The year 1959 in science and technology included many events, some of which are included below. Science in the broadest sense refers to any system of knowledge attained by verifiable means. ... By the mid 20th century humans had achieved a level of technological mastery sufficient to leave the surface of the planet for the first time and explore space. ...

Astronomy and space exploration

• August 7 - The United States launches Explorer 6 from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• September 15 - Russian probe Luna 2 sends back first photos of the far side of Earth's Moon.
• September 19 - Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison publish in Nature their seminal paper Searching for Interstellar Communications, establishing the scientific rationale for SETI.
• Physicist Freeman Dyson first proposes the hypothetical Dyson sphere.
• Little Joe 2, a mission in the Mercury program, carried Sam the monkey into space.

August 7 is the 219th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (220th in leap years), with 146 days remaining. ... Explorer 6 was a US satellite launched on August 7, 1959. ... Cape Canaveral from space, August 1991 Cape Canaveral (Cabo Cañaveral in Spanish) is a strip of land in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of that states Atlantic coast. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... September 15 is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years). ... Luna 2 was the second of the Soviet Unions Luna program spacecraft launched in the direction of the Moon. ... Earth (IPA: , often referred to as the Earth, Terra, or Planet Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth largest. ... Bulk composition of the Moons mantle and crust estimated, weight percent Oxygen 42. ... September 19 is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years). ... Philip Morrison, (November 7, 1915 – April 22, 2005), was institute Professor, Emeritus and Professor of Physics, Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). ... First title page, November 4, 1869 Nature is one of the oldest and most reputable scientific journals, first published on 4 November 1869. ... See: Set (mythology) The SETI@home grid computing project SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence Pharaohs of Egypt: Seti I Seti II Seti Zone, one of the zones of Nepal S.E.T.I., an album by the norwegian neo industrial metal band The Kovenant Category: ... // Freeman Dyson in San Francisco in 2005 (Photo: Jacob Appelbaum) Freeman John Dyson (born December 15, 1923) is an English-born American physicist and mathematician, famous for his work in quantum mechanics, nuclear weapons design and policy, and for his serious theorizing in futurism and science fiction concepts, including the... A cut-away diagram of an idealized Dyson shell — a variant on Dysons original concept — 1 AU in radius A Dyson sphere (or shell as it appeared in the original paper) is a hypothetical megastructure. ... For the Apollo program launch vehicle, see Little Joe II. The Little Joe 2 was an important test of the Mercury capsule because it was the first Little Joe animal flight, carrying the Rhesus monkey Sam (Macaca mulatta) close to the edge of space. ... Description Role: Orbital spaceflight Crew: one, pilot Dimensions Height: 11. ...

Biology

• January 1 - Cultivars of plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin.
• July - The medical research group studying Minamata disease comes to the conclusion that mercury is the cause. [1]

January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... This Osteospermum Pink Whirls is a successful cultivar. ... Divisions Green algae Chlorophyta Charophyta Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta - liverworts Anthocerotophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) †Rhyniophyta - rhyniophytes †Zosterophyllophyta - zosterophylls Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses †Trimerophytophyta - trimerophytes Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta... Look up July in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Minamata disease ), sometimes referred to as Chisso-Minamata disease ), is a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning. ... General Name, Symbol, Number mercury, Hg, 80 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 6, d Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 200. ...

Computer science

• IBM shipped the transistor-based IBM 1401 mainframe.

now. ... Assorted transistors The transistor is a solid state semiconductor device that can be used for amplification, switching, voltage stabilization, signal modulation and many other functions. ... The IBM 1401 was a variable wordlength decimal computer that was announced by IBM on October 5, 1959 and marketed as an inexpensive Business Computer. It was withdrawn on February 8, 1971. ...

Physics

• The neutrino is first experimentally detected, by Clyde Cowan and Fred Reines.
• Yakir Aharonov and David Bohm predict the Aharonov-Bohm effect.

The neutrino is an elementary particle. ... Clyde Lorrain Cowan Jr (1919–1974) was a captain in the United States Army Air Force. ... Frederick Reines Frederick Reines (March 16, 1918 - August 26, 1998) was an American physicist. ... Professor Yakir Aharonov BSc PhD is a physicist specialising in Quantum Physics and holds a joint professorship at Tel Aviv University, Israel and the University of South Carolina, America. ... David Bohm. ... The Aharonov-Bohm effect, sometimes called the Ehrenberg-Siday-Aharonov-Bohm effect, is a quantum mechanical phenomenon by which a charged particle is affected by electromagnetic fields in regions from which the particle is excluded. ...

Technology

• Agfa introduces the first fully automatic camera, the Optima.
• Eveready Battery engineer Lewis Urry invents the long-lasting alkaline battery.
• Pilkington Brothers patent the float glass process.

Agfa was a company which produced a range of photographic products including films, photographic papers and cameras. ... A camera is a device used to take pictures (usually photographs), either singly or in sequence, with or without sound recording, such as with video cameras. ... Energizer Holdings (formerly Eveready Battery), headquartered in St. ... Lewis Frederick Urry, (January 29, 1927-October 19, 2004), was a Canadian chemical engineer and inventor. ... 2 Duracell-Brand AAA Alkaline batteries Alkaline batteries are a type of power cell dependent upon the reaction between zinc and manganese dioxide (Zn/MnO2). ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which is new, inventive, and...

Awards

• Nobel Prizes
  • Physics - Emilio Gino Segrè, - Owen Chamberlain
  • Chemistry - Jaroslav Heyrovský
  • Medicine - Severo Ochoa, Arthur Kornberg

Nobel Prize medal. ... Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995) accepting the Nobel Prize for his work on magnetohydrodynamics [1]. List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ... Emilio Gino Segrè (February 1, 1905 - April 22, 1989) was an Italian American physicist who, with Owen Chamberlain, won the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of the antiproton. ... Owen Chamberlain Owen Chamberlain (July 10, 1920–February 28, 2006) was a prominent American physicist. ... This is a list of Nobel Prize laureates in Chemistry from 1901 to the present day. ... Jaroslav Heyrovský listen â–¶(?) (December 20, 1890 – March 27, 1967) was a Czech chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1959. ... List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physiology or Medicine from 1901 to the present day. ... Severo Ochoa de Albornoz (September 24, 1905 – November 1, 1993) was a Spanish-American biochemist, and the recipient of the 1959 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. ... Arthur Kornberg Arthur Kornberg (born March 3, 1918), won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959 for his discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid together with Dr. Severo Ochoa of New York University. ...

Births

• Russell Foley
• Henk-Jan van Tuyl
• December 25 - Michael P. Anderson (d. 2003), American astronaut.

December 25 is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 6 days remaining for the year. ... Michael P. Anderson Michael Phillip Anderson (December 25, 1959 – February 1, 2003) was a Lieutenant Colonel (USAF), a NASA astronaut and the Space Shuttle payload commander of STS-107 (Columbia) who was killed when the craft disintegrated after reentry into the Earths atmosphere. ... See also: Other events of 2003 List of years in science . ... Template:Redirect Template:Redirect U.S. Space Shuttle astronaut Bruce McCandless II using a manned maneuvering unit (MMU) outside the Challenger in 1984. ...

Deaths

Nobody died this year