1972 in science - Definition and Overview

The year 1972 in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed below.

Astronomy and space exploration

• January 5 - President of the United States Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program.
• February 4 - Mariner 9 sends pictures from Mars
• February 21 - The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
• March 2 - Launch of Pioneer 10 spacecraft.
• April 16 - Apollo 16 launched
• July 23 - The United States launches Landsat 1, first Earth-resources satellite.

Computer science

• Cray Research founded

Technology

• February 1 - First scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) introduced (price $395)

Awards

• Nobel Prizes
  • Physics - John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper, John Robert Schrieffer
  • Chemistry - Christian B. Anfinsen, Stanford Moore, William H. Stein
  • Medicine - Gerald Edelman, Rodney R Porter
• Turing Award - Edsger Dijkstra

Births

Deaths

• October 1 - Louis Leakey (d. 1903 in science), British paleontologist.