1949 in science

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 but dying on impact after a parachute failure.

Chemistry

• 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.

Computer science

• 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.

Earth sciences

• August 5 – Ambato earthquake in Ecuador, measuring 6.8 on the Richter magnitude scale.
• Patomskiy crater in Siberia is discovered by Russian geologist Vadim Kolpakov.

History of science

• Herbert Butterfield publishes The Origins of Modern Science, 1300–1800.

Mathematics

• Ákos Császár discovers the Császár polyhedron.
• D. R. Kaprekar discovers the convergence property of the number 6174.

Medicine

• The use of lithium salts to control mania is rediscovered by Australian psychiatrist John Cade, the first mood stabilizer.
• First implant of intraocular lens, by Sir Harold Ridley
• First Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, a self-report personality test, released.

Meteorology

• January 11 – Los Angeles receives its first recorded snowfall.

Philosophy

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

Physics

• Freeman Dyson demonstrates the equivalence of the formulations of quantum electrodynamics existing at this time, incidentally inventing the Dyson series.
• The Lanczos tensor is introduced in general relativity by Cornelius Lanczos.
• Pauli–Villars regularization is first published.

Zoology

• J. B. S. Haldane proposes the Darwin as a unit of evolutionary change.
• Konrad Lorenz publishes King [Solomon's Ring (nonfiction)|King Solomon's Ring].

Awards

• Nobel Prizes
• * Physics – Hideki Yukawa
• * Chemistry – William Francis Giauque
• * Medicine – Walter Rudolf Hess, Antonio Caetano De Abreu Freire Egas Moniz

Births

• 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 Bunten, American software developer.
• February 22 – Tullio Pozzan, Italian biochemist.
• March 28 – Michael W. Young, American geneticist and chronobiologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• April 5 – Judith Resnik, 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, 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.

Deaths

• February 22 – Félix d'Herelle, French-Canadian microbiologist, a co-discoverer of bacteriophages.
• April 28 – Robert Robertson, British chemist.
• May 27
• * Ægidius Elling, Norwegian gas turbine pioneer.
• * Martin Knudsen, Danish physicist.
• August 5 – Ernest Fourneau, French medicinal chemist.