5. The launch of Sputnik I by the Soviet Union (Oct. 4, 1957)

This event marked the beginning of the Space Age and intensified the competition between East and West during the Cold War. It also changed the way the United States thought about science. The U.S. government made large amounts of money available to help U. S. scientists "catch up" with Soviet technology, develop satellites, and eventually send astronauts to the moon. In the process of developing satellite technology, we acquired an enormous amount of information about the earth and conditions in space.

 

 

Marianna A. Busch is the Chair and a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Baylor University. Her Top 10 list centers on the most important scientific events of the 1900's. She discusses what these events meant to scientists and society in general.

1.

The discovery of the molecular structure of DNA (1953)

2. The invention of the transistor (1947)
3. The first use of penicillin (1928)
4.

Development of the atomic bomb (1940's)

5. The launch of Sputnik I by the Soviet Union (Oct. 4, 1957)
6. Construction of the first laser (1960)
7. The development of new plants and the Green Revolution (mid-1900's)
8. The beginning of nuclear physics (early 1900's)
9. The development of quantum theory (early 1900's)
10. The publication of Silent Spring (1962)