670656/Professor-Maria-Petrou.html|title=Professor Maria Petrou|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London|date=2012-11-11|access-date=2012-11-11}}</ref>
* May 18 – [[David Deutsch]], [[Israel]]i-born [[quantum physicist]].
* August 16 – [[David Spiegelhalter]], English [[statistician]].
* December 1 – [[Victor Ambros]], American [[developmental biologist]], recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]].
* [[Debra Fischer]], American astronomer
* [[Pat Nuttall]], British virologist and [[Acarology|acarologist]].

==Deaths==
* January 16 – [[Solomon Carter Fuller]], [[African American]] [[psychiatrist]] (b. [[1872 in science|1872]]).
* February 25 – [[Sergei Winogradsky]], Russian [[microbiologist]] (b. [[1856 in science|1856]]).
* April 17 – [[Sven Gustaf Wingqvist]], [[Sweden|Swedish]] [[engineer]], [[inventor]] and [[industrialist]] (b. [[1885 in science|1876]]).
* April 22 – [[Jan Czochralski]], [[Poland|Polish]]–German discoverer of the [[Czochralski process]] for growing [[crystal]]s (b. [[1885 in science|1885]]).
* August 15 – [[Ludwig Prandtl]], German [[physicist]] (b. [[1875 in science|1875]]).
* September 28 – [[Edwin Hubble]], American [[astronomer]] (b. [[1889 in science|1889]]).
* September 30 – [[Lewis Fry Richardson]], English mathematical physicist (b. [[1881 in science|1881]]).
* October 30 – [[Alice Eastwood]], [[Canadian American]] botanist (b. [[1859 in science|1859]]).
* November 13 – [[Herbert E. Ives]], American [[optical engineer]] (b. [[1882 in science|1882]]).

==See also==
* [[List of years in science]]
* [[1953 in spaceflight]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1950s in science]]