Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
1977 in science
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] --> {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2012}} {{Year nav topic5|1977|science}} {{Science year nav|1977}} The year '''1977 in science''' and technology involved some significant events, listed below. == Astronomy and space exploration == * March 10 – [[Rings of Uranus]] discovered by [[Kuiper Airborne Observatory]] measurements of star [[occultation]]. * August 12 – The [[NASA]] [[Space Shuttle Enterprise|Space Shuttle ''Enterprise'']] makes its first test free-flight from the back of a jetliner. * August 15 – [[Ohio State University Radio Observatory]], working on the [[SETI]] project, receives a strong [[narrowband]] radio signal from deep space; the event is named the [[Wow! signal]] for a notation made by researcher [[Jerry R. Ehman]]. * August 20 – [[Voyager program]]: The United States launches the ''[[Voyager 2]]'' spacecraft. * September 5 – [[Voyager program]]: ''[[Voyager 1]]'' is launched after a brief delay. * September 20 – [[Petrozavodsk phenomenon]] observed in northern skies. * [[2060 Chiron]], first of the outer [[Solar System]] [[asteroid]]s known as [[Centaur (planetoid)|Centaurs]], discovered by [[Charlie Kowal]]. * Discovery of the [[Carina Dwarf]] galaxy by the [[UK Schmidt Telescope]]. * [[Thorne–Żytkow object]]s, a bizarre hybrid of [[red supergiant]]s and [[neutron star]]s, are first theorised. ==Biology== * The first complete [[genome]] is sequenced - a tiny bacterium-infecting virus called [[Phi X 174]], with just 11 genes, and a little over 5000 base pairs.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sequencing technologies|url=http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTX059576.html|work=The Human Genome|publisher=[[Wellcome Trust]]|accessdate=2012-10-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109134523/http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTX059576.html|archive-date=November 9, 2012|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> * [[Carl Woese]] and [[George E. Fox]] classify [[archaea]] as a new, separate domain of life.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Woese|first1=Carl R.|last2=Fox|first2=George E.|title=Phylogenetic structure of the prokaryotic domain: The primary kingdoms|journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]]|location=United States|volume=74|issue=11|pages=5088–90|year=1977|pmid=270744|pmc=432104|doi=10.1073/pnas.74.11.5088|bibcode=1977PNAS...74.5088W|doi-access=free}}</ref> * [[FDA|U.S. Food and Drug Administration]] approves LAL ([[Limulus amebocyte lysate]]) for testing drugs, products and devices that come in contact with the blood. Prior to this date, a much slower and more expensive [[Depyrogenation#Pyrogen detection|test on rabbits ]] has been used for this purpose. * October 22 – ''[[Nothomyrmecia]]'', the "dinosaur ant", is rediscovered, in [[Poochera, South Australia]], more than 45 years after it is first described. ==Chemistry== * [[Frederick Sanger]] and colleagues introduce [[Sanger sequencing]].<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1073/pnas.74.12.5463|last1=Sanger|first1=F.|last2=Nicklen|first2=S.|last3=Coulson|first3=A. R.|title=DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|location=United States|year=1977|volume=74|issue=12|pages=5463–5467|pmid=271968|pmc=431765|bibcode=1977PNAS...74.5463S|doi-access=free}}</ref> ==Computer science== * January – The [[Commodore PET]] is announced at Winter CES. The first units are delivered to customers in October; back-orders for the popular system last for months and in early 1978 Commodore discontinues the 4KB model. The PET is the launch computer for Commodore which will later gain prominence with the [[Commodore 64]] in 1982, the single most produced home computer with over 17 million produced.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://oldcomputers.net/c64.html|title = Commodore 64 computer}}</ref> * June 5 – The first [[Apple II]] [[home computer]]s (largely designed by [[Steve Wozniak]]) go on sale in the U.S., among the first successful mass-produced [[microcomputer]]s.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/06/dayintech_0605|title=June 5, 1977: From a Little Apple a Mighty Industry Grows|magazine=Wired|first=Tony|last=Long|date=June 5, 2007|accessdate=June 2, 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528031056/http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/06/dayintech_0605|archivedate=May 28, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Reimer|first=Jeremy|url=https://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/total-share.ars/4|title=Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures|work=Ars Technica|date=December 14, 2005|accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref> * August 3 – The [[TRS-80]] Model I is announced at a press conference in New York City. Radio Shack begin sales in September, and despite a sales forecast of only 3,000 units per year, over 10,000 are sold in just one and a half months. Radio Shack will later develop an entire line of computers over the following 20 years. * September – The [[Atari 2600]] [[home video game console]] is released. ==Cryptography== * [[RSA algorithm]] for [[public-key cryptography]] is described by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman at MIT. ==History of science== * [[Roy Porter]] publishes ''The Making of Geology: Earth Science in Britain 1660-1815''. * [[Brian Randell]] and [[Allen Coombs]] publish the first detailed information on the 1943 [[Colossus computer]].<ref>Brian Randell, "The First Electronic Computer", ''New Scientist'', 10 February 1977; ''IBM UK News'', 4 March 1967; A. W. M. Coombs, "COLOSSUS and the History of Computing: Dollis Hill’s Important Contribution", ''The Post Office Electrical Engineers' Journal'' 70:2 (July 1977), pp. 108–110.</ref> ==Mathematics== * November – [[Graham's number]] first becomes popularly known.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Gardner, Martin|authorlink=Martin Gardner|title=Mathematical Games|journal= Scientific American|volume=237|issue=5|pages=18–28|date=November 1977|url-access=subscription|url=http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v237/n5/pdf/scientificamerican1177-18.pdf|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1177-18|bibcode=1977SciAm.237e..18G}} Rev. repr. in: {{cite book|year=2001|title=The Colossal Book of Mathematics: Classic Puzzles, Paradoxes and Problems|isbn=978-0-393-02023-6|first=Martin|last=Gardner|publisher=Norton|location=New York}}</ref> * [[Hillel Furstenberg]] reformulates [[Szemerédi's theorem]] according to [[ergodic theory]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=Hillel|last=Furstenberg|title=Ergodic behavior of diagonal measures and a theorem of Szemerédi on arithmetic progressions|journal=[[Journal d'Analyse Mathématique]]|volume=31|pages=204–256|year=1977|mr=0498471|doi=10.1007/BF02813304|doi-access=free|s2cid=120917478}}</ref> * [[Lajos Szilassi]] discovers the [[Szilassi polyhedron]]. * Joel L. Weiner describes a version of the [[tennis ball theorem]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Weiner|first=Joel L.|issue=3|journal=Journal of Differential Geometry|mr=0514446|pages=425–434|title=Global properties of spherical curves|volume=12|year=1977|doi=10.4310/jdg/1214434093|doi-access=free}}</ref> == Medicine == * January 18 – Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the "[[Legionnaires' disease]]". * July 3 – Dr [[Raymond Damadian]] with Larry Minkoff and Michael Goldsmith perform the first [[magnetic resonance imaging]] body scan of a human.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Damadian, R. |author2=Goldsmith, M. |author3=Minkoff, L. |year=1977|title=NMR in cancer: XVI. Fonar image of the live human body|journal=Physiological Chemistry and Physics|volume=9|issue=1 |pages=97–100|pmid=909957 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1=Hinshaw, D. S. |author2=Bottomley, P. A. |author3=Holland, G. N. |year=1977|title=Radiographic thin-section image of the human wrist by nuclear magnetic resonance|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|volume=270|pages=722–723|doi=10.1038/270722a0|issue=5639|bibcode=1977Natur.270..722H|pmid=593393|s2cid=4183336 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=First MRI and ultrasound scanning |publisher=Benjamin S. Beck |url=http://benbeck.co.uk/firsts/scanning.htm |accessdate=4 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120221919/http://benbeck.co.uk/firsts/scanning.htm |archivedate=November 20, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The "Indomitable" MRI |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/object_jun00.html?c=y&page=2 |accessdate=4 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120909191216/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/object_jun00.html?c=y&page=2 |archivedate=September 9, 2012 }}</ref> * September 16 – The first [[percutaneous coronary intervention]] on a sentient patient is performed by cardiologist [[Andreas Gruentzig]] in Zurich.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biographical Sketch of Andreas Gruentzig (1939–1985)|url=http://www.ptca.org/archive/bios/gruentzig.html|work=Angioplasty.Org|accessdate=November 8, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Meier|first1=Bernhard|last2=Bachmann|first2=Dölf|last3=Lüscher|first3=Thomas F.|title=25 years of coronary angioplasty: almost a fairy tale|url=http://www.lancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(03)12470-1/fulltext|journal=[[The Lancet]]|volume=361|issue=9356|page=527|date=February 8, 2003|pmid=12583964|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(03)12470-1|s2cid=19237951|accessdate=November 8, 2011|doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}}</ref> * October 26 – The world's last natural infection of [[smallpox]] is reported in [[Somalia]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Waldman|first=Thomas A.|year=2003|url=http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nm/journal/v9/n3/full/nm0303-269.html&filetype=pdf|format=PDF|title=Immunotherapy: past, present and future|journal=[[Nature Medicine]]|volume=9|pages=269–277|doi=10.1038/nm0303-269|pmid=12612576|issue=3|s2cid=9745527|accessdate=10 March 2005<!--DASHBot-->|doi-access=free}}</ref> * December 16 – The first microelectronic multi-channel [[cochlear implant]], developed by [[Ingeborg Hochmair]] and [[Erwin Hochmair]], is implanted. == Oceanography == * February 7 – Discovery of deep ocean [[hydrothermal vent]] ecosystems near the [[Galapagos Islands]]. == Physics == * The [[bottom quark]] is discovered experimentally by [[Leon M. Lederman]] at [[Fermilab]].<ref>{{cite journal|first1=S.W.|last1=Herb|year=1977|title=Observation of a Dimuon Resonance at 9.5 GeV in 400-GeV Proton-Nucleus Collisions|journal=[[Physical Review Letters]]|volume=39|page=252|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.39.252|bibcode=1977PhRvL..39..252H|osti=1155396|issue=5|last2=Hom|first2=D.|last3=Lederman|first3=L.|url=https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1155396|display-authors=etal|url-access=subscription}}</ref> * [[Steven Weinberg]] publishes the first edition of ''[[The First Three Minutes|The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe]]'' in the United States. == Technology == * August 23 – [[Gossamer Condor]] demonstrates that it is the first [[human-powered aircraft]] capable of controlled and sustained flight by winning the [[Kremer prize]]. It was created by [[Paul MacCready]] and Peter Lissaman of [[AeroVironment]] and piloted by [[Bryan Allen (cyclist)|Bryan Allen]] at [[Minter Field]] in [[Shafter, California]]. * December 1 – [[Lockheed Have Blue|Lockheed ''Have Blue'']] becomes the first [[stealth aircraft]] to fly. * First general exercise [[sports bra]] invented by Lisa Lindahl and Polly Smith in the United States. == Awards == * Nobel Prizes ** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Philip Warren Anderson]], [[Sir Nevill Francis Mott]], [[John Hasbrouck van Vleck]] ** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[Ilya Prigogine]] ** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[Roger Guillemin]], [[Andrew V. Schally]], [[Rosalyn Yalow]] * [[Turing Award]] – [[John Backus]] == Births == * May 3 – [[Maryam Mirzakhani]] (d. [[2017 in science|2017]]), Iranian-born mathematician. == Deaths == * February 16 – [[Rózsa Péter]] (b. 1905), Hungarian [[mathematician]], "founding mother of [[recursive function theory]]". * June 3 – [[Archibald Hill]] (b. 1886), English [[physiologist]], winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]]. * June 16 – [[Wernher von Braun]] (b. 1912), German-born American [[physicist]] and engineer. == References == {{reflist|colwidth=30em}} {{DEFAULTSORT:1977 In Science}} [[Category:1977 in science| ]] [[Category:20th century in science]] [[Category:1970s in science]]
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page
(
help
)
:
Template:Cite book
(
edit
)
Template:Cite journal
(
edit
)
Template:Cite magazine
(
edit
)
Template:Cite web
(
edit
)
Template:Reflist
(
edit
)
Template:Science year nav
(
edit
)
Template:Short description
(
edit
)
Template:Use mdy dates
(
edit
)
Template:Year nav topic5
(
edit
)