1920 in science

List of years in science (table)
... 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 ... 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 ... 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 ...
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

The year 1920 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Astronomy

• December 13 – The red giant star Betelgeuse is the first to have its diameter determined by an optical astronomical interferometer, the Michelson stellar interferometer on Mount Wilson Observatory's reflector telescope.^[1]

Biology

• Andrew Douglass proposes dendrochronology dating.
• Approximate date – The HIV pandemic almost certainly originates in Léopoldville, modern-day Kinshasa, the capital of the Belgian Congo.^[2]

History of science and technology

• Newcomen Society founded in the United Kingdom for the study of the history of engineering and technology.

Medicine

• Frederick Banting and Charles Best co-discover insulin.
• Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt first describes some of the symptoms of what will become known as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.
• Hydrocodone, a narcotic analgesic closely related to codeine, is first synthesized in Germany by Carl Mannich and Helene Löwenheim.^[3]
• Black Cross Nurses founded in the United States.

Meteorology

• Milutin Milanković proposes that long term climatic cycles may be due to changes in the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit and changes in the Earth's obliquity ("Milankovitch cycles").^[4]

Physics

• Megh Nad Saha states his ionization equation.
• Albert Einstein delivers his Leiden Lecture.
• Publication of Arthur Eddington's observation of the "bending of light" during the total solar eclipse of May 29, 1919, confirming Einstein's theory of general relativity.^[5]
• Ernest Rutherford predicts the existence of the neutron.
• James Jeans discovers that the dynamical constants of motion determine the distribution function for a system of particles.
• Publication of Alan A. Griffith's analysis of the process of brittle fracture.^[6]

Psychology

• John B. Watson conducts the Little Albert experiment in classical conditioning.

Technology

• July 25 – The first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast is made.^[7]
• September 29 – First domestic radio sets come to stores in the United States – a Westinghouse radio costs $10.
• October – Young Russian physicist Lev Sergeyevich Termen first develops the electronic musical instrument which will become the Theremin.^[8]

Events

• Publication in Prague of Karel Čapek's drama R.U.R: Rossum's Universal Robots, introducing the word Robot to the world.^[9][10]

Births

• January 20 – John Maynard Smith (died 2004), British theoretical evolutionary biologist and geneticist.
• February 7 – An Wang, Chinese-born computer engineer (died 1990).
• March 11 – Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• March 15 – E. Donnall Thomas, American physician, Nobel Prize laureate.
• April 6 – Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• April 9 – Alex Moulton, English mechanical engineer and inventor (died 2012)
• June 17 – François Jacob, French biologist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• July 10 – Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2006).
• July 11 – David Challinor (died 2008), American biologist, naturalist, and scientific administrator at the Smithsonian Institution.
• July 25 – Rosalind Franklin, English crystallographer (died 1958).
• September 29 – Peter D. Mitchell, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1992).
• October 29 – Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate. (died 2011)
• November 13 – Abraham Lilienfeld, American epidemiologist (died 1984)
• December 6 – George Porter, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2002).

Deaths

• January 3 – Zygmunt Janiszewski, Polish mathematician (born 1888).
• January 6 – Hieronymus Georg Zeuthen, Danish mathematician (born 1839).
• March 13 – Charles Lapworth, English geologist (born 1842).
• March 26 – William Chester Minor, American surgeon (born 1834).
• March 31 – Paul Bachmann, German mathematician (born 1837).
• April 3 – Mary Katharine Brandegee, American botanist (born 1844).
• April 8 – John Brashear, American astronomer (born 1840 in science).
• April 9 – Moritz Cantor, German historian of mathematics (born 1829).
• April 26 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (born 1887).
• June 20
  • Marie Adolphe Carnot, French chemist and mining engineer (born 1839).
  • John Grigg, New Zealand astronomer (born 1838).
• August 10 – Ádám Politzer (born 1835), Hungarian otologist.
• August 12 – Hermann Struve, Russian-born astronomer (born 1854).
• August 16 – Norman Lockyer, English astronomer (born 1836).
• August 31 – Wilhelm Wundt, German physiologist and psychologist (born 1832).
• October 17 – Reginald Farrer, English botanist (born 1880).
• November 4 – Ludwig Struve, Russian astronomer (born 1858).
• December 3 – William de Wiveleslie Abney, English astronomer and photographer (born 1843).

References

1. Michelson, Albert Abraham; Pease, Francis G. (1921). "Measurement of the diameter of alpha Orionis with the interferometer". Astrophysical Journal (PDF) 53: 249–59. Bibcode:1921ApJ....53..249M. doi:10.1086/142603.
2. Based on its genetic history. "HIV pandemic's origins located". University of Oxford. 2014-10-03. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
3. Mannich, C.; Löwenheim, Helene (1920). "Ueber zwei neue Reduktionsprodukte des Kodeins". Archiv der Pharmazie 258: 295–316. doi:10.1002/ardp.19202580218.
4. Théorie mathématique des phénomènes thermiques produits par la radiation solaire (Paris).
5. Dyson, F.W.; Eddington, A.S.; Davidson, C.R. (1920). "A Determination of the Deflection of Light by the Sun's Gravitational Field, from Observations Made at the Solar eclipse of May 29, 1919". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Physical, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences 220 (571-581): 291–333. Bibcode:1920RSPTA.220..291D. doi:10.1098/rsta.1920.0009.
6. "The Phenomenon of Rupture and Flow in Solids". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A221: 163–98. February 1920. Bibcode:1921RSPTA.221..163G. doi:10.1098/rsta.1921.0006. JSTOR 91192.
7. "What happened on July 25". Dates in History. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
8. Glinsky, Albert (2000). Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 26. ISBN 0-252-02582-2. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
9. Asimov, Isaac (September 1979). "The Vocabulary of Science Fiction". Asimov's Science Fiction.
10. Zunt, Dominik (2004). "Who did actually invent the word "robot" and what does it mean?". Karel Čapek (1890-1938). Retrieved 2011-12-06.