The year 1947 in
science and
technology involved some significant events, listed below.
Anthropology
August 7 –
Thor Heyerdahl's
balsa-wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the
reef at
Raroia in the
Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 4300-mile (6900-km) journey across the Pacific Ocean, demonstrating that prehistoric peoples could have traveled from South America.[1]
February 20 – The first living things sent into space (and returned) are
fruit flies, accompanied by rye and cotton seeds, aboard a
V-2 rocket launched by the
U.S. Army Ordnance Corps which reaches an altitude of 68 miles (109 km).[3][4][5]
July 29 – After being shut off on November 9, 1946, for a refurbishment and relocation,
ENIAC, one of the world's first digital
computers, is turned on after a memory upgrade at
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. It will remain in continuous operation until October 2, 1955.[11]
September 9 – A
moth lodged in a
relay is found to be the cause of a malfunction in the
Harvard Mark II electromechanical computer, logged as "First actual case of
bug being found."[12][13]
October – First recorded use of the word computer in its modern sense, referring to an electronic digital machine.[14]
February 21 –
Edwin H. Land demonstrates the first practical
instant camera, the
Land Camera, in New York City. It will first be on commercial sale in December 1948.
^Lack, Andrew; Overall, Roy (2002). The Museum Swifts: the story of the swifts in the tower of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
ISBN0-9542726-0-9.
^US 2455992, Goldsmith Jr., Thomas T. & Estle Ray, Mann, "Cathode-ray tube amusement device", published 1948-12-14, assigned to Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories Inc.
^Dantzig, George B. (2003). Cottle, Richard W (ed.). The Basic George B. Dantzig. Stanford University Press.
^Dantzig, George B.; Thapa, Mukund N. (1997). Linear programming 1: Introduction. Springer.
^Dantzig, George B.; Thapa, Mukund N. (2003). Linear Programming 2: Theory and Extensions. Springer.
^Todd, Michael J. (February 2002). "The many facets of linear programming". Mathematical Programming. 91 (3): 417–436.
doi:
10.1007/s101070100261.
S2CID6464735.
^Richet, P.; Bottinga, Y.; Javoy, M. (1977). "A Review of Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Sulphur, and Chlorine Stable Isotope Fractionation Among Gaseous Molecules". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 5: 65–110.
Bibcode:
1977AREPS...5...65R.
doi:
10.1146/annurev.ea.05.050177.000433.
^Urey, H.C. (1947). "The Thermodynamic Properties of Isotopic Substances". Journal of the Chemical Society: 562–581.
doi:
10.1039/JR9470000562.
PMID20249764.
The year 1947 in
science and
technology involved some significant events, listed below.
Anthropology
August 7 –
Thor Heyerdahl's
balsa-wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the
reef at
Raroia in the
Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 4300-mile (6900-km) journey across the Pacific Ocean, demonstrating that prehistoric peoples could have traveled from South America.[1]
February 20 – The first living things sent into space (and returned) are
fruit flies, accompanied by rye and cotton seeds, aboard a
V-2 rocket launched by the
U.S. Army Ordnance Corps which reaches an altitude of 68 miles (109 km).[3][4][5]
July 29 – After being shut off on November 9, 1946, for a refurbishment and relocation,
ENIAC, one of the world's first digital
computers, is turned on after a memory upgrade at
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. It will remain in continuous operation until October 2, 1955.[11]
September 9 – A
moth lodged in a
relay is found to be the cause of a malfunction in the
Harvard Mark II electromechanical computer, logged as "First actual case of
bug being found."[12][13]
October – First recorded use of the word computer in its modern sense, referring to an electronic digital machine.[14]
February 21 –
Edwin H. Land demonstrates the first practical
instant camera, the
Land Camera, in New York City. It will first be on commercial sale in December 1948.
^Lack, Andrew; Overall, Roy (2002). The Museum Swifts: the story of the swifts in the tower of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
ISBN0-9542726-0-9.
^US 2455992, Goldsmith Jr., Thomas T. & Estle Ray, Mann, "Cathode-ray tube amusement device", published 1948-12-14, assigned to Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories Inc.
^Dantzig, George B. (2003). Cottle, Richard W (ed.). The Basic George B. Dantzig. Stanford University Press.
^Dantzig, George B.; Thapa, Mukund N. (1997). Linear programming 1: Introduction. Springer.
^Dantzig, George B.; Thapa, Mukund N. (2003). Linear Programming 2: Theory and Extensions. Springer.
^Todd, Michael J. (February 2002). "The many facets of linear programming". Mathematical Programming. 91 (3): 417–436.
doi:
10.1007/s101070100261.
S2CID6464735.
^Richet, P.; Bottinga, Y.; Javoy, M. (1977). "A Review of Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Sulphur, and Chlorine Stable Isotope Fractionation Among Gaseous Molecules". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 5: 65–110.
Bibcode:
1977AREPS...5...65R.
doi:
10.1146/annurev.ea.05.050177.000433.
^Urey, H.C. (1947). "The Thermodynamic Properties of Isotopic Substances". Journal of the Chemical Society: 562–581.
doi:
10.1039/JR9470000562.
PMID20249764.