1998 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1998 in science and technology involved many events, some of which are included below.
Astronomy and space exploration
- January–September – Cosmologists from the Supernova Cosmology ProjectSupernova Cosmology ProjectThe Supernova Cosmology Project is one of two research teams that determined the likelihood of an accelerating universe and therefore a positive Cosmological constant, using data from the redshift of Type Ia supernovae...
led by Saul PerlmutterSaul PerlmutterSaul Perlmutter is an American astrophysicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of...
and the High-z Supernova Search TeamHigh-z Supernova Search TeamThe High-z Supernova Search Team was an international cosmology collaboration which used Type Ia Supernovae to chart the expansion of the Universe. The team was formed in 1994 by Brian P. Schmidt, then a post-doctoral research associate at Harvard University, and Nicholas B. Suntzeff, a staff...
led by Adam RiessAdam RiessAdam Guy Riess is an American astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute and is widely known for his research in using supernovae as Cosmological Probes. Riess shared both the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul...
and Brian SchmidtBrian SchmidtBrian L. Schmidt is a music composer for various video games and pinball games. He began in the video game music and sound industry in 1987 as a composer/sound designer and programmer for Williams Electronic Games in Chicago writing music and creating sound effects for pinball machines and coin...
publish evidence that the expansion rate of the universe is increasing. - January 6 – The Lunar ProspectorLunar ProspectorThe Lunar Prospector mission was the third selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program. At a cost of $62.8 million, the 19-month mission was designed for a low polar orbit investigation of the Moon, including mapping of surface composition and possible...
spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon and later finds evidence for frozen water on the moon's surface. - February 26 – Total solar eclipseSolar eclipse of February 26, 1998A total solar eclipse occurred on February 26, 1998. -Sites and Photos:* * * * APOD 3/11/1998, A Total Eclipse of the Sun, totality from Venezuela.* APOD 3/12/1998, Moon Shadow satellite animation, 2/1998.* -Videos:* * *...
- March 2 – Data sent from the Galileo spaceprobe indicates that JupiterJupiterJupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
's moon EuropaEuropa (moon)Europa Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and probably has an iron core. It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. Its surface is composed of ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System. This surface is striated by cracks and...
has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of iceIceIce is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...
. - March 5 – NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
announces that the ClementineClementine missionClementine was a joint space project between the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and NASA...
probe orbiting the MoonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
has found enough water in polar craters to support a human colony and rocket-fuelling station. - March 13 – Penumbral lunar eclipseMarch 1998 lunar eclipseA penumbral lunar eclipse took place on March 13, 1998, the first of three lunar eclipses in 1998.- Lunar year series :This is the last of four lunar year eclipses at the descending node of the moon's orbit.- External links :*...
- July 5 – Japan launches a probe to MarsMarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, and thus joins the United States and Russia as a space-exploring nation. - August 8 – Penumbral lunar eclipseAugust 1998 lunar eclipseA penumbral lunar eclipse took place on August 8, 1998, the second of three lunar eclipses that year.- Saros series :This lunar eclipse is the second to last member of Saros series 109. The next event is on August 18, 2016. The previous occurrence was on July 27, 1980.- External links :*...
- August 22 – Annular solar eclipseSolar eclipse of August 22, 1998An annular solar eclipse occurred on August 22, 1998. -References:Photos:* APOD 8/24/1998, from Mersing on the East Coast of Malaysia...
- September 6 – Penumbral lunar eclipseSeptember 1998 lunar eclipseA penumbral lunar eclipse took place on September 6, 1998, the last of three lunar eclipses in 1998.- Lunar year series :This is the last of four lunar year eclipses at the ascending node of the moon's orbit.-External links:*...
- October 29 – Space Shuttle DiscoverySpace Shuttle DiscoverySpace Shuttle Discovery is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011...
blasts-off with 77-year old John GlennJohn GlennJohn Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
on board, making him the oldest person to go into space. He became the first American to orbit Earth on February 20, 1962. - November 20 – ZaryaZaryaZarya , also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB , was the first module of the International Space Station to be launched. The FGB provided electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during the initial stage of assembly...
, the first module of the International Space StationInternational Space StationThe International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
, is launched. - The first of four 8.4 m reflecting telescopeReflecting telescopeA reflecting telescope is an optical telescope which uses a single or combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century as an alternative to the refracting telescope which, at that time, was a design that suffered from...
s opens in the Very Large TelescopeVery Large TelescopeThe Very Large Telescope is a telescope operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The VLT consists of four individual telescopes, each with a primary mirror 8.2m across, which are generally used separately but can be used together to...
program of the European Southern ObservatoryEuropean Southern ObservatoryThe European Southern Observatory is an intergovernmental research organisation for astronomy, supported by fifteen countries...
at Cerro ParanalCerro ParanalCerro Paranal , also known as Paranal Mountain is a mountain in the Atacama desert of northern Chile that is home to the Paranal Observatory. It is famous for hosting the Very Large Telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope. It is located 120 km west of Antofagasta and 80 km north of Taltal,...
in Chile.
Computer science
- February 10 – XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
is published as a recommendation of the W3C. - June 2 – The CIH virus is discovered in TaiwanTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. - The first working 2-qubit nuclear magnetic resonanceNuclear magnetic resonanceNuclear magnetic resonance is a physical phenomenon in which magnetic nuclei in a magnetic field absorb and re-emit electromagnetic radiation...
computer is demonstrated at the University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
.
Geology
- February 4 – An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
kills more than 5,000. - March 14 – An earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale hits southeastern Iran.
- May 30 – A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan killing up to 5,000.
- July 17 – A tsunamiTsunamiA tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
triggered by an undersea earthquake destroys 10 villages in Papua New GuineaPapua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
killing an estimated 1,500, leaving 2,000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless.
Mathematics
- Luca CardelliLuca CardelliLuca Cardelli is an Italian computer scientist who is currently an Assistant Director at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK. Cardelli is well-known for his research in type theory and operational semantics. Among other contributions he implemented the first compiler for the functional programming...
and Andrew D. GordonAndrew D. GordonAndrew D. Gordon is a British computer scientist.Gordon is the co-designer of Spi Calculus , Ambient calculus , and...
develop ambient calculusAmbient calculusIn computer science, the ambient calculus is a process calculus devised by Luca Cardelli and Andrew D. Gordon in 1998, and used to describe and theorise about concurrent systems that include mobility...
. - Thomas Callister HalesThomas Callister HalesThomas Callister Hales is an American mathematician. He is known for his 1998 computer-aided proof of the Kepler conjecture, a centuries-old problem in discrete geometry which states that the most space-efficient way to pack spheres is in a pyramid shape...
(almost certainly) proves the Kepler conjectureKepler conjectureThe Kepler conjecture, named after the 17th-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler, is a mathematical conjecture about sphere packing in three-dimensional Euclidean space. It says that no arrangement of equally sized spheres filling space has a greater average density than that of the cubic...
.
Physics
- May 11 & 13 – Nuclear testingNuclear testingNuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the twentieth century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them...
: The Pokhran-IIPokhran-IIPokharan-II refers to test explosions of five nuclear devices, three on 11 May and two on 13 May 1998, conducted by India at the Pokhran test range. These nuclear tests resulted in a variety of sanctions against India by a number of major states....
: IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
detonates the five nuclear devices in Pokhran Test RangePokhranPokhran is a city and a municipality located in Jaisalmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is a remote location in the Thar Desert region and served as the test site for India's first underground nuclear weapon detonation.-Geography:Pokhran http://marupradesh.org/ located at...
, an Indian ArmyIndian ArmyThe Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
base. - May 28 – Nuclear testing: The Chagai-IChagai-IThe Chagai-I was a codename referring to the five underground nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan at 15:15hrs in 28th May of 1998. It was named Chagai-I, as the tests were conducted in the Chagai District...
: In response to India, PakistanPakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
conducts five underground and simultaneous nuclear weapon-testing experiments in the Chagai HillsChagai HillsThe Chagai Hills is a range of granite hills in the Chagai District in Pakistan's Balochistan province.-Location:The Chagai Hills lie in a desert area in the northernmost part of Chagai District north of Pakistan's Ras Koh Hills and south of Afghanistan's Helmand and Nimruz provinces.- Topography...
, thus becoming the first nuclear weapon state in the Muslim world and the seventh in the world. - May 30 – Nuclear testing: The Chagai-II: As part of a tit-for-tat policy, a final plutonium implosion test is carried out in the Kharan DesertKharan DesertThe Kharan Desert is a sand desert situated in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.Kharan desert is Pakistan's second nuclear test site, and the second nuclear test — Codename Chagai-II — was conducted and supervised by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in May 30, 1998.The desert is...
.
Physiology and medicine
- January 14 – Researchers in Dallas, Texas, present findings about an enzymeEnzymeEnzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
that slows aging and cell death (apoptosisApoptosisApoptosis is the process of programmed cell death that may occur in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes and death. These changes include blebbing, cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin condensation, and chromosomal DNA fragmentation...
). - February 19 – RNA interferenceRNA interferenceRNA interference is a process within living cells that moderates the activity of their genes. Historically, it was known by other names, including co-suppression, post transcriptional gene silencing , and quelling. Only after these apparently unrelated processes were fully understood did it become...
first elucidated in C. elegansCaenorhabditis elegansCaenorhabditis elegans is a free-living, transparent nematode , about 1 mm in length, which lives in temperate soil environments. Research into the molecular and developmental biology of C. elegans was begun in 1974 by Sydney Brenner and it has since been used extensively as a model...
. - February 28 – Andrew WakefieldAndrew WakefieldAndrew Wakefield is a British former surgeon and medical researcher, known as an advocate for the discredited claim that there is a link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, autism and bowel disease, and for his fraudulent 1998 research paper in support of that claim.Four years after...
publishes a case seriesCase seriesA case series is a medical research descriptive study that tracks patients with a known exposure given similar treatment or examines their medical records for exposure and outcome. It can be retrospective or prospective and usually involves a smaller number of patients than more powerful...
(subsequently partially retracted) in The LancetThe LancetThe Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
of twelve children with gastroenterologicalGastroenterologyGastroenterology is the branch of medicine whereby the digestive system and its disorders are studied. The name is a combination of three Ancient Greek words gaster , enteron , and logos...
and autistic spectrumAutism spectrumThe term "autism spectrum" is often used to describe disorders that are currently classified as pervasive developmental disorders. Pervasive developmental disorders include autism, Asperger syndrome, Childhood disintegrative disorder, Rett syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise...
disorders believed to have first presented soon after receipt of the MMR vaccineMMR vaccineThe MMR vaccine is an immunization shot against measles, mumps, and rubella . It was first developed by Maurice Hilleman while at Merck in the late 1960s....
. - July 17 – BiologistBiologistA biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
s report in the journal ScienceScience (journal)Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
how they sequenced the genomeGenomeIn modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....
of the bacterium that causes syphilisSyphilisSyphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
, Treponema pallidumTreponema pallidumTreponema pallidum is a species of spirochaete bacterium with subspecies that cause treponemal diseases such as syphilis, bejel, pinta and yaws. The treponemes have a cytoplasmic and outer membrane...
. - December 11 – Bruce Beutler and colleagues publish their discovery that Toll-like receptorToll-like receptorToll-like receptors are a class of proteins that play a key role in the innate immune system. They are single, membrane-spanning, non-catalytic receptors that recognize structurally conserved molecules derived from microbes...
4 functions as a lipopolysaccharideLipopolysaccharideLipopolysaccharides , also known as lipoglycans, are large molecules consisting of a lipid and a polysaccharide joined by a covalent bond; they are found in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, act as endotoxins and elicit strong immune responses in animals.-Functions:LPS is the major...
sensing receptor.
Technology
- April 5 – In Japan, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking ShikokuShikokuis the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...
with HonshūHonshuis the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
, at a cost of about US$3.8 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the longest-span suspension bridgeSuspension bridgeA suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. Outside Tibet and Bhutan, where the first examples of this type of bridge were built in the 15th century, this type of bridge dates from the early 19th century...
in the world.
Publications
- Jacques Heyman – Structural Analysis: A Historical Approach (Cambridge University Press)
Appointments
- Susan Greenfield appointed Director of the Royal InstitutionRoyal InstitutionThe Royal Institution of Great Britain is an organization devoted to scientific education and research, based in London.-Overview:...
of Great Britain.
Awards
- Fields Prize in MathematicsFields MedalThe Fields Medal, officially known as International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics, is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians not over 40 years of age at each International Congress of the International Mathematical Union , a meeting that takes place every four...
: Richard Ewen Borcherds, William Timothy GowersWilliam Timothy GowersWilliam Timothy Gowers FRS is a British mathematician. He is a Royal Society Research Professor at the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at Cambridge University, where he also holds the Rouse Ball chair, and is a Fellow of Trinity College...
, Maxim KontsevichMaxim KontsevichMaxim Lvovich Kontsevich is a Russian mathematician. He is a professor at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques and a distinguished professor at the University of Miami...
and Curtis T. McMullenCurtis T. McMullenCurtis Tracy McMullen is Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1998 for his work in complex dynamics, hyperbolic geometry and Teichmüller theory.... - Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
- PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
– Robert B. LaughlinRobert B. LaughlinRobert Betts Laughlin is a professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University. Along with Horst L. Störmer of Columbia University and Daniel C. Tsui of Princeton University, he was awarded a share of the 1998 Nobel Prize in physics for their explanation of the fractional quantum Hall...
, Horst L. Störmer, Daniel C. TsuiDaniel C. TsuiDaniel Chee Tsui is a Chinese-born American physicist whose areas of research included electrical properties of thin films and microstructures of semiconductors and solid-state physics... - ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
– Walter KohnWalter KohnWalter Kohn is an Austrian-born American theoretical physicist.He was awarded, with John Pople, the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1998. The award recognized their contributions to the understandings of the electronic properties of materials...
, John PopleJohn PopleSir John Anthony Pople, KBE, FRS, was a Nobel-Prize winning theoretical chemist. Born in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, England, he attended Bristol Grammar School. He won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1943. He received his B. A. in 1946. Between 1945 and 1947 he worked at the Bristol... - MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
– Robert F. FurchgottRobert F. FurchgottRobert Francis Furchgott was a Nobel Prize-winning American biochemist.Furchgott was born in Charleston, SC, to Arthur Furchgott and Pena Sorentrue Furchgott...
, Louis J. Ignarro, Ferid MuradFerid MuradFerid Murad is an Albanian-American physician and pharmacologist, and a co-winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is also an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo.- Life :...
- Physics
- Turing AwardTuring AwardThe Turing Award, in full The ACM A.M. Turing Award, is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the...
: Jim Gray - Wollaston Medal for GeologyWollaston MedalThe Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London.The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831...
: Karl Karekin Turekian
Deaths
- March 15 – Benjamin SpockBenjamin SpockBenjamin McLane Spock was an American pediatrician whose book Baby and Child Care, published in 1946, is one of the biggest best-sellers of all time. Its message to mothers is that "you know more than you think you do."Spock was the first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try to understand...
(b. 1903), pediatrician, writer. - May 31 – Michio SuzukiMichio Suzukiwas a Japanese mathematician who studied group theory.-Biography:He was a Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1953 to his death. He also had visiting positions at the University of Chicago , the Institute for Advanced Study , the University of Tokyo , and the...
(b. 19261926 in scienceThe year 1926 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* March 16 - Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.-Paleontology:...
), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - July 3 – Danielle Bunten BerryDanielle Bunten BerryDanielle Bunten Berry , born Daniel Paul Bunten, and also known as Dan Bunten, was an American game designer and programmer, known for the 1983 game M.U.L.E. , and 1984's The Seven Cities of Gold.-Biography:Bunten was born in St Louis, Missouri, and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas as a...
(b. 1949), also known as Dan Bunten, software developer. - July 21 – Alan ShepardAlan ShepardAlan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA astronaut who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, in space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit...
(b. 1923), astronautAstronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
. - August 4 – Yuri ArtyukhinYuri ArtyukhinYury Petrovich Artyukhin was a Soviet Russian cosmonaut and engineer who made a single flight into space.Artyukhin graduated from the Soviet Air Force Institute with a doctorate in engineering, specialising in military communication systems. He was selected for the space programme in 1963 and...
(b. 1930), cosmonautAstronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
. - August 26 – Frederick ReinesFrederick ReinesFrederick Reines was an American physicist. He was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics for his co-detection of the neutrino with Clyde Cowan in the neutrino experiment, and may be the only scientist in history "so intimately associated with the discovery of an elementary particle and the...
(b. 1918), physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
, Nobel laureate. - December 17 – Claudia Benton (b. c.1959), pediatric neurologistNeurologistA neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
. - December 18 – Lev Demin (b. 1926), cosmonautAstronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
.