Biochemist Seymour Stanley Cohen pioneers the use of radioactive labeling of microorganisms.

Physicists Felix Bloch and Edward Purcell independently introduce the technique of nuclear magnetic resonance.

Anthropologist Ruth Benedict publishes The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, an effort to explain Japanese culture to the West; her study was financed by the U.S. government during World War II.

Vincent Schaefer performs cloud seeding using dry ice.

1 Aug.

The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission is established.