| content |
| List of years in science (Table) |
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| … 1952 • 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961 – 1962 – 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 … |
| Related time period or subjects |
| … 1959 • 1960 • 1961 – 1962 – 1963 • 1964 • 1965 … … 1930s • 1940s • 1950s – 1960s – 1970s • 1980s • 1990s … … 19th century – 20th century – 21st century … |
| Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Science more |
The year 1962 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.
Contents |
Astronomy and space exploration
- January 26 - Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later missed the Moon by 22,000 miles.
- February 2 - For the first time in 400 years Neptune and Pluto align.
- February 20 - Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn orbits the Earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes becoming the first American to orbit the Earth.
- April 26 - The Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
Computer science
- At MIT, Ivan Sutherland uses the TX-2 computer to write Sketchpad, the origin of graphical programs used for computer-aided design.
- October - J.C.R. Licklider becomes the first head of the computer research program at ARPA, which he names the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO).
Awards
Deaths
- February 19 - Georgios Papanikolaou (b. 1883), inventor of the Pap smear.
- March 24 - Auguste Piccard (b. 1884), physicist and explorer.
- November 18 - Niels Bohr (b. 1885), Danish physicist.
- December 20 - Emil Artin (b. 1898), mathematician.
- December 24 - Wilhelm Ackermann (b. 1896), mathematician.
