Editing 1966 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1966|science}}
{{Science year nav|1966}}

The year '''1966 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy and space exploration==
* February 3 – The unmanned Soviet [[Luna 9]] spacecraft makes the first controlled  rocket-assisted landing on the [[Moon]].
* March 1 – [[Venera 3]] Soviet [[space probe]] crashes on [[Venus]] becoming the first [[spacecraft]] to land on another [[planet]]'s surface.
* March 16 – [[NASA]] spacecraft [[Gemini 8]] ([[David Scott]], [[Neil Armstrong]]) conducts the first docking in space, with an [[Agena target vehicle]].
* March 31 – The [[Soviet Union]] launches [[Luna 10]] which later becomes the first spacecraft to enter orbit around the Moon.
* April 3 – [[Luna 10]] is the first manmade object to enter lunar orbit.
* May 25 – [[Explorer program]]: Satellite [[Explorer 32]] (Atmosphere Explorer-B) is launched from the United States.
* July 18 – [[Gemini 10]] ([[John Young (astronaut)|John Young]], [[Michael Collins (astronaut)|Michael Collins]]) is launched from the United States. After docking with an [[Agena target vehicle]], the astronauts then set a world altitude record of 474 miles (763&nbsp;km).
* August 10 – [[Lunar Orbiter 1]], the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit the Moon, is launched.
* November 17 – Notable display of the [[Leonids]] over the [[Americas]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Eye witness accounts of the 1966 Leonid Storm|publisher=P. Jenniskens/NASA-ARC|url=http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/1966.html|accessdate=2011-10-13}}</ref>
* December 15 – [[Janus (moon)|Janus]], one of the [[moons of Saturn]], is identified by [[Audouin Dollfus]] (it had been first photographed on October 29).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gingerich|first=Owen|title=Probable New Satellite of Saturn|date=1967-01-03|format=discovery|journal=[[IAU Circular]]|volume=1987|url=http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/01900/01987.html|accessdate=2011-12-28|ref={{sfnRef|IAUC 1987}}}}</ref>
* December 18 – [[Epimetheus (moon)|Epimetheus]], another of the moons of Saturn, is discovered, but mistaken for [[Janus (moon)|Janus]] which shares its orbit and they are not distinguished until [[1978 in science|1978]].
* [[Mullard Space Science Laboratory]] established in England.

==Biology==
* The first live specimen of a [[mountain pygmy possum]] (''Burramys parvus''), [[Australia]]'s only truly hibernating [[marsupial]], previously known only from the fossil record, is discovered.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Turner, Vivienne  |author2=McKay, G. M.|chapter=27. Burramyidae|editor=Walton, D.W. |editor2=Richardson, B. J. |year=1989|title=Fauna of Australia, Volume '''1B''': Mammalia|location=Canberra|publisher=Australian Government Publishing Service|isbn=0-644-06056-5}}</ref>
* [[Germans|German]] [[entomologist]] [[Willi Hennig]]'s ''Phylogenetic Systematics'' is published in [[English language|English]], advancing the study of [[cladistics]].

==Computer science==
* September 1 – While waiting at a bus stop [[Ralph H. Baer]], an inventor with [[Sanders Associates]] in the United States, writes a four-page document that lays out the basic principles for creating a video game to be played on a television: the beginning of a multibillion-dollar industry.
* [[Martin Richards (computer scientist)|Martin Richards]] designs the [[BCPL]] [[programming language]].
* [[Roger MacGowan]] and [[Frederick Ordway]] first suggest the concept of machine superorganisms in ''Intelligence in the Universe''.

==Earth science==
* [[Walter C. Pitman, III|Walter C. Pitman]] and James Heirtzler present the "magic" [[Eltanin Fault System|Eltanin]] marine [[magnetic anomaly]] profile that confirms the hypothesis of [[seafloor spreading]] at [[mid-ocean ridge]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The "revolution" of Plate Tectonics in earth sciences and the relationship between science, reason and truth|first=Xavier|last=Le Pichon|date=Summer 2013|volume=5|journal=Euresis Journal|url=http://www.euresisjournal.org/public/article/pdf/LePichon.pdf|accessdate=2014-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140308092112/http://www.euresisjournal.org/public/article/pdf/LePichon.pdf|archive-date=2014-03-08|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Mathematics==
* The [[Fabius function]] is published.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Fabius|first1=Jaap|title=A probabilistic example of a nowhere analytic {{math|''C''{{hsp}}<sup>∞</sup>}}-function|mr=0197656|year=1966|journal=Zeitschrift für Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie und Verwandte Gebiete|volume=5|issue=2 |pages=173–174|doi=10.1007/bf00536652|s2cid=122126180 }}</ref>
* [[Chen Jingrun]] publishes [[Chen's theorem]]: every [[sufficiently large]] [[even number]] can be written as the sum of a [[prime number|prime]] and a [[semiprime]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Tony|last=Crilly|title=50 Mathematical Ideas you really need to know|location=London|publisher=Quercus|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84724-008-8|page=37}}</ref>
* [[David Mumford]] introduces [[Mumford–Tate group]]s.<ref>{{Citation|last=Mumford|first=David|title=Algebraic Groups and Discontinuous Subgroups (Proc. Sympos. Pure Math. '''9''', Boulder, Colo., 1965)|publisher=[[American Mathematical Society]]|location=Providence, R.I.|mr=0206003 |year=1966|chapter=Families of abelian varieties|pages=347–351}}</ref>
* [[Euler's sum of powers conjecture]] is disproven by [[Leon J. Lander|L. J. Lander]] and [[Thomas Parkin (mathematician)|T. R. Parkin]] when, through a direct computer search on a [[CDC 6600]], they have found the counterexample 27<sup>5</sup> + 84<sup>5</sup> + 110<sup>5</sup> + 133<sup>5</sup> = 144<sup>5</sup>. Their paper<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lander |first1=L. J. |last2=Parkin |first2=T. R.|year=1966|title=Counterexample to Euler's conjecture on sums of like powers|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. |doi=10.1090/S0002-9904-1966-11654-3 |volume=72 |issue=6 |page=1079|doi-access=free }}</ref> announcing the result is one of the shortest published scientific articles ever published.

==Pharmacology==
* [[Gynecologist]] [[John McLean Morris]] and [[biologist]] [[Gertrude Van Wagenen]] at the [[Yale School of Medicine]] report the successful use of oral high-dose [[estrogen]] pills for [[Emergency contraception|post-coital contraception]] in women and [[rhesus macaque]] monkeys respectively.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901858,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408110025/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901858,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 8, 2008|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|title=Birth Control: The Morning-After Pill|date=1966-05-06|accessdate=2010-05-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Postcoital contraception|journal=IPPF Medical Bulletin|volume=1|issue=4|page=3|year=1967|pmid=12254703}}</ref>
* [[Salbutamol]], a [[bronchodilator]], is discovered by a team led by [[David Jack (scientist)|David Jack]] at the [[Allen & Hanburys]] laboratory in the UK; it is launched in 1969 under the trade name Ventolin.<ref>
{{cite news|title=Sir David Jack, who has died aged 87, was the scientific brain behind the rise of the pharmaceuticals company Glaxo|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/finance-obituaries/8897458/Sir-David-Jack.html|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=2011-11-17|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125011155/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/finance-obituaries/8897458/Sir-David-Jack.html|archive-date=2011-11-25}}</ref>

==Physiology and medicine==
* April 21 – An [[artificial heart]] is installed in the chest of Marcel DeRudder in a [[Houston, Texas]], hospital.
* [[Victor A. McKusick]] publishes the first edition of his catalogue of all known [[gene]]s and [[genetic disorder]]s, ''[[Mendelian Inheritance in Man]]''.
* [[Long-term potentiation]] (LTP), the putative [[cell (biology)|cellular]] mechanism of [[learning]] and [[memory]], is first observed by [[Terje Lømo]] in [[Oslo]], Norway.
* [[Andreas Rett]] first describes [[Rett syndrome]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rett|first=A.|title=On an unusual brain atrophy syndrome in hyperammonemia in childhood|language=German|journal=Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift|volume=116|issue=37|pages=723–6|date=September 1966|pmid=5300597}}</ref>

==Psychology==
* ''Human Sexual Response'' is published by [[Masters and Johnson]].
* ''[[On Aggression]]'' and ''[[Behind the Mirror: A Search for a Natural History of Human Knowledge|Behind the Mirror]]'' are published by [[Konrad Lorenz]].

==Technology==
* January – First proposals for [[optical fiber]] communication presented by [[Charles K. Kao]] with [[George Hockham]].<ref>{{cite journal|first1=K. C.|last1=Kao|first2=G. A.|last2=Hockham|date=July 1966|title=Dielectric-fibre surface waveguides for optical frequencies|journal=[[Proceedings of the Institution of Electrical Engineers]]|volume=113|issue=7|pages=1151–1158|doi=10.1049/piee.1966.0189}}</ref>
* May 2 – Scottish inventor [[James Goodfellow]] obtains a UK patent for an [[automated teller machine]] using a [[plastic card]] and [[Personal identification number|PIN]].<ref>UK Patent No.1,197,183. {{cite web|title=The man who really invented the cash machine|first=Steven|last=Brocklehurst|date=2017-06-27|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-40416025|work=BBC News|accessdate=2021-05-16}}</ref>
* October 16 – The "[[Caspian Sea Monster]]" [[ground-effect vehicle]] first flies in the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite book|last=Komissarov|first=Sergey|title=Russia's Ekranoplans: the Caspian Sea Monster and other WiG craft|year=2002|publisher=Midland Publishing|location=Hinkley|isbn=978-1857801460}}</ref>
* [[Marie Van Brittan Brown]] originates the home security system in the United States.

==Awards==
* [[Fermi Prize]] – [[Lise Meitner]] and [[Otto Hahn]]
* [[Fields Medal]] in mathematics – [[Michael Atiyah]], [[Paul Cohen]], [[Alexander Grothendieck]] and [[Stephen Smale]]
* [[Nobel Prize]]s
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Alfred Kastler]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[Robert S. Mulliken]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[Peyton Rous]], [[Charles Brenton Huggins]]
* [[Turing Award]] – [[Alan Perlis]]

==Births==
* February 23 – [[Didier Queloz]], [[Swiss people|Swiss]] [[astronomer]].
* April 14 – [[Polina Bayvel]], Ukrainian-born optical communications engineer.
* April 21 – [[Chris Whitty]], [[English people|English]] [[epidemiologist]], Chief Medical Officer for England.
* May 17 – [[Adrian Owen]], English [[neuroscientist]].
* June 13 – [[Grigori Perelman]], [[Russia]]n [[mathematician]].
* July 8 – [[Ralf Altmeyer]], [[German people|German]] [[virologist]].
* August 7 – [[Jimmy Wales]], [[Americans|American]] [[internet entrepreneur]].
* September 10 – [[Carolyn Bertozzi]], American winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].<ref>{{cite press release|title=Press release: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022|date=2022-10-05|publisher=The Nobel Prize|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2022/press-release/|accessdate=2022-10-06}}</ref>
* September 30 – [[Shankar Balasubramanian]], [[India]]n-born [[British people|British]] [[biochemist]].
* October 30 – [[Irene Tracey]], English neuroscientist and academic administrator.
* Undated – [[Victor Vescovo]], American explorer.

==Deaths==
* January 15 – [[Sergei Korolev]] (born [[1907 in science|1907]]), [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[space]] [[scientist]].
* March 1 – [[Fritz Houtermans]] (born [[1903 in science|1903]]), [[Prussia]]n-born [[Dutch people|Dutch]] [[physicist]].
* March 12 – [[Sydney Camm]] (born [[1893 in science|1893]]), [[English people|English]] [[aircraft designer]].
* March 26 – [[Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler]] (born [[1883 in science|1883]]), American mathematician.
* June 20 – Monsignor [[Georges Lemaître]] (born [[1894 in science|1894]]), [[Belgians|Belgian]] physicist.
* July 7 – [[George de Hevesy]] (born [[1885 in science|1885]]), [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].
* August 10 – [[Felix Andries Vening Meinesz]] (born [[1887 in science|1887]]), Dutch [[geophysicist]].
* October 1 – [[Mary Logan Reddick]] (born [[1914 in science|1914]]), African American neuroembryologist.
* October 3 – [[Rolf Maximilian Sievert]] (born [[1896 in science|1896]]), [[Swedish people|Swedish]] physicist.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1966 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1960s in science]]