The year 1939 in science and technology included events, some of which are listed here.

See also: 1938 in science, other events of 1939, 1940 in science and the list of years in science.

Contents

1 Astronomy 2 Physics 3 Awards 4 Births 5 Deaths

Astronomy

• Robert Oppenheimer and H. Snyder predicts the existence of a new type of celestial objects that would come to be called black holes (Phys.Rev. 56, 455-459, 1939).
• Robert Oppenheimer and G. Volkoff first calculate the structure of neutron stars, a new type of celestial object (Phys.Rev. 55, 374-381 (1939).

Physics

• Nuclear fission discovered independently by Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn

Awards

• Nobel Prizes
  • Physics - Ernest Lawrence
  • Chemistry - Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt , Lavoslav Ruzicka
  • Medicine - Gerhard Domagk

Births

• October 7 - John Hopcroft, American theoretical computer scientist

Deaths

• October 7 - Harvey Cushing, American neurosurgeon (b. 1869)