2001 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 2001 in science and technology involved many events, some of which are included below.
Astronomy and space exploration
- The NEAR ShoemakerNEAR ShoemakerThe Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker , renamed after its 1996 launch in honor of planetary scientist Eugene M. Shoemaker, was a robotic space probe designed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for NASA to study the near-Earth asteroid Eros from close orbit over a...
spacecraft lands in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros433 Eros433 Eros is a near-Earth asteroid discovered in 1898, and the first asteroid to be orbited by a probe . It is an S-type asteroid approximately 34.4×11.2×11.2 km in size, the second-largest NEA after 1036 Ganymed, and belongs to the Amor group.Eros is a Mars-crosser asteroid, the first known...
, becoming the first spacecraftSpacecraftA spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
to land on an asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
. - The GenesisGenesis (spacecraft)The Genesis spacecraft was a NASA sample return probe which collected a sample of solar wind and returned it to Earth for analysis. It was the first NASA sample return mission to return material since the Apollo Program, and the first to return material from beyond the orbit of the Moon...
spacecraft is launched. - NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Galileo spacecraftGalileo spacecraftGalileo was an unmanned spacecraft sent by NASA to study the planet Jupiter and its moons. Named after the astronomer and Renaissance pioneer Galileo Galilei, it was launched on October 18, 1989 by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-34 mission...
passes within 112 miles (180 km) of JupiterJupiterJupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
's moon IoIo (moon)Io ) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter and, with a diameter of , the fourth-largest moon in the Solar System. It was named after the mythological character of Io, a priestess of Hera who became one of the lovers of Zeus....
. - June 21 – Total solar eclipse
- December 14 – Annular solar eclipseSolar eclipse of December 14, 2001An annular solar eclipse occurred on December 14, 2001. It was visible across the Pacific ocean and North America. The central shadow passed just south of Hawaii in early morning and ended over Central America near sunset.-References:*Photos:*...
Biology
- January 8 – The first animal from an endangered speciesEndangered speciesAn endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
produced by cloningCloningCloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
, a gaurGaurThe gaur , also called Indian bison, is a large bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. The species is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986 as the population decline in parts of the species' range is likely to be well over 70% over the last three generations...
named Noah, is born at Trans Ova Genetics in Sioux Center, IowaSioux Center, IowaSioux Center is a city in Sioux County, Iowa, United States. The population was 6,002 at the 2000 census; a special census in 2005 counted 6,327 residents. The first report of Sioux Center's population from the 2010 census is 7,048...
. He dies within 48 hours of a common dysenteryDysenteryDysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
. - January – The second animal from an endangered species produced by cloningCloningCloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
, a European mouflonMouflonThe mouflon is a subspecies group of the wild sheep Ovis aries. Populations of Ovis aries can be partitioned into the mouflons and urials or arkars...
lamb, is born in ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. - February – The publicly funded Human Genome ProjectHuman Genome ProjectThe Human Genome Project is an international scientific research project with a primary goal of determining the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA, and of identifying and mapping the approximately 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional...
, led by Francis CollinsFrancis CollinsFrancis Collins may refer to:*Francis Collins , geneticist*Francis Dolan Collins , 19th century American politician-See also:*Frank Collins *Francis Collings, BBC journalist*Francis Collin, English footballer...
and the privately funded Celera effort, led by Craig VenterCraig VenterJohn Craig Venter is an American biologist and entrepreneur, most famous for his role in being one of the first to sequence the human genome and for his role in creating the first cell with a synthetic genome in 2010. Venter founded Celera Genomics, The Institute for Genomic Research and the J...
simultaneously publish their decoding of the human genomeGenomeIn modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....
(in NatureNature (journal)Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
and ScienceScience (journal)Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
, respectively). - Craig Venter and Mark Adams complete the geneticGeneticsGenetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
map of the laboratory mouse. - FossilFossilFossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
remains of the whale Rodhocetus balochistanensis found in BalochistanBalochistan (Pakistan)Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...
Province, PakistanPakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, by Philip D. GingerichPhilip D. GingerichPhilip D. Gingerich is a Professor of Paleontology, Professor of Geological Sciences, Professor of Biology, Professor of Anthropology and Director, Museum of Paleontology at the University of Michigan. His research focus is in vertebrate paleontology, especially the Paleocene-Eocene transition and...
.
Computer science
- December – The C# programming language specification is released.
- In quantum computing, the first working 7-qubit NMR computer is demonstrated at IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
's Almaden Research Center, demonstrating Shor's algorithmShor's algorithmShor's algorithm, named after mathematician Peter Shor, is a quantum algorithm for integer factorization formulated in 1994...
. - The Walkman CircWalkman CircThe Walkman Circ is a circular MP3 player about the size of a circular bar of soap. It was released in 2001.- Producer:The Sony Circ Audio Walkman comes from the walkman division of Sony. It comes from a line of MP3 players dependent on advancing nanotechnology.-Colour:The walkman comes in a...
is released.
Medicine
- July 2 – The world's first self-contained artificial heartArtificial heartAn artificial heart is a mechanical device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used in order to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in case transplantation is impossible...
is implanted in Robert ToolsRobert ToolsRobert L. Tools was the world's first recipient of a fully self-contained artificial heart, called AbioCor. The operation took place on July 2, 2001. He survived for 151 days without a living heart. Dr. Joseph Fredi at Saint Thomas Hospital suggested the experimental procedure based on his...
. - Adult-onset basal ganglia diseaseAdult-onset basal ganglia diseaseAdult-onset basal ganglia disease or neuroferritinopathy is a disorder caused by abnormal iron accumulation in the basal ganglia due to mutations in FTL gene...
caused by FTLFerritin light chainFerritin light chain is a protein that in humans is encoded by the FTL gene.It is abnormally expressed in fetuses of both IVF and ICSI, which may contribute to the increase risk of birth defects in these ART....
mutations is described.
Awards
- Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
s- PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
– Eric Allin CornellEric Allin CornellEric Allin Cornell is an American physicist who, along with Carl E. Wieman, was able to synthesize the first Bose–Einstein condensate in 1995...
, Wolfgang KetterleWolfgang KetterleWolfgang Ketterle is a German physicist and professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . His research has focused on experiments that trap and cool atoms to temperatures close to absolute zero, and he led one of the first groups to realize Bose-Einstein condensation in these...
, Carl E. Wieman - ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
– William S. Knowles, Ryōji NoyoriRyoji Noyoriis a Japanese chemist. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001. Noyori shared half of the prize with William S. Knowles for the study of chirally catalyzed hydrogenations; the second half of the Prize went to K. Barry Sharpless for his study in chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions...
, K. Barry SharplessK. Barry SharplessKarl Barry Sharpless is an American chemist known for his work on stereoselective reactions.-Early years:Sharpless was born in Philadelphia. He graduated from Friends' Central School in 1959. He continued his studies at Dartmouth College and earned his Ph.D from Stanford University in 1968... - MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
– Leland H. HartwellLeland H. HartwellLeland Harrison Hartwell is former president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. He shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Paul Nurse and R...
, R. Timothy Hunt, Paul M. Nurse
- Physics
- Turing AwardTuring AwardThe Turing Award, in full The ACM A.M. Turing Award, is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the...
: Ole-Johan DahlOle-Johan DahlOle-Johan Dahl was a Norwegian computer scientist and is considered to be one of the fathers of Simula and object-oriented programming along with Kristen Nygaard.- Career :...
, Kristen NygaardKristen NygaardKristen Nygaard was a Norwegian computer scientist, programming language pioneer and politician. He was born in Oslo and died of a heart attack in 2002.-Object-oriented programming:... - Wollaston MedalWollaston MedalThe Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London.The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831...
for Geology: Harry Blackmore Whittington
Deaths
- February 24 – Claude E. Shannon (b. 1916), mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. - May 28 – Francisco VarelaFrancisco VarelaFrancisco Javier Varela García , was a Chilean biologist, philosopher and neuroscientist who, together with his teacher Humberto Maturana, is best known for introducing the concept of autopoiesis to biology.-Biography:...
(b. 1946), biologistBiologistA biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
and philosopher. - August 9 – Sir Alec SkemptonAlec SkemptonSir Alec Skempton FRS was a leader in and founding father of Soil Mechanics. As a founding member of the Institution of Civil Engineers' Soil Mechanics and Foundations committees he studied at City and Guilds College London and established the Soil Mechanics course at Imperial College London,...
(b. 1914), pioneer of soil scienceSoil scienceSoil science is the study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the earth including soil formation, classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils; and these properties in relation to the use and management of soils.Sometimes terms which...
and engineering historian. - August 20 – Fred HoyleFred HoyleSir Fred Hoyle FRS was an English astronomer and mathematician noted primarily for his contribution to the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and his often controversial stance on other cosmological and scientific matters—in particular his rejection of the "Big Bang" theory, a term originally...
(b. 1915), astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
and science fiction writer. - September 2 – Christiaan BarnardChristiaan BarnardChristiaan Neethling Barnard was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first successful human-to-human heart transplant.- Early life :...
(b. 1922), surgeonSurgerySurgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
. - November 30 – Robert ToolsRobert ToolsRobert L. Tools was the world's first recipient of a fully self-contained artificial heart, called AbioCor. The operation took place on July 2, 2001. He survived for 151 days without a living heart. Dr. Joseph Fredi at Saint Thomas Hospital suggested the experimental procedure based on his...
(b. 1942), first recipient of a self-contained artificial heart, after 151 days without a living heart. - December 5 – Franco RasettiFranco RasettiFranco Dino Rasetti was an Italian scientist. Together with Enrico Fermi, discovered key processes leading to nuclear fission. Rasetti refused to work on the Manhattan Project, however, on moral grounds...
(b. 1901), physicistPhysicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
. - December 12 – Robert SchommerRobert SchommerRobert A. Schommer was an American observational astronomer. He was a professor at Rutgers University and later a project scientist for the U.S. office of the Gemini Observatory Project at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile...
(b. 1946), astronomerAstronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
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