Editing 1964 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1964|science}}
{{Science year nav|1964}}

The year '''1964 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy and space exploration==
* January 30 – The Soviet Union launches the first [[Elektron (satellite program)|Elektron]] satellites.
* Spring – First recognition of [[cosmic microwave background radiation]] as a detectable phenomenon.<ref>In a brief paper by [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] astrophysicists [[A. G. Doroshkevich]] and [[Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov|Igor Novikov]]. {{cite web|last=Penzias|first=A. A.|year=2006|title=The origin of elements|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1978/penzias-lecture.pdf|work=Nobel lecture|publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]]|accessdate=2006-10-04}}</ref>  The discovery and confirmation of the [[Cosmic microwave background]] in 1964 secured the Big Bang as the best theory of the origin and evolution of the universe.
* March 20 – The precursor of the [[European Space Agency]], [[ESRO]] (European Space Research Organization) is established (under an agreement of June 14, 1962).
* July 31 – [[Ranger program]]: [[Ranger 7]] sends back the first close-up photographs of the [[Moon]]; images are 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from Earth-bound [[telescope]]s.
* October 12 – The Soviet Union launches the [[Voskhod 1]] into Earth [[orbit]] as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without [[space suit]]s (the crew wouldn't fit in the space capsule otherwise).

==Biology==
* British molecular biologist [[Robin Holliday]] proposes existence of the [[Holliday junction]] in [[nucleic acid]].

==Computer science==
* April 7 – [[IBM]] announces the [[System/360]], in six models with 32-bit architecture.
* May 1 – [[John George Kemeny]] and [[Thomas Eugene Kurtz]] run the first program created in [[BASIC programming language|BASIC]] (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), an easy to learn high level [[programming language]] that will eventually be included on many [[computer]]s and even some games consoles.
* [[PL/I]] (Programming Language I), a block-structured computer language, is created by [[George Radin]], while at [[IBM]].
* [[Programma 101]] is announced at the [[1964 New York World's Fair|World's Fair]]. Invented by the Italian engineer [[Pier Giorgio Perotto]], It is one of the first commercial desktop [[programmable calculator]]s.

==Earth sciences==
* March 27 ([[Good Friday]]) – [[1964 Alaska earthquake|Great Alaskan earthquake]], the [[Lists of earthquakes#Strongest earthquakes by magnitude|second most powerful]] known, with a [[Moment magnitude scale|magnitude]] of 9.2.<ref>{{cite web|date=2012-07-18|title=Largest Earthquakes in the World Since 1900|url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/10_largest_world.php|publisher=[[U.S. Geological Survey]]|accessdate=2012-09-05|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101107224716/http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/10_largest_world.php|archivedate=2010-11-07}}</ref>
* Swiss geologist [[Augusto Gansser-Biaggi|Augusto Gansser]] publishes ''Geology of the Himalayas''.

==History of science and technology==
* January 23 – The [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s [[National Museum of American History|Museum of History and Technology]] opens to the public in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Mission & History|date=March 2012|url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/museum/mission-history|publisher=National Museum of American History|accessdate=2018-02-14}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* [[Paul Cohen (mathematician)|Paul Cohen]] proves the [[independence (mathematical logic)|independence]] of the [[continuum hypothesis]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Crilly|first=T.|year=2007|title=50 Mathematical Ideas you really need to know|page=73|publisher=Quercus|isbn=978-1-84724-008-8}}</ref>
* [[Jacques Tits]] publishes significant work on [[group theory]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Tits|first=J.|year=1964|title=Algebraic and abstract simple groups|journal=[[Annals of Mathematics]]|series=Second Series|volume=80|pages=313–329|jstor=1970394|mr=0164968|doi=10.2307/1970394|issue=2}}</ref>

==Paleontology==
* August – [[John Ostrom]] identifies remains of the [[dinosaur]] ''[[Deinonychus]]'' in [[Montana]], significant in being a small, agile species closely related to the birds.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ostrom|first=J. H.|year=1969|title=Osteology of ''Deinonychus antirrhopus'', an unusual theropod from the Lower Cretaceous of Montana|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/10658785|journal=Peabody Museum of Natural History Bulletin|volume=30|pages=1–165}}</ref>

==Physics==
* Three [[1964 PRL symmetry breaking papers|papers]] are published by [[Robert Brout]] and [[François Englert]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Englert|first1=F.|last2=Brout|first2=R.|year=1964|title=Broken Symmetry and the Mass of Gauge Vector Mesons|journal=[[Physical Review Letters]]|volume=13|pages=321–323|bibcode=1964PhRvL..13..321E|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.13.321|issue=9|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite arXiv|last1=Brout|first1=R.|last2=Englert|first2=F.|year=1998|title=Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking in Gauge Theories: A Historical Survey|eprint=hep-th/9802142}}</ref> [[Peter Higgs]],<ref name="Peter W. Higgs 1964 508-509">{{cite journal|last=Higgs|first=P. W.|year=1964|title=Broken Symmetries and the Masses of Gauge Bosons|journal=[[Physical Review Letters]]|volume=13|pages=508–509|bibcode=1964PhRvL..13..508H|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.13.508|issue=16|doi-access=free}}</ref> and [[Gerald Guralnik]], [[C. R. Hagen|Dick Hagen]], and [[Tom W. B. Kibble|Tom Kibble]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Guralnik|first1=G. S.|last2=Hagen|first2=C. R.|last3=Kibble|first3=T. W. B.|year=1964|title=Global Conservation Laws and Massless Particles|journal=[[Physical Review Letters]]|volume=13|pages=585–587|bibcode=1964PhRvL..13..585G|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.13.585|issue=20|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Guralnik|first=G. S.|year=2009|title=The History of the Guralnik, Hagen and Kibble development of the Theory of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking and Gauge Particles|journal=[[International Journal of Modern Physics A]]|volume=24|pages=2601–2627|arxiv=0907.3466|bibcode=2009IJMPA..24.2601G|doi=10.1142/S0217751X09045431|issue=14|s2cid=16298371}}</ref> predicting the [[Higgs boson]] and [[Higgs mechanism]] (or Englert–Brout–Higgs–Guralnik–Hagen–Kibble mechanism) which provides the means by which [[gauge bosons]] can acquire non-zero masses in the process of spontaneous [[symmetry breaking]].<ref>{{cite journal
|last=Kibble|first=T. W. B.|year=2009|title=Englert–Brout–Higgs–Guralnik–Hagen–Kibble mechanism|journal=[[Scholarpedia]]|volume=4|issue=1|page=6441|doi=10.4249/scholarpedia.6441|bibcode = 2009SchpJ...4.6441K |doi-access=free}}</ref> As part of ''[[Physical Review Letters]]''{{'}} 50th anniversary celebration, the journal will recognize each of these contributions as milestone [[1964 PRL symmetry breaking papers|papers]] in its history.<ref>[http://prl.aps.org/50years/milestones#1964 ''Physical Review Letters'' 50th Anniversary Milestone Papers].</ref>
* Existence of the [[charm quark]] is speculated by [[James Bjorken]] and [[Sheldon Glashow]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bjørken|first1=B. J.|last2=Glashow|first2=S. L.|year=1964|title=Elementary particles and SU(4)|journal=[[Physics Letters]]|volume=11 |issue=3|pages=255–257|bibcode=1964PhL....11..255B|doi=10.1016/0031-9163(64)90433-0}}</ref>
* [[John Stewart Bell]] publishes a paper on the [[EPR paradox]] originating [[Bell's theorem]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bell|first=John S.|year=1964|title=On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen Paradox |journal=[[Physics Physique Физика]] |volume=1|issue=3|pages=195–200|doi=10.1103/PhysicsPhysiqueFizika.1.195|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Physiology and medicine==
* January 11 – [[United States Surgeon General|U.S. Surgeon General]] Luther Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous to health in the first such statement from the [[Federal government of the United States]].
* January 16 – First [[angioplasty]] carried out, on the [[superficial femoral artery]] by U.S. [[interventional radiologist]] [[Charles Dotter]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dotter|first1=C. T.|last2=Judkins|first2=M. P.|year=1964|title=Transluminal Treatment of Arteriosclerotic Obstruction: Description of a New Technic and a Preliminary Report of Its Application|url=http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/30/5/654.full.pdf+html|journal=[[Circulation (journal)|Circulation]]|volume=30|issue=5|pages=654–670|doi=10.1161/01.CIR.30.5.654|pmid=14226164|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rösch|first1=J.|last2=Keller|first2=F. S.|last3=Kaufman|first3=J. A.|year=2003|title=The Birth, Early Years, and Future of Interventional Radiology|journal=Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology|volume=14|issue=7|pages=841–853|pmid=12847192|doi=10.1097/01.RVI.0000083840.97061.5b}}</ref>
* January 23 – First [[heart transplantation]] on a human, using a [[Common chimpanzee|chimpanzee]] heart, carried out by U.S. surgeon James D. Hardy on Boyd Rush, but the organ is rejected after a few hours.
* March 28 – The [[Epstein-Barr virus]] is first described, by [[Anthony Epstein]], [[Bert Achong]] and [[Yvonne Barr]] in London.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Epstein, M. A. |author2=Achong, B. G. |author3=Barr, Y. M. |date=1964-03-28|title=Virus particles in cultured lymphoblasts from Burkitt's lymphoma|journal=[[The Lancet]]|volume=1|issue=7335|pages=702–703|pmid=14107961|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(64)91524-7}}</ref>
* June 27 – [[Iain Macintyre]]'s group reports it has isolated and sequenced the newly discovered hormone [[calcitonin]] and demonstrates its origin in the [[parafollicular cell]]s of the [[thyroid gland]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Foster|first1=G. V.|last2=Baghdiantz|first2=A.|last3=Kumar|first3=M. A.|last4=Slack|first4=E.|last5=Soliman|first5=H. A.|last6=MacIntyre|first6=I.|date=1964|title=Thyroid origin of Calcitonin|url=http://www.nature.com/articles/2021303a0|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|language=en|volume=202|issue=4939|pages=1303–1305|doi=10.1038/2021303a0|pmid=14210962|bibcode=1964Natur.202.1303F|s2cid=2443410|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
* [[Jerome Horwitz]] synthesizes [[zidovudine]] (AZT), an [[antiviral drug]] that will come to be used in treating [[HIV]].
* [[Temazepam]] first synthesized.
* [[Lesch–Nyhan syndrome]] is first described, by Drs Michael Lesch and William Nyhan.
* Fernando Alves Martins of [[Portugal]] applies [[optical fiber]] technology to a gastrocamera to produce the first such device with a flexible fiberscope, for use in [[esophagogastroduodenoscopy]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Martins|first=F. A.|date=30 June 2009|title=O Endoscópio|url=http://inventonices.blogspot.com/2009/06/o-endoscopio.html|language=Portuguese|work=Fernando Alves Martins' Blog|accessdate=2012-02-07}}</ref>

==Psychology==
* Publication of [[Eric Berne]]'s book ''[[Games People Play (book)|Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships]]'' in the United States.

==Technology==
* October – Dr. [[Robert Moog]] demonstrates his prototype [[Moog synthesizer|synthesizers]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Moog|first=R. A.|year=1965|title=Voltage-Controlled Electronic Music Modules|journal=Journal of the Audio Engineering Society|volume=13|issue=3|pages=200–206}}</ref>
* [[Farrington Daniels]]' book ''Direct Use of the Sun's Energy'' is published.<ref>[[Yale University Press]].</ref>

==Publications==
* ''[[Science Citation Index]]'' begins publication.

==Awards==
* [[Nobel Prize]]s
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Charles Hard Townes]], [[Nicolay Gennadiyevich Basov]], [[Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov|Aleksandr Prokhorov]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[Konrad Bloch]], [[Feodor Lynen]]

==Births==
* January 2 – [[Michael J. Horowitz]], [[Americans|American]] [[electrical engineer]].
* March 5 – [[Yoshua Bengio]], French-born Canadian computer scientist.
* June 5 – [[Dukagjin Pupovci]], Kosovo Albanian professor<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.see-educoop.net/experts/data/dukagjin_pupovci.htm | title=See ECN Expert | publisher=[[South East European University]] | accessdate=18 July 2014 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101018094022/http://www.see-educoop.net/experts/data/dukagjin_pupovci.htm | archivedate=18 October 2010 | df=dmy-all }}</ref>
* February 19 – [[Jennifer Doudna]], American [[biochemist]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Jennifer Doudna {{!}} American biochemist |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jennifer-Doudna |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |accessdate=7 October 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
* August 25 – [[Maxim Kontsevich]], [[Russia]]n [[mathematician]].
* [[Gillian Reid]], Scottish-born inorganic chemist

==Deaths==
* February 5 – [[Matilde E. Moisant]] (born [[1878 in science|1878]]), [[Americans|American]] pioneer [[aviator]].
* February 20 – [[Verena Holmes]] (born [[1889 in science|1889]]), [[English people|English]] mechanical engineer and inventor.
* April 14 – [[Tatiana Ehrenfest-Afanaseva]] (born [[1876 in science|1876]]), Russian-born Dutch mathematician.
* April 24 – [[Gerhard Domagk]] (born [[1895 in science|1895]]), [[German people|German]] [[pathologist]] and [[bacteriologist]], winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]].
* May 30 – [[Leó Szilárd]] (born [[1898 in science|1898]]), Hungarian-American physicist.
* June 7 – [[Arthur O. Austin]] (born [[1879 in science|1879]]), American electrical engineer.
* October – [[Guy Stewart Callendar]] (born [[1898 in science|1898]]), English thermodynamic engineer and climatologist.
* December 1 – [[J. B. S. Haldane]] (born [[1892 in science|1892]]), [[British people|British]] [[geneticist]].
* December 17 – [[Victor Franz Hess]] (born [[1883 in science|1883]]), American [[physicist]].
* December 30 – [[Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt]] (born [[1885 in science|1885]]), German [[neuropathologist]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1964 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1960s in science]]