1987 in science

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.

Biochemistry

 * December – Yoshizumi Ishino discovers the DNA sequence of CRISPR.
 * Piotr Chomczynski and Nicoletta Sacchi publish their acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction protocol.

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.

History of science

 * Robert V. Bruce publishes The Launching of Modern American Science, 1846–1876.

Mathematics

 * Gödel's ontological proof of the existence of God is published posthumously.
 * 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.

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.
 * May – The name chronic fatigue syndrome first appears in the medical literature.
 * May 11 – The first heart-lung transplant takes place.
 * August 31 – The FDA for the first time approves a statin, lovastatin.
 * 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.

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.

Technology

 * December 1 – Channel Tunnel digging commences.
 * Tinker Hatfield designs the Nike Air Max.
 * 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.
 * Varroa destructor, an invasive parasite of honeybees, is found in the United States.

Awards

 * Nobel Prizes
 * Physics – J. Georg Bednorz, Karl Alexander Müller
 * Chemistry – Donald J. Cram, Jean-Marie Lehn, Charles J. Pedersen
 * Medicine – Susumu Tonegawa
 * Turing Award – John Cocke
 * Wollaston Medal for Geology – Claude Jean Allègre

Births

 * June 10 – James Maynard, English mathematician

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.