1947 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1947 in science
and technology
involved some significant events, listed below.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
involved some significant events, listed below.
Anthropology
- August 7 - Thor HeyerdahlThor HeyerdahlThor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a background in zoology and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands...
's balsa-wood raft, the Kon-TikiKon-TikiKon-Tiki was the raft used by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl in his 1947 expedition across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands. It was named after the Inca sun god, Viracocha, for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be an old name...
, smashes into the reefReefIn nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
at RaroiaRaroiaRaroia, or Raro-nuku, is an atoll of the Tuamotus chain in French Polynesia, located 740 km northeast of Tahiti and 6 km southwest of Takume. Administratively it is a part of the commune of Makemo....
in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 4300-mile (6900-km) journey across the Pacific OceanPacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, demonstrating that prehistoric peoples could have traveled from South AmericaSouth AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
.
Astronomy and space exploration
- February 12 - Sikhote-Alin meteoriteSikhote-Alin MeteoriteSikhote-Alin is an iron meteorite that fell in 1947 on the Sikhote-Alin Mountains in eastern Siberia. This fall is unique in the history of meteorites. Though large iron meteorite falls had been witnessed previously and fragments recovered, never before in recorded history had a fall of this...
falls to earth in SiberiaSiberiaSiberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, the largest iron meteoriteIron meteoriteIron meteorites are meteorites that consist overwhelmingly of nickel-iron alloys. The metal taken from these meteorites is known as meteoric iron and was one of the earliest sources of usable iron available to humans.-Occurrence:...
known to have impacted. - February 20 - The first living things sent into space (and returned) are fruit fliesFruit flyFruit fly may refer to several organisms:* Tephritidae, a family of large, colorfully marked flies including agricultural pests* Drosophilidae, a family of smaller flies, including:** Drosophila, the genus of small fruit flies and vinegar flies...
, accompanied by rye and cotton seeds, aboard a U.S.-launched V2 rocket which reaches an altitude of 68 miles (109 km).
Biology
- The OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
SwiftSwiftThe swifts are a family, Apodidae, of highly aerial birds. They are superficially similar to swallows, but are actually not closely related to passerine species at all; swifts are in the separate order Apodiformes, which they share with hummingbirds...
Research Project, based on the colony at the Oxford University Museum of Natural HistoryOxford University Museum of Natural HistoryThe Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It also contains a lecture theatre which is used by the...
, is started by David and Elizabeth LackDavid LackDavid Lambert Lack FRS, was a British evolutionary biologist who made contributions to ornithology, ecology and ethology. His book on the finches of the Galapagos Islands was a landmark work.- Early life :...
. It will still be running more than sixty years later. - David LackDavid LackDavid Lambert Lack FRS, was a British evolutionary biologist who made contributions to ornithology, ecology and ethology. His book on the finches of the Galapagos Islands was a landmark work.- Early life :...
publishes Darwin's Finches.
Computer science
- July 29 - After being shut off on November 9, 1946 for a refurbishment, ENIACENIACENIAC was the first general-purpose electronic computer. It was a Turing-complete digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems....
, one of the world's first digital computerComputerA computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s, is turned on after a memory upgrade. It will remain in continuous operation until October 2, 1955. - October - First recorded use of the word computerComputerA computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
in its modern sense, referring to an electronic digital machine.
Medicine
- The first antithyroid drugAntithyroid agentAn antithyroid agent is a hormone antagonist acting upon thyroid hormones.The main antithyroid drugs are carbimazole , methimazole , and propylthiouracil/PTU...
, propylthiouracilPropylthiouracilPropylthiouracil or 6-n-Propylthiouracil is a thioamide drug used to treat hyperthyroidism by decreasing the amount of thyroid hormone produced by the thyroid gland...
, is introduced in the United States.
Physics
- June 2 - The Shelter Island ConferenceShelter Island ConferenceThe first Shelter Island Conference on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics was held from June 2–4, 1947 at the Ram's Head Inn in Shelter Island, New York. Shelter Island was the first major opportunity since Pearl Harbor and the Manhattan Project for the leaders of the American physics community...
on the Foundations of Quantum MechanicsQuantum mechanicsQuantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
convenes in New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. - August 15 - 'GLEEPGLEEPGLEEP, which stood for Graphite Low Energy Experimental Pile, was a long-lived experimental British nuclear reactor. Run for the first time on August 15, 1947, it was the first reactor to operate in Western Europe....
' (the Graphite Low Energy Experimental Pile) experimental nuclear reactorNuclear reactorA nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
runs for the first time at the Atomic Energy Research EstablishmentAtomic Energy Research EstablishmentThe Atomic Energy Research Establishment near Harwell, Oxfordshire, was the main centre for atomic energy research and development in the United Kingdom from the 1940s to the 1990s.-Founding:...
, Harwell, OxfordshireHarwell, OxfordshireHarwell is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse west of Didcot. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.-Amenities:...
, the first reactor to operate in Western EuropeWestern EuropeWestern Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
.
Awards
- Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
s- PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
- Edward Victor AppletonEdward Victor AppletonSir Edward Victor Appleton, GBE, KCB, FRS was an English physicist.-Biography:Appleton was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire and educated at Hanson Grammar School. At the age of 18 he won a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge... - ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
- Sir Robert Robinson - MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
- Carl Ferdinand CoriCarl Ferdinand CoriCarl Ferdinand Cori was a Czech biochemist and pharmacologist born in Prague who, together with his wife Gerty Cori and Argentine physiologist Bernardo Houssay, received a Nobel Prize in 1947 for their discovery of how glycogen – a derivative of glucose – is broken down and...
, Gerty CoriGerty CoriGerty Theresa Cori was an American biochemist who became the third woman—and first American woman—to win a Nobel Prize in science, and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.Cori was born in Prague...
, Bernardo HoussayBernardo Houssay-External links:* * . WhoNamedIt.* . Nobel Foundation....
- Physics
Deaths
- February 25 - Friedrich PaschenFriedrich PaschenLouis Karl Heinrich Friedrich Paschen , was a German physicist, known for his work on electrical discharges. He is also known for the Paschen series, a series of hydrogen spectral lines in the infrared region that he first observed in 1908...
(b. 18651865 in scienceThe year 1865 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Friedrich Kekulé proposes a ring structure for benzene.-Life sciences:* Louis Pasteur shows that the air is full of bacteria....
), physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
. - September 15 - Annie MaunderAnnie Scott Dill MaunderAnnie Scott Dill Maunder, née Russell was an Irish astronomer and mathematician.She was born in Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland to William Andrew Russell and Hessy Nesbitt Dill. Her father was the minister of the Presbyterian Church in Strabane until 1882.Annie received her secondary education at...
(b. 18681868 in scienceThe year 1868 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Jules-Emile Planchon and colleagues propose Phylloxera as the cause of the Great French Wine Blight....
), astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
. - October 4 - Max PlanckMax PlanckMax Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, ForMemRS, was a German physicist who actualized the quantum physics, initiating a revolution in natural science and philosophy. He is regarded as the founder of the quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.-Life and career:Planck came...
(b. 18581858 in scienceThe year 1858 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Archaeology:* In Luxor, Egypt, the Rhind papyrus is found ; it is sometimes called the Ahmes papyrus for the scribe who wrote it around 1650 BC.-Astronomy:* Donati's Comet, the first comet to be photographed, is...
), theoretical physicistTheoretical physicsTheoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...
. - December 1 - G. H. HardyG. H. HardyGodfrey Harold “G. H.” Hardy FRS was a prominent English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis....
(b. 18771877 in scienceThe year 1877 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Events:* June 19 - Eadweard Muybridge successfully produces a fast-motion sequence of photographs showing a horse in movement, Sallie Gardner at a Gallop, using multiple cameras at Palo Alto, California,...
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - December 17 - J. N. Brønsted (b. 18791879 in scienceThe year 1879 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Jean Henri Fabre publishes the first of his Souvenirs entomologiques....
), physical chemistChemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
.