1957 in science

The year 1957 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

Astronomy and space exploration

* October 4 - Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite

* November 3 - Launch of Sputnik 2, with a dog called Laika on board, the first living thing sent into space.

* December 6 - US attempted launch of Vanguard TV3 which fails after just two seconds in the air.

* Project Orion begins, a U.S. program to build a spacecraft powered by nuclear explosions.

Biology

* Structure of myoglobin determined by x-ray crystallography

Computer science

* April - IBM delivers the first compiler for the FORTRAN scientific programming language. It becomes the most widely used computer language for technical work.
* Robert C. Prim independently rediscovers Prim's algorithm. It was first discovered in 1930 by Vojtěch Jarník and independently rediscovered again by Edsger Dijkstra in 1959.

Exploration

* Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station established

Physics

* BCS theory of superconductivity developed by John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and Robert Schrieffer

Awards

* Nobel Prizes:
** Physics - Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee
** Chemistry- Lord Alexander R Todd
** Medicine - Daniel Bovet

Births

* July 12 - Rick D. Husband (d. 2003), American astronaut.

Deaths

* February 8 - John von Neumann (b. 1903), mathematician.
* February 18 - Henry Norris Russell (b. 1877), astronomer.
* May 7 - Wilhelm Filchner (b. 1877), explorer.
* August 21 - Harald Ulrik Sverdrup (b. 1888), meteorologist and oceanographer.