2008 in science

• 10 January - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope detects massive black holes in anomalously small galaxies.{{Cite web |date=2008-01-10 |title=Even Thin Galaxies Can Grow Fat Black Holes |url=https://phys.org/news/2008-01-thin-galaxies-fat-black-holes.html |website=Phys.org}}
• 15 January - NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes the first of its three flybys of Mercury at an altitude of {{convert|200|km|mi}}, decreasing its velocity for its 2011 orbital insertion.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}
• 20 January – British space experts begin constructing an ion drive for a Mercury-bound spacecraft.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-20 |title=Ion engine to propel spacecraft to Mercury |url=http://phys.org/news120026491.html |work=phys.org}}
• 23 January – NASA's S-3 Viking aircraft returns to the agency's Glenn Research Center after extensive modifications to transform it from a carrier-based military aircraft to a state-of-the-art icing research aircraft.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-23 |title=Modifications Completed on NASA's New Research Aircraft |url=http://phys.org/news120326905.html |work=phys.org}}
• 7 February – An annular solar eclipse takes place.
• 5 March – Scientists solve a 40-year-old puzzle by identifying the origin of the intense radio waves in the Earth's upper atmosphere that control the dynamics of the Van Allen radiation belts.{{Cite news |date=2008-03-05 |title=Scientists identify origin of hiss in upper atmosphere |url=http://phys.org/news123962692.html |work=Phys.org}}
• 12 March – The Cassini spacecraft performed a close flyby of Enceladus, coming within {{Convert|50|km|mi}} of the moon's surface, its closest encounter yet with the sixth-largest moon of Saturn.{{Cite web |date=2008-03-10 |title=Cassini Spacecraft to Dive Into Water Plume of Saturn Moon - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/cassini-spacecraft-to-dive-into-water-plume-of-saturn-moon/ |access-date=2025-02-16 |language=en-US}}
• 19 March – The gamma-ray burst GRB 080319B, the farthest object that could be seen by the naked eye, is observed.{{Cite web |date=2012-03-03 |title=NASA - A Stellar Explosion You Could See on Earth! |url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/brightest_grb.html |access-date=2025-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303175418/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/brightest_grb.html |archive-date=3 March 2012 }}
• 8 June – NASA's Pluto probe New Horizons crosses the orbit of Saturn, after a journey of over two years.
• 1 August – A total solar eclipse takes place, visible in northern Canada, Siberia, Mongolia and northern China.
• 25 September – Shenzhou 7, the third spaceflight of the Chinese space program and their first to include extra-vehicular activity, launches from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}
• 28 September – Falcon 1 Flight 4 was the first successful orbital launch of any privately funded and developed, liquid-propelled carrier rocket, the SpaceX Falcon 1.

{{cite web |last=Clark |first=Stephen |date=2008-09-28 |title=Sweet Success at Last for Falcon 1 Rocket |url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon/004/index.html |access-date=2015-01-01 |publisher=Spaceflight Now |quote=the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to successfully reach orbit.}}

• 6 October – NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes the second of its three flybys of Mercury.
• 7 October – 2008 TC3 becomes the first Earth-impacting meteoroid spotted and tracked prior to impact.

• 2 January – Researchers report that just four months of hormonal therapy before and with standard external beam radiation therapy can slow cancer growth by as much as eight years – especially the development of bone metastases – and increase survival rates in older men with potentially aggressive prostate cancer.{{cite web |title=Just 4 months of hormone therapy can delay prostate cancer growth by up to 8 years |url=https://medicalxpress.com/news/2008-01-months-hormone-therapy-prostate-cancer.html#jCp |website=medicalxpress.com}}
• 3 January – Gene therapy can reduce long-term drinking among rodents “An ‘experiment of nature’ is observed in some individuals of East Asian origin, who are 66 to 99 percent protected against alcoholism,” explained Yedy Israel, professor of pharmacological and toxicological chemistry.{{cite web |date=2008-01-03 |title=Gene therapy can reduce long-term drinking among rodents |url=http://phys.org/news118599044.html |website=phys.org}}
• 7 January
• Researchers identify a gene linked to cerebral venous thrombosis, a condition that causes blood clots in the veins of the brain that can lead to stroke. The condition is more common in young and middle-aged women.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-07 |title=New gene identified for condition that causes blood clots in brain |url=http://phys.org/news118948753.html |work=medicalxpress.com}}
• New research reveals that Pleistocene cave bears, a species which became extinct 20,000 years ago, ate both plants and animals and competed for food with the other contemporary animals, instead of being vegetarian as previously assumed.{{Cite web |date=2008-01-07 |title=Cave bears from the Carpathians as omnivorous as modern bears |url=https://phys.org/news/2008-01-cave-carpathians-omnivorous-modern.html |website=Phys.org}}
• 10 January
• Overweight people who lose a moderate amount of weight get an immediate benefit in the form of better heart health, according to a study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-10 |title=Eat less or exercise more? Either way leads to more youthful hearts |url=http://phys.org/news119202673.html |work=medicalxpress.com}}
• 11 January – Biologists create baker's yeast capable of living to 800 in yeast years – a tenfold increase in longevity – without apparent side effects.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-11 |title=10-fold life span extension reported in simple organism |url=http://phys.org/news119276583.html |work=Phys.org}}
• 13 January
• An international study of 20,000 people discovers seven genes that influence blood cholesterol levels.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-13 |title=Study locates cholesterol genes; finds surprises about good, bad cholesterol |url=http://phys.org/news119456501.html |access-date=2018-04-19 |work=medicalxpress.com}}
• Following studies involving more than 35,000 people and a survey across the entire human genome, an international team supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) discovers that common genetic variants linked to osteoarthritis are also involved in governing human height.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-13 |title=Researchers uncover new piece to the puzzle of human height |url=http://phys.org/news119454428.html |work=medicalxpress.com}}
• University of Minnesota researchers create a functioning heart in the laboratory by using whole organ decellularization.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-13 |title=Researchers create beating heart in laboratory |url=http://phys.org/news119445798.html |access-date=2018-04-19 |work=medicalxpress.com}}
• 16 January – NASA begins a collaboration with charities and universities to investigate the potential of carbon nanotubes to diagnose and treat brain tumors.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-16 |title=Nanotubes Help Advance Brain Tumor Research |url=http://phys.org/news119715526.html |work=phys.org}}
• 24 January – Scientists develop a pill-sized medical camera that can be safely swallowed by patients, allowing illnesses to be diagnosed more quickly.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-24 |title=Camera in a pill offers cheaper, easier window on your insides |url=http://phys.org/news120415167.html |work=phys.org}}
• 28 January – Researchers confirm a genetic alteration that triggers prostate cancer in both mice and humans.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-28 |title=Researchers confirm genetic alteration that triggers prostate cancer in mice and man |url=http://phys.org/news120763402.html |work=medicalxpress.com}}
• 1 February – Research from Vanderbilt University proves that the brain processes aggression as a reward, offering insights into the human preoccupation with violence.{{cite web |date=2008-02-01 |title=Brain rewards aggression much like it does sex, food, drugs |url=http://phys.org/news121098401.html |website=medicalxpress.com}}
• 4 February – American researchers demonstrate microneedles that can be used to efficiently transfer medicines into the bloodstream without the use of conventional syringes.{{cite web |date=2008-02-04 |title=Microneedles enhance drug administration through skin |url=http://phys.org/news121367289.html |website=phys.org}}
• 5 February – Two proteins studied by a University at Buffalo immunologist appear to have the potential to enhance the production of antibodies against a multitude of infectious agents.{{cite web |date=2008-02-05 |title=Novel molecules can boost vaccine potency |url=http://phys.org/news121447014.html |website=phys.org}}
• 26 February – Encyclopedia of Life website launched.{{citation |title=Guide to Digitized Natural History Collections |date=October 2015 |work=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/19/science/digitized-museums-guide.html}}
• 20 March – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves a new medical adhesive – a fibrin sealant called Artiss – for use in attaching skin grafts to burn patients.{{Cite news |date=2008-03-20 |title=FDA OKs new adhesive to treat burn victims |url=http://phys.org/news125249362.html |work=medicalxpress.com}}
• 2 April – A hybrid human-cow embryo survives a third straight day after being fertilized at Newcastle University, England. A director for embryonic stem cell laboratories at the Australian Stem Cell Centre says that the "99-per-cent human" embryo could improve research within the field of human diseases. However, the Catholic Church states that the creation is "monstrous", and says that the later destruction of it is unethical.[http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23476268-38200,00.html?from=public_rss (News.com.au)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080405164926/http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C23599%2C23476268-38200%2C00.html?from=public_rss|date=April 5, 2008}}
• June – Spanish surgeon Paolo Macchiarini carries out the world's first tissue-engineered whole organ transplant, successfully replacing a Colombian woman's tuberculosis-damaged windpipe with a new windpipe made with the patient's own stem cells.{{cite news |last=Roberts |first=Michelle |date=19 November 2008 |title=Windpipe transplant breakthrough |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7735696.stm |access-date=2011-07-07 |publisher=BBC News}}

• 5 January – Designer Avery Holleman develops the concept of a Napkin PC, a device that uses e-paper and radio frequency (RF) technology to enable creative groups to collaborate more effectively.{{Cite news |last=Zyga |first=Lisa |date=2008-01-05 |title=Napkin PC Enables High-Tech Doodling |url=https://phys.org/news/2008-01-napkin-pc-enables-high-tech-doodling.html |work=Phys.org}}
• 8 January – SanDisk Corporation begins to sample 12-gigabyte (GB) microSDHC flash memory cards to major phone manufacturers for testing and evaluation.{{Cite web |date=2008-01-08 |title=SanDisk Announces the 12-Gigabyte microSDHC Card |url=https://phys.org/news/2008-01-sandisk-gigabyte-microsdhc-card.html}}
• 17 January – Duke University scientists use the brain activity of a monkey to control the real-time walking patterns of a robot halfway around the world.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-17 |title=Monkey's Thoughts Make Robot Walk from Across the Globe |url=http://phys.org/news119806390.html |work=medicalxpress.com}}
• 20 November – The Conficker computer worm is first detected.{{cite web |last=Bowden |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Bowden |date=June 2010 |title=The Enemy Within |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/06/the-enemy-within/8098/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228180715/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/06/the-enemy-within/8098/ |archive-date=2012-02-28 |access-date=2012-02-19 |work=The Atlantic}}

• 4 January – The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) jointly achieve a new milestone in scientific ballooning in Antarctica, by launching and operating three long-duration suborbital flights within a single southern hemisphere summer.{{cite web |date=2008-01-04 |title=Scientific Balloons Achieve Antarctic Flight Record |url=http://phys.org/news118684195.html |website=phys.org}}
• 19 January – The first evidence of a volcanic eruption from beneath Antarctica’s most rapidly changing ice sheet is published in the journal Nature Geoscience.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-20 |title=First evidence of under-ice volcanic eruption in Antarctica |url=http://phys.org/news120059297.html |work=phys.org}}

• 2 May – The Chaitén volcano in Chile enters a new eruptive phase for the first time since around 1640.
• 3 May – Cyclone Nargis passes through Myanmar, killing more than 138,000 people.{{cite news |date=12 May 2008 |title=Cameron urges aid drops for Burma |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7396313.stm |access-date=2017-01-13 |work=BBC News |location=UK |language=en-GB}}
• 12 May – An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the moment magnitude scale strikes Sichuan, China, killing an estimated 87,000 people.{{cite news |date=2013-05-09 |title=Sichuan 2008: A disaster on an immense scale |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22398684 |access-date=2017-01-13 |work=BBC News}}
• November–December – A scientific expedition to Lake Untersee in Antarctica finds chemolithotropes.{{cite web |last=Tobin |first=Kate |date=2009-09-16 |title=Extremophile Hunter |url=https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/extremophile.jsp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091025080607/http://nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/extremophile.jsp |archive-date=2009-10-25 |access-date=2009-09-21 |work=Science Nation |publisher=National Science Foundation}}

• 1 November – Bitcoin is first proposed in a mailing posted to The Cryptography Mailing by a developer under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto.

• 14 January – An American scientist creates the darkest known material, around four times darker than the previous record holder.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-14 |title=Scientists create darkest material |url=http://phys.org/news119554586.html |work=phys.org}}
• 15 January – University of Pennsylvania engineers and physicians develop a carbon nanopipette thousands of times thinner than a human hair that can measure electric currents and deliver fluids into cells.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-15 |title=Penn engineers create carbon nanopipettes that are smaller than cells and measure electric current |url=http://phys.org/news119638230.html |work=phys.org}}
• 25 January – European researchers develop a breakthrough interface that allows users to touch, stretch and pull virtual fabrics that feel like the real thing.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-25 |title=Haptics: just reach out and touch, virtually |url=http://phys.org/news120489000.html |work=phys.org}}
• June – The mineral magnesiopascoite is formally described.{{cite journal |last1=Kampf |first1=Anthony R. |last2=Steele |first2=Ian M. |date=June 2008 |title=Magnesiopascoite, a new member of the pascoite group: description and crystal structure |journal=Canadian Mineralogist |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=679–686 |bibcode=2008CaMin..46..679K |doi=10.3749/canmin.46.3.679}}

• 14 January – Scientists find that dinosaurs' growth and sexual maturation were surprisingly similar to that of mammals, even encompassing teenage pregnancy.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-14 |title=T. rex had teen pregnancies |url=http://phys.org/news119552671.html |work=phys.org}}

• 25 January – Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics and Leibniz University Hanover produce a laser beam of especially high quality.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-25 |title=The world's lowest noise laser: Researchers outsmart quantum physics |url=http://phys.org/news120489240.html |work=phys.org}}
• 10 September – The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN begins proton beam tests.{{cite web |title=CERN - LHC First Beam |url=http://lhc-first-beam.web.cern.ch/lhc-first-beam/Welcome.html |website=lhc-first-beam.web.cern.ch}}
• 19 September – A magnet in the LHC fails, damaging several other magnets and requiring substantial repairs.{{Cite web |date=15 October 2008 |title=Interim Summary Report on the Analysis of the 19 September 2008 Incident at the LHC |url=https://edms.cern.ch/ui/file/973073/1/Report_on_080919_incident_at_LHC__2_.pdf |access-date=16 February 2025 |publisher=CERN |id=EDMS 973073}}

• 28 January – Scientists build the world's first all-nanotube transistor radios.{{Cite news |date=2008-01-28 |title=New kind of transistor radios shows capability of nanotube technology |url=http://phys.org/news120762990.html |work=phys.org}}
• 1 April – A handheld 3D imaging device is developed for use in forensics and medical imaging.{{Cite news |date=2008-04-01 |title=3-D images – cordless and any time |url=http://phys.org/news126280837.html |work=Phys.org}}
• 24 September – The world's first commercial wave farm begins operation off the coast of Portugal.{{cite news |date=24 September 2008 |title=First commercial wave farm |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7632947.stm |via=news.bbc.co.uk}}
• 10 November – The Martin Jetpack flies for 46 seconds, 13 seconds longer than any previous jetpack.{{cite web |title=The DIY Flier |url=http://www.popsci.com/bown/2008/innovator/diy-flier |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108082511/http://www.popsci.com/bown/2008/innovator/diy-flier |archive-date=2011-11-08 |access-date=2011-07-07 |work=Popsci}}

{{main|Abel Prize}}

• 2008 Abel Prize: John G. Thompson and Jacques Tits

{{main|List of Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine|List of Nobel laureates in Physics|List of Nobel laureates in Chemistry}}

• 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Harald zur Hausen, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier
• 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics: Makoto Kobayashi, Toshihide Maskawa and Yoichiro Nambu
• 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsien

File:Clarke sm.jpg, a British futurist and science fiction author, dies aged 90.]]

• 12 January – Howard Dalton (b. 1944), British microbiologist.
• 11 February – Norbert Pfennig (b. 1925), German microbiologist.
• 5 March – David Challinor (b. 1920), American biologist, naturalist, and scientific administrator at the Smithsonian Institution.
• 11 March – Howard Gobioff (b. 1971), American computer scientist.
• 19 March – Arthur C. Clarke (b. 1917), British science fiction author, futurist and inventor.
• 8 April – Graham Higman (b. 1917), British mathematician.
• 13 April – John Wheeler (b. 1911), American theoretical physicist, coined the terms black hole and wormhole.
• 16 April – Edward Norton Lorenz (b. 1917), American mathematician and meteorologist, coined the term butterfly effect.
• 29 April – Albert Hofmann (b. 1906), Swiss chemist, synthesizer of LSD.
• 15 May – Willis Lamb (b. 1913), American physicist, winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Physics.
• 20 May – Jürgen Ehlers (b. 1929), German physicist.
• 15 June – Arthur Galston (b. 1920), American botanist and bioethicist.
• 22 July – Victor A. McKusick (b. 1921), American geneticist, known as the "Father of Genetic Medicine".
• 5 August – Neil Bartlett (b. 1932), British chemist who prepared the first compound of a noble gas.
• 23 August – Thomas Huckle Weller (b. 1915), American virologist and co-winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on polio.
• 8 September – Ruxandra Sireteanu (b.1945), Romanian neuroscientist.{{cite journal|last=Ganea|first=Constanþa|title=Ruxandra Sireteanu-Constantinescu (1945-2008)|journal=Curierul de Fizica|volume=63|number=1|year=2009|page=18|language=RO}}
• 8 October – George Emil Palade (b. 1912), Romanian cell biologist, winner of the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, discoverer of the ribosomes of the endoplasmic reticulum.
• 10 November – George Rédei (b. 1921), Hungarian biologist.
• 14 November – Adrian Kantrowitz (b. 1918), American cardiac surgeon.
• 30 November – Ralph A. Lewin (b. 1921), Anglo-American biologist, known as "the father of green algae genetics".
• 12 December – Daniel Carleton Gajdusek (b. 1923), Hungarian-Slovak-American physician, winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, famous for his work on kuru, the first human prion disease demonstrated to be infectious.

• 2008 in archaeology
• 2008 in paleontology
• 2008 in spaceflight
• List of emerging technologies

{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008 In Science}}

Category:21st century in science

Category:2000s in science