1962 in science

The year 1962 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.

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

*Fields Prize in Mathematics: Lars Hörmander and John Milnor
* Nobel Prizes
** Physics - Lev Davidovich Landau
** Chemistry - Max Ferdinand Perutz, John Cowdery Kendrew
** Medicine - Francis Harry Compton Crick, James Dewey Watson, Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins

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.