See also: 1915 in science, other events of 1916, 1917 in science and the list of years in science.
Chemistry Gilbert Lewis and Irving Langmuir formulate an electron shell model of chemical bonding Sydney Chapman and David Enskog systematically develop a kinetic theory of gases Jan Czochralski invents a method for growing single crystals of metals. Physics Albert Einstein shows that the field equations of general relativity admit wavelike solutions Karl Schwarzschild solves the Einstein vacuum field equations for uncharged spherically-symmetric non-rotating systems, Births February 12 - Richard Dedekind, future mathematician March 4 - Hans Eysenck, future psychologist June 8 - Francis Crick, future biologist Deaths July 23 - Sir William Ramsay, chemist and Nobel prize winner