2007 in science
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{{Science year nav|2007}}
Image:Thomas Knoblauch - Lunar Eclipse small-43img (pd).gif 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.{{cite web |last=Rao |first=Joe |date=2007 |title=New Comet is Brightest in 30 Years |url=http://www.space.com/3316-comet-brightest-30-years.html |accessdate=25 September 2012 |publisher=Space.com}}
- 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.{{cite web |date=4 March 2007 |title=Total Lunar Eclipse March 2007 |url=http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=40776 |accessdate=25 September 2012 |publisher=ESA}}
- 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.{{cite web |last=Than |first=Ker |date=24 April 2007 |title=Major Discovery: New Planet Could Harbor Water and Life |url=http://www.space.com/3728-major-discovery-planet-harbor-water-life.html |accessdate=25 September 2012 |publisher=Space.com}}
- 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.{{cite web |date=6 September 2012 |title=Dawn departs Vesta to become first asteroid hopper |url=https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2012/09/asteroid-hopping-spacecraft-ma.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907134311/http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2012/09/asteroid-hopping-spacecraft-ma.html |archive-date=7 September 2012 |access-date=24 August 2017 |work=New Scientist}}
- 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.{{cite news |date=14 January 2007 |title=Anti-cancer chicken eggs produced |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6261427.stm |accessdate=18 June 2013 |publisher=BBC News}}
- 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.{{cite book |last=Holt |first=Nathalia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qjaNDQAAQBAJ |title=Cured: The People Who Defeated HIV |publisher=Penguin |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-14-218184-3 |orig-year=2014 |authorlink=Nathalia Holt}} {{OCLC|937872774}}
Computer Science
- 9 January – Apple Inc.'s first iPhone smartphone is announced by Steve Jobs at Macworld in San Francisco;{{citation |last=Honan |first=Mathew |title=Apple unveils iPhone |date=9 January 2007 |url=http://www.macworld.com/article/54769/2007/01/iphone.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415223141/http://www.macworld.com/article/54769/2007/01/iphone.html |archive-date=15 April 2008 |url-status=dead |publisher=Macworld |accessdate=25 September 2012}} it is released in the United States on 29 June.
- 27 April – US researchers simulate half a virtual mouse brain on a supercomputer.{{cite news |date=27 April 2007 |title=Mouse brain simulated on computer |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6600965.stm |accessdate=18 June 2013 |publisher=BBC News}}
- 23 August – Chris Messina proposes use of the hashtag on Twitter.{{cite tweet |number=223115412 |user=chrismessina |title=how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]? |first=Chris |last=Messina |date=2007-08-23 |access-date=2019-09-30}}{{cite news |author=Parker, Ashley |date=2011-06-10 |title=Twitter's Secret Handshake |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/fashion/hashtags-a-new-way-for-tweets-cultural-studies.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all |access-date=2011-07-26 |work=The New York Times}}{{cite news |date=2014-12-05 |title=Hashtag inventor: It was an 'accidental trip over a simple idea' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30340622 |access-date=2014-12-05 |work=BBC News}}{{Cite web |title=The Inventor of the Twitter Hashtag Explains Why He Didn't Patent It |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/chris-messina-talks-about-inventing-the-hashtag-on-twitter-2013-11 |access-date=2016-03-19 |website=Business Insider}}
- 5 November – The Open Handset Alliance launches the Android mobile operating system.
Prizes
=Abel Prize=
{{main|Abel Prize}}
- 2007 Abel Prize: S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan
=Nobel Prize=
{{main|List of Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine|List of Nobel laureates in Physics|List of Nobel laureates in Chemistry}}
Deaths
File:Arthur Kornberg (30828410210) - restoration1.jpg, Nobel Prize-winning American biochemist, dies aged 89.]]
- 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