1980 in science

List of years in science (Table)
… 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 …
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… 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 … … 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s … … 19th century 20th century 21st century …
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The year 1980 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Astronomy and space exploration

• November 12 – Voyager program: The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn when it flies within 77,000 miles (124,000 km) of the planet's cloud-tops and sends the first high resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth.

Chemistry

• John B. Goodenough, working with colleagues at the University of Oxford Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, identifies the cathode material that enables development of the rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

Computer science

• Usenet established at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University.
• July – Microsoft's Bill Gates agrees to create an operating system for the new IBM Personal Computer. In September, David Bradley becomes one of the "original 12" engineers working on the project (under Don Estridge) and is responsible for the ROM BIOS code and for developing the Control-Alt-Delete command.

Geophysics

• June 6 – Luis and Walter Alvarez with Frank Asaro and Helen Michels propose the Alvarez hypothesis, that the mass extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by the impact of a large asteroid 65 million years ago, the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event.

Medicine

• The much-enlarged third edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), produced under the control of Robert Spitzer, is published.
• Global campaign to eradicate Dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) begins at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• First commercial MRI whole body scanner manufactured by Oxford Instruments for installation at Hammersmith Hospital, London.

Awards

• Nobel Prizes
  • Physics – James Watson Cronin, Val Logsdon Fitch
  • Chemistry – Paul Berg, Walter Gilbert, Frederick Sanger
  • Medicine – Baruj Benacerraf, Jean Dausset, George D. Snell
• Turing Award – C. A. R. Hoare

Births

• January 31 – Dan Milisavljevic, Canadian astronomer.
• November 22 – Shawn Fanning, American computer programmer.

Deaths

• January 3 – Joy Adamson (b. 1910), Silesian-born Kenyan wildlife conservationist (murdered).
• January 8 – John Mauchly (b. 1907), American co-inventor of the ENIAC computer.
• February 7 – Secondo Campini (b 1904), Italian jet engine pioneer.
• May 28 – Rolf Nevanlinna (b. 1895), Finnish mathematician.
• June 18 – Kazimierz Kuratowski (b. 1896), Polish mathematician.
• July 1 – C. P. Snow (b. 1905), English physicist and novelist.
• October 18 – Hans Ferdinand Mayer (b. 1895), German physicist.
• October 21 – Hans Asperger (b. 1906), Austrian pediatrician.
• November 4 – Elsie MacGill (b. 1905), Canadian aeronautical engineer, "Queen of the Hurricanes".
• December 16 – Hellmuth Walter (b. 1900), German-born mechanical engineer and inventor.