Chemist Willard Libby develops a radiocarbon-dating technique using the decay rate of carbon-14 atoms.

21 Feb.

Edwin Land invents a camera-and-film system, later sold as the Polaroid Land Camera, that develops pictures inside the camera in about one minute.

Pan American Airways' America, a Lockheed Constellation airplane, takes off from New York's La Guardia Airport en route to becoming the world's first globe-circling passenger airplane.

14 Oct.

The Bell X-l, piloted by Capt. Charles E. Yeager, becomes the world's first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound.

23 Dec.

Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male is published.