Editing 1979 in science (section)

==Medicine==
* August – The [[eating disorder]] ''[[Bulimia nervosa]]'' is first described and named by British psychiatrist [[Gerald Russell]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Russell|first=Gerald|title=Bulimia nervosa: an ominous variant of anorexia nervosa|journal=[[Psychological Medicine]]|volume=9|issue=3|pages=429–48|date=August 1979|pmid=482466|doi=10.1017/S0033291700031974|s2cid=23973384 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Palmer|first=Robert|title=Bulimia nervosa: 25 years on|journal=[[British Journal of Psychiatry]]|volume=185|issue=6|pages=447–8|date=December 2004|pmid=15572732|doi=10.1192/bjp.185.6.447|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* December 9 – The [[World Health Organization]] certifies the global eradication of [[smallpox]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Smallpox |work=WHO Factsheet |url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/smallpox/en/ |accessdate=2007-09-22 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070921235036/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/smallpox/en/ |archivedate=2007-09-21 }}</ref>
* The last naturally occurring cases of [[polio]] are reported in the United States.
* Tumor [[protein]] [[p53]] is identified by [[Lionel Crawford]], [[David Lane (oncologist)|David Lane]], [[Arnold J. Levine]] and [[Lloyd J. Old]].