Wikipedia:
1996 in science
| List of years in science (Table) |
|---|
| … 1986 . 1987 . 1988 . 1989 . 1990 . 1991 . 1992 … 1993 . 1994 . 1995 -1996- 1997 . 1998 . 1999 … 2000 . 2001 . 2002 . 2003 . 2004 . 2005 . 2006 … |
| Related time period or subjects |
| … 1993 . 1994 . 1995 – 1996 –
1997 . 1998 . 1999 … … 1960s . 1970s . 1980s – 1990s – 2000s . 2010s . 2020s … … 19th century – 20th century – 21st century … |
| Art . Archaeology . Architecture . Literature . Music . Science . more… |
The year 1996 in science and technology involved many significant events, listed below.
Astronomy and space exploration
- January 30 - Comet Hyakutake was discovered.
- February 17 - NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft launched. The spacecraft landed on the asteroid 433 Eros in 2001.
- May 20 - First naked eye observation of Comet Hale-Bopp.
- November 7 - NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor.
- The second 9.8 m reflecting telescope opens at Keck Observatory, Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
Biology
- July 5 - Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born.
- August 6 - NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.
- The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae's genome is sequenced, it is the first eukaryotic genome to be fully sequenced.
Computer science
- January 23 - The first version of the Java programming language is released.
- February 10 - Deep Blue defeats chess grand-master Garry Kasparov for the first time.
Lov Grover , at Bell Labs, published the quantum database search algorithm.- IRCNet is founded.
Exploration
- May 23 - Swede Göran Kropp reaches Mount Everest summit alone without oxygen after having bicycled there from Sweden.
Meteorology
- January 7 - A large blizzard hits the Eastern United States, killing more than 100.
- May 13 - Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kills 600.
- July 18 - 21 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec, in one of Canada's most costly natural disasters.
Technology
- Zenith introduces the first HDTV-compatible front projection TV in the United States. Broadcasters, TV & PC manufacturers set industry standards for digital HDTV.
- APS film format is introduced.
- Successful demonstration of magnetic refrigeration.
Awards
- Nobel Prize
- Turing Award for Computing: Amir Pnueli
- Wollaston Medal for Geology: Nicholas John Shackleton
Births
- July 5 - Dolly the sheep (d. 2003), the world's first cloned mammal.
Deaths
- January 12 - Bartel Leendert van der Waerden (b. 1903), mathematician.
- March 26 - David Packard (b. 1912), engineer.
- June 17 - Thomas Kuhn (b. 1922), philosopher of science.
- August 1 - Tadeus Reichstein (b. 1897), Nobel Prize-winning chemist.
- September 20 - Paul Erdős (b. 1913), mathematician.
- December 20 - Carl Sagan (b. 1934), astronomer.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
