2004 in science
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The year 2004 CE in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed below.
See also: 2003 in science, other events of 2004, 2005 in science, and the list of years in science.
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2 Physics 3 Technology 4 Awards 5 Births 6 Deaths |
Astronomy and space exploration
- January 3 - NASA's Spirit, the first of two Mars Exploration Rovers, lands successfully on Mars.
- January 19 - the Hubble Space Telescope Program received notification of the cancellation of all further HST on-orbit servicing
- March 2 - NASA report that the area where their Mars probe Opportunity touched down shows unmistakeable signs of contact with water in the geological past.
- March 2 - ESA's Rosetta mission launches, aiming to land on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014.
- March 4- NASA's Spirit finds evidence of past contact with water in volcanic rocks on Mars.
- March 15 - Astronomers announce the discovery of Sedna, a Pluto-like planetoid which is the most distant individual object known to orbit the Sun.
- April 1 - The Genesis probe closes and seals its particle collection instrument, and begins to return to Earth.
- April 20 - Gravity Probe B satellite is launched and placed in polar orbit. It is designed to test effects of the general theory of relativity with high precision.
Physics
- April 20 - NASA launches Gravity Probe B in an effort to test Einstein's general theory of relativity.
- March A team from Australia, Russia and Greece announce a new material, made from a nano-foam of carbon that has the lowest density ever reported for a solid.
Technology
- March 27 - NASA succeeds in a second attempt to fly its X-43A experimental airplane from the Hyper-X project, attaining speeds in excess of Mach 7, the fastest ever air-breathing hypersonic flight.
- April 2004 - Scientists from the University of California at Irvine announce the first high-speed transistor made from a carbon nanotube, operating at microwave frequencies.
Awards
- Abel Prize in Mathematics: Michael F. Atiyah and Isadore M. Singer
- Millennium Technology Prize (inaugural year): World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee
Births
Deaths
- March 15 William Pickering, former head of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
- March 15 Sir John Pople, British Nobel prize winning Chemist