1986 in science

The year 1986 in science and technology involved many significant events, some not listed below.

Astronomy and space exploration

 * January 24 – NASA Voyager 2 space probe makes first encounter with Uranus.
 * January 28 – NASA Space Shuttle Challenger explodes on launch, killing all seven astronauts aboard. Their bodies are located by United States Navy divers on March 9.
 * February 19 – The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station.
 * March 8 – Japanese spacecraft Suisei flies by Halley's Comet, studying its UV hydrogen corona and solar wind.
 * October 10 – Aten asteroid 3753 Cruithne, in co-orbital configuration with Earth, is identified by Duncan Waldron.

Biology

 * May – First reported methods for constructing a monoclonal antibody containing parts from mouse and human antibodies, a required first step toward the development of humanized antibodies used later as medical therapeutics (such as Infliximab).
 * English epidemiologist David Barker proposes his fetal origins hypothesis.

Computer science

 * January 16 – The Internet Engineering Task Force, a standards organization that develops and promotes Internet standards, holds its first meeting, consisting of 21 United States government-funded researchers.
 * January 19 – The first MS-DOS-based personal computer virus, Brain, starts to spread.
 * April 3 – IBM unveils the PC Convertible, the first laptop computer.
 * June 23 – Eric Thomas develops LISTSERV, the first email list management software.
 * Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is visualized by Mark Crispin.
 * 3D printing is developed by Charles Hull.
 * Pixar is founded.

Mathematics

 * Summer – Kenneth Alan Ribet demonstrates proof of the ε-conjecture, subsequently known as Ribet's theorem confirming Gerhard Frey's suggestion that the Taniyama–Shimura conjecture implies Fermat's Last Theorem.
 * Lawrence Paulson makes the first release of Isabelle (proof assistant).
 * Lee Sallows introduces the alphamagic square.

Technology

 * January 11 – The Gateway Bridge is opened in Brisbane, Australia, the world's largest prestressed concrete single box bridge.
 * April 26 – Chernobyl disaster: An RBMK at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic reaches prompt criticality.
 * December 23 – Rutan Voyager becomes the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling, landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California after a nine-day trip piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager.

Awards

 * Crafoord Prize in Geosciences: Gerald Wasserburg and Claude Jean Allègre
 * Fields Prize in Mathematics: Simon Donaldson, Gerd Faltings and Michael Freedman
 * Nobel Prizes
 * Physics – Ernst Ruska, Gerd Binnig, Heinrich Rohrer
 * Chemistry – Dudley R. Herschbach, Yuan T. Lee, John C. Polanyi
 * Medicine – Stanley Cohen, Rita Levi-Montalcini
 * Turing Award – John Hopcroft, Robert Tarjan
 * Wollaston Medal for Geology – Claude Jean Allègre

Births

 * November 8 – Aaron Swartz (suicide 2013), American computer programmer and Internet hactivist.

Deaths

 * January 7 – Rex Wailes (b. 1901), English engineer and historian of technology.
 * January 28
 * Crew of United States Space Shuttle Challenger mission STS-51-L:
 * Greg Jarvis (b. 1944)
 * Christa McAuliffe (b. 1948)
 * Ronald McNair (b. 1950)
 * Ellison Onizuka (b. 1946)
 * Judith Resnik (b. 1949)
 * Dick Scobee (b. 1939)
 * Michael J. Smith (b. 1945)
 * Dorothée Pullinger (b. 1894), French-born British production engineer.
 * April 22 – Dame Honor Fell (b. 1900), English biologist.
 * July 6 – William Rashkind (b. 1922), American cardiologist.
 * July 21 – Zhang Yuzhe (b. 1902), Chinese astronomer.
 * October 22 – Albert Szent-Györgyi (b. 1893), Hungarian physiologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
 * October 31 – Edward Adelbert Doisy (b. 1893), American biochemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
 * June 7 – Robert S. Mulliken (b. 1896), American physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
 * November 25 – Sir Ivan Magill (b. 1888), British anesthesiologist.