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1956 in science#Medicine

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{{Science year nav|1956}}

The year 1956 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Biology

  • March – Denham Harman proposes the free-radical theory of aging.{{cite journal|last=Harman|first=Denham|title=Aging: a theory based on free radical and radiation chemistry|journal=Journal of Gerontology|volume=11|issue=3|year=1956|pages=298–300|pmid=13332224|doi=10.1093/geronj/11.3.298|citeseerx=10.1.1.663.3809}}
  • Wesley K. Whitten reports developing eight-cell mouse ova to blastocyst stage in vitro.{{cite journal|title=Culture of Tubal Mouse Ova|first=W. K.|last=Whitten|doi=10.1038/177096a0|pmid=13288608|journal=Nature|date=14 January 1956|volume=177|issue=4498|page=96|bibcode=1956Natur.177...96W|doi-access=free}}

Chemistry

  • July 14 – Second part of the publication of Dorothy Hodgkin's description of the structure of Vitamin B12.{{cite journal|author=Hodgkin, Dorothy Crowfoot; Kamper, Jennifer; Mackay, Maureen; Pickworth, Jenny; Trueblood, Kenneth N; White, John G.|s2cid=4210164|title=Structure of vitamin B12|journal=Nature|volume=178|issue=4524|pages=64–66|year=1956|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/178064a0|doi=10.1038/178064a0|pmid=13348621|bibcode=1956Natur.178...64H|url-access=subscription}}

Climatology

  • May – Gilbert Plass publishes his seminal article "The Carbon Dioxide Theory of Climate Change".{{cite journal|title=The Carbon Dioxide Theory of Climate Change|first=Gilbert N.|last=Plass|journal=Tellus|volume=8|issue=2|pages=140–54|year=1956|doi=10.1111/j.2153-3490.1956.tb01206.x|bibcode=1956TellA...8..140P}}

Computer science

Mathematics

Medicine

  • April – Humphry Osmond first proposes use of the word psychedelic to describe the effect of certain drugs, at a meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences.
  • May 1 – Minamata disease epidemic is identified in Japan by Hajime Hosokawa.
  • June 1 – Elsie Stephenson becomes founding Director of the Nurse Teaching Unit, University of Edinburgh, the first nurse teaching unit within a British university.
  • November – The classic definition of obesity hypoventilation syndrome is published.{{cite journal|author1=Burwell, C. Sidney|author2=Robin, Eugene D.|author3=Whaley, Robert D.|author4=Bicklemann, Albert G.|title=Extreme obesity associated with alveolar hypoventilation – a Pickwickian syndrome|journal=The American Journal of Medicine|volume=21|issue=5|pages=811–8|year=1956|pmid=13362309|doi=10.1016/0002-9343(56)90094-8}} Reproduced as {{cite journal|author1=Burwell, C. S.|author2=Robin, E. D.|author3=Whaley, R. D.|author4=Bicklemann, A. G.|title=Extreme obesity associated with alveolar hypoventilation; a Pickwickian syndrome|journal=Obesity Research|volume=2|issue=4|pages=390–7|year=1994|pmid=16353591|doi=10.1002/j.1550-8528.1994.tb00084.x}}
  • Asian flu pandemic originates in China.
  • Use of penicillamine in treatment of Wilson's disease first described.{{cite journal|last=Walshe|first=John M.|title=Wilson's disease; new oral therapy|journal=The Lancet|volume=270|issue=6906|pages=25–6|date=January 1956|pmid=13279157|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(56)91859-1}}
  • American voice actor Paul Winchell applies to patent an implantable artificial heart, the first person to do so.US Patent #3097366 of 1963. {{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/winchell.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060127002824/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/winchell.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2006-01-27|title=Inventor of the Week Archive|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|date=September 2005|access-date=2022-11-19}}

Physics

Psychology

Technology

  • April 14 – 2-inch quadruplex videotape, the first practical and commercially successful analog recording videotape format, is released for the broadcast television industry by Ampex of Redwood City, California.{{cite web|first=Charles|last=Bensinger|url=http://videopreservation.conservation-us.org/vid_guide/6/6.html|work=VideoPreservation Website|year=1981|title=All About Videotape|access-date=2012-04-14}}{{cite web|url=http://quadvideotapegroup.com/QuadHistory-PageIndex.htm|title=Some Quad History|publisher=Quad Videotape Group|access-date=2012-04-14}}
  • April 17 – Eugene Houdry is granted a patent for the automobile catalytic converter.U.S. 2,742,437.
  • June 8 – General Electric/Telechron introduces model 7H241 "The Snooz Alarm", first snooze alarm clock.{{cite web|url=http://www.telechron.net/eod/7h241.htm|title=New kind of alarm clock|website=telechron.net|access-date=2019-10-08}}
  • August 27 – Calder Hall nuclear power station in England is first connected to the National Grid. This Magnox plant is the world's first nuclear power plant to deliver electricity in commercial quantities.{{cite journal|title=Calder Hall Power Station|journal=The Engineer|date=5 October 1956}} Official opening is on October 17.{{cite web|url=http://www.sellafieldsites.com/page/sellafield-site-operations/site-history|title=Sellafield Sites, Site history|access-date=2007-12-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509131037/http://www.sellafieldsites.com/page/sellafield-site-operations/site-history|archive-date=2008-05-09|url-status=dead}}
  • November 11 – First flight of Convair B-58, the first supersonic jet bomber capable of Mach 2 flight,{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Stewart|title=Combat Aircraft since 1945|location=Fyshwick, ACT, Australia|publisher=Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd|year=2000|isbn=978-1-875671-50-2|page=38}} designed by Robert H. Widmer.
  • First Chamberlin electro-mechanical keyboard instrument, developed and patented by Wisconsin inventor Harry Chamberlin, is introduced.{{cite journal|url=http://egrefin.free.fr/images/Chamberlin/HCInterview.pdf|first=Len|last=Epand|title=A Phantom Orchestra at Your Fingertips|journal=Crawdaddy! |pages=A27–A28|access-date=2011-12-16 |date=April 1976}}

Awards

Births

Deaths

References

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