- 2004 in science
The year 2004 in
science andtechnology involved some significant events.Anthropology
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October 27 - Remains of a previously unknown species of human is discovered inIndonesia . Named "Homo floresiensis ", the hominid is adwarf ed version that lived 18,000 years ago on the island ofFlores . [The results were announced in [http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038%2Fnature02999 Nature] .]Astronomy
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January 19 - TheHubble Space Telescope Program received notification of the cancellation of all further HST on-orbit servicing.
*March 15 - Astronomers announce the discovery of90377 Sedna , a Pluto-likeplanetoid which is the most distant individual object known to orbit theSun .
*May 18 - Scientists using theChandra X-ray Observatory announced their findings that supports the notion that the expansion of theUniverse is accelerating. [ [http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/darkenergy/ Chandra :: Photo Album :: Galaxy Clusters and Dark Energy :: 18 May 04 ] ]
*June 8 -Transit of Venus across the Sun.
*September 13 - Astronomers from theEuropean Southern Observatory (ESO) announce images that appear to show a planet orbiting abrown dwarf about 230light year s away. The system is believed to be only around 8 million years old.
*November 20 - Launch of the Swift satellite to investigategamma-ray burst s (GRB) and perform anX-ray all sky survey.
*December 27 - A flare of radiation from an explosion on the super-magneticneutron star (Magnetar )SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth - astronomers later calculate that it is the largest explosion observed in theMilky Way galaxy for 400 years. [ [http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050214/full/050214-18.html Access : Huge explosion traced to exotic star : Nature News ] ]Biology
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July 30 - Marine biologists from theMonterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute announce in the journal "Science" the discovery of the genus "Osedax ", deep sea worms that feed onlipid s in decayingwhale carcasses.Geology
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September 28 - A long awaited earthquake strikesParkfield, California , 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.Physics
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January 14 - Physicists fromPennsylvania State University produce the first solidBose–Einstein condensate . [http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nature02220 Nature]
*January - A team from theJILA laboratory inBoulder, Colorado announce the creation of afermionic condensate , the first such condensate made from atoms rather than molecules.
*February 3 - Russian and American physicists produce results that indicate the discovery of elements 113 and 115. [ [http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRC/v69/e021601 Phys. Rev. C 69 021601] ]
*March 22 - A team fromAustralia ,Russia andGreece announce a new material, made from a nano-foam ofcarbon that has the lowest density ever reported for a solid. [ [http://physicsweb.org/article/news/8/3/13 Nano-foam makes magnetic debut - physicsworld.com ] ]
*April 20 -NASA launchesGravity Probe B in an effort to test Einstein's general theory of relativity.
*May 19 - A team of European scientists produces the firstTonks-Girardeau gas . [ [http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nature02530 Nature] ]
*September 24 - Physicists from theUniversité Joseph Fourier and theInstitut Laue-Langevin inGrenoble ,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. [ [http://scitation.aip.org/journals/doc/JCPSA6-ft/vol_121/iss_11/5031_1.html Journal of Chemical Physics] ]Technology
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March 27 -NASA succeeds in a second attempt to fly itsX-43A experimental airplane from theHyper-X project, attaining speeds in excess of Mach 7, the fastest free flying air-breathinghypersonic flight.
*April 30 - Scientists from theUniversity of California at Irvine announce the first high-speedtransistor made from acarbon nanotube , operating atmicrowave frequencies.pace exploration
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January 3 -NASA 's "Spirit", the first of two Mars Exploration Rovers, lands successfully on Mars.
*January 24 -NASA 's "Opportunity", the second of the Mars Exploration Rovers, lands successfully on Mars.
*March 2 -NASA 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-Gerasimenko in2014 .
*March 4 -NASA 's "Spirit" finds evidence of past contact with water in volcanic rocks on Mars.
*April 1 - The Genesis probe closes and seals its particle collection instrument, and begins to return to Earth.
*June 11 -Cassini-Huygens , theNASA /ESA mission to Saturn, makes a flyby of one of Saturn's small outer moons, Phoebe.
*June 21 -SpaceShipOne , the first civilian space ship is launched inCalifornia , reaching an altitude of 100 km (62.5 miles), just passing theedge 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 -NASA successfully launches theMESSENGER probe on its 5 year trip to Mercury.
*September 8 - The Genesis spacecraft returns to Earth with capturedsolar wind particles, but crash-lands because of a failure to deploy any parachute.
*October 4 -SpaceShipOne wins theAnsari X Prize after reaching an altitude of over 100 km (62.5 mi) for the second time in less than five days.
*November 15 - TheSmart 1 space probe reaches orbit around theMoon . It is the firstEurope an space mission to do so.
*December 25 - The Cassini probe successfully drops the Huygens probe, sending it onto a trip to land on Saturn's moon Titan.Awards
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Nobel Prize
**Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine :Linda B. Buck andRichard Axel
**Nobel Prize in Physics :David J. Gross ,H. David Politzer andFrank Wilczek
**Nobel Prize in Chemistry :Aaron Ciechanover ,Avram Hershko andIrwin Rose
*Abel Prize in Mathematics: Michael F. Atiyah and Isadore M. Singer
*Millennium Technology Prize (inaugural year):World Wide Web inventorTim Berners-Lee
*Descartes Prize for outstanding cross-border research
**Mitochondrial Biogenesis, Ageing and Disease project (co-ordinatorHoward Trevor Jacobs )
**Long Distance Photonic Quantum Communication project (co-ordinator Anders Karlsson)Appointments
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February 12 -Arden Bement , acting director of the U.S.A'sNational Science Foundation .
*August 26 - NeurobiologistSusan Hockfield is appointed as President of MIT.
*November 19 - Particle physicistPiermaria Oddone is appointed to succeedMichael Witherell as director ofFermilab (from July 1, 2005).Deaths
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March 15
**William Pickering (b. 1910), former head of NASA'sJet Propulsion Laboratory .
**Sir John Pople (b. 1925), BritishNobel prize winning Chemist.
*April 19 -John Maynard Smith (b. 1920),evolutionary biologist andgeneticist .
*July 3 -Andrian Nikolayev (b. 1929), cosmonaut.
*July 28 -Francis Crick (b. 1916), American Nobelaureate in Physiology for discovering thedouble helix structure forDNA .
*August 12 - John Clark (b. 1951), head of theRoslin Institute and part of the team that clonedDolly the Sheep .
*August 15 -Sune K. Bergström (b. 1916), Swedishbiochemist , winner of the1982 Nobel Prize for Medicine .
*August 31 -Fred Whipple (b. 1906), Americanastronomer who coined the term "dirty snowball" to explain the nature ofcomet s.
*October 5 -Maurice Wilkins (b. 1916), Nobelaureate in Physiology for discovering thedouble helix structure forDNA usingX-ray diffraction.
*October 19 -Lewis Urry (b. 1927), inventor of the long-lastingalkaline battery .
*November 18 -Robert Bacher (b. 1905), nuclear physicist and one of the leaders of theManhattan Project , Professor and Provost of theCalifornia Institute of Technology .
*December 29 -Julius Axelrod , (b. 1912),biochemist ,Nobel Prize in Physiology for work withcatecholamine neurotransmitter s.External links
* [http://www.isracast.com/tech_news/311204_tech-part1.htm The year in science and technology in Israel] - IsraCast article
References
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