1939 in science

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

Astronomy

• Robert Oppenheimer and H. Snyder predict 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

• May 19 – Dick Scobee (d. 1986), astronaut.
• October 7 – John Hopcroft, American theoretical computer scientist.

Deaths

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