- 1945 in science
The year 1945 in
science andtechnology involved some significant events, listed below.Biology
*
Salvador Edward Luria andAlfred Day Hershey independently recognize that viruses undergomutation sComputer science
* November - Assembly of the world's first general purpose electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer (
ENIAC ), is completed. It covers 1800 feet of floor space. The first set of calculations is run on the computer.Meteorology
* High-altitude west-to-east winds across
Pacific , discovered by Japanese in1942 and by Americans in 1944, are dubbed "jet stream "Physics
*
July 16 -Nuclear testing : TheTrinity test , the first test of an atomic bomb, using 6 kilograms ofplutonium , succeeds in detonating, unleashing an explosion equivalent to that of 20 kilotons of TNT.
*August 6 and 9 –Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , and the world becomes first aware of the power of nuclear weapons.
*August 11 –Smyth Report released by U.S. government, informing the public of the basics ofnuclear fission and its military and civilian applications. Emphasizes the role played by physics in the development of the atomic bomb.
* Team led byCharles DuBois Coryell discoverschemical element 61, the only one still missing between 1 and 96 onperiodic table . New element is calledpromethium .Awards
*
Nobel Prize s
** Physics -Wolfgang Pauli
** Chemistry -Artturi Ilmari Virtanen
** Medicine - SirAlexander Fleming ,Ernst Boris Chain , SirHoward Walter Florey Births
*
April 30 Michael J. Smith (d. 1986),astronaut .Deaths
*
August 4 -Gerhard Gentzen (b. 1909),mathematician .
*August 10 - Robert Goddard (b. 1882), Americanrocket scientist .
*August 31 -Stefan Banach (b. 1892), great Polishmathematician .
*September 24 -Johannes Hans Geiger (b. 1882),inventor of theGeiger counter .
*December 4 -Thomas Hunt Morgan (b. 1866),biologist .
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