1957 in science
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The year 1957 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.
- October 4 – Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, by an R-7 Semyorka rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.
- November 3 – Launch of Sputnik 2, with a dog called Laika on board, the first animal sent into orbit. There is no technology available to return it to Earth.
- December 6 – The United States attempts launch of Vanguard TV3 which fails after just two seconds in the air.
- Project Orion begins, a U.S. program to build a spacecraft powered by nuclear explosions.
- Wilhelm Gliese publishes the first Gliese Catalogue of Nearby Stars.[1]
Biology
- Dopamine is first identified in the human brain by Katharine Montagu.
- The structure of myoglobin is determined (using x-ray crystallography) by John Kendrew and colleagues in England.[2]
- The discovery of Na+/K+-ATPase, the first antiporter enzyme identified, is published by Jens Christian Skou of Aarhus University.[3][4]
- The Chlamydia trachomatis bacterium is first cultured (in the yolk sacs of eggs) by Tang Feifan and colleagues.[5]
Chemistry
- Costin Nenițescu synthesizes cyclobutadiene.[6]
Computer science
- April – IBM delivers the first compiler for the FORTRAN scientific programming language. It becomes the most widely used computer language for technical work.
- Robert C. Prim independently rediscovers Prim's algorithm. It was first discovered in 1930 by Vojtěch Jarník and independently rediscovered again by Edsger Dijkstra in 1959.
Exploration
- Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station established.
Mathematics
- Karl Prachar publishes a key text on the distribution of prime numbers, Primzahlverteilung.[7]
Medicine
- June 27 – A report by the Medical Research Council (UK) reveals evidence to support a link between tobacco smoking and lung cancer.[8]
- October 1 – The drug Thalidomide is launched as a sedative by Grünenthal GmbH.[9]
- October 11 – An article by Fred Kummerow suggests a link between trans fats and heart disease.[10]
- Hashimoto's thyroiditis is recognised as an autoimmune disease, the first identified as organ-specific.[11]
Paleontology
- Charnia is first described following its discovery by schoolboy Roger Mason at a site in the Charnwood Forest of England; it is the first definitely Precambrian fossil known.[12]
Physics
- July – Hugh Everett III publishes the first scientifically founded many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.[13]
- August – ZETA fusion reactor begins operation at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, Oxfordshire.
- BCS theory of superconductivity developed by John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and Robert Schrieffer.
- B2FH, an astrophysics paper by the British astronomers Geoffrey Burbidge, Margaret Burbidge and Fred Hoyle and the American astronomer William Fowler, describes the synthesis of the lightest elements through nuclear processes in stars.
- Rudolf Mössbauer discovers the Mössbauer effect.[14]
- University of Liverpool cyclotron produces violation of charge conjugation symmetry.[15]
Psychology
- Harry Harlow begins maternal-separation and social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys.
Technology
- December 2 – Reactor goes critical in Shippingport Atomic Power Station, Pennsylvania, the first commercial pressurized water reactor.
- First working prototype Wankel engine.[16]
Events
- First Conference on Science and World Affairs held at Pugwash, Nova Scotia, organized by Joseph Rotblat.
Institutions
- May 13 – National Polytechnical Museum established in Sofia, Bulgaria.[17]