1954 in science - Definition

The year 1954 in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed below.

Astronomy

• November 30 - In Sylacauga, Alabama, an 8.5 pound sulfide meteorite crashes through a roof and hits a Mrs. Elizabeth Hodges in her living room after bouncing off her radio, giving her a bad bruise (this is the first known modern case of a human being hit by a space rock).

Computer science

• January 7 - The first public demonstration of a machine translation system was held in New York at the head office of IBM.

Medicine

• February 23 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• March 4 - Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston announces the first successful kidney transplant.

• The first of the anti-psychotic phenothiazine drugs, Chlorpromazine started being sold with the trade names "Thorazine" (America) and Largactil (United Kingdom).

Technology

• September 30 - USS Nautilus, 1st atomic-powered vessel (submarine), commissioned by the US Navy

Awards

• Nobel Prizes
  • Physics - Max Born, - Walther Bothe
  • Chemistry - Linus Carl Pauling
  • Medicine - John Franklin Enders, Thomas Huckle Weller, Frederick Chapman Robbins

Births

• June 20 - Ilan Ramon (d. 2003), Israeli astronaut.

Deaths

• November 29 - Enrico Fermi (b. 1901), physicist.