1937 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1937 in science
and technology
involved some significant events, listed below.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
involved some significant events, listed below.
Astronomy
- June 8 - First total solar eclipseSolar eclipseAs seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
to exceed 7 minutes of totality in over 800 years; visible in the Pacific and Peru.
Chemistry
- Carlo PerrierCarlo PerrierCarlo Perrier was an Italian mineralogist who did extensive research on the element technetium in 1936. He discovered the element along with his colleague, Emilio Segrè , in 1937....
and Emilio Segrè at the University of PalermoUniversity of PalermoThe University of Palermo is a university located in Palermo, Italy, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties.-History:The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although its earliest roots date back to 1498 when medicine and law were taught there...
confirm discovery of the chemical element which will become known as TechnetiumTechnetiumTechnetium is the chemical element with atomic number 43 and symbol Tc. It is the lowest atomic number element without any stable isotopes; every form of it is radioactive. Nearly all technetium is produced synthetically and only minute amounts are found in nature...
.
Computing
- Claude Shannon's Master's thesisThesisA dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
at MIT demonstrates that electronic application of Boolean algebraBoolean algebraIn abstract algebra, a Boolean algebra or Boolean lattice is a complemented distributive lattice. This type of algebraic structure captures essential properties of both set operations and logic operations. A Boolean algebra can be seen as a generalization of a power set algebra or a field of sets...
could construct and resolve any logical numerical relationship.
Mathematics
- Bruno de FinettiBruno de FinettiBruno de Finetti was an Italian probabilist, statistician and actuary, noted for the "operational subjective" conception of probability...
publishes "La Prévision: ses lois logiques, ses sources subjectives" in Annales de l'Institut Henri PoincaréAnnales Henri PoincaréAnnales Henri Poincaré is a scientific journal which collects and publishes original research papers in the field of theoretical and mathematical physics. The emphasis is on "analytical theoretical and mathematical physics" in a broad sense...
, his most influential treatment of his theoremDe Finetti's theoremIn probability theory, de Finetti's theorem explains why exchangeable observations are conditionally independent given some latent variable to which an epistemic probability distribution would then be assigned...
on exchangeable sequences of random variableRandom variableIn probability and statistics, a random variable or stochastic variable is, roughly speaking, a variable whose value results from a measurement on some type of random process. Formally, it is a function from a probability space, typically to the real numbers, which is measurable functionmeasurable...
s. - Hans FreudenthalHans FreudenthalHans Freudenthal was a Dutch mathematician. He made substantial contributions to algebraic topology and also took an interest in literature, philosophy, history and mathematics education....
proves the Freudenthal suspension theoremFreudenthal suspension theoremIn mathematics, and specifically in the field of homotopy theory, the Freudenthal suspension theorem is the fundamental result leading to the concept of stabilization of homotopy groups and ultimately to stable homotopy theory. It explains the behavior of simultaneously taking suspensions and...
in homotopyHomotopyIn topology, two continuous functions from one topological space to another are called homotopic if one can be "continuously deformed" into the other, such a deformation being called a homotopy between the two functions...
.
Medicine
- Italian psychiatrist Amarro FiambertiAmarro FiambertiAmarro Fiamberti was an Italian psychiatrist who first performed a transorbital lobotomy in 1937...
is the first to document a transorbital approach to the brain, which becomes the basis for the controversial medical procedure of transorbital lobotomy. - Publication in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
of Dr A. J. CroninA. J. CroninArchibald Joseph Cronin was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known works are Hatter's Castle, The Stars Look Down, The Citadel, The Keys of the Kingdom and The Green Years, all of which were adapted to film. He also created the Dr...
's novel The CitadelThe Citadel (novel)The Citadel is a novel by A. J. Cronin, first published in 1937, which was groundbreaking with its treatment of the contentious theme of medical ethics. It is credited with laying the foundation in Great Britain for the introduction of the NHS a decade later...
, promoting the cause of socialised medicine.
Awards
- Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
s- PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
- Clinton Joseph Davisson, George Paget ThomsonGeorge Paget ThomsonSir George Paget Thomson, FRS was an English physicist and Nobel laureate in physics recognised for his discovery with Clinton Davisson of the wave properties of the electron by electron diffraction.-Biography:... - ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
- Walter HaworthWalter HaworthSir Norman Haworth was a British chemist best known for his groundbreaking work on ascorbic acid while working at the University of Birmingham. He received the 1937 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his investigations on carbohydrates and vitamin C"...
, Paul KarrerPaul KarrerPaul Karrer was a Swiss organic chemist best known for his research on vitamins. He and Walter Haworth won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1937.-Early years:... - MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
- Albert von Szent-Györgyi NagyrapoltAlbert Szent-GyörgyiAlbert Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt was a Hungarian physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937. He is credited with discovering vitamin C and the components and reactions of the citric acid cycle...
- Physics
- Copley MedalCopley MedalThe Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society of London for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science, and alternates between the physical sciences and the biological sciences"...
- Henry Dale - Wollaston Medal for geologyWollaston MedalThe Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London.The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831...
- Waldemar LindgrenWaldemar LindgrenWaldemar Lindgren was a Swedish-American geologist. Lindgren was one of the founders of modern Economic geology.-Biography:...
Deaths
- January 28 - Arthur PollenArthur PollenArthur Joseph Hungerford Pollen was a writer on naval affairs in the early 1900s who recognised the need for a computer-based fire-control system...
(b. 18661866 in scienceThe year 1866 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* May - William Huggins studies the emission spectrum of a nova and discovers that it is surrounded by a cloud of hydrogen....
), inventor. - May 28 - Alfred AdlerAlfred AdlerAlfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. In collaboration with Sigmund Freud and a small group of Freud's colleagues, Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna...
(b. 18701870 in scienceThe year 1870 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* January 18 - Gerhardt Krefft first describes the Queensland lungfish, in The Sydney Morning Herald....
), psychotherapist. - July 20 - Guglielmo MarconiGuglielmo MarconiGuglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...
(b. 18741874 in scienceThe year 1874 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* December 9 - A transit of Venus across the Sun is observed in Muddapur, India, by an astronomical expedition led by Pietro Tacchini.-Chemistry:...
), inventor. - October 16 - William Sealy GossetWilliam Sealy GossetWilliam Sealy Gosset is famous as a statistician, best known by his pen name Student and for his work on Student's t-distribution....
(b. 18761876 in scienceThe year 1876 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* Robert Koch demonstrates that Bacillus anthracis is the source of of anthrax, the first bacterium conclusively shown to cause disease.-Medicine:...
), statisticianStatisticianA statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
.