2004 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 2004 in science
and technology
involved some significant events.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
involved some significant events.
Anthropology
- October 27 - Remains of a previously unknown species of human is discovered in IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. Named Homo floresiensisHomo floresiensisHomo floresiensis is a possible species, now extinct, in the genus Homo. The remains were discovered in 2003 on the island of Flores in Indonesia. Partial skeletons of nine individuals have been recovered, including one complete cranium...
, the homininHomininiHominini is the tribe of Homininae that comprises Homo, and the two species of the genus Pan , their ancestors, and the extinct lineages of their common ancestor . Members of the tribe are called hominins...
is a dwarfDwarfingDwarfing is a characteristic in plants and animals whereby one or more members of a breed or cultivar are significantly smaller than standard members of their species...
ed version that lived 18,000 years ago on the island of FloresFloresFlores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, an island arc with an estimated area of 14,300 km² extending east from the Java island of Indonesia. The population was 1.831.000 in the 2010 census and the largest town is Maumere. Flores is Portuguese for "flowers".Flores is located east of Sumbawa...
.
Astronomy
- January 19 - The Hubble Space TelescopeHubble Space TelescopeThe Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle in 1990 and remains in operation. A 2.4 meter aperture telescope in low Earth orbit, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared...
Program receives notification of the cancellation of all further HST on-orbit servicing. - March 15 - Astronomers announce the discovery last year of trans-Neptunian objectTrans-Neptunian objectA trans-Neptunian object is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater distance on average than Neptune.The first trans-Neptunian object to be discovered was Pluto in 1930...
90377 Sedna90377 Sedna90377 Sedna is a trans-Neptunian object discovered in 2003, which was about three times as far from the Sun as Neptune. For most of its orbit it is even further from the Sun, with its aphelion estimated at 960 astronomical units , making it one of the most distant known objects in the Solar System...
, one of the most distant objects in the Solar SystemSolar SystemThe Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
. - April 19 - Partial solar eclipseSolar eclipse of April 19, 2004A partial solar eclipse took place on Monday, 19 April 2004. It was largely visible over the south Atlantic Ocean and north shores of Antarctica, most prominently the Antarctic Peninsula. The eclipse was deep enough to be seen from a large portion of southern Africa, with over 50% totality at Cape...
- May 18 - Scientists using the Chandra X-ray ObservatoryChandra X-ray ObservatoryThe Chandra X-ray Observatory is a satellite launched on STS-93 by NASA on July 23, 1999. It was named in honor of Indian-American physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who is known for determining the maximum mass for white dwarfs. "Chandra" also means "moon" or "luminous" in Sanskrit.Chandra...
announced their findings that supports the notion that the expansion of the UniverseUniverseThe Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
is acceleratingAccelerating universeThe accelerating universe is the observation that the universe appears to be expanding at an increasing rate, which in formal terms means that the cosmic scale factor a has a positive second derivative, implying that the velocity at which a given galaxy is receding from us should be continually...
. - June 8 - Transit of VenusTransit of VenusA transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth, becoming visible against the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun...
across the Sun. - September 13 - Astronomers from the European Southern ObservatoryEuropean Southern ObservatoryThe European Southern Observatory is an intergovernmental research organisation for astronomy, supported by fifteen countries...
(ESO) announce images that appear to show a planet orbiting a brown dwarfBrown dwarfBrown dwarfs are sub-stellar objects which are too low in mass to sustain hydrogen-1 fusion reactions in their cores, which is characteristic of stars on the main sequence. Brown dwarfs have fully convective surfaces and interiors, with no chemical differentiation by depth...
about 230 light years away. The system is believed to be only around 8 million years old. - October 14 - Partial solar eclipseSolar eclipse of October 14, 2004A partial solar eclipse occurred on October 14, 2004. -External links:* http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2004Oct14P.GIF** * Photos:* * , Nagoya, Aichi, Japan by Toshimi Taki...
- November 20 - Launch of the SwiftSwift Gamma-Ray Burst MissionThe Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission consists of a robotic spacecraft called Swift, which was launched into orbit on 20 November 2004, 17:16:00 UTC on a Delta II 7320-10C expendable launch vehicle. Swift is managed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and was developed by an international...
satellite to investigate gamma-ray bursts (GRB) and perform an X-rayX-rayX-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
all sky survey. - December 27 - A flare of radiation from an explosion on the super-magnetic neutron starNeutron starA neutron star is a type of stellar remnant that can result from the gravitational collapse of a massive star during a Type II, Type Ib or Type Ic supernova event. Such stars are composed almost entirely of neutrons, which are subatomic particles without electrical charge and with a slightly larger...
(MagnetarMagnetarA magnetar is a type of neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field, the decay of which powers the emission of copious high-energy electromagnetic radiation, particularly X-rays and gamma rays...
) SGR 1806-20SGR 1806-20|- style="vertical-align: top;"| Distance | 50,000 light-years SGR 1806-20 is a magnetar, a particular type of neutron star. It has been identified as a soft gamma repeater. SGR 1806-20 is located about 14.5 kiloparsecs from Earth on the far side of our Milky Way galaxy in the constellation of...
reaches Earth - astronomers later calculate that it is the largest explosion observed in the Milky WayMilky WayThe Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
galaxy for 400 years.
Biology
- July 30 - Marine biologists from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research InstituteMonterey Bay Aquarium Research InstituteThe Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute is a not-for-profit oceanographic research center in Moss Landing, California affiliated with the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was founded in 1987 by David Packard of Hewlett-Packard fame...
announce 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....
the discovery of the genus OsedaxOsedaxOsedax is a genus of deep-sea siboglinid polychaetes, commonly called boneworms, zombie worms, or bone-eating worms, or bone-eating snot flowers...
, deep sea worms that feed on lipidLipidLipids constitute a broad group of naturally occurring molecules that include fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins , monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides, phospholipids, and others...
s in decaying whaleWhaleWhale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
carcasses.
Earth sciences
- September 28 - A long awaited earthquake strikes Parkfield, CaliforniaParkfield, CaliforniaParkfield is an unincorporated community in Monterey County, California. It is located on Little Cholame Creek east of Bradley, at an elevation of 1529 feet...
, the most closely monitored earthquake zone in the world. The earthquake, which had been expected to have occurred by the late 1980s, strikes as a magnitude 6.0. The network of instruments that had been installed in the region make this the most well-recorded earthquake in history. - December 26 - Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
Mathematics
- Michael AschbacherMichael AschbacherMichael George Aschbacher is an American mathematician best known for his work on finite groups. He was a leading figure in the completion of the classification of finite simple groups in the 1970s and 1980s. It later turned out that the classification was incomplete, because the case of quasithin...
and Stephen D. Smith publish their work on quasithin groupQuasithin groupIn mathematics, a quasithin group is roughly a finite simple group of characteristic 2 type and width 2. Here characteristic 2 type means that its centralizers of involutions resemble those of groups of Lie type over fields of characteristic 2, and the width is roughly the maximal rank of an...
s, filling the last (known) gap in the classification of finite simple groupsClassification of finite simple groupsIn mathematics, the classification of the finite simple groups is a theorem stating that every finite simple group belongs to one of four categories described below. These groups can be seen as the basic building blocks of all finite groups, in much the same way as the prime numbers are the basic...
.
Paleontology
- Summer - A team led by Neil ShubinNeil ShubinNeil Shubin is an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer. He is the Robert R. Bensley Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, Associate Dean of Organismal Biology and Anatomy and Professor on the Committee of Evolutionary Biology at the University of...
discover fossils of the sarcopterygianSarcopterygiiThe Sarcopterygii or lobe-finned fishes – sometimes considered synonymous with Crossopterygii constitute a clade of the bony fishes, though a strict classification would include the terrestrial vertebrates...
TiktaalikTiktaalikTiktaalik is a genus of extinct sarcopterygian from the late Devonian period, with many features akin to those of tetrapods . It is an example from several lines of ancient sarcopterygian "fish" developing adaptations to the oxygen-poor shallow-water habitats of its time, which led to the...
on Ellesmere IslandEllesmere IslandEllesmere Island is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Lying within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, it is considered part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, with Cape Columbia being the most northerly point of land in Canada...
in NunavutNunavutNunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, significant in the evolution of tetrapodTetrapodTetrapods are vertebrate animals having four limbs. Amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals are all tetrapods; even snakes and other limbless reptiles and amphibians are tetrapods by descent. The earliest tetrapods evolved from the lobe-finned fishes in the Devonian...
s.
Physics
- January 14 - Physicists from Pennsylvania State UniversityPennsylvania State UniversityThe Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
produce the first solid Bose–Einstein condensateBose–Einstein condensateA Bose–Einstein condensate is a state of matter of a dilute gas of weakly interacting bosons confined in an external potential and cooled to temperatures very near absolute zero . Under such conditions, a large fraction of the bosons occupy the lowest quantum state of the external potential, at...
. - January - A team from the JILA laboratory in Boulder, ColoradoBoulder, ColoradoBoulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
announce the creation of a fermionic condensateFermionic condensateA fermionic condensate is a superfluid phase formed by fermionic particles at low temperatures. It is closely related to the Bose–Einstein condensate, a superfluid phase formed by bosonic atoms under similar conditions. Unlike the Bose–Einstein condensates, fermionic condensates are formed using...
, the first such condensate made from atoms rather than molecules. - February 3 - Russian and American physicists produce results that indicate the discovery of elements 113UnuntriumUnuntrium is the temporary name of a synthetic element with the temporary symbol Uut and atomic number 113.It is placed as the heaviest member of the group 13 elements although a sufficiently stable isotope is not known at this time that would allow chemical experiments to confirm its position...
and 115UnunpentiumUnunpentium is the temporary name of a synthetic superheavy element in the periodic table that has the temporary symbol Uup and has the atomic number 115....
. - March 22 - A team from Australia, Russia and Greece announce a new material, made from a nano-foam of carbonCarbonCarbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
that has the lowest density ever reported for a solid. - April 20 - 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...
launches Gravity Probe BGravity Probe BGravity Probe B is a satellite-based mission which launched on 20 April 2004 on a Delta II rocket. The spaceflight phase lasted until 2005; its aim was to measure spacetime curvature near Earth, and thereby the stress–energy tensor in and near Earth...
in an effort to test Einstein'sAlbert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
general theory of relativityGeneral relativityGeneral relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...
. - May 19 - A team of European scientists produces the first Tonks-Girardeau gasTonks-Girardeau gasIn physics, a Tonks–Girardeau gas is a quantum degenerate Bose Gas in which the repulsive interactions between bosonic particles confined to one dimension dominate the physics of the system. It is named after physicists Marvin D. Girardeau and Lewi Tonks...
. - September 24 - Physicists from the Université Joseph Fourier and the Institut Laue-LangevinInstitut Laue-LangevinThe Institut Laue–Langevin, or ILL, is an internationally-financed scientific facility, situated in Grenoble, France. It is one of the world centres for research using neutrons...
in GrenobleGrenobleGrenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, France announce the discovery of a solution (a-cyclodextrine, water, and 4-methylpyridine) that changes from liquid to solid when heated, and melts again when cooled down.
Technology
- March 27 - 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...
succeeds in a second attempt to fly its X-43A experimental airplane from the Hyper-X project, attaining speeds in excess of MachMach numberMach number is the speed of an object moving through air, or any other fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance for its particular physical conditions, including those of temperature and pressure...
7, the fastest free flying air-breathing hypersonicHypersonicIn aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that is highly supersonic. Since the 1970s, the term has generally been assumed to refer to speeds of Mach 5 and above...
flight. - April 30 - Scientists from the University of California at Irvine announce the first high-speed transistorTransistorA transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
made from a carbon nanotubeCarbon nanotubeCarbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure. Nanotubes have been constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to 132,000,000:1, significantly larger than for any other material...
, operating at microwaveMicrowaveMicrowaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...
frequencies.
Space exploration
- January 3 - 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...
's Spirit, the first of two Mars Exploration Rovers, lands successfully on 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...
. - January 24 - 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...
's Opportunity, the second of the Mars Exploration Rovers, lands successfully on 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...
. - March 2 - 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...
report that the area where their Mars probe Opportunity touched down shows unmistakable signs of contact with water in the geological past. - March 2 - ESA's Rosetta mission launches, aiming to land on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko67P/Churyumov-GerasimenkoComet Churyumov–Gerasimenko, officially designated 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, is a comet with a current orbital period of 6.6 years. It is the destination of the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft mission, launched on March 2, 2004....
in 2014. - March 4- 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...
's Spirit finds evidence of past contact with water in volcanic rocks on Mars. - April 1 - The GenesisGenesis (spacecraft)The Genesis spacecraft was a NASA sample return probe which collected a sample of solar wind and returned it to Earth for analysis. It was the first NASA sample return mission to return material since the Apollo Program, and the first to return material from beyond the orbit of the Moon...
probe closes and seals its particle collection instrument, and begins to return to Earth. - June 11 - Cassini-HuygensCassini-HuygensCassini–Huygens is a joint NASA/ESA/ASI spacecraft mission studying the planet Saturn and its many natural satellites since 2004. Launched in 1997 after nearly two decades of gestation, it includes a Saturn orbiter and an atmospheric probe/lander for the moon Titan, although it has also returned...
, the 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...
/ESA mission to SaturnSaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
, makes a flyby of one of Saturn's small outer moons, PhoebePhoebe (moon)Phoebe is an irregular satellite of Saturn. It was discovered by William Henry Pickering on 17 March 1899 from photographic plates that had been taken starting on 16 August 1898 at the Boyden Observatory near Arequipa, Peru, by DeLisle Stewart...
. - June 21 - SpaceShipOne, the first civilian space ship is launched in CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, reaching an altitude of 100 km (62.1 mi), just passing the edge of space. - July 1 - The Cassini-Huygens space probe arrives at Saturn and begins its nominal 4 year mission after successfully reaching orbit.
- August 2 - 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...
successfully launches the MESSENGERMESSENGERThe MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging space probe is a robotic NASA spacecraft in orbit around the planet Mercury. The spacecraft was launched aboard a Delta II rocket in August 2004 to study the chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field of Mercury...
probe on its 5 year trip to MercuryMercury (planet)Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
. - September 8 - The GenesisGenesis (spacecraft)The Genesis spacecraft was a NASA sample return probe which collected a sample of solar wind and returned it to Earth for analysis. It was the first NASA sample return mission to return material since the Apollo Program, and the first to return material from beyond the orbit of the Moon...
spacecraft returns to Earth with captured solar windSolar windThe solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed over time...
particles, but crash-lands because of a failure to deploy any parachute. - October 4 - SpaceShipOne wins the Ansari X PrizeAnsari X PrizeThe Ansari X Prize was a space competition in which the X Prize Foundation offered a US$10,000,000 prize for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks...
after reaching an altitude of over 100 km (62.1 mi) for the second time in less than five days. - November 15 - The Smart 1 space probe reaches orbit around 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...
. It is the first European space mission to do so. - December 25 - The CassiniCassini-HuygensCassini–Huygens is a joint NASA/ESA/ASI spacecraft mission studying the planet Saturn and its many natural satellites since 2004. Launched in 1997 after nearly two decades of gestation, it includes a Saturn orbiter and an atmospheric probe/lander for the moon Titan, although it has also returned...
probe successfully drops the Huygens probe, sending it onto a trip to land on SaturnSaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
's moon TitanTitan (moon)Titan , or Saturn VI, is the largest moon of Saturn, the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found....
.
Awards
- 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...
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or 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...
: Linda B. BuckLinda B. BuckLinda Brown Buck is an American biologist best known for her work on the olfactory system. She was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with Richard Axel, for their work on olfactory receptors....
and Richard AxelRichard AxelRichard Axel is an American neuroscientist whose work on the olfactory system won him and Linda B. Buck, a former post-doctoral scientist in his research group, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2004.... - Nobel Prize in 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...
: David J. Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank WilczekFrank WilczekFrank Anthony Wilczek is a theoretical physicist from the United States and a Nobel laureate. He is currently the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology .... - Nobel Prize in 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,...
: Aaron CiechanoverAaron CiechanoverAaron Ciechanover is an Israeli biologist, and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.- Biography :Ciechanover was born in Haifa, British mandate of Palestine, a year before the establishment of the State of Israel...
, Avram HershkoAvram HershkoAvram Hershko is a Hungarian-Israeli biochemist and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.-Biography:Born Herskó Ferenc in Karcag, Hungary, Hershko emigrated to Israel in 1950. Received his M.D. in 1965 and his Ph.D in 1969 from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel...
and Irwin RoseIrwin RoseIrwin A. Rose is an American biologist. Along with Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.-Biography:...
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- Abel Prize in MathematicsAbel PrizeThe Abel Prize is an international prize presented annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians. The prize is named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel . It has often been described as the "mathematician's Nobel prize" and is among the most prestigious...
: Michael F. AtiyahMichael AtiyahSir Michael Francis Atiyah, OM, FRS, FRSE is a British mathematician working in geometry.Atiyah grew up in Sudan and Egypt but spent most of his academic life in the United Kingdom at Oxford and Cambridge, and in the United States at the Institute for Advanced Study...
and Isadore M. SingerIsadore SingerIsadore Manuel Singer is an Institute Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology... - Millennium Technology PrizeMillennium Technology PrizeThe Millennium Technology Prize is the largest technology prize in the world. It is awarded once every two years by Technology Academy Finland, an independent fund established by Finnish industry and the Finnish state in partnership. The prize is presented by the President of Finland...
(inaugural year): World Wide WebWorld Wide WebThe World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
inventor Tim Berners-LeeTim Berners-LeeSir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, , also known as "TimBL", is a British computer scientist, MIT professor and the inventor of the World Wide Web... - Descartes PrizeDescartes PrizeThe Descartes Prize is an annual award in science given by the European Union, named in honour of the French mathematician and philosopher, René Descartes....
for outstanding cross-border research- Mitochondrial Biogenesis, Ageing and Disease project (co-ordinator Howard Trevor Jacobs)
- Long Distance Photonic Quantum Communication project (co-ordinator Anders Karlsson)
Appointments
- February 12 - Arden Bement, acting director of the U.S.A'sUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
National Science FoundationNational Science FoundationThe National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
. - August 26 - Neurobiologist Susan HockfieldSusan HockfieldSusan Hockfield is the sixteenth and current president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hockfield's appointment was publicly announced on August 26, 2004, and she formally took office December 6, 2004, succeeding Charles M. Vest. Hockfield's official inauguration celebrations took...
is appointed as President of MITMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. - November 19 - Particle physicist Piermaria OddonePiermaria OddonePiermaria J Oddone is a Peruvian-American particle physicist.Born in Peru, Oddone earned his bachelor's degree in Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965 and a PhD in Physics from Princeton University in 1970....
is appointed to succeed Michael Witherell as director of FermilabFermilabFermi National Accelerator Laboratory , located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a US Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics...
(from July 1, 2005).
Deaths
- February 6 - Humphry OsmondHumphry OsmondHumphry Fortescue Osmond was a British psychiatrist known for inventing the word psychedelic and for using psychedelic drugs in medical research...
(b. 19171917 in scienceThe year 1917 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Awards:* Nobel Prize** Physics - Charles Glover Barkla** Chemistry - not awarded** Medicine - not awarded-Births:...
), English-born psychiatristPsychiatristA psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
. - March 15
- William PickeringWilliam Hayward PickeringWilliam Hayward Pickering ONZ KBE was a New Zealand born rocket scientist who headed Pasadena, California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 22 years, retiring in 1976...
(b. 19101910 in scienceThe year 1910 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Albert Einstein and Marian Smoluchowski find the Einstein-Smoluchowski formula for the attenuation coefficient due to density fluctuations in a gas...
), former head of NASA'sNASAThe 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...
Jet Propulsion LaboratoryJet Propulsion LaboratoryJet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
. - Sir 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...
(b. 19251925 in scienceThe year 1925 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* July 21 - Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T...
), British 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...
winning chemist.
- William Pickering
- April 19 - John Maynard SmithJohn Maynard SmithJohn Maynard Smith,His surname was Maynard Smith, not Smith, nor was it hyphenated. F.R.S. was a British theoretical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he took a second degree in genetics under the well-known biologist J.B.S....
(b. 19201920 in scienceThe year 1920 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-History of science and technology:* Newcomen Society founded in the United Kingdom for the study of the history of engineering and technology.-Medicine:...
), evolutionary biologist and geneticistGeneticistA geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...
. - July 3 - Andrian NikolayevAndrian NikolayevAndriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev , was a Soviet cosmonaut. He was an ethnic Chuvash.- History :...
(b. 19291929 in scienceThe year 1929 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Astronomy and space exploration:* July 17 - Robert H...
), 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....
. - July 28 - Francis CrickFrancis CrickFrancis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, and most noted for being one of two co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, together with James D. Watson...
(b. 19161916 in scienceThe year 1916 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Gilbert N. Lewis and Irving Langmuir formulate an electron shell model of chemical bonding....
), American Nobelaureate in Physiology for discovering the double helix structure for DNADNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
. - August 12 - John ClarkAnthony John ClarkJohn Clark was the head of the Roslin Institute .English molecular biologist who was a founder of applying molecular technology to farm animals. In 1985, he began work in genetic modification to produce a sheep giving milk with human proteins. He was successful within five years...
(b. 19511951 in scienceThe year 1951 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Computer science:* February - Ferranti deliver their first Mark 1 computer to the University of Manchester . It is the world's first commercially-available general-purpose electronic computer.* March 30 -...
), head of the Roslin Institute and part of the team that cloned Dolly the SheepDolly the SheepDolly was a female domestic sheep, and the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer. She was cloned by Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and colleagues at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh in Scotland...
. - August 15 - Sune K. Bergström (b. 19161916 in scienceThe year 1916 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Gilbert N. Lewis and Irving Langmuir formulate an electron shell model of chemical bonding....
), Swedish biochemistBiochemistBiochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. Typical biochemists study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. The prefix of "bio" in "biochemist" can be understood as a fusion of "biological chemist."-Role:...
, winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Medicine. - August 31 - Fred Whipple (b. 19061906 in scienceThe year 1906 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Charles Barkla discovers that each element has a characteristic X-ray and that the degree of penetration of these X-rays is related to the atomic weight of the element.* Mikhail Tsvet first names the...
), American astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
who coined the term "dirty snowball" to explain the nature of cometCometA comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
s. - October 5 - Maurice WilkinsMaurice WilkinsMaurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins CBE FRS was a New Zealand-born English physicist and molecular biologist, and Nobel Laureate whose research contributed to the scientific understanding of phosphorescence, isotope separation, optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction, and to the development of radar...
(b. 19161916 in scienceThe year 1916 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Gilbert N. Lewis and Irving Langmuir formulate an electron shell model of chemical bonding....
), Nobelaureate in Physiology for discovering the double helix structure for DNADNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
using X-rayX-rayX-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
diffraction. - October 19 - Lewis UrryLewis UrryLewis Frederick Urry, , was a Canadian chemical engineer and inventor. He invented both the alkaline battery and lithium battery while working for the Eveready Battery company....
(b. 19271927 in scienceThe year 1927 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Mathematics:* Publication of the 2nd edition of Principia Mathematica by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell, one of the most important and seminal works in mathematical logic and philosophy.-Physics:*...
), inventor of the long-lasting alkaline batteryAlkaline batteryAlkaline batteries are a type of primary batteries dependent upon the reaction between zinc and manganese dioxide . A rechargeable alkaline battery allows reuse of specially designed cells....
. - November 18 - Robert BacherRobert BacherRobert Fox Bacher was an American nuclear physicist and one of the leaders of the Manhattan Project.-Early life and career:...
(b. 19051905 in scienceThe year 1905 in science and technology involved some significant events, particularly in physics, listed below.-Astronomy:* January 2 - Charles Dillon Perrine at Lick Observatory discovers Elara, one of Jupiter's natural satellites....
), nuclear physicist and one of the leaders of the Manhattan ProjectManhattan ProjectThe Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, Professor and Provost of the California Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of TechnologyThe California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
. - December 26 - Frank PantridgeFrank PantridgeProfessor James Francis "Frank" Pantridge, MD, CBE was a physician and cardiologist from Northern Ireland who transformed emergency medicine and paramedic services with the invention of the portable defibrillator....
(b. 19161916 in scienceThe year 1916 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Gilbert N. Lewis and Irving Langmuir formulate an electron shell model of chemical bonding....
), cardiologist. - December 29 - Julius AxelrodJulius AxelrodJulius Axelrod was an American biochemist. He won a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 along with Bernard Katz and Ulf von Euler...
, (b. 19121912 in scienceThe year 1912 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Biology:* July 23 - Horace Donisthorpe first discovers Anergates atratulus in the New Forest, England.-Chemistry:...
), biochemistBiochemistBiochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. Typical biochemists study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. The prefix of "bio" in "biochemist" can be understood as a fusion of "biological chemist."-Role:...
, Nobel Prize in Physiology for work with catecholamineCatecholamineCatecholamines are molecules that have a catechol nucleus consisting of benzene with two hydroxyl side groups and a side-chain amine. They include dopamine, as well as the "fight-or-flight" hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline released by the adrenal medulla of the adrenal glands in response to...
neurotransmitterNeurotransmitterNeurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that transmit signals from a neuron to a target cell across a synapse. Neurotransmitters are packaged into synaptic vesicles clustered beneath the membrane on the presynaptic side of a synapse, and are released into the synaptic cleft, where they bind to...
s.
External links
- The year in science and technology in Israel - IsraCast article