Editing 1984 in science

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{{Year nav topic5|1984|science}}
{{Science year nav|1984}}

The year '''1984 in science''' and technology involved some significant events.

==Astronomy and space exploration==
* February 7 – [[Astronaut]]s [[Bruce McCandless II]] and [[Robert L. Stewart]] make the first untethered [[space walk]].
* The [[National Radio Astronomy Observatory]] in the [[United States]] converts the 36-foot [[radio telescope]] on [[Kitt Peak]] (originally built in [[1967 in science|1967]]) to the [[ARO 12m Radio Telescope]].

==Biology==
* First known case of [[Bovine spongiform encephalopathy]], in [[England]].<ref>{{cite news|first=David|last=Brown|title=The 'recipe for disaster' that killed 80 and left a £5bn bill|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1371964/The-recipe-for-disaster-that-killed-80-and-left-a-5bn-bill.html|accessdate=2014-12-02|date=2001-06-19|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London}}</ref>
* The [[enzyme]] [[telomerase]] is discovered by [[Carol W. Greider]] and [[Elizabeth Blackburn]] in the ciliate ''[[Tetrahymena]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Greider|first1=Carol W.|last2=Blackburn|first2=Elizabeth H.|title=Identification of a Specific Telomere Terminal Transferase Activity in Tetrahymena Extracts|journal=[[Cell (journal)|Cell]]|volume=43|issue=2:1|pages=405–13|date=December 1985|pmid=3907856|doi=10.1016/0092-8674(85)90170-9|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* Danish physiologist [[Steen Willadsen]] first successfully uses cells from early embryos  to clone a mammal (sheep) by nuclear transfer at the British [[Agricultural Research Council]]'s Institute of Animal Physiology, Cambridge.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Willadsen|first=S. M.|year=1986|title=Nuclear transplantation in sheep embryos|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|volume=320|issue=6057|pages=63–65|doi=10.1038/320063a0|pmid=3951549|bibcode=1986Natur.320...63W|s2cid=4257911 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Willadsen|first=S. M.|year=1989|title=Cloning of sheep and cow embryos|journal=[[Genome (journal)|Genome]]|volume=31|issue=2|pages=956–62|doi=10.1139/g89-167|pmid=2698854 }}</ref>

==Chemistry and physics==
* [[Peter Kramer (physicist)|Peter Kramer]]<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1107/S0108767384001203|title=On periodic and non-periodic space fillings of E<sup>m</sup> obtained by projection|year=1984|last1=Kramer|first1=P.|last2=Neri|first2=R.|journal=Acta Crystallographica|volume=A40|page=580|issue=5|bibcode=1984AcCrA..40..580K }}</ref> and [[Dan Shechtman]]<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.53.1951|title=Metallic Phase with Long-Range Orientational Order and No Translational Symmetry|year=1984|last1=Shechtman|first1=D.|last2=Blech|first2=I.|last3=Gratias|first3=D.|last4=Cahn|first4=J.|journal=[[Physical Review Letters]]|volume=53|pages=1951–4|bibcode=1984PhRvL..53.1951S|issue=20|doi-access=free}}</ref> publish their discoveries of what will soon afterwards be named [[quasicrystal]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.53.2477|title=Quasicrystals: A New Class of Ordered Structures|year=1984|last1=Levine|first1=Dov|last2=Steinhardt|first2=Paul Joseph|authorlink2=Paul Steinhardt|journal=Physical Review Letters|volume=53|pages=2477–80|bibcode=1984PhRvL..53.2477L|issue=26|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* Hiroshi Kobayashi and colleagues announce synthesis of [[tetrakis(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)borate]] ("BARF").<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Nishida|first1=H.|first2=N.|last2=Takada|first3=M.|last3=Yoshimura|first4=T.|last4=Sonods|first5=H.|last5=Kobayshi|title=Tetrakis(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)borate: Highly Lipophilic Stable Anionic Agent for Solvent-Extraction of Cations|journal=[[Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan]]|year=1984|volume=57|issue=9|pages=2600–2604|doi=10.1246/bcsj.57.2600|doi-access=}}</ref>

==Computer science==
* January 24 – [[Apple Computer]] places the [[Macintosh]] [[personal computer]] on sale in the United States. It will be the first successful PC to use a [[graphical user interface]].
*The first edition of language documentation ''[[Common Lisp the Language]]'' (known as CLtL1) is published in the United States.

==History of science==
* [[Robert Gwyn Macfarlane]] publishes ''Alexander Fleming: The Man and the Myth''.

==Paleontology==
* The fossil skeleton of the [[hominid]] "[[Turkana Boy]]" is discovered in [[Kenya]].

==Physiology and medicine==
* February 3 – Dr. [[John Buster]] and the research team at [[Harbor-UCLA Medical Center]] announce history's first [[embryo transfer]] from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.
* April 22 – Dr. [[Robert Gallo]] and [[Margaret Heckler]] of [[United States Public Health Service]] announce the discovery of [[HIV|HTLV-III]] as the virus that causes [[AIDS]].
* May 10 – [[Barbara H. Bowman]] and [[Oliver Smithies]] show that variations in [[haptoglobin]]s are due to [[genetic polymorphism]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Nobuyo|last1=Maeda|first2=Funmei|last2=Yang|first3=Don R.|last3=Barnett|first4=Barbara H.|last4=Bowman|first5=Oliver|last5=Smithies|title=Duplication within the haptoglobin Hp 2 gene|journal=Nature|volume=309|issue=5964|pages=131–135|year=1984|doi=10.1038/309131a0|pmid=6325933|bibcode=1984Natur.309..131M|s2cid=4368535 }}</ref>

==Technology==
* May 5 – [[Itaipu Dam]] in South America begins to generate [[hydroelectricity]].
* July 21 – In [[Jackson, Michigan|Jackson]], Michigan, a factory [[robot]] crushes a worker against a safety bar in apparently the first robot-related death in the United States.

==Awards==
* [[Nobel Prize]]s
** [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]] – [[Carlo Rubbia]], [[Simon van der Meer]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Chemistry]] – [[Robert Bruce Merrifield]]
** [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Medicine]] – [[Niels K. Jerne]], [[Georges J. F. Köhler]], [[César Milstein]]
* [[Turing Award]] – [[Niklaus Wirth]]

==Births==
* May 14 – [[Mark Zuckerberg]], [[Americans|American]] [[computer programmer]] and [[entrepreneur]], co-founder of [[social media]] platform [[Facebook]]
* December 2 – [[Maryna Viazovska]], Ukrainian-born mathematician<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-society/3522571-ukrainian-viazovska-wins-fields-medal-2022.html|title=Ukrainian Viazovska wins Fields Medal 2022|website=www.ukrinform.net|date=July 2022|access-date=2022-07-09|archive-date=2022-07-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707010822/https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-society/3522571-ukrainian-viazovska-wins-fields-medal-2022.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Deaths==
* January 8 – [[Eerik Kumari]] (b. [[1912 in science|1912]]), Estonian ornithologist and academic 
* February 21 – [[Anna Baetjer]] (b. [[1899 in science|1899]]), [[Americans|American]] [[toxicologist]].
* April 8 – [[Pyotr Kapitsa]] (b. [[1894 in science|1894]]), [[Russians|Russian]] physicist, [[Nobel Prize]] laureate.
* April 15 – [[Grete Hermann]] (b. [[1901 in science|1901]]), [[Germany|German]] mathematician and philosopher
* May 13 – [[Stanislaw Ulam]] (b. [[1909 in science|1909]]), [[Polish American]] [[mathematician]].
* May 24 – Sir [[Stanley Hooker]] (b. [[1907 in science|1907]]), [[English people|English]] [[aeronautical engineer]].
* August 6 – [[Abraham Lilienfeld]] (b. [[1920 in science|1920]]), American [[epidemiologist]].
* August 11 – [[George Streisinger]] (b. [[1927 in science|1927]]), [[Hungarian American]] molecular biologist, the first person to [[cloning|clone]] a vertebrate.
* October 20 – [[Paul Dirac]] (b. [[1902 in science|1902]]), English-born [[physicist]].
* November 20 – [[Charles C. Conley]] (b. [[1933 in science|1933]]), American mathematician working on [[dynamical system]]s.
* December 20 – [[Stanley Milgram]] (b. 1933), American [[social psychologist]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1984 in science| ]]
[[Category:20th century in science]]
[[Category:1980s in science]]