Editing 1978 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1978|science}}
{{Science year nav|1978}}

The year '''1978 in science''' and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

==Astronomy and space science==
* March 2 – [[Vladimír Remek]] becomes the first Czechoslovak in space and the first [[cosmonaut]] from a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States, onboard [[Soyuz 28]].
* June 22 – [[James W. Christy]] at the [[United States Naval Observatory]] discovers [[Charon (moon)|Charon]], the first moon of [[Pluto]] identified.
* October – It is first proposed that [[Janus (moon)|Janus]] and [[Epimetheus (moon)|Epimetheus]] are two separate [[moons of Saturn]] sharing the same orbit.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/0019-1035(78)90076-3|last1=Fountain|first1=J. W.|last2=Larson|first2=S. M.|year=1978|title=Saturn's ring and nearby faint satellites|journal=[[Icarus (journal)|Icarus]]|volume=36|issue=1|pages=92–106|bibcode=1978Icar...36...92F}}</ref>

==Computer science==
* February 16 – The first computer [[bulletin board system]] is created ([[CBBS]] in [[Chicago]], Illinois).
* The [[RSA (algorithm)|RSA algorithm]] for [[public-key cryptography]], based on the [[factoring problem]], is first publicly described by [[Ron Rivest]], [[Adi Shamir]] and [[Leonard Adleman]].<ref>{{cite journal|first1=R. |last1=Rivest |last2=Shamir |first2=A. |last3=Adleman |first3=L. |url=http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~rivest/rsapaper.pdf |title=A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public-Key Cryptosystems |journal=[[Communications of the ACM]] |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=120–126 |year=1978 |doi=10.1145/359340.359342 |access-date=2012-01-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127130201/http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~rivest/rsapaper.pdf |archive-date=2007-01-27 |citeseerx=10.1.1.607.2677 |s2cid=2873616 }}</ref>

==Geophysics==
* James Byerlee determines [[Byerlee's law]] which gives the [[stress (physics)|stress]] circumstances in the [[crust (geology)|Earth's crust]] at which [[fracture|fracturing]] along a [[geological fault]] takes place.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Byerlee|first=J. D.|year=1978|title=Friction of rocks|journal=Pure and Applied Geophysics|volume=116|issue=4–5|pages=615–626|doi=10.1007/BF00876528|bibcode = 1978PApGe.116..615B |s2cid=128666327}}</ref>

==History of science==
* October 17 – [[James Burke (science historian)|James Burke]]'s [[history of science]] series ''[[Connections (British documentary)|Connections]]'' first airs, on [[BBC Television]] in the [[United Kingdom]] (with accompanying book).<ref>{{ISBN|0-333-24827-9}}.</ref>

==Paleontology==
* Fossils of [[Saint Bathans mammal]] first collected.
* Fossil footprints of bipedal [[hominini]] from 3.6M BP found at [[Laetoli]] in Tanzania in 1976 are excavated by [[Mary Leakey]]'s team.
* A fossilized partial human cranium is among hominid remains found in [[Apidima Cave]] in southern [[Greece]]; in 2019 it is announced as dating to more than 210,000 years BP, making it the earliest example of ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' outside Africa.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Harvati, Katerina|author2=Röding, Carolin|author3=Bosman, Abel M.|author4=Karakostis, Fotios A.|author5=Grün, Rainer|author6=Stringer, Chris|author7=Karkanas, Panagiotis|author8=Thompson, Nicholas C.|author9=Koutoulidis, Vassilis|author10=Moulopoulos, Lia A.|author11=Gorgoulis, Vassilis G.|author12=Kouloukoussa, Mirsini|year=2019|title=Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of ''Homo sapiens'' in Eurasia|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|volume=571|issue=7766|pages=500–504|doi=10.1038/s41586-019-1376-z |pmid=31292546|s2cid=195873640|url=https://zenodo.org/record/6646855 }}</ref>

==Physiology and medicine==
* May 13 – "[[Basaglia Law]]" (Mental Health Act) in Italy requires closing down of all psychiatric hospitals and their replacement with community services.
* July 25 – [[Louise Brown]] becomes the world's first human born from [[in vitro fertilisation]], in England.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/25/newsid_2499000/2499411.stm|title=1978: First 'test tube baby' born|access-date=2013-12-18|date=1978-07-25|work=On This Day|publisher=[[BBC News]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221044857/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/25/newsid_2499000/2499411.stm|archive-date=2007-12-21|url-status=live}}</ref>
* August – [[Osteocalcin]] first identified in animal bone.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Hauschka, P. V.|author2=Reid. M. L.|title=Timed appearance of a calcium-binding protein containing gamma-carboxyglutamic acid in developing chick bone|journal=[[Developmental Biology (journal)|Developmental Biology]]|volume=65|issue=2|pages=426–34|year=1978|pmid=680371|doi=10.1016/0012-1606(78)90038-6}}</ref>
* September 6 – Production of the first [[Genetic engineering|genetically engineered]] synthetic "human" [[insulin]] using ''[[Escherichia coli|E. coli]]'' by [[Arthur Riggs (geneticist)|Arthur Riggs]] and [[Keiichi Itakura]] at the [[Beckman Research Institute]] of the [[City of Hope National Medical Center]] in collaboration with [[Herbert Boyer]] at [[Genentech]] is announced in [[California]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gene.com/gene/news/press-releases/display.do?method=detail&id=4160|title=First Successful Laboratory Production of Human Insulin Announced|date=1978-09-06|work=News Release|publisher=Genentech|access-date=2014-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.littletree.com.au/dna.htm|title=Recombinant DNA Technology in the Synthesis of Human Insulin|last=Tof|first=Ilanit|year=1994|publisher=Little Tree|access-date=2014-01-06}}</ref>
* The rare [[genetic disorder]] [[Pitt–Hopkins syndrome]] is first described.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Pitt, D.|author2=Hopkins, I.|year=1978|title=A syndrome of mental retardation, wide mouth and intermittent overbreathing|journal=Australian Paediatric Journal|volume=14|issue=3|pages=182–184|doi=10.1111/jpc.1978.14.3.182|pmid=728011|s2cid=45629810}}</ref>
* [[Victor Skumin]] first describes "cardioprosthetic [[psychopathology|psychopathological]] [[syndrome]]",<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://biblmdkz.ru/articles/kardiologiia.html|pmid=7392405 |year=1980 |last1=Bendet |first1=Ia. A. |last2=Morozov |first2=S. M. |author3-link=Victor Skumin |last3=Skumin |first3=V. A. |title=Psychological aspects of the rehabilitation of patients after the surgical treatment of heart defects |script-title=ru:Психологические аспекты реабилитации больных после хирургического лечения пороков сердца |trans-title=Psychological aspects of the rehabilitation of patients after the surgical treatment of heart defects |language=Russian |volume=20 |issue=6 |pages=45–51 |journal=Kardiologiia |access-date=25 June 2024 }}</ref> later known as "Skumin syndrome",<ref>{{cite web |title=Skumin syndrome |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2569523 |publisher=wikidata.org |access-date=30 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426035327/http://genex.ua/site/page.php?lang=RU&id_part=148&id_word=85&bp=4|archive-date=2012-04-26 |url-status=live}}</ref> a form of [[anxiety]] suffered by recipients of [[artificial heart valve]]s.
* [[Imposter syndrome]] is first described as a phenomenon.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Clance|first1=Pauline R.|last2=Imes|first2=Suzanne A.|year=1978|title=The Impostor Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention|url=http://mpowir.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Download-IP-in-High-Achieving-Women.pdf|journal=Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice|volume=15|issue=3 |pages=241–247|doi=10.1037/h0086006}}</ref>

==Awards==
*[[Fields Medal|Fields Prize in Mathematics]]: [[Pierre Deligne]], [[Charles Fefferman]], [[Grigory Margulis]], [[Daniel Quillen]]
* [[Nobel Prize]]s
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa]], [[Arno Allan Penzias]], [[Robert Woodrow Wilson]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[Peter D. Mitchell]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[Werner Arber]], [[Daniel Nathans]], [[Hamilton O. Smith]]
* [[Turing Award]] – [[Robert W. Floyd|Robert Floyd]]

==Births==
* March 16 – [[Jemma Redmond]] (d. [[2016 in science|2016]]), [[Irish people|Irish]] [[biochemist]], pioneer of [[3D bioprinting]]
* July – [[Caucher Birkar]], born Fereydoun Derakhshani, [[Kurdistan Province|Kurdish]]-born [[mathematician]]
* November 1 – [[Helen Czerski]], [[English people|English]] physicist and science populariser

==Deaths==
* January 14 – [[Kurt Gödel]] (b. [[1906 in science|1906]]), American [[mathematician]]
* February 25 – [[Edith Humphrey]] (b. [[1875 in science|1875]]), [[English people|English]] [[chemist]]
* March 9 – [[Gaston Julia]] (b. [[1893 in science|1893]]), [[French people|French]] mathematician
* March 23 – [[Haim Ernst Wertheimer]] (b. [[1893 in science|1893]]), [[Jews|Jewish]] [[biochemist]]
* March 30 – [[Bill Hamilton (engineer)|Bill Hamilton]] (b. [[1899 in science|1899]]), [[New Zealand]] [[mechanical engineer]]
* March 31 – [[Charles Best (medical scientist)|Charles Best]] (b. [[1899 in science|1899]]), [[Canadians|Canadian]] medical scientist
* April 21 – [[Thomas Wyatt Turner]] (b. [[1877 in science|1877]]), American civil rights activist, [[biologist]] and educator; first black person ever to receive a doctorate from [[Cornell University]]
* July 22 – [[André Chapelon]] (b. [[1892 in science|1892]]), [[French people|French]] [[steam locomotive]] designer
* September 15 – [[Willy Messerschmitt]] (b. [[1898 in science|1898]]), [[German people|German]] aircraft engineer
* November 15 – [[Margaret Mead]] (b. [[1901 in science|1901]]), American cultural [[anthropologist]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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