The year 1945 in science and technology had many significant events, including those listed below.

Biology

• Salvador Edward Luria and Alfred Day Hershey independently recognize that viruses undergo mutations

Computer science

• November - Assembly of the world's first general purpose electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer (ENIAC), is completed. It covers 1800 feet of floor space. The first set of calculations is run on the computer.

Meteorology

• High-altitude west-to-east winds across Pacific, discovered by Japanese in 1942 and by Americans in 1944, are dubbed "jet stream"

Physics

• July 16 - Nuclear testing: The Trinity test, the first test of an atomic bomb, using 6 kilograms of plutonium, succeeds in detonating, unleashing an explosion equivalent to that of 20 kilotons of TNT.
• August 6 and 9 – Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the world becomes first aware of the power of nuclear weapons.
• August 11 – Smyth Report released by U.S. government, informing the public of the basics of nuclear fission and its military and civilian applications. Emphasizes the role played by physics in the development of the atomic bomb.
• Team led by Charles DuBois Coryell discovers chemical element 61, the only one still missing between 1 and 96 on periodic table. New element is called promethium.

Awards

• Nobel Prizes
  • Physics - Wolfgang Pauli
  • Chemistry - Artturi Ilmari Virtanen
  • Medicine - Sir Alexander Fleming, Ernst Boris Chain, Sir Howard Walter Florey

Births

• April 30 Michael J. Smith (d. 1986), astronaut.

Deaths

• August 4 - Gerhard Gentzen (b. 1909), mathematician.
• August 10 - Robert Goddard (b. 1882), American rocket scientist.
• August 31 - Stefan Banach (b. 1892), great Polish mathematician.
• September 24 - Johannes Hans Geiger (b. 1882), inventor of the Geiger counter.
• December 4 - Thomas Hunt Morgan (b. 1866), biologist.

1945 | 1940s in science