1999 in science - Definition and Overview

The year 1999 in science and technology included many events, including those below.

Aeronautics

• February 27 - While trying to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon, Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new endurance record after being in a hot air balloon for 233 hours and 55 minutes.
• March 3 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones begin their attempt to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon without stopping. Their journey ended in success on March 20.

Astronomy and space exploration

• February 7 - Stardust is launced on a mission to collect samples of a comet coma, and return them to Earth.
• July 20 - Mercury program: Liberty Bell 7 is raised from the Atlantic Ocean.
• July 31 - NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.
• NASA loses two Mars probes, the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar Lander.
• The Subaru 8.3-m and Gemini North 8.1-m reflecting telescopes open at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii.

Biology

• The bacterium Thiomargarita namibiensis is discovered off the coast of Namibia. At 0.3mm in diamater, it is largest bacteria yet discovered.

Computer science

• March 26 - The Melissa worm attacks the Internet.
• First working 3-qubit NMR computer demonstrated at IBM's Almaden Research Center. First execution of Grover's algorithm.

Geology

• January 25 - A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia, killing at least 1,000.
• August 17 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.

Awards

• Nobel Prizes
  • Physics - Gerardus 't Hooft, Martinus J.G. Veltman
  • Chemistry - Ahmed H. Zewail
  • Medicine - Günter Blobel
• Turing Award: Fred Brooks
• Wollaston Medal for Geology: John Frederick Dewey

Births

Deaths

• February 25 - Glenn T. Seaborg (b. 1912), physical chemist, Nobellaurette in Chemistry
• May 26 - Waldo Semon (b. 1898), inventor.
• November 11 - Vivian Ernest Fuchs (d. 1908), geologist and explorer.