Editing 1969 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1969|science}}
{{Science year nav|1969}}

The year '''1969 in [[science]]''' and [[technology]] involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy and space exploration==
[[File:Armstrong on Moon (As11-40-5886) (cropped).jpg|thumb|275px|[[Neil Armstrong]] on the Moon]]
* January 14 – [[Soyuz programme]]: The [[Soviet Union]] launches [[Soyuz 4]].
* January 15 – Soyuz programme: The Soviet Union launches [[Soyuz 5]].
* January 16 – First successful docking of two crewed spacecraft in orbit and the first transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another (by a [[space walk]]) between Soyuz 5 and Soyuz 4.<ref>{{cite news|title=Russians Master Space Docking|newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=1969-01-17|page=2}}</ref>
* January 18 – Failure of [[Soyuz 5]]'s service module to separate correctly causes a near-fatal re-entry (not publicly acknowledged until 1997) but the module makes a hard landing in the [[Ural Mountains]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=James|last=Oberg|authorlink=James Oberg|journal=Flight Journal|date=June 2002|volume=7|issue=3|title=Soyuz 5's Flaming Return|pages=56–60|url=https://www.jamesoberg.com/062002flightjournalsoyuz5.html|accessdate=2024-11-24}}</ref>
* March 3 – [[Apollo program]]: [[NASA]] launches [[Apollo 9]] to test the [[lunar module]].
* March 13 – [[Apollo program]]: [[Apollo 9]] returns safely to [[Earth]] after testing the [[Lunar Module]].
* May 16 – [[Venera program]]: [[Venera 5]], a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] spaceprobe, lands on [[Venus]].
* May 17 –  Venera program: [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Venera 6]] begins to descend into [[Venus]]', atmosphere sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.
* May 18 – [[Apollo program]]: [[Apollo 10]] launches.
* May 22 –  Apollo program: [[Apollo 10]]'s lunar module flies within 15,400 m of the [[Moon]]'s surface.
* May 26 – Apollo program: [[Apollo 10]] returns to [[Earth]] after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first human [[Moon]] landing.
* July 17 – ''[[The New York Times]]'' publicly retracts its ridicule of the rocket scientist [[Robert H. Goddard]] published on 13 January 1920 which stated that [[spaceflight]] is impossible.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astronauticsnow.com/history/goddard/index.html|title=Robert H. Goddard Story|work=astronauticsnow|access-date=2019-07-19}}</ref>
* July 20 – [[Apollo program]]: 20:17 UTC – The human race, represented by [[Neil Armstrong]] and [[Buzz Aldrin]], lands on the [[Moon]] in the [[Apollo 11]] [[Lunar Module Eagle|Lunar Module ''Eagle'']]. At 02:56 UTC on July 21 (22:56 ET July 20), Armstrong takes the first human step on the Moon's surface. Apollo 11 lifted off for the Moon on July 16 and returns safely on July 24.
* July 21 – [[Luna programme]]: 2 hours before the Apollo 11 lunar module lifts off from the Moon's surface, the Soviet uncrewed craft [[Luna 15]], launched on July 13 and intended to return samples from the Moon, crashes in [[Mare Crisium]].
* August 5 – [[Mariner program]]: [[Mariner 7]] makes its closest fly-by of [[Mars]] (3,524 kilometers).
* September 20 – Comet [[67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko]] is identified by Soviet astronomers [[Klim Churyumov]] and [[Svetlana Gerasimenko]].
* November 14 – [[Apollo program]]: [[NASA]] launches [[Apollo 12]], the second crewed mission to the surface of the [[Moon]].
* November 19 – [[Apollo program]]: [[Apollo 12]] astronauts [[Pete Conrad|Charles Conrad]] and [[Alan Bean]] land at [[Oceanus Procellarum]] ("Ocean of Storms") and become the third and fourth [[human]]s to walk on the [[Moon]].

==Biology==
* [[Thomas D. Brock]] and Hudson Freeze of Indiana University publish their findings on [[hyperthermophile|hyperthermophilic]] bacteria, most notably ''[[Thermus aquaticus]]'', a [[thermophilic]] [[bacterium]] species living at a temperature of 60-80&nbsp;°C in a [[hot spring]] at [[Yellowstone National Park]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brock|first1=Thomas D.|first2=Hudson|last2=Freeze|title=''Thermus aquaticus'' gen. n. and sp. n., a nonsporulating extreme thermophile|journal=[[Journal of Bacteriology]]|publisher=[[American Society for Microbiology]]|volume=98|issue=1|pages=289–297|date=August 1969|pmid=5781580|pmc=249935|doi=10.1128/jb.98.1.289-297.1969}}</ref> ''T. aquaticus'' (Taq) later becomes a standard source of enzymes able to withstand higher temperatures than those from ''E. Coli'' and is significant in the [[history of polymerase chain reaction]].
* Last [[Przewalski's Horse]] sighted in the wild, in [[Mongolia]].
* Marked decline in [[common whitethroat]]s due to [[Sahel drought]] draws attention to effects of climate on migratory species.

==Chemistry==
* [[Dorothy Hodgkin]] and colleagues at the [[University of Oxford]] determine the structure of [[insulin]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Adams, M. J.|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|doi=10.1038/224491a0|date=1969-11-01|volume=224|issue=5218|pages=491–495|title=Structure of Rhombohedral 2 Zinc Insulin Crystals|bibcode = 1969Natur.224..491A |s2cid=4216737 |display-authors=etal}}</ref>

==Computer science==
* April 7 – {{IETF RFC|1}}, the first [[Request for Comments]] document from the [[Internet Engineering Task Force]], is published.
* October 29 – The first [[ARPANET]] message is sent, between computers at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] (UCLA) and [[Stanford Research Institute]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Browsing history: A heritage site is being set up in Boelter Hall 3420, the room the first Internet message originated in|url=http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2011/04/browsing_history|first=Jessica|last=Savio|work=Daily Bruin|publisher=UCLA|date=2011-04-01|access-date=2012-10-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105180925/http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2011/04/browsing_history|archive-date=2012-01-05|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* November 21 – The first permanent ARPANET link is established, between [[Interface Message Processor]]s at UCLA and Stanford.<ref>{{cite web|title=Internet Began 35 Years Ago at UCLA with First Message Ever Sent Between Two Computers|url=http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/stories/2004/Internet35.htm|first=Chris|last=Sutton|publisher=UCLA|date=2004-09-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308120314/http://www.engineer.ucla.edu/stories/2004/Internet35.htm|archive-date=8 March 2008}}</ref>
* The [[B (programming language)|B]] programming language is developed at [[Bell Labs]] by [[Ken Thompson (computer programmer)|Ken Thompson]] and [[Dennis Ritchie]].
* [[Charge-coupled device|CCD]] invented at [[AT&T]] [[Bell Labs]], used as the electronic imager in still and video cameras.
* The [[laser printer]] is invented at [[Xerox]] by [[Gary Starkweather]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Milestones in Computer Science and Information Technology|first=Edwin D.|last=Reilly|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=2003|isbn=1-57356-521-0|url=https://archive.org/details/milestonesincomp0000reil|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/milestonesincomp0000reil/page/152 152]|quote=starkweather laser-printer.}}</ref>
* Initial release of [[Multics]] ("Multiplexed Information and Computing Service"), an influential early [[time-sharing]] [[operating system]] based on the concept of a [[single-level store|single-level memory]].<ref name="Ritchie84">Dennis M. Ritchie, "The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System", Communications of the ACM, Vol. 17, 1984, pp. 365-375.</ref>

==Medicine==
* March – The condition [[diffuse panbronchiolitis]] is named, in [[Japan]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Yamanaka|first1=A.|last2=Saiki|first2=S.|last3=Tamura|first3=S.|last4=Saito|first4=K.|title=Problems in chronic obstructive bronchial diseases, with special reference to diffuse panbronchiolitis|language=ja|journal=Naika|volume=23|issue=3|pages=442–451|year=1969|pmid=5783341}}</ref>
* April 4 – Surgeons [[Denton Cooley]] and [[Domingo Liotta]] implant the first temporary [[artificial heart]].
* May 15 – A teenager known as '[[Robert R.]]' dies in [[St. Louis, Missouri]], of a baffling medical condition. In 1984 it will be identified as the earliest confirmed case of [[HIV/AIDS]] in [[North America]]. The first strain of the [[AIDS virus]] ([[HIV]]) has probably migrated to the United States via [[Haiti]].<ref>{{cite web|title=AIDS Virus Came to US Via Haiti|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2007-10-30-voa66/331077.html|date=2007-10-30|access-date=2011-10-22|publisher=[[Voice of America]]}}</ref>
* International adoption of the diagnostic term '[[Sudden infant death syndrome]]'.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sudden Infant Death Syndrome|first=Patrick L.|last=Carolan|url=http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1004238-overview|work=Medscape|access-date=2012-01-26}}</ref>
* [[Wolf Wolfensberger]] publishes "The Origin and Nature of Our Institutional Models", influential in the move away from a [[medical model of disability]] towards the [[deinstitutionalisation]] of those with [[intellectual disability]].<ref>{{Cite web|first=Wolf|last=Wolfensberger|title=The Origin and Nature of Our Institutional Models
|url=http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/lib/docs/1909.htm?page=print|date=1969-01-10|publisher=President's Committee on Mental Retardation|location=Washington, D.C.|work=Changing Patterns in Residential Services for the Mentally Retarded|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060512185841/http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/lib/docs/1909.htm?page=print|archive-date=2006-05-12}}</ref>

==Meteorology==
* Late January – [[Eugene, Oregon]], has a record snowfall of 3 feet in 3 days: a [[pineapple express]] moves into the region with a shot of cold air, followed by some snow showers.
* [[Herbert Saffir]] and [[Bob Simpson (meteorologist)|Bob Simpson]] develop the [[Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale]].

==Paleontology==
* [[John Ostrom]] publishes his findings on the [[dinosaur]] ''[[Deinonychus]]'', describing it as 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|journal=Peabody Museum of Natural History Bulletin|volume=30|pages=1–165|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/10658785#7}}</ref>

==Physics==
* [[Yoichiro Nambu]] and [[Leonard Susskind]] make the first presentations of [[string theory]].<ref>{{cite arXiv|eprint=hep-th/0007118|title=String Theory: The Early Years|first=John H.|last=Schwarz|year=2000}}</ref>
* [[Spain]] withdraws from [[CERN]].

==Awards==
* [[Nobel Prize]]s
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Murray Gell-Mann]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[Derek Harold Richard Barton]], [[Odd Hassel]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[Max Delbrück]], [[Alfred D. Hershey]], [[Salvador Luria]]
* [[Turing Award]] – [[Marvin Minsky]]

==Births==
* October 7 – [[Karen L. Nyberg]], [[Americans|American]] space engineer and [[astronaut]].
* December 16 – [[Adam Riess]], American [[astrophysicist]], [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel laureate in Physics]] in [[2011 in science|2011]].
* December 28 – [[Linus Torvalds]], [[Finns|Finnish]] [[computer programmer]].
* [[Nicola Fox]], English-born [[Heliophysics|heliophysicist]] and space scientist.
* [[Thomas Reardon]], American computer programmer.

==Deaths==
* March 3 – [[Elizabeth Laird (physicist)|Elizabeth Laird]] (born [[1874 in science|1874]]), [[Canadians|Canadian]] [[physicist]].
* April 8 – [[Zinaida Aksentyeva]] (born [[1900 in science|1900]]), Ukrainian/Soviet astronomer and gephysicist.
* May 8 – [[Sydney Smith (forensic expert)|Sir Sydney Smith]] (born [[1883 in science|1883]]), New Zealand-born [[Forensic pathology|forensic pathologist]].
* May 14 – [[Walter Pitts]] (born [[1923 in science|1923]]), American [[logician]] and [[cognitive psychologist]].
* June 1 – [[Michiyo Tsujimura]] (born [[1888 in science|1888]]), Japanese agricultural scientist
* June 18 – [[Edgar Anderson]] (born [[1897 in science|1897]]), American botanist
* June 24 – [[Willy Ley]] (born [[1906 in science|1906]]), [[German American]] scientific populariser.
* August 8 – [[Otmar von Verschuer]] (born [[1896 in science|1896]]), [[German people|German]] [[eugenicist]].
* August 9 – [[C. F. Powell]] (born [[1903 in science|1903]]), British physicist, [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize]] laureate in 1950.
* August 17 – [[Otto Stern]] (born [[1888 in science|1888]]), German [[physicist]], [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel laureate in Physics]] in [[1943 in science|1943]].
* September 16 – [[Henry Fairfield Osborn, Jr.]] (born [[1887 in science|1887]]), American [[conservation movement|conservationist]].
* September 24 – [[Warren Sturgis McCulloch]] (born [[1898 in science|1898]]), American [[neurophysiologist]] and [[cybernetics|cybernetician]].
* October 21 – [[Wacław Sierpiński]] (born [[1882 in science|1882]]), [[Poland|Polish]] [[mathematician]].
* November 12 – [[William F. Friedman]] (born [[1891 in science|1891]]), [[Russian American]] [[cryptanalyst]].

== References ==
{{reflist}}

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[[Category:1969 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1960s in science]]