2007 in science

3 March 2007: A total lunar eclipse occurs (time lapse shown).

The year 2007 involved many significant scientific events and discoveries, some of which are listed below.

Astronomy

12 January – Comet McNaught reaches perihelion and becomes visible from Earth during daylight.^[1]
28 February – The New Horizons space probe makes a gravitational slingshot around Jupiter to change its trajectory towards Pluto.
3–4 March – A total lunar eclipse occurs, visible in some parts of the Americas and Asia, and in all of Europe and Africa.^[2]
19 March – A partial solar eclipse occurs, visible in Asia.
10 April – Spectroscopic analysis of HD 209458 b, an extrasolar planet, provides the first evidence of atmospheric water vapor beyond the Solar System.
24 April – The potentially habitable exoplanet Gliese 581 c is discovered in the constellation Libra.^[3]
May – High Resolution Fly's Eye Observatory (HiRes) and Pierre Auger Observatory present their results suggesting a confirmation for the Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin limit, the theoretical limit for ultra-high-energy cosmic rays interacting with the Cosmic Microwave Background.
5 June – NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second flyby of Venus en route to Mercury, which it reaches in 2011.
2 July – Venus and Saturn are in conjunction, with a separation of 46 arcseconds.
28 August – A total lunar eclipse occurs, visible in some parts of the Americas and Asia, and all of Australasia and the Pacific Ocean.
11 September – A partial solar eclipse occurs, visible in southern areas of South America.
27 September – NASA's Dawn spacecraft is launched, beginning its journey to the asteroid belt objects Vesta and Ceres. It reached Vesta in 2011, and Ceres in 2015.^[4]
24 October
- Comet 17P/Holmes suddenly brightens from 17 to 2.8 magnitude.
- Chang'e 1, the first satellite in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, is launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center; on 5 November it enters lunar orbit.

Biology

14 January – Scientists at the Roslin Institute announce they have genetically engineered chickens to lay eggs containing cancer-fighting proteins.^[5]
7 February – The second "Berlin Patient", Timothy Ray Brown, is given a stem cell transplant from a donor carrying the CCR5-Δ32 allele, which cures his HIV/AIDS.^[6]

Computer Science

9 January – Apple Inc.'s first iPhone smartphone is announced by Steve Jobs at Macworld in San Francisco;^[7] it is released in the United States on 29 June.
27 April – US researchers simulate half a virtual mouse brain on a supercomputer.^[8]
23 August – Chris Messina proposes use of the hashtag on Twitter.^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]
5 November – The Open Handset Alliance launches the Android mobile operating system.

Prizes

Abel Prize

2007 Abel Prize: S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan

Nobel Prize

2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Mario Capecchi, Oliver Smithies and Martin Evans
2007 Nobel Prize in Physics: Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg
2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Gerhard Ertl

Deaths

20 February – F. Albert Cotton (b. 1930), American chemist known for research on transition metal chemistry
22 February – Lucille Farrier Stickel (b. 1915), American wildlife toxicologist
23 March – Paul Cohen (b. 1934), American mathematician, winner of the 1966 Fields Medal
27 March – Paul Lauterbur (b. 1929), American chemist, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in developing magnetic resonance imaging
4 April – Karen Spärck Jones (b. 1935), English computer scientist
7 July – Dame Anne McLaren (b. 1927), English developmental biologist and her ex-husband Donald Michie (b. 1923), British AI researcher (automobile accident
23 July – Ernst Otto Fischer (b. 1918), German winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering work in the area of organometallic chemistry
12 August – Ralph Asher Alpher (b. 1921), American cosmologist
29 September – Katsuko Saruhashi (b. 1920), Japanese geochemist
26 October – Arthur Kornberg (b. 1918), American biochemist, winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of DNA

References

^ Rao, Joe (2007). "New Comet is Brightest in 30 Years". Space.com. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
^ "Total Lunar Eclipse March 2007". ESA. 4 March 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
^ Than, Ker (24 April 2007). "Major Discovery: New Planet Could Harbor Water and Life". Space.com. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
^ "Dawn departs Vesta to become first asteroid hopper". New Scientist. 6 September 2012. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
^ "Anti-cancer chicken eggs produced". BBC News. 14 January 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
^ Holt, Nathalia (2015) [2014]. Cured: The People Who Defeated HIV. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-218184-3. OCLC 937872774
^ Honan, Mathew (9 January 2007), Apple unveils iPhone, Macworld, archived from the original on 15 April 2008, retrieved 25 September 2012
^ "Mouse brain simulated on computer". BBC News. 27 April 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
^ Messina, Chris [@chrismessina] (2007-08-23). "how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?" (Tweet). Retrieved 2019-09-30 – via Twitter.
^ Parker, Ashley (2011-06-10). "Twitter's Secret Handshake". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
^ "Hashtag inventor: It was an 'accidental trip over a simple idea'". BBC News. 2014-12-05. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
^ "The Inventor of the Twitter Hashtag Explains Why He Didn't Patent It". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-03-19.

[1] Rao, Joe (2007). "New Comet is Brightest in 30 Years". Space.com. Retrieved 25 September 2012.

[2] "Total Lunar Eclipse March 2007". ESA. 4 March 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2012.

[3] Than, Ker (24 April 2007). "Major Discovery: New Planet Could Harbor Water and Life". Space.com. Retrieved 25 September 2012.

[NewSci2012-4] "Dawn departs Vesta to become first asteroid hopper". New Scientist. 6 September 2012. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2017.

[5] "Anti-cancer chicken eggs produced". BBC News. 14 January 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2013.

[6] Holt, Nathalia (2015) [2014]. Cured: The People Who Defeated HIV. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-218184-3. OCLC 937872774

[7] Honan, Mathew (9 January 2007), Apple unveils iPhone, Macworld, archived from the original on 15 April 2008, retrieved 25 September 2012

[8] "Mouse brain simulated on computer". BBC News. 27 April 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2013.

[9] Messina, Chris [@chrismessina] (2007-08-23). "how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?" (Tweet). Retrieved 2019-09-30 – via Twitter.

[10] Parker, Ashley (2011-06-10). "Twitter's Secret Handshake". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-07-26.

[11] "Hashtag inventor: It was an 'accidental trip over a simple idea'". BBC News. 2014-12-05. Retrieved 2014-12-05.

[12] "The Inventor of the Twitter Hashtag Explains Why He Didn't Patent It". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-03-19.

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2007 in science

Astronomy

Biology

Computer Science

Prizes

Abel Prize

Nobel Prize

Deaths

See also

References