- 1939 in science
The year 1939 in
science andtechnology involved some significant events, listed below.Astronomy
*
Robert Oppenheimer andH. Snyder predict the existence of a new type of celestial objects that would come to be calledblack hole s ("Phys.Rev. 56", 455-459, 1939).
*Robert Oppenheimer andG. Volkoff first calculate the structure ofneutron star s, a new type of celestial object ("Phys.Rev. 55", 374-381 1939).Medicine
*
John H. Lawrence used beams of energizedneutrons from aparticle accelerator to treat a patient withleukemia .Physics
*
Nuclear fission is discovered independently byLise Meitner andOtto Hahn .Technology
*
January 11 - First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
*December 9 - First flight of the Consolidated XB-24 "Liberator " bomber prototype.
*Kirlian photography is invented bySemyon Kirlian .Awards
*
Nobel Prize s
** Physics -Ernest Lawrence
** Chemistry -Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt ,Lavoslav Ruzicka
** Medicine -Gerhard Domagk Births
*
May 19 -Dick Scobee (d. 1986),astronaut .
*October 7 -John Hopcroft , American theoreticalcomputer scientist .Deaths
*
October 7 -Harvey Cushing (b. 1869), Americanneurosurgeon .
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