Editing 1954 in science

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{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2012}}
{{Year nav topic5|1954|science}}
{{Science year nav|1954}}

The year '''1954 in science''' and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy==
* November 30 – In [[Sylacauga, Alabama]], an 8.5 pound sulfide [[meteorite]] crashes through a roof and hits Mrs. Elizabeth Hodges in her living room after bouncing off her radio, giving her a bad bruise; the first known modern case of a human being hit by a space rock.

==Biology==
* January 10 – Last confirmed specimen of a [[Caspian tiger]] is killed, in the valley of the [[Sumbar River]] in the [[Kopet Dag|Kopet Dag Mountains]] of [[Turkmenistan]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Dement'yev and Rustamov|title=The Red Data Book of Turkmenistan|publisher=Turkmenistan Publishing House|year=1985|location=Ashgabat}}</ref>
* [[Daniel I. Arnon]] demonstrates in the laboratory the chemical function of [[photosynthesis]] in [[chloroplast]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Arnon, Daniel I. |author2=Allen, Mary B. |author3=Whatley, F. R. |title=Photosynthesis by Isolated Chloroplasts|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|volume=174|year=1954|pages=394–6|issue=4426|doi=10.1038/174394a0|pmid=13194001 |bibcode = 1954Natur.174..394A |s2cid=2462316 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Laurence|first=William L.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/12/30/archives/sun-is-harnessed-to-create-food-science-team-on-the-coast.html|title=Sun is Harnessed to Create Food: Science Team on the Coast Duplicates Photosynthesis Outside Plants' Cells|work=The New York Times|date=December 30, 1954|access-date=July 18, 2010}}</ref>
* [[Heinz Sielmann]] makes the pioneering [[nature documentary]] about [[woodpecker]]s, ''Zimmerleute des Waldes'' ("Carpenters of the forest").
* [[Eduard Paul Tratz]] and [[Heinz Heck]] propose the species name ''[[bonobo]]'' for what was previously known as the [[pygmy chimpanzee]].<ref>{{cite book|editor=de Waal, Frans B. M.|title=Tree of Origin: What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us About Human Social Evolution|location=Cambridge, Mass|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2002|isbn=0-674-00460-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/treeoforiginwhat00waal/page/51 51]|editor-link=Frans de Waal|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/treeoforiginwhat00waal/page/51}}</ref>

==Chemistry==
* Publication of the first analysis of the three-dimensional molecular structure of [[Vitamin B12|vitamin B<sub>12</sub>]] by a group including [[Dorothy Hodgkin]], and utilising computer analysis provided by [[Kenneth Nyitray Trueblood]].<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Brink, Clara |author2=Hodgkin, Dorothy Crowfoot |author3=Lindsey, June|authorlink3=June Lindsey |author4=Pickworth, Jenny |author5=Robertson, John H. |author6=White, John G. |date=December 25, 1954|title=X-ray Crystallographic Evidence on the Structure of Vitamin B<sub>12</sub>|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|volume=174|pages=1169–117|doi=10.1038/1741169a0|issue=4443|bibcode = 1954Natur.174.1169B|pmid=13223773|s2cid=4207158 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=Jenny P.|last=Glusker|title=Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910–1994)|journal=[[Protein Science]]|year=1994|volume=3|issue=12|pages=2465–2469|doi=10.1002/pro.5560031233|pmid=7757003|pmc=2142778}}</ref>
* [[Strychnine total synthesis]] is first achieved in the laboratory by [[Robert Burns Woodward]]'s team at Harvard.<ref>Nicolaou, K. C.; Sorensen, E. J. (1996). ''Classics in Total Synthesis: Targets, Strategies, Methods''. Wiley. {{ISBN|978-3-527-29231-8}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Nicolaou, K. C.; Vourloumis, Dionisios; Winssinger, Nicolas; Baran, Phil S.|title=The Art and Science of Total Synthesis at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century|journal=[[Angewandte Chemie International Edition]]|year=2000|volume=39|issue=1|pages=44-122}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bonjoch|first1=Josep|last2=Sole|first2=Daniel|year=2000|title=Synthesis of Strychnine|journal=[[Chemical Reviews]]|volume=100|issue=9|pages=3455–3482|doi=10.1021/cr9902547|pmid=11777429}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Proudfoot|first=John R.|year=2013|title=Reaction Schemes Visualized in Network Form: The Syntheses of Strychnine as an Example|journal=Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling|volume=53|issue=5|pages=1035–1042|doi=10.1021/ci300556b|pmid=23597302}}</ref>
* The [[Wittig reaction]] is discovered by German chemist [[Georg Wittig]].

==Computer science==
* January – The [[TRADIC]] Phase One computer is completed at [[Bell Labs]] in the United States, a candidate to be regarded as the first [[transistor computer]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Irvine|first= M. M.|title=Early Digital Computers at Bell Telephone Laboratories|journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing|volume=23|issue=3|pages=22–42|year=2001|url=http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/85.948904|access-date=2009-06-07|doi=10.1109/85.948904|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
* January 7 – [[Georgetown–IBM experiment]]: the first public demonstration of a [[machine translation]] system held in New York at the head office of IBM.

==Geology==
* December 31 – The first specimens of the mineral [[benstonite]] are collected by Orlando J. Benston in the [[Magnet Cove igneous complex]] of [[Arkansas]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Benstonite|url=http://www.mindat.org/min-626.html|publisher=Mindat|access-date=2012-12-31}}</ref>

==History of science==
* [[Joseph Needham]] begins publication of ''[[Science and Civilisation in China]]'' ([[Cambridge University Press]]).
* ''A History of Technology'', edited by [[Charles Singer]], [[Eric John Holmyard|E. J. Holmyard]] and A. R. Hall, begins publication ([[Oxford University Press]]).

==Mathematics==
* January 6 – The [[Luhn algorithm]], devised by IBM information scientist [[Hans Peter Luhn]], is described in a United States [[patent]].<ref>[https://patents.google.com/patent/US2950048A/ No. 2,950,048.]</ref>
* [[Klaus Roth]] publishes a paper<ref>{{cite journal|last=Roth|first=K. F.|doi=10.1112/S0025579300000541|journal=[[Mathematika]]|mr=0066435|pages=73–79|title=On irregularities of distribution|volume=1|issue=2|year=1954}}</ref> laying the foundations for modern [[discrepancy theory]].
* [[Leonard Jimmie Savage]] publishes ''Foundations of Statistics'', promoting [[Bayesian statistics]].

==Medicine==
* February 23 – The first mass vaccination of children against [[polio]] begins, in [[Pittsburgh]], Pennsylvania.
* August 10 – British epidemiologist [[Richard Doll]] submits a study on the risk to workers in [[asbestos]] manufacture of mortality from [[lung cancer]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Richard|last=Doll|title=Mortality from lung cancer in asbestos workers|journal=British Journal of Industrial Medicine|volume=12|year=1955|issue=6|pages=81–6|doi=10.1136/oem.50.6.485|pmid=8329311|pmc=1035472}}</ref>
* The first [[organ transplant]]s are done in Boston and Paris.
** December 23 – [[Joseph Murray]] at [[Peter Bent Brigham Hospital]] in Boston carries out the first successful [[kidney]] transplant, between identical twins.<ref>{{cite web|title=Donor Of First Successful Organ Transplant Dies 56 Years Later|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/29/donor-in-1st-successful-t_n_802379.html|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|access-date=March 15, 2011|date=December 29, 2010}}</ref>
* The first of the [[Antipsychotic|anti-psychotic]] [[phenothiazine]] drugs, [[Chlorpromazine]], starts being sold under the trade names ''Thorazine'' (U.S.) and ''Largactil'' (U.K.)
* The [[sucrose gap]] is introduced by Robert Stämpfli for the reliable measurement of [[action potential]] in [[nerve fiber]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Stämpfli|first=R.|title=A new method for measuring membrane potentials with external electrodes|journal=[[Experientia]]|volume=10|pages=508–509|year=1954|doi=10.1007/BF02166189|pmid=14353097|issue=12|s2cid=41384989 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Swiss Contributions to the Neurosciences in Four Hundred Years: From the Renaissance to the Present|first=K.|last=Akert|isbn=978-3728123626|publisher=Verlag der Fachvereine Hochschulverlag AG an der ETH Zurich|date=August 1996}}</ref>

==Metrology==
* 10th [[General Conference on Weights and Measures]] proposes the six original [[SI base unit]]s.
* [[Alexander Macmillan (engineer)|Alexander Macmillan]] publishes the "Macmillan correction" to account for errors in the calculation of velocity of an object moving along a gradient due to viscous effects and wall proximity.

==Physics==
* January 2 – [[Harold Hopkins (physicist)|Harold Hopkins]] and [[Narinder Singh Kapany]] at [[Imperial College London]] report achieving low-loss light transmission through a 75&nbsp;cm long [[optical fiber]] bundle.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=H. H.|last1=Hopkins|first2=N. S.|last2=Kapany|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|doi=10.1038/173039b0|volume=173|page=39|year=1954|title=A flexible fibrescope, using static scanning|issue=4392|bibcode=1954Natur.173...39H|s2cid=4275331}}</ref>
* March 1 – [[Castle Bravo]]: United States carries out a [[thermonuclear weapon]] test on [[Bikini Atoll]] in the Pacific Ocean.
* September 29 – [[CERN]] is founded by twelve European states.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/About/History54-en.html|title=1954: foundations for European science|publisher=CERN|year=2008|access-date=February 28, 2011}}</ref>
* First [[tokamak]] built, in the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite web|first=V.|last=Reshetov|url=http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/vs/article/429/|title=An ocean of energy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113224010/http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/vs/article/429/|date=2013-11-13|archive-date=2013-11-13|language=Russian}}</ref>

==Psychology==
*Summer – [[Realistic conflict theory#Robbers cave study|Robbers Cave Experiment]] carried out by [[Muzafer Sherif|Muzafer]] and [[Carolyn Sherif]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Sherif, M.|author2=Harvey, O. J.|author3=White, B. J.|author4=Hood, W.|author5=Sherif, C. W.|title=Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation: The Robbers Cave Experiment|url=https://archive.org/details/intergroupconfli00univ|url-access=registration|year=1961|publisher=University Book Exchange|location=Norman, Oklahoma}}</ref>
*''[[Man Meets Dog]]'' is published by [[Konrad Lorenz]].

==Technology==
* June 26 – [[Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant]], the first civilian nuclear power station, is commissioned in the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nuclear Power in Russia|publisher=[[World Nuclear Association]]|url=http://world-nuclear.org/info/inf45.html|access-date=2011-12-16|date=December 2011|archive-date=February 13, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213052522/http://world-nuclear.org/info/inf45.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* June 29 – [[Buckminster Fuller]] is granted a United States patent for his development of the [[geodesic dome]].<ref>[https://www.google.com/search?q=2682235&tbm=pts U.S. patent 2,682,235.]</ref>
* September 30 – The [[submarine]] {{USS|Nautilus|SSN-571}}, the first atomic-powered vessel, is commissioned by the United States Navy.
* October 18 – [[Texas Instruments]] announces development of the first commercial [[transistor radio]], the [[Regency TR-1]], manufactured in [[Indianapolis]]; it goes on sale the following month.
* December 16 – The first [[synthetic diamond]] is produced.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bundy|first1=F. P.|last2=Hall|first2=H. T.|last3=Strong|first3=H. M.|last4=Wentorf|first4=R. H.|year=1955|title=Man-made diamonds|url=http://www.htracyhall.org/papers/19550028.pdf|url-status=dead|journal=Nature|volume=176|issue=4471|pages=51–55|bibcode=1955Natur.176...51B|doi=10.1038/176051a0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108123004/http://www.htracyhall.org/papers/19550028.pdf|archive-date=2014-01-08|s2cid=4266566}}</ref>
* New Zealand engineer [[Bill Hamilton (engineer)|Sir William Hamilton]] develops the first [[pump-jet]] engine (the "Hamilton Jet") capable of propelling a [[jetboat]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Sir William Hamilton OBE|url=http://www.hamiltonjet.co.nz/about_hamiltonjet/sir_william_hamilton|publisher=HamiltonJet|year=2007|access-date=2012-11-12}}</ref>
* The first electric [[drip brew]] [[coffeemaker]] is patented in Germany and named the [[Wigomat]] after its inventor Gottlob Widmann.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sixty years of the Federal Republic of Germany – a retrospective of everyday life|url=http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lp/prj/mtg/typ/bun/en4922236.htminventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/coffee.htm|access-date=2002-12-28|archive-date=February 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225023359/https://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/en/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Staley T. McBrayer]] invents the Vanguard web [[offset printing|offset press]] for newspaper printing in [[Fort Worth, Texas]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-apr-18-me-staley18-story.html|title=Staley McBrayer, 92; Inventor of Offset Press for Newspaper Printing|date=2002-04-18|access-date=2017-10-19|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>
* The [[angle grinder]] is invented by German company Ackermann + Schmitt ([[Flex-Elektrowerkzeuge]]).

==Awards==
* [[Fields Medal|Fields Prize in Mathematics]]: [[Kunihiko Kodaira]] and [[Jean-Pierre Serre]], the latter being the youngest-ever winner, at age 27
* Nobel Prizes
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Max Born]] and [[Walther Bothe]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[Linus Pauling]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[John Franklin Enders]], [[Thomas Huckle Weller]] and [[Frederick Chapman Robbins]]

==Births==
* January 16 – [[Morten P. Meldal]], [[Danes|Danish]] [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Chemistry laureate, 2022]].<ref>{{cite press release|title=Press release: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022|date=2022-10-05|publisher=The Nobel Prize|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2022/press-release/|accessdate=2022-10-06}}</ref>
* February 9 – [[Kevin Warwick]], English scientist, author of ''[[March of the Machines]]''.
* March – [[Clare Marx]], English [[surgeon]].
* May 14 – [[Peter J. Ratcliffe]], English cellular biologist, [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Medicine laureate, 2019]].
* June 20 – [[Ilan Ramon]] (died [[2003 in science|2003]]), [[Israel]]i [[astronaut]].
* July 11 – [[Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge|Julia King]], English [[materials engineer]].
* July 17 – [[Angela Merkel|Angela Kasner]], German [[physical chemist]] and [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]].
* August 28 – [[George M. Church]], American [[geneticist]], [[Molecular engineering|molecular engineer]] and [[chemist]].
* September 5 – [[Myeong-Hee Yu]], South Korean [[microbiologist]].
* November 1 – [[Graham Colditz]], Australian-born [[epidemiologist]].
* November 7 – [[Vijay Kumar (molecular biologist)|Vijay Kumar]], [[Indian people|Indian]] [[molecular biologist]].
* [[Pat Hanrahan]], American [[computer scientist]].
* [[George McGavin]], Scottish [[entomologist]].
* [[Huda Zoghbi]], [[Lebanese people|Lebanese]]-born [[geneticist]].

==Deaths==
* January 17 – [[Leonard Eugene Dickson]] (born [[1874 in science|1874]]), American [[mathematician]].
* March 7
** [[Otto Diels]] (born [[1876 in science|1876]]), German [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Chemistry laureate, 1950]].
** [[Ludwik Hirszfeld]] (born [[1884 in science|1884]]), Polish [[microbiologist]] and [[Serology|serologist]].
* April 10 – [[Auguste Lumière]] (born [[1862 in science|1862]]), French inventor, film pioneer.
* April 21 – [[Emil Leon Post|Emil Post]] (born [[1897 in science|1897]]), American mathematician and logician.
* June 7 – [[Alan Turing]] (born [[1912 in science|1912]]), English mathematician and [[computer scientist]] (probable suicide).<ref>{{cite web|title=Alan Turing {{!}} Biography, Facts, & Education|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alan-Turing|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=2020-02-14}}</ref>
* July 11 – [[Henry Valentine Knaggs]] (born [[1859 in science|1859]]), English practitioner of [[naturopathic medicine]].
* October 3 – [[Vera Gaze]] (born [[1899 in science|1899]]), Soviet Russian astronomer.
* October 8 – [[Dimitrie Pompeiu]] (born [[1873 in science|1873]]), Romanian mathematician.
* November 29 – [[Enrico Fermi]] (born [[1901 in science|1901]]), [[Italian American]] [[physicist]].

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

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[[Category:1954 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1950s in science]]