1949 in science

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

Astronomy and space exploration

January 26 – The Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory in California, the largest aperture optical telescope in the world for 28 years, sees first light.
June 14 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, becomes the first mammal in space, in a U.S.-launched V-2 rocket, reaching an altitude of 83 miles (134 km) but dying on impact after a parachute failure.

Radiocarbon dating technique discovered by Willard Libby and his colleagues at the University of Chicago—work for which Libby will receive the Nobel Prize in 1960.
A group including Dorothy Hodgkin publish the three-dimensional molecular structure of penicillin, demonstrating that it contains a β-lactam ring.{{cite book|author1=Crowfoot, D. |author2=Bunn, Charles W. |author3=Rogers-Low, Barbara W. |author4=Turner-Jones, Annette |year=1949|chapter=X-ray crystallographic investigation of the structure of penicillin|editor1=Clarke, H. T. |editor2=Johnson, J. R. |editor3=Robinson, R. |title=Chemistry of Penicillin|publisher=Princeton University Press|pages=310–367}}{{cite journal|first=Jenny P.|last=Glusker|title=Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910-1994)|journal=Protein Science|year=1994|volume=3|issue=12|pages=2465–2469|doi=10.1002/pro.5560031233|pmid=7757003|pmc=2142778}}

April – Manchester Mark 1 computer operable at the University of Manchester in England.
May 6 – EDSAC, the first practicable stored-program computer, runs its first program at University of Cambridge in England, to calculate a table of squares.{{cite journal|title=Pioneer computer to be rebuilt|journal=Cam|volume=62|date=2011|page=5}}

August 5 – Ambato earthquake in Ecuador, measuring 6.8 on the Richter magnitude scale.{{cite web|url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/today/index.php?month=8&day=5&submit=View+Date |title=Today in Earthquake History: August 5 |date=2009-12-18 |accessdate=2011-07-19 |publisher=United States Geological Survey |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608184553/http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/today/index.php?month=8&day=5&submit=View%2BDate |archivedate=8 June 2011 |url-status=live }}
Patomskiy crater in Siberia is discovered by Russian geologist Vadim Kolpakov.

The use of lithium salts to control mania is rediscovered by Australian psychiatrist John Cade, the first mood stabilizer.{{cite journal|title=Lithium salts in the treatment of psychotic excitement|last=Cade|first=J. F. J.|journal=Medical Journal of Australia|year=1949|volume=2|pmid=18142718|pmc=2560740|pages=349–52|url=https://www.who.int/docstore/bulletin/pdf/2000/issue4/classics.pdf|issue=10| accessdate=6 June 2011 |doi=10.1080/j.1440-1614.1999.06241.x}}
First implant of intraocular lens, by Sir Harold Ridley
First Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, a self-report personality test, released.

Gilbert Ryle's book The Concept of Mind, a founding document in the philosophy of mind, is published.

Freeman Dyson demonstrates the equivalence of the formulations of quantum electrodynamics existing at this time,{{cite journal|first=F. J.|last=Dyson|title=The radiation theories of Tomonaga, Schwinger, and Feynman|journal=Physical Review|volume=75|issue=3|pages=486–502|year=1949|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.75.486|bibcode=1949PhRv...75..486D|doi-access=free}} incidentally inventing the Dyson series.{{cite journal|first=F. J.|last=Dyson|title=The S matrix in quantum electrodynamics|journal=Physical Review|volume=75|issue=11|pages=1736–1755|year=1949|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.75.1736|bibcode=1949PhRv...75.1736D}}
The Lanczos tensor is introduced in general relativity by Cornelius Lanczos.{{cite journal|first=Cornelius|last=Lanczos|title=Lagrangian Multiplier and Riemannian Spaces|journal=Reviews of Modern Physics|volume=21|issue=3|year=1949|pages=497–502|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.21.497|bibcode=1949RvMP...21..497L |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1062657/files/RevModPhys.21.497.pdf|doi-access=free}}
Pauli–Villars regularization is first published.{{cite journal|last1=Pauli|first1=W.|authorlink1=Wolfgang Pauli|last2=Villars|first2=F.|authorlink2=Felix Villars|title=On the Invariant Regularization in Relativistic Quantum Theory|journal=Reviews of Modern Physics|volume=21|issue=3|pages=434–444|year=1949|bibcode=1949RvMP...21..434P|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.21.434|doi-access=free}}

J. B. S. Haldane proposes the Darwin as a unit of evolutionary change.{{cite journal|first=J. B. S.|last=Haldane|year=1949|jstor=2405451|title=Suggestions as to quantitative measurement of rates of evolution|journal=Evolution|volume=3|issue=1|pages=51–56|doi=10.1111/j.1558-5646.1949.tb00004.x|doi-access=free}}
Konrad Lorenz publishes King Solomon's Ring (Er redete mit dem Vieh, den Vögeln und den Fischen).

January 25 – Paul Nurse, English cell biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
February 1 – Alice Alldredge, Australian-born oceanographer.
February 17 – Peter Piot, Belgian microbiologist and epidemiologist.
February 19 – Danielle Bunten Berry, born Dan(iel Paul) Bunten (died 1998), American software developer.
February 22 – Tullio Pozzan (died 2022), Italian biochemist.
March 28 – Michael W. Young, American geneticist and chronobiologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
April 5 – Judith Resnik (died 1986), American astronaut.
April 18 – Yasumasa Kanada, Japanese mathematician.
May 24 – Tomaž Pisanski, Slovenian mathematician.
May 26 – Ward Cunningham, American computer programmer.
June 2 – Heather Couper (died 2020), English astronomer.
July 23 – Andrew Odlyzko, Polish-born American mathematician.
August 31 – H. David Politzer, American physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
November 6 – John Zarnecki, English space scientist
November 24 – Sally Davies, English Chief Medical Officer.
Michael Houghton, British-born virologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.