1987 in science
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The year 1987 in science and technology involved many significant events, some listed below.
Astronomy
- February 23 – Supernova 1987a is observed, the first "naked-eye" supernova since 1604.
- Asteroid 7816 Hanoi is discovered by Masahiro Koishikawa.
- 10500 Nishi-koen is discovered.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Biochemistry
- December – Yoshizumi Ishino discovers the DNA sequence of CRISPR.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Piotr Chomczynski and Nicoletta Sacchi publish their acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction protocol.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Computing
- Larry Wall releases the first version of the Perl programming language via the comp.sources.misc newsgroup.
- HyperCard is released by Apple Inc., an early example of hypermedia which inspires the World Wide Web.
- Thomas Knoll and John Knoll develop the first version of Photoshop.
Genetics
- November 6 – Florida rapist Tommy Lee Andrews is the first person to be convicted as a result of DNA fingerprinting.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History of science
Mathematics
- Gödel's ontological proof of the existence of God is published posthumously.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- The Abelian sandpile model, the first discovered example of a dynamical system displaying self-organized criticality, is published by Per Bak, Chao Tang and Kurt Wiesenfeld.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Medicine
- March 20 – The United States Food and Drug Administration for the first time approves an antiretroviral drug for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, zidovudine, also known as AZT (azidothymidine) or Retrovir.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- May – The name chronic fatigue syndrome first appears in the medical literature.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- May 11 – The first heart-lung transplant takes place.
- August 31 – The FDA for the first time approves a statin, lovastatin.<ref>FDA Orange Book Detail for application N019643Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore showing approval for 20 mg tablets on August 31, 1987, and 40 mg tablets on December 14, 1988</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- September 5 - The first successful surgical separation of craniopagus twins is done by Dr. Ben Carson.
- December 29 – Prozac makes its debut in the U.S.
Paleoanthropology
- January 1 – The 'Mitochondrial Eve' hypothesis is proposed.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Paleontology
- First fossils of Argentinosaurus found.
Physics
- March 18 – Woodstock of physics, the marathon session of the American Physical Society's meeting featuring 51 presentations concerning the science of high-temperature superconductors.
- Harry J. Lipkin names the pentaquark.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Technology
- December 1 – Channel Tunnel digging commences.
- Maglite introduces the 2AAA Mini Maglite flashlight, targeted for medical and industrial applications.
Zoology
- June 17 – The last known purebred dusky seaside sparrow, "Orange Band", dies in Florida.<ref>Newsweek 9 June 2008 p. 45.</ref>
- Varroa destructor, an invasive parasite of honeybees, is found in the United States.
Awards
Births
- June 10 – James Maynard, English mathematician<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Deaths
- March 19 – Louis de Broglie (b. 1892), French physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics (1929).
- March 26 – Gwyn Macfarlane (b. 1907), British hematologist.
- October 2 – Peter Medawar (b. 1915), British immunologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1960).
- October 13 – Walter Houser Brattain (b. 1902), American physicist.
- October 20 – Andrey Kolmogorov (b. 1903), Russian mathematician.
- December 2 – Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich (b. 1914), Belarusian astrophysicist.
- December 7 – Helen Porter (b. 1899), English plant physiologist.