1981 in science

• September – Pantanal Matogrossense National Park designated in Brazil.
• Publication of Stephen Jay Gould's critique of biological determinism, The Mismeasure of Man, in the United States.

• A German research team led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research (GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung) in Darmstadt bombard a target of bismuth-209 with accelerated nuclei of chromium-54 to produce 5 atoms of the isotope bohrium-262

Image:Ibm pc 5150.jpg 5150]]

• March 5 – The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research, going on to sell over 1.5 million units worldwide.
• April 3 – The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco.
• July 9 – Nintendo releases the arcade game Donkey Kong featuring the debut of Mario.
• August 12 – The IBM Personal Computer is released.{{cite web|first=Mary|last=Bellis|title=IBM History|url=http://inventors.about.com/od/computersandinternet/a/Ibm-History.htm|archive-url=http://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120427191240/http://inventors.about.com/od/computersandinternet/a/Ibm%2DHistory.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 27, 2012|publisher=About.com|accessdate=2011-11-30}}
• September 12 – The Chaos Computer Club, a European association of hackers, is established in Berlin by Wau Holland and others.

• Alexander Merkurjev proves the norm residue isomorphism theorem for the case {{nowrap|1=n = 2}} and {{nowrap|1=ℓ = 2}}.

• April 26 – Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco, performs the world's first human open fetal surgery.
• June 5 – AIDS pandemic begins when the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports an unusual cluster of Pneumocystis pneumonia in five homosexual men in Los Angeles.{{cite journal|title=Pneumocystis pneumonia — Los Angeles|journal=Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report|volume=30|issue=21|pages=250–2|date=June 1981|pmid=6265753|url=https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/june_5.htm|publisher=Centers for Disease Control|author1=Centers for Disease Control (CDC)}}
• Bruce Reitz leads the team that performs the first successful heart–lung transplant on Mary Gohlke at Stanford Hospital. {{Cite web|url=http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2016/03/bruce-reitz-recalls-the-worlds-first-heart-lung-transplant.html|title=5 Questions: Bruce Reitz recalls first successful heart-lung transplant|website=News Center|language=en|access-date=2 February 2019}}
• LeCompte maneuver first performed.{{cite journal|last1=LeCompte|first1=Y.|last2=Neveux|first2=J. Y.|last3=Leca|first3=F.|last4=Zannini|first4=L.|last5=Tu|first5=T. V.|last6=Duboys|first6=Y.|last7=Jarreau|first7=M. M.|date=November 1982|title=Reconstruction of the pulmonary outflow tract without prosthetic conduit|journal=The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery|volume=84|issue=5|pages=727–33|doi=10.1016/S0022-5223(19)38962-7 |issn=0022-5223|pmid=7132411|doi-access=free}}
• English psychiatrist Lorna Wing introduces the term "Asperger syndrome".{{cite journal|last=Wing|first=L.|title=Asperger's syndrome: a clinical account|journal=Psychological Medicine|volume=11|issue=1|pages=115–29|year=1981|doi=10.1017/S0033291700053332|pmid=7208735|s2cid=16046498 |url=http://www.mugsy.org/wing2.htm|accessdate=2007-08-15}}

• April 12 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle: Columbia launches on the STS-1 mission.
• October 6 – UoSAT-1, the first modern microsatellite, is launched into Low Earth orbit.{{cite journal|last=Cook|first=Mike|date=June 1986|title=Way into the world of satellite telemetry|journal=The Micro User|volume=4|issue=4|pages=100–1|publisher=Database Publications|location=Stockport, UK|issn=0265-4040}}

• July 7 – Electric aircraft Solar Challenger, designed by an American team led by Paul MacCready and piloted by Stephen Ptacek, makes a 163-mile (262 km) crossing of the English Channel using only solar power from wing-mounted photovoltaic cells.
• July 17 – Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: Structural failure due to a late design change causes two internal suspended walkways at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri to collapse, killing 114.

• Nobel Prizes
• Physics – Nicolaas Bloembergen, Arthur Leonard Schawlow, Kai M. Siegbahn
• Chemistry – Kenichi Fukui, Roald Hoffmann
• Medicine – Roger W. Sperry, David H. Hubel, Torsten N. Wiesel
• Turing Award – Edgar F. Codd

• January 5
• Frederick Osborn (b. 1889), American philanthropist and eugenicist.
• Harold Urey (b. 1893), American winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.{{Cite journal | last1 = Cohen | first1 = K. P. | last2 = Runcorn | first2 = S. K. | author-link2 = Keith Runcorn| last3 = Suess | first3 = H. E. | last4 = Thode | first4 = H. G. | author-link4 = Harry Thode| title = Harold Clayton Urey 29 April 1893-5 January 1981 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1983.0022 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 29 | pages = 622–659 | year = 1983 | jstor = 769815| doi-access = free }}
• February 26 – Jennie Smillie Robertson (b. 1878), Canadian gynecological surgeon.
• March 8 – Joseph Henry Woodger, British theoretical biologist (b. 1894){{cite journal| last1=Popper | first1=Karl | year=1981 | title=Obituary: Joseph Henry Woodger | journal=British Journal for the Philosophy of Science | volume=32 | issue=3 | pages=328–330 | doi=10.1093/bjps/32.3.328 }}
• March 9 – Max Delbrück (b. 1906), German biologist.{{Cite journal | author = William Hayes | author-link = William Hayes (geneticist)| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1982.0003 | title = Max Ludwig Henning Delbruck. 4 September 1906-10 March 1981 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | publisher=Royal Society|location=London|volume = 28 | pages = 58–90| year = 1982 | jstor = 769892 | doi-access = free }}
• April 3 – Leo Kanner (b. 1894), Austrian American clinical child psychiatrist.
• May 11 – Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897){{Citation|last=Pedersen|first=Bjørn|title=Odd Hassel|date=2019-09-24|url=http://snl.no/Odd_Hassel|work=Store norske leksikon|language=no|access-date=October 23, 2019}}
• July 4 - Niels Erik Nørlund (b. 1885), Danish mathematician.
• July 27 – Elizabeth Rona (b. 1890), Hungarian American nuclear chemist.
• July 31 – Ernest Melville DuPorte (b. 1891), Black Canadian insect morphologist.
• September 8 – Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907){{Cite journal | last1 = Kemmer | first1 = N. | author-link = Nicholas Kemmer| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1983.0023 | title = Hideki Yukawa. 23 January 1907 – 8 September 1981 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 29 | pages = 660–676| year = 1983 | jstor = 769816| doi-access = free }}
• September 9 – Jacques Lacan (b. 1901), French psychoanalyst.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lacan/|title=Jacques Lacan|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|publisher=Stanford University|first=Adrian|last=Johnston|year=2018}}
• November 15 – Walter Heitler (b. 1904), German physicist
  Fellow of the Royal Society{{Cite journal | last1 = Mott | first1 = N. | author-link = Nevill Francis Mott| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1982.0007 | title = Walter Heinrich Heitler. 2 January 1904 – 15 November 1981 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 28 | pages = 140–151| year = 1982 | jstor = 769896| doi-access = free }}
• November 17
• Wilhelm Pelikan (b. 1893), Austrian chemist.[https://steinerbooks.presswarehouse.com/browse/author/523454f0-d006-4472-8f4d-27fd69d3d317/Wilhelm-Pelikan?page=1 Wilhelm Pelikan]
• Sibyl M. Rock (b. 1909), American mathematician.
• November 22 – Hans Krebs (b. 1900), German medical doctor and biochemist; discoverer of the citric acid cycle.{{cite journal|last1=Kornberg|first1=H.|last2=Williamson|first2=D. H.|title=Hans Adolf Krebs. 25 August 1900 – 22 November 1981|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|year=1984|volume=30|pages=350–385|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1984.0013|pmid=11616005|doi-access=free}}
• December 6 – Harry Harlow (b. 1905), American psychologist.

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Category:20th century in science

Category:1980s in science