List of years in science (Table)
… 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 •    1986 • 1987 • 1988 – 1989 – 1990 • 1991 • 1992 •    1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 …
Related time period or subjects
… 1986 • 1987 • 1988 – 1989 – 1990 • 1991 • 1992 … … 1950s • 1960s • 1970s – 1980s – 1990s • 2000s • 2010s … … 19th century – 20th century – 21st century …
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The year 1989 in science and technology involved many significant events, some listed below.

Astronomy

• August - the asteroid 4769 Castalia is the first asteroid directly imaged, by radar from Arecibo.
• Asteroid 5128 Wakabayashi is discovered by Masahiro Koishikawa.
• 4292 Aoba is discovered.
• 4871 Riverside is discovered.
• 6089 Izumi is discovered.
• 6190 Rennes is discovered
• 8084 Dallas is discovered.

Computer science

• July 26 - A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. for releasing a computer virus, making him the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Physics

• March 23 - Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce cold fusion at the University of Utah.

Awards

• Nobel Prizes
  • Physics - Norman F. Ramsey, Hans G. Dehmelt, Wolfgang Paul
  • Chemistry - Sidney Altman, Thomas R. Cech
  • Medicine - J. Michael Bishop, Harold E. Varmus
• Turing Award - William (Velvel) Kahan

Deaths

• February 27 - Konrad Lorenz (b. 1903), zoologist.
• August 12 - William Bradford Shockley (b. 1910), physicist.
• October 11 - M. King Hubbert (b. 1903), geophysicist.
• December 14 - Andrei Sakharov (b. 1921), nuclear physicist.