Science: Big Ten

What were the ten most important scientific advances of 1945? Watson Davis, director of Science Service, chose:

1. The atomic bomb—and the practical release of nuclear energy.

2. Verification of the transuranium chemical elements 93, 94, 95 and 96.

3. Use of the drug, streptomycin.

4. The Army & Navy's proximity fuse.

5. LORAN, an aid to navigation based on timed radio signals.

6. Psychological warfare methods which speeded the Japanese surrender.

7. British development of BAL, successful antidote for arsenic poisoning.

8. The rodent poisons 1080 and ANTU.

9. The Russians' successful transplantation of hearts in warm-blooded animals.

10. Steps toward establishment of a National Science Foundation.

Notable omission: radar—released from military secrecy last August.