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Inventions Search Results Years : 1900 to 1950 69 Items listed Generated : 3rd September 2010

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Key Moments

Between 1914 and 1918 a war broke out among the European powers that also affected large areas of the Middle East and some regions in Africa. At the end of this conflict (known as The Great War or World War I), political and economic power shifted to the USA.

Early in World War I, France stopped an advance by Germany in the Battle of the Marne (5 to 12 September 1914). This forced the conflict into a stalemate which lasted four years killing millions. The war was eventually lost by Germany because of a sea blockade by Britain and the arrival of fresh forces from the USA.

Between 1939 and 1945, another major conflict occured (World War II). This affected Europe, Asia, North Africa and the Pacific Ocean. At the end of this conflict, the world was divided into two main armed camps: The West (the USA and Western Europe) and The Communist Block (Russia and Eastern Europe).

Developments during this period were mainly confined to Europe and the USA.

Physicists born during this period include:

• Wolfgang Pauli, German physicist and discoverer of atomic electron shells: born 1900.
• Frédéric Juliot-Curie, French co-discoverer of artificial radioactivity: 1900.
• Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist who produced first nuclear chain reaction: 1901.
• Linus Carl Pauling, USA scientist who applied Quantum Theory to chemistry: 1901.
• Werner Karl Heisenberg, German physicist and discoverer of the Uncertainty Principle: 1901.
• Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, British physicist who predicted the existance of anti matter: 1902.
• Robert Oppenheimer, USA physicist who developed the atomic bomb: 1904.
• Emilio Gino Segrè, Italian physicist who created the first artificial element (Technetium): 1905.
• Hideki Yukawa, Japanese discoverer of the strong nuclear force: 1907.
• Willard Frank Libby, USA physicist who developed Carbon-14 dating: 1908.
• Richard Phillips Feynman, USA developer of Quantum Electrodynamics: 1918.
• Yang Chen Ning, Chinese physicist who showed that parity was not always conserved: 1922.
• Yuval Ne'emen, Israeli co-discoverer of the Quark Theory: 1925.
• Lee Tsungdao, Chinese physicist who showed that parity was not always conserved: 1926.
• Murray Gell-Mann, USA co-discoverer of the Quark Theory: 1929.
• Stephen Hawking, UK physicist who worked on the properties of Black Holes: 1942.

Astronomers include:

• George Gamow, Russian-born USA astronomer who worked out the nuclear reactions in stars: born 1904.
• Karl Guthe Jansky, USA discoverer of radio waves from space: 1905.
• Gerard Peter Kuiper, Netherlands astronomer who studied planetary atmospheres and satelites: 1905.
• Clyde William Tombaugh, USA discoverer of the planet Pluto: 1906.
• Fred Lawrence Whipple, USA cometary astronomer: 1906.
• Patrick Alfred Moore, British astronomer, writer and broadcaster: 1923.
• Arno Allan Penzias, German born USA radio astronomer who co-detected radiation from the Big Bang: 1933.
• Robert Woodrow Wilson, USA radio astronomer who co-detected radiation from the Big Bang: 1936.

Chemists, biochemists, biologists and doctors include:

• Gregory Goodwin Pincus, USA inventor of oral contraceptives for women: born 1903.
• Wendell Meredith Stanley, USA biochemist who crystalised viruses: 1904.
• Albert Hoffman, Swiss chemist who synthesised LSD, a halucinogenic drug: 1906.
• Rachel Louise Carson, USA ecologist who wrote "Silent Spring": 1907.
• Melvin Calvin, USA scientist who worked out the chemistry of photosynthesis: 1911.
• Jonas Edward Salk, USA developer of polio vaccine: 1914.
• Francis Crick, USA biochemist who co-discovered the detailed double helix structure of DNA: 1916.
• Robert Burns Woodward, USA chemist who synthesised quinine and chlorophyll: 1917.
• Frederick Sanger, British chemist who worked out the structure of insulin: 1918.
• Rosalind Elsie Franklin, British chemist who showed that DNA was a double helix: 1920.
• Christiaan Neethling Barnard, South African doctor who performed the first heart transplant: 1922.
• James Watson, UK biochemist who co-discovered the detailed double helix structure of DNA: 1928.

Mathematicians, engineers, inventors, explorers and other scientists include:

• Charles Francis Richter, USA inventor of the earthquake scale: born 1900.
• Louis Seymour Leakey, British anthropologist who discovered Homo Habilis in Kenya: 1903.
• Kurt Gödel, Austrian who showed that no mathematical system was perfect: 1906.
• Frank Whittle, British inventor of the jet engine: 1907.
• Jacques Yves Cousteau, French co-inventor of the aqualung and undersea explorer: 1910.
• Alan Mathison Turing, British wartime code breaker and theoretician of artificial intelligence: 1912.
• Werner Von Braun, German born missile engineer and USA rocket scientist: 1912.
• James Alfred Van Allen: USA discoverer of Earth's magnetosphere: 1914.
• Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese who first climbed the world's highest mountain: 1914.
• Edmund Percival Hillary, New Zealander who first climbed the world's highest mountain: 1919.
• Neil Alden Armstrong, USA astronaut who became the first man on the Moon: 1930.
• Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, Russian who became the first man in space: 1934.
• Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, Russian who became the first woman in space: 1937.

Writers and artists include:

• Eric Arthur Blair (better known as George Orwell), British writer (Animal Farm, 1984): born 1903.
• Salvador Dali, Spanish painter: 1904.
• Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter: 1907.
• Dylan Marlais Thomas, British (Welsh) poet: 1914.
• Isaac Asimov, Russian born USA science fiction writer and essayist: 1920.
• Anne Frank, Dutch child diarist killed by the Nazis for being Jewish: 1929.
• Steven Biko, South African anti-apartheid writer: 1946.

Sports persons, actors and comedians include:

• Leslie Townes Hope (better known as Bob Hope), British born USA comedian: born 1903.
• Laurence Kerr Olivier, British stage and film actor: 1907.
• William Hartnell, British stage, film and television actor and first Dr Who: 1908.
• Alec Guiness, British stage, film and television actor: 1914.
• Denis Charles Scott Compton, British (English) cricketer: 1918.
• Rocco Marchegiano (known as Rocky Marciano), USA boxer: 1923.
• Tom Baker, British film and television actor and fourth Dr Who: 1934.
• Edson Arantes do Naciemento (known as Pele), Brazilian footballer: 1940.
• Bobby Moore, British (English) footballer: 1941.
• Mohammad Ali (formerly Cassius Clay), USA boxer: 1942.

Musicians, singers, song writers and disc jockies include:

• Anton Glen Miller (Glenn Miller), USA swing musician: born 1904.
• Francis Albert Sinatra, USA singer: 1915.
• Ella Fitzgerald, USA jazz singer: 1917.
• Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar player: 1920.
• Cecilia Sophia Anna Maria Kalogeropoulos (known as Maria Callas), Greek born opera singer: 1923.
• Mukesh Chand Mathur, Indian singer: 1923.
• Lata Mangeshkar, Indian singer who is the world's most recorded artist: 1929.
• Victor Jara, Chilean songwriter killed during the 1973 coup: 1932.
• Elvis Aaron Presley, USA singer: 1935.
• Luciano Pavarotti, Italian opera singer: 1935.
• John Ravenscroft (known as John Peel), British radio disc jockey: 1939.
• Hugh Masekela, South African musician: 1939.
• Francis Vincent Zappa, USA composer and guitarist: 1940.
• John Ono Lennon, British musician and songwriter: 1940.
• Tabu Ley Rochereau, Congolese musician: 1940.
• Robert Allen Zimmerman (known as Bob Dylan), USA singer and songwriter: 1941.
• Robert Nesta Marley (known as Bob Marley), Jamaican singer and songwriter: 1945.
• Thomas Mapfumo, Zimbabwean singer: 1945.
• King Sunny Ade, Nigerian musician: 1946.
• Salif Keita, Malinese singer and musician: 1949

Leaders and monarchs include:

• Hirohito, Japanese emperor during World War II: born 1901.
• Fulgencio Batista y Zaldiver, Cuban dictator: 1901.
• Achmed Sukarno, first president of independent Indonesia: 1901.
• Ruhollah Khomeini (known as The Ayatollah), religious leader of Iran: 1902.
• Pu Yi, final Chinese emperor of the Qing Dynasty: 1906.
• Enver Hoxha, Albanian dictator: 1908.
• Rosa Parks, USA civil rights figure: 1913.
• Don Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, Chilean dictator: 1915.
• Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the world's first female prime minister (Sri Lanka): 1916.
• John Fitzgerald Kennedy, USA president who died by assassination: 1917.
• Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, South African political prisoner and president: 1918.
• Gamal Abdul Nasser, Egyptian pan-Arab president: 1918.
• Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, final Shah (king) of Iran: 1919.
• Henry Kissinger, USA presidential advisor: 1923.
• Margaret Hilda Thatcher, first female prime minister of Britain: 1925.
• Fidel Castro, Cuban revolutionary and president: 1926.
• Elizabeth Windsor (Elizabeth II), Britsh monarch: 1926.
• Ernesto Che Guevara, Argentinian doctor and revolutionary: 1928.
• Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader: 1929.
• Martin Luthor King, USA civil rights leader: 1929.
• Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, leader during the breakup of the Soviet Union: 1931.
• Vaclav Havel, Czech playwrite, dissident and president: 1936.
• Juan Carlos Alfonso de Borbon, Spanish king: 1938.
• Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese democracy leader: 1945.

Ireland became independent in 1922 apart from the six counties in the north which became part of the United Kingdom. The full name of the latter became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Treaty of Lateran between the Catholic Pope and Italy (1929) created the world's smallest republic, Vatican City.

In 1902, the volcano Mount Pelee on the Carribean island of Martinique exploded on 8 May. Over 30,000 inhabitants were killed - the only survivor was a convicted murderer in a basement cell. The world's largest passenger liner, Titanic, sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. Over 30 million people died from influenza between 1918 and 1920, making this the worst natural disaster to affect humanity. On 1 September 1923 a powerful earthquake hit Tokyo killing 200,000. On 30 June 1908, a small comet exploded in the atmosphere above Siberia, flattening trees over hundreds of square kilometres - no people were killed as the region was uninhabited.

The Panama Canal was opened in 1914 linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

The North Pole was reached on 6 April 1910 by Robert Peary and Matthew Henson of the USA. The South Pole was reached by a team led by Roald Amundsen of Norway on 14 December 1911.

Over a million Armenians died in eastern Turkey while being deported. In 1923 Greece and Turkey exchanged populations as part of a peace treaty. In the Soviet Union (Russia) millions died in political purges by Joseph Stalin. In Central Europe millions of Jews were killed by the Nazi government of Adolf Hitler during the 1930s. Millions of people moved between India and Pakistan when British India was partitioned in 1948 - hundreds of thousands died. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave their land when the State of Israel was created in 1948.

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