1949 in science

The year 1949 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Astronomy and space exploration

 * January 26 – The Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory in California, the largest aperture optical telescope in the world for 28 years, sees first light.
 * June 14 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, becomes the first mammal in space, in a U.S.-launched V-2 rocket, reaching an altitude of 83 miles (134 km) but dying on impact after a parachute failure.

Chemistry

 * Radiocarbon dating technique discovered by Willard Libby and his colleagues at the University of Chicago—work for which Libby will receive the Nobel prize in 1960.
 * A group including Dorothy Hodgkin publish the three-dimensional molecular structure of penicillin, demonstrating that it contains a β-lactam ring.

Computer science

 * April – Manchester Mark 1 computer operable at the University of Manchester in England.
 * May 6 – EDSAC, the first practicable stored-program computer, runs its first program at University of Cambridge in England, to calculate a table of squares.

Earth sciences

 * August 5 – Ambato earthquake in Ecuador, measuring 6.8 on the Richter magnitude scale.
 * Patomskiy crater in Siberia is discovered by Russian geologist Vadim Kolpakov.

History of science

 * Herbert Butterfield publishes The Origins of Modern Science, 1300-1800.

Mathematics

 * Ákos Császár discovers the Császár polyhedron.
 * D. R. Kaprekar discovers the convergence property of the number 6174.

Medicine

 * The use of lithium salts to control mania is rediscovered by Australian psychiatrist John Cade, the first mood stabilizer.
 * First implant of intraocular lens, by Sir Harold Ridley
 * First Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, a self-report personality test, released.

Meteorology

 * January 11 – Los Angeles, California receives its first recorded snowfall.

Philosophy

 * Gilbert Ryle's book The Concept of Mind, a founding document in the philosophy of mind, is published.

Physics

 * Freeman Dyson demonstrates the equivalence of the formulations of quantum electrodynamics existing at this time, incidentally inventing the Dyson series.
 * The Lanczos tensor is introduced in general relativity by Cornelius Lanczos.
 * Pauli–Villars regularization is first published.

Zoology

 * J. B. S. Haldane proposes the Darwin as a unit of evolutionary change.
 * Konrad Lorenz publishes King Solomon's Ring (Er redete mit dem Vieh, den Vögeln und den Fischen).

Awards

 * Nobel Prizes
 * Physics – Hideki Yukawa
 * Chemistry – William Francis Giauque
 * Medicine – Walter Rudolf Hess, Antonio Caetano De Abreu Freire Egas Moniz

Births

 * January 25 – Paul Nurse, English cell biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
 * February 1 – Alice Alldredge, Australian-born oceanographer.
 * February 17 – Peter Piot, Belgian microbiologist and epidemiologist.
 * February 19 – Danielle Bunten Berry, born Dan(iel Paul) Bunten (died 1998), American software developer.
 * February 22 – Tullio Pozzan (died 2022), Italian biochemist.
 * March 28 – Michael W. Young, American geneticist and chronobiologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
 * April 5 – Judith Resnik (died 1986), American astronaut.
 * April 18 – Yasumasa Kanada, Japanese mathematician.
 * May 24 – Tomaž Pisanski, Slovenian mathematician.
 * May 26 – Ward Cunningham, American computer programmer.
 * June 2 – Heather Couper (died 2020), English astronomer.
 * July 23 – Andrew Odlyzko, Polish-born American mathematician.
 * August 31 – H. David Politzer, American physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
 * November 24 – Sally Davies, English Chief Medical Officer.
 * Michael Houghton, British-born virologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Deaths

 * February 22 – Félix d'Herelle (died 1873), French-Canadian microbiologist, a co-discoverer of bacteriophages.
 * April 28 – Robert Robertson (born 1869), British chemist.
 * May 27
 * Ægidius Elling (born 1861), Norwegian gas turbine pioneer.
 * Martin Knudsen (born 1871), Danish physicist.
 * August 5 – Ernest Fourneau (born 1872), French medicinal chemist.