1980 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1980 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.
Astronomy and space exploration
- November 12 – Voyager programVoyager programThe Voyager program is a U.S program that launched two unmanned space missions, scientific probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable planetary alignment of the late 1970s...
: The NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to SaturnSaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
when it flies within 77000 miles (123,919.2 km) of the planetPlanetA planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
's cloud-tops and sends the first high resolution images of the world back to scientists on EarthEarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
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Computing
- UsenetUsenetUsenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
established at the University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
and Duke UniversityDuke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
. - July – MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Bill GatesBill GatesWilliam Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
agrees to create an operating systemOperating systemAn operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
for the new IBM Personal Computer. In September, David BradleyDavid Bradley (engineer)David Bradley was one of the twelve engineers who worked on the original IBM PC, developing the computer ROM BIOScode. He is credited by some for inventing the "Control-Alt-Delete" key combination that was used to reboot the computer.-Control-Alt-Delete:...
becomes one of the "original 12" engineers working on the project (under Don EstridgePhilip Don EstridgePhilip Donald Estridge , known as Don Estridge,led development of the original IBM Personal Computer , and thus is known as "father of the IBM PC"...
) and is responsible for the ROM BIOS code and for developing the Control-Alt-DeleteControl-Alt-DeleteControl-Alt-Delete is a computer keyboard command on IBM PC compatible systems that can be used to reboot the computer, and summon the task manager or Windows Security in more recent versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system...
command.
Geophysics
- June 6 – Luis and Walter AlvarezWalter AlvarezWalter Alvarez is a professor in the Earth and Planetary Science department at the University of California, Berkeley. He is most widely known for the theory that dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid impact, developed in collaboration with his father, Nobel Prize winning physicist Luis...
with Frank AsaroFrank AsaroFrank Asaro is an Emeritus Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory associated with the University of California at Berkeley...
and Helen Michels propose the Alvarez hypothesisAlvarez hypothesisThe Alvarez hypothesis claims that the mass extinction of the dinosaurs and many other living things was caused by the impact of a large asteroid on the Earth sixty-five million years ago, called the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event. Evidence indicates that the asteroid fell in the Yucatán...
, that the mass extinctionExtinction eventAn extinction event is a sharp decrease in the diversity and abundance of macroscopic life. They occur when the rate of extinction increases with respect to the rate of speciation...
of the dinosaurDinosaurDinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s was caused by the impactImpact eventAn impact event is the collision of a large meteorite, asteroid, comet, or other celestial object with the Earth or another planet. Throughout recorded history, hundreds of minor impact events have been reported, with some occurrences causing deaths, injuries, property damage or other significant...
of a large asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
65 million years ago, the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction eventCretaceous-Tertiary extinction eventThe Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, formerly named and still commonly referred to as the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, occurred approximately 65.5 million years ago at the end of the Maastrichtian age of the Cretaceous period. It was a large-scale mass extinction of animal and plant...
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Medicine
- The much-enlarged third edition of the American Psychiatric AssociationAmerican Psychiatric AssociationThe American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental DisordersDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental DisordersThe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders...
(DSM-III), produced under the control of Robert SpitzerRobert Spitzer (psychiatrist)Robert L. Spitzer was a major architect of the modern classification of mental disorders. He is a retired professor of psychiatry at Columbia University in New York City, United States and was on the research faculty of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. He...
, is published. - Global campaign to eradicate DracunculiasisDracunculiasisDracunculiasis , also called guinea worm disease , is a parasitic infection caused by Dracunculus medinensis, a long and very thin nematode . The infection begins when a person drinks stagnant water contaminated with copepods infested by the larvae of the guinea worm...
(Guinea worm disease) begins at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and PreventionCenters for Disease Control and PreventionThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
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Awards
- Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
s- PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
– James Watson Cronin, Val Logsdon FitchVal Logsdon FitchVal Logsdon Fitch is an American nuclear physicist. A native of Merriman, Nebraska, he graduated from Gordon High School and attended Chadron State College for three years before being drafted into the U.S. army in 1943... - ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
– Paul BergPaul BergPaul Berg is an American biochemist and professor emeritus at Stanford University. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980, along with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger. The award recognized their contributions to basic research involving nucleic acids...
, Walter GilbertWalter GilbertWalter Gilbert is an American physicist, biochemist, molecular biology pioneer, and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Gilbert was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 21, 1932...
, Frederick SangerFrederick SangerFrederick Sanger, OM, CH, CBE, FRS is an English biochemist and a two-time Nobel laureate in chemistry, the only person to have been so. In 1958 he was awarded a Nobel prize in chemistry "for his work on the structure of proteins, especially that of insulin"... - MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
– Baruj BenacerrafBaruj BenacerrafBaruj Benacerraf was a Venezuelan-born American immunologist, who shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the "discovery of the major histocompatibility complex genes which encode cell surface protein molecules important for the immune system's distinction between self and...
, Jean DaussetJean DaussetJean-Baptiste-Gabriel-Joachim Dausset was a French immunologist born in Toulouse, France. He married Rose Mayoral in 1963, with whom he had two children, Henri and Irène...
, George D. Snell
- Physics
- Turing AwardTuring AwardThe Turing Award, in full The ACM A.M. Turing Award, is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the...
– C. A. R. HoareC. A. R. HoareSir Charles Antony Richard Hoare , commonly known as Tony Hoare or C. A. R. Hoare, is a British computer scientist best known for the development of Quicksort, one of the world's most widely used sorting algorithms...
Deaths
- January 3 – Joy AdamsonJoy AdamsonJoy Adamson was a naturalist, artist, and author best known for her book, Born Free, which describes her experiences raising a lion cub named Elsa...
(b. 19101910 in scienceThe year 1910 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Albert Einstein and Marian Smoluchowski find the Einstein-Smoluchowski formula for the attenuation coefficient due to density fluctuations in a gas...
), wildlife conservationWildlife conservationWildlife conservation is the preservation, protection, or restoration of wildlife and their environment, especially in relation to endangered and vulnerable species. All living non-domesticated animals, even if bred, hatched or born in captivity, are considered wild animals. Wildlife represents all...
ist. - January 8 – John MauchlyJohn MauchlyJohn William Mauchly was an American physicist who, along with J. Presper Eckert, designed ENIAC, the first general purpose electronic digital computer, as well as EDVAC, BINAC and UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer made in the United States.Together they started the first computer company,...
(b. 19071907 in scienceThe year 1907 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Emil Fischer artificially synthesizes peptide amino acid chains and thereby shows that amino acids in proteins are connected by amino group-acid group bonds....
), co-inventor of the ENIACENIACENIAC was the first general-purpose electronic computer. It was a Turing-complete digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems....
computer. - February 7 – Secondo CampiniSecondo CampiniSecondo Campini was an Italian engineer and one of the pioneers of the jet engine.Campini was born at Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. In 1931 he wrote a proposal for the Italian Air Ministry on the value of jet propulsion and in 1932 demonstrated a jet-powered boat in Venice...
(b 19041904 in scienceThe year 1904 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy:* Edward Walter Maunder plots the first sunspot "butterfly diagram".* The sixth moon of Jupiter, later called Himalia, discovered at Lick Observatory....
), ItalianItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
jet engineJet engineA jet engine is a reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet to generate thrust by jet propulsion and in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, pulse jets...
pioneer. - May 28 – Rolf NevanlinnaRolf NevanlinnaRolf Herman Nevanlinna was one of the most famous Finnish mathematicians. He was particularly appreciated for his work in complex analysis.- The Nevanlinna family :...
(b. 18951895 in scienceThe year 1895 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* David Bruce discovers the Trypanosoma parasite carried by the tsetse fly which causes the fatal cattle disease nagana.-Chemistry:...
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - June 18 – Kazimierz KuratowskiKazimierz KuratowskiKazimierz Kuratowski was a Polish mathematician and logician. He was one of the leading representatives of the Warsaw School of Mathematics.-Biography and studies:...
(b. 18961896 in scienceThe year 1896 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Mathematics:* The prime number theorem on the distribution of primes is proved.* Charles L...
), PolishPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
mathematician. - July 1 – C. P. SnowC. P. SnowCharles Percy Snow, Baron Snow of the City of Leicester CBE was an English physicist and novelist who also served in several important positions with the UK government...
(b. 19051905 in scienceThe year 1905 in science and technology involved some significant events, particularly in physics, listed below.-Astronomy:* January 2 - Charles Dillon Perrine at Lick Observatory discovers Elara, one of Jupiter's natural satellites....
), physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and novelist - October 21 – Hans AspergerHans AspergerHans Asperger was an Austrian pediatrician, after whom Asperger syndrome was named. He wrote over 300 publications, mostly concerning autism in children.-Biography:...
(b. 19061906 in scienceThe year 1906 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Charles Barkla discovers that each element has a characteristic X-ray and that the degree of penetration of these X-rays is related to the atomic weight of the element.* Mikhail Tsvet first names the...
), AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n pediatrician. - November 4 – Elsie MacGillElsie MacGillElizabeth Muriel Gregory "Elsie" MacGill, OC , known as the "Queen of the Hurricanes", was the world's first female aircraft designer. She worked as an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War and did much to make Canada a powerhouse of aircraft construction during her years at Canadian...
(b. 19051905 in scienceThe year 1905 in science and technology involved some significant events, particularly in physics, listed below.-Astronomy:* January 2 - Charles Dillon Perrine at Lick Observatory discovers Elara, one of Jupiter's natural satellites....
), aeronauticalAeronauticsAeronautics is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft and rocketry within the atmosphere...
engineer, "Queen of the Hurricanes". - December 16 – Hellmuth WalterHellmuth WalterHellmuth Walter was a German engineer who pioneered research into rocket engines and gas turbines...
(b. 19001900 in scienceThe year 1900 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Aeronautics:* July 2 - The first airship flight is made by the LZ1 designed by Ferdinand von Zeppelin.-Chemistry:...
), engineer and inventor.