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| List of years in science (Table) |
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| … 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 – 1996 – 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 … |
| Related time period or subjects |
| … 1993 • 1994 • 1995 – 1996 – 1997 • 1998 • 1999 … … 1960s • 1970s • 1980s – 1990s – 2000s • 2010s • 2020s … … 19th century – 20th century – 21st century … |
| Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Science more |
The year 1996 in science and technology involved many significant events, listed below.
Contents |
Astronomy and space exploration
- January 30 - Comet Hyakutake was discovered.
- February 17 - NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft launched. The spacecraft landed on the asteroid 433 Eros in 2001.
- May 20 - First naked eye observation of Comet Hale-Bopp.
- November 7 - NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor.
- The second 9.8 m reflecting telescope opens at Keck Observatory, Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
Biology
- July 5 - Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell, is born.
- August 6 - NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.
- The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae's genome is sequenced, it is the first eukaryotic genome to be fully sequenced.
Computer science
- January 23 - The first version of the Java programming language is released.
- February 10 - Deep Blue defeats chess grand-master Garry Kasparov for the first time.
- Lov Grover, at Bell Labs, published the quantum database search algorithm.
- IRCNet is founded.
Exploration
- May 23 - Swede Göran Kropp reaches Mount Everest summit alone without oxygen after having bicycled there from Sweden.
Meteorology
- January 7 - A large blizzard hits the Eastern United States, killing more than 100.
- May 13 - Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kills 600.
- July 18 - 21 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec, in one of Canada's most costly natural disasters.
Technology
- Zenith introduces the first HDTV-compatible front projection TV in the United States. Broadcasters, TV & PC manufacturers set industry standards for digital HDTV.
- APS film format is introduced.
- Successful demonstration of magnetic refrigeration.
Awards
- Nobel Prize
- Turing Award for Computing: Amir Pnueli
- Wollaston Medal for Geology: Nicholas John Shackleton
Births
- July 5 - Dolly the sheep (d. 2003), the world's first cloned mammal.
Deaths
- January 12 - Bartel Leendert van der Waerden (b. 1903), mathematician.
- March 26 - David Packard (b. 1912), engineer.
- June 17 - Thomas Kuhn (b. 1922), philosopher of science.
- August 1 - Tadeus Reichstein (b. 1897), Nobel Prize-winning chemist.
- September 20 - Paul Erdős (b. 1913), mathematician.
- December 20 - Carl Sagan (b. 1934), astronomer.
