See also: 1916 in science, other events of 1917, 1918 in science and the list of years in science.
Mathematics Paul Ehrenfest gives conditional principle a three dimensional space, Physics Albert Einstein introduces the idea of stimulated radiation emission Births January 25 - Ilya Prigogine, future chemist February 14 - Herbert A. Hauptman, future biophysicist Deaths March 31 - Emil Adolf von Behring, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901 August 3 - Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician Nobel Prizes Charles Glover Barkla is awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics
