1968 - Science

Science

Theoretical physicist Richard P. Feynman comes up with a theory that will lead to a better understanding of quarks (see 1964). Now 50, Feynman has been working at Stanford University with the developers of the Stanford Linear Accelerator and bases his theory on partons—the hypothetical hard particles inside the nucleus of an atom.

Icthyologist J. L. B. Smith dies at Cape Town January 7 at age 70, having gained fame for identifying the supposedly extinct coelacanth; Nobel physicist Lev Davidovich Landau dies at Moscow April 1 at age 60 of injuries suffered in a January 1962 auto accident; Nobel physiologist Corneille Heymans dies at Knokke, Belgium, July 18 at age 76, having discovered the regulatory effect of various sensory organs on respiration; Nobel chemist Otto Hahn dies at Göttingen July 28 age 89; physicist Lise Meitner at London October 27 at age 89.