1950 - Science

Science

A four-page paper by British chemist Derek H. R. (Harold Richard) Barton, 31, shows that the three-dimensional nature of organic molecules provides an explanation of the properties of certain ring systems (see Bijvoet, 1946). His observation alters the understanding of such molecules and pioneers conformational analysis—a new field of chemistry (see Lee, Yang, 1956).

Variation and Evolution in Plants by Lawrence, N.Y.-born University of California botanist and geneticist George Ledyard Stebbins Jr., 44, applies the modern synthetic theory of evolution for the first time to plant evolution. The first scientist to synthesize artificially a plant capable of thriving under natural conditions, Stebbins moves from UC Berkeley to UC Davis.

The National Science Foundation Act signed into law by President Truman May 10 establishes the NSF—an independent U.S. Government agency that will support basic research and education in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering. The advances in science and technology that have taken place since the start of World War II have made it apparent that such an agency was needed, and it will grow in 45 years to have an annual budget of about $3 billion, enabling it to award about 20,000 grants.

Geographer Isaiah Bowman dies at Baltimore January 6 at age 71. He retired from Johns Hopkins in 1948; radio astronomer Karl G. Jansky dies at Red Bank, N.J., February 14 at age 44; physicist Arthur Dempster at Stuart, Fla., March 11 at age 63; astrophysicist-cosmologist (Edward) Arthur Milne at Dublin September 21 at age 74, having pioneered the study of kinematic relativism.