1989 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1989 in science and technology involved many significant events, some listed below.
Astronomy
- August – the asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
4769 Castalia4769 CastaliaThe asteroid 4769 Castalia was the first asteroid to be modeled by radar imaging. It is an Apollo, Mars- and Venus-crosser asteroid. It was discovered on August 9, 1989, by Eleanor F. Helin on photographic plates taken at Palomar Observatory...
is the first asteroid directly imaged, by radar from AreciboAreciboArecibo may refer to:*Arecibo, Puerto Rico, a municipality located by the Atlantic Ocean*Arecibo Observatory, a very sensitive radio telescope located approximately south-southwest from the city of Arecibo...
. - September 5 – PlutoPlutoPluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
–CharonCharon (moon)Charon is the largest satellite of the dwarf planet Pluto. It was discovered in 1978 at the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station. Following the 2005 discovery of two other natural satellites of Pluto , Charon may also be referred to as Pluto I...
barycentre comes to perihelionApsisAn apsis , plural apsides , is the point of greatest or least distance of a body from one of the foci of its elliptical orbit. In modern celestial mechanics this focus is also the center of attraction, which is usually the center of mass of the system...
. - Asteroid 5128 Wakabayashi5128 Wakabayashi5128 Wakabayashi is a main-belt asteroid discovered on March 30, 1989 by M. Koishikawa at Ayashi.- External links :**...
is discovered by Masahiro KoishikawaMasahiro Koishikawais a Japanese astronomer He has studied both major and minor planets, and has discovered asteroids and comets.- Employment :Koishikawa has been a staff member of the Sendai Astronomical Observatory since 1972. His research is based out of the Sendai's Ayashi station.- Asteroid 6097 :Asteroid 6097...
. - 4292 Aoba4292 Aoba4292 Aoba is a main-belt asteroid discovered on November 4, 1989 by Masahiro Koishikawa at Ayashi.- External links :*...
is discovered. - 4871 Riverside4871 Riverside4871 Riverside is a main-belt asteroid discovered on November 24, 1989 by M. Koishikawa at Ayashi Station.- External links :*...
is discovered. - 6089 Izumi6089 Izumi6089 Izumi is a main-belt asteroid discovered on January 5, 1989 by M. Koishikawa at Ayashi.- External links :*...
is discovered. - 6190 Rennes6190 Rennes6190 Rennes is a main-belt asteroid discovered on October 8, 1989 by M. Koishikawa at the Ayashi Station of the Sendai Astronomical Observatory....
is discovered - 8084 Dallas8084 Dallas8084 Dallas is a main-belt asteroid discovered on February 6, 1989 by M. Koishikawa at the Ayashi Station of the Sendai Astronomical Observatory.-External links:...
is discovered.
Biology
- The New Zealand Department of Conservation begins to implement a KakapoKakapoThe Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
Recovery Plan.
Environment
- The global concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere reaches 350 ppm (parts per million) by volume.
Computer science
- July 26 – A federal grand juryGrand juryA grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
indicts Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
student Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. for releasing a computer virusComputer virusA computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability...
, making him the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse ActComputer Fraud and Abuse ActThe Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is a law passed by the United States Congress in 1986, intended to reduce cracking of computer systems and to address federal computer-related offenses...
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Physics
- March 23 – Stanley PonsStanley PonsBobby Stanley Pons is an American-French electrochemist known for his work with Martin Fleischmann on cold fusion in the 1980s and '90s.-Early life:...
and Martin FleischmannMartin FleischmannMartin Fleischmann is a British chemist noted for his work in electrochemistry. He came to wider public prominence following his controversial publication of work with colleague Stanley Pons on cold fusion using palladium in the 1980s and '90s.-Early life:Born in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia,...
announce cold fusionCold fusionCold fusion, also called low-energy nuclear reaction , refers to the hypothesis that nuclear fusion might explain the results of a group of experiments conducted at ordinary temperatures . Both the experimental results and the hypothesis are disputed...
at the University of UtahUniversity of UtahThe University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
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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...
– Norman F. Ramsey, Hans G. Dehmelt, Wolfgang PaulWolfgang PaulWolfgang Paul was a German physicist, who co-developed the non-magnetic quadrupole mass filter which laid the foundation for what we now call an ion trap... - 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,...
– Sidney AltmanSidney AltmanSidney Altman is a Canadian American molecular biologist, who is currently the Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Chemistry at Yale University. In 1989 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas R...
, Thomas R. Cech - 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...
– J. Michael BishopJ. Michael Bishop-External links:**...
, Harold E. VarmusHarold E. VarmusHarold Elliot Varmus is an American Nobel Prize-winning scientist and the 14th and current Director of the National Cancer Institute, a post he was appointed to by President Barack Obama. He was a co-recipient Harold Elliot Varmus (born December 18, 1939) is an American Nobel Prize-winning...
- 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...
– William (Velvel) KahanWilliam KahanWilliam Morton Kahan is a mathematician and computer scientist who received the Turing Award in 1989 for "his fundamental contributions to numerical analysis", and was named an ACM Fellow in 1994....
Deaths
- February 27 – Konrad LorenzKonrad LorenzKonrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch...
(b. 19031903 in scienceThe year 1903 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Aeronautics:* December 17 - First documented, successful, controlled, powered flight of an aircraft with a petrol engine by Orville Wright in the Wright Flyer at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.* Konstantin...
), zoologist. - August 12 – William Bradford Shockley (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...
), 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...
. - August 20 – George AdamsonGeorge AdamsonGeorge Adamson , also known as the "Baba ya Simba" , was a British wildlife conservationist and author...
(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...
), 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. - August 29 – Peter Scott (b. 19091909 in scienceThe year 1909 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Summer - Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch first demonstrate the Haber process, the catalytic formation of ammonia from hydrogen and atmospheric nitrogen under conditions of high temperature and...
), conservationist. - October 11 – M. King HubbertM. King HubbertMarion King Hubbert was a geoscientist who worked at the Shell research lab in Houston, Texas. He made several important contributions to geology, geophysics, and petroleum geology, most notably the Hubbert curve and Hubbert peak theory , with important political ramifications. He was often...
(b. 19031903 in scienceThe year 1903 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Aeronautics:* December 17 - First documented, successful, controlled, powered flight of an aircraft with a petrol engine by Orville Wright in the Wright Flyer at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.* Konstantin...
), geophysicist. - December 14 – Andrei SakharovAndrei SakharovAndrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
(b. 19211921 in scienceThe year 1921 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Thomas Midgley discovers the effective anti-knocking properties of Tetra-ethyl lead, which is used in "leaded" gasoline .-Mathematics:...
), nuclearNuclear physicsNuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
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...
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