1949 in science

Last updated

List of years in science (table)
+...

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

Contents

Astronomy and space exploration

Chemistry

Computer science

Earth sciences

History of science

Mathematics

Medicine

Meteorology

Philosophy

Physics

Zoology

Awards

Births

Deaths

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantum electrodynamics</span> Quantum field theory of electromagnetism

In particle physics, quantum electrodynamics (QED) is the relativistic quantum field theory of electrodynamics. In essence, it describes how light and matter interact and is the first theory where full agreement between quantum mechanics and special relativity is achieved. QED mathematically describes all phenomena involving electrically charged particles interacting by means of exchange of photons and represents the quantum counterpart of classical electromagnetism giving a complete account of matter and light interaction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Feynman</span> American theoretical physicist (1918–1988)

Richard Phillips Feynman was an American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, and in particle physics, for which he proposed the parton model. For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 jointly with Julian Schwinger and Shin'ichirō Tomonaga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel C. C. Ting</span> Nobel prize winning physicist

Samuel Chao Chung Ting is an American physicist who, with Burton Richter, received the Nobel Prize in 1976 for discovering the subatomic J/ψ particle.

The year 1957 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julian Schwinger</span> American theoretical physicist (1918–1994)

Julian Seymour Schwinger was a Nobel Prize-winning American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work on quantum electrodynamics (QED), in particular for developing a relativistically invariant perturbation theory, and for renormalizing QED to one loop order. Schwinger was a physics professor at several universities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Wilczek</span> American physicist and Nobel laureate (born 1951)

Frank Anthony Wilczek is an American theoretical physicist, mathematician and Nobel laureate. He is the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Founding Director of T. D. Lee Institute and Chief Scientist at the Wilczek Quantum Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), distinguished professor at Arizona State University (ASU) and full professor at Stockholm University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shin'ichirō Tomonaga</span> Japanese physicist (1906-1979)

Shinichiro Tomonaga, usually cited as Sin-Itiro Tomonaga in English, was a Japanese physicist, influential in the development of quantum electrodynamics, work for which he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 along with Richard Feynman and Julian Schwinger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainer Weiss</span> Nobel Prize-winning American physicist

Rainer "Rai" Weiss is a German-born American physicist, known for his contributions in gravitational physics and astrophysics. He is a professor of physics emeritus at MIT and an adjunct professor at LSU. He is best known for inventing the laser interferometric technique which is the basic operation of LIGO. He was Chair of the COBE Science Working Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth G. Wilson</span> American theoretical physicist (1936–2013)

Kenneth Geddes "Ken" Wilson was an American theoretical physicist and a pioneer in using computers for studying particle physics. He was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on phase transitions—illuminating the subtle essence of phenomena like melting ice and emerging magnetism. It was embodied in his fundamental work on the renormalization group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1950 in science</span> Overview of the events of 1950 in science

The year 1950 in science and technology included some significant events.

The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) is the observation of precisely quantized plateaus in the Hall conductance of 2-dimensional (2D) electrons at fractional values of , where e is the electron charge and h is the Planck constant. It is a property of a collective state in which electrons bind magnetic flux lines to make new quasiparticles, and excitations have a fractional elementary charge and possibly also fractional statistics. The 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Robert Laughlin, Horst Störmer, and Daniel Tsui "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations". The microscopic origin of the FQHE is a major research topic in condensed matter physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of quantum field theory</span>

In particle physics, the history of quantum field theory starts with its creation by Paul Dirac, when he attempted to quantize the electromagnetic field in the late 1920s. Major advances in the theory were made in the 1940s and 1950s, leading to the introduction of renormalized quantum electrodynamics (QED). The field theory behind QED was so accurate and successful in predictions that efforts were made to apply the same basic concepts for the other forces of nature. Beginning in 1954, the parallel was found by way of gauge theory, leading by the late 1970s, to quantum field models of strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force, united in the modern Standard Model of particle physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Clive Ward</span> Anglo-Australian physicist (1924–2000)

John Clive Ward, was an Anglo-Australian physicist who made significant contributions to quantum field theory, condensed-matter physics, and statistical mechanics. Andrei Sakharov called Ward one of the titans of quantum electrodynamics.

Quantum mechanics is the study of matter and its interactions with energy on the scale of atomic and subatomic particles. By contrast, classical physics explains matter and energy only on a scale familiar to human experience, including the behavior of astronomical bodies such as the moon. Classical physics is still used in much of modern science and technology. However, towards the end of the 19th century, scientists discovered phenomena in both the large (macro) and the small (micro) worlds that classical physics could not explain. The desire to resolve inconsistencies between observed phenomena and classical theory led to a revolution in physics, a shift in the original scientific paradigm: the development of quantum mechanics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy J. Glauber</span> American theoretical physicist (1925–2018)

Roy Jay Glauber was an American theoretical physicist. He was the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard University and Adjunct Professor of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. Born in New York City, he was awarded one half of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence", with the other half shared by John L. Hall and Theodor W. Hänsch. In this work, published in 1963, he created a model for photodetection and explained the fundamental characteristics of different types of light, such as laser light and light from light bulbs. His theories are widely used in the field of quantum optics. In statistical physics he pioneered the study of the dynamics of first-order phase transitions, since he first defined and investigated the stochastic dynamics of an Ising model in a paper published in 1963. He served on the National Advisory Board of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, the research arms of Council for a Livable World.

The Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory, named after its originators, the physicists Richard Feynman and John Archibald Wheeler, is a theory of electrodynamics based on a relativistic correct extension of action at a distance electron particles. The theory postulates no independent electromagnetic field. Rather, the whole theory is encapsulated by the Lorentz-invariant action of particle trajectories defined as

The timeline of quantum mechanics is a list of key events in the history of quantum mechanics, quantum field theories and quantum chemistry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoshihisa Yamamoto (scientist)</span> Japanese applied physicist (born 1950)

Yoshihisa Yamamoto is the director of Physics & Informatics Laboratories, NTT Research, Inc. He is also Professor (Emeritus) at Stanford University and National Institute of Informatics (Tokyo).

Norman Myles Kroll was an American theoretical physicist, known for his pioneering work in QED.

James Bruce French (1921–2002) was a Canadian and American theoretical physicist, specializing in nuclear physics.

References

  1. Crowfoot, D.; Bunn, Charles W.; Rogers-Low, Barbara W.; Turner-Jones, Annette (1949). "X-ray crystallographic investigation of the structure of penicillin". In Clarke, H. T.; Johnson, J. R.; Robinson, R. (eds.). Chemistry of Penicillin. Princeton University Press. pp. 310–367.
  2. Glusker, Jenny P. (1994). "Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910-1994)". Protein Science . 3 (12): 2465–2469. doi:10.1002/pro.5560031233. PMC   2142778 . PMID   7757003.
  3. "Pioneer computer to be rebuilt". Cam. 62: 5. 2011.
  4. "Today in Earthquake History: August 5". United States Geological Survey. 2009-12-18. Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
  5. Cade, J. F. J. (1949). "Lithium salts in the treatment of psychotic excitement" (PDF). Medical Journal of Australia. 2 (10): 349–52. doi:10.1080/j.1440-1614.1999.06241.x. PMC   2560740 . PMID   18142718 . Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  6. Dyson, F. J. (1949). "The radiation theories of Tomonaga, Schwinger, and Feynman". Physical Review . 75 (3): 486–502. Bibcode:1949PhRv...75..486D. doi: 10.1103/PhysRev.75.486 .
  7. Dyson, F. J. (1949). "The S matrix in quantum electrodynamics". Physical Review. 75 (11): 1736–1755. Bibcode:1949PhRv...75.1736D. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.75.1736.
  8. Lanczos, Cornelius (1949). "Lagrangian Multiplier and Riemannian Spaces" (PDF). Reviews of Modern Physics . 21 (3): 497–502. Bibcode:1949RvMP...21..497L. doi: 10.1103/RevModPhys.21.497 .
  9. Pauli, W.; Villars, F. (1949). "On the Invariant Regularization in Relativistic Quantum Theory". Reviews of Modern Physics. 21 (3): 434–444. Bibcode:1949RvMP...21..434P. doi: 10.1103/RevModPhys.21.434 .
  10. Haldane, J. B. S. (1949). "Suggestions as to quantitative measurement of rates of evolution". Evolution . 3 (1): 51–56. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1949.tb00004.x . JSTOR   2405451.