2007 in science

The year 2007 in science and technology involved many significant events.

Astronomy and space exploration

• January 12 - Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught) reaches perihelion and becomes visible during daylight.
• February 28 - The New Horizons space probe makes a gravitational slingshot against Jupiter to change its trajectory towards Pluto.

Time lapse movie of the 3 March 2007 lunar eclipse

• March 3-March 4 - A total lunar eclipse occurs, visible in some parts of the Americas and Asia, and all of Europe and Africa.
• March 19 - A partial solar eclipse occurs, visible in Asia.
• April 10 - Spectroscopic analysis of HD 209458 b, an extrasolar planet, provides the first evidence of atmospheric water vapor beyond the Solar System.
• April 25 - Gliese 581 c is discovered and identified as a potentially habitable Earth-like extrasolar planet in the constellation Libra.
• June 5 - NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second flyby of Venus en route to Mercury.
• August 28 - A total lunar eclipse occurs, visible in some parts of the Americas and Asia, and all of Australasia and the Pacific Ocean.
• September 11 - A partial solar eclipse occurs, visible in southern areas of South America.
• September 27 - NASA's Dawn spacecraft is launched.
• October 24 - Comet 17P/Holmes suddenly brightens from 17 to about 2.8 magnitude.

Computing

• April 27 - US researchers have simulated half a virtual mouse brain on a supercomputer.^[1]

Genetic engineering

• January 14 - Scientists at the Roslin Institute announce they have genetically engineered chickens which can lay eggs with the ability to fight cancer.^[2]

Philosophy of science

• Publication of Nassim Nicholas Taleb's book The Black Swan: the Impact of the Highly Improbable, discussing the "Black swan theory"

Awards

• Nobel Prize
  • Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Mario Capecchi, Oliver Smithies and Martin Evans
  • Nobel Prize in Physics: Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg
  • Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Gerhard Ertl
• Abel Prize in Mathematics: S. R. S. Varadhan

Deaths

• February 20 - F. Albert Cotton (b. 1930), American chemist known for his research on transition metal chemistry.
• March 8 - Cruz Hernández (b. 1878), El Salvadorian world's oldest person (not fully verified).^[3]
• March 27 - Paul Lauterbur (b. 1929), American chemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in developing magnetic resonance imaging.
• July 7 - Dame Anne McLaren (b. 1927), British developmental biologist.
• July 23 - Ernst Otto Fischer (b. 1918), German winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering work in the area of organometallic chemistry.
• October 26 - Arthur Kornberg (b. 1918), American biochemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of DNA.
• October 30 - Washoe (b. c.1965), West African-born American chimpanzee.

References