1991 in science
Encyclopedia
The year 1991 in science and technology involved many significant events, some listed below.
Astronomy and space exploration
- May 18 – Helen SharmanHelen SharmanHelen Patricia Sharman, OBE PhD , is a British chemist. She was the first Briton in space, visiting the Mir space station aboard Soyuz TM-12 in 1991....
becomes the first British personBritish peopleThe British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
in space, flying with the Soyuz TM-12Soyuz TM-12-Mission highlights:12th expedition to Mir. Included first Briton in space.The Derbents welcomed aboard Mir Anatoli Artsebarski, Sergei Krikalev , and British cosmonaut-researcher Helen Sharman, who was aboard as part of Project Juno, a cooperative venture partly sponsored by British private...
mission. As of 2011 she is the only British astronaut. - October 29 – The Galileo probe becomes the first spacecraft to visit an asteroid (951 Gaspra951 Gaspra951 Gaspra is an S-type asteroid that orbits very close to the inner edge of the asteroid belt. Gaspra was the first asteroid ever to be closely approached when it was visited by the Galileo spacecraft, which flew by on its way to Jupiter on 29 October 1991.-Characteristics:Apart from a multitude...
). - Asteroid 6859 Datemasamune6859 Datemasamune6859 Datemasamune is an inner main-belt asteroid discovered on February 13, 1991 by M. Koishikawa at the Ayashi Station of the Sendai Astronomical Observatory.- External links :*...
is discovered by Masahiro KoishikawaMasahiro Koishikawais a Japanese astronomer He has studied both major and minor planets, and has discovered asteroids and comets.- Employment :Koishikawa has been a staff member of the Sendai Astronomical Observatory since 1972. His research is based out of the Sendai's Ayashi station.- Asteroid 6097 :Asteroid 6097...
. - 11514 Tsunenaga11514 Tsunenaga11514 Tsunenaga is a main-belt asteroid discovered on February 13, 1991 by M. Koishikawa at the Sendai Astronomical Observatory Ayashi station.- External links :*...
is discovered. - There are four lunar eclipseLunar eclipseA lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes behind the Earth so that the Earth blocks the Sun's rays from striking the Moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, a lunar eclipse can only occur the night of a...
s: three penumbral on January 30January 1991 lunar eclipseA penumbral lunar eclipse took place on January 30, 1991....
, July 26July 1991 lunar eclipseA penumbral lunar eclipse took place on July 26, 1991....
, and June 27June 1991 lunar eclipseA penumbral lunar eclipse that took place on June 27, 1991.- Saros series :This eclipse is a member of Saros series 110. The previous event occurred on June 15, 1973. The next event is on July 7, 2009.- External links :*...
, and one minor partial lunar eclipse on December 21December 1991 lunar eclipseA partial lunar eclipse took place on December 21, 1991.- Visibility :This small partial eclipse was visible from North America, eastern Asia, Australia, and western South America.- External links :*...
. - There are two solar eclipseSolar eclipseAs seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
s, one annular eclipse on January 15Solar eclipse of January 15, 1991An annular solar eclipse occurred on January 15–16, 1991. It was visible over Australia as a partial solar eclipse at sunrise on January 16.-References:...
, and a very long total eclipse on July 11Solar eclipse of July 11, 1991A total solar eclipse occurred on July 11, 1991. Totality beginning over the Pacific Ocean and Hawaii moving across Mexico, down through Central America and across South America ending over Brazil. It lasted for 6 minutes and 53 seconds at the point of maximum eclipse...
, lasting 6 minutes and 53 seconds.
Computer science
- February 26 – Tim Berners-LeeTim Berners-LeeSir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, , also known as "TimBL", is a British computer scientist, MIT professor and the inventor of the World Wide Web...
introduces the web browserWeb browserA web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
. - August 6 – The first websiteWebsiteA website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
goes online at CERNCERNThe European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
.
Geophysics
- Alan Hildebrand and others provide support for the Alvarez hypothesisAlvarez hypothesisThe Alvarez hypothesis claims that the mass extinction of the dinosaurs and many other living things was caused by the impact of a large asteroid on the Earth sixty-five million years ago, called the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event. Evidence indicates that the asteroid fell in the Yucatán...
for the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction eventCretaceous-Tertiary extinction eventThe Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, formerly named and still commonly referred to as the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, occurred approximately 65.5 million years ago at the end of the Maastrichtian age of the Cretaceous period. It was a large-scale mass extinction of animal and plant...
by proposing the Chicxulub craterChicxulub CraterThe Chicxulub crater is an ancient impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Its center is located near the town of Chicxulub, after which the crater is named...
in the Yucatán PeninsulaYucatán PeninsulaThe Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
of MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
as the impact siteImpact craterIn the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
for a large asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
65 million years ago.
Mathematics
- Qiudong WangQiudong WangQiudong Wang is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mathematics, the University of Arizona. In 1982 he received a B.S. at Nanjing University and in 1994 a Ph.D. at the University of Cincinnati....
produces a global solution to the n-body problemN-body problemThe n-body problem is the problem of predicting the motion of a group of celestial objects that interact with each other gravitationally. Solving this problem has been motivated by the need to understand the motion of the Sun, planets and the visible stars...
.
Publications
- The first open-access scientific online archive, arXivArXivThe arXiv |Chi]], χ) is an archive for electronic preprints of scientific papers in the fields of mathematics, physics, astronomy, computer science, quantitative biology, statistics, and quantitative finance which can be accessed online. In many fields of mathematics and physics, almost all...
, is begun as a preprint service for physicists, initiated by Paul GinspargPaul GinspargPaul Ginsparg is a physicist widely known for his development of the ArXiv.org e-print archive and for contributions to theoretical physics.-Career in physics:...
.
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...
– Pierre-Gilles de GennesPierre-Gilles de GennesPierre-Gilles de Gennes was a French physicist and the Nobel Prize laureate in physics in 1991.-Biography:... - 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,...
– Richard R. ErnstRichard R. ErnstRichard Robert Ernst is a Swiss physical chemist and Nobel Laureate.Born in Winterthur, Switzerland, Ernst was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1991 for his contributions towards the development of Fourier Transform nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy while at Varian Associates, Palo... - 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...
– Erwin NeherErwin NeherErwin Neher is a German biophysicist.Erwin Neher studied physics at the Technical University of Munich from 1963 to 1966. In 1966, He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the US...
, Bert SakmannBert Sakmann-External links:*...
- 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...
– Robin MilnerRobin MilnerArthur John Robin Gorell Milner FRS FRSE was a prominent British computer scientist.-Life, education and career:...
Deaths
- January 30 – John BardeenJohn BardeenJohn Bardeen was an American physicist and electrical engineer, the only person to have won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice: first in 1956 with William Shockley and Walter Brattain for the invention of the transistor; and again in 1972 with Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer for a...
(b. 19081908 in scienceThe year 1908 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Archaeology:* A 40,000-year-old Neanderthal boy skeleton is found at Le Moustier in southwest France....
), physicist, co-inventor of the transistorTransistorA transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
and twice winner of the Nobel Prize in 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...
. - March 1 – Edwin H. LandEdwin H. LandEdwin Herbert Land was an American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. Among other things, he invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, a practical system of in-camera instant photography, and his retinex theory of color vision...
(b. 19091909 in scienceThe year 1909 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.-Chemistry:* Summer - Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch first demonstrate the Haber process, the catalytic formation of ammonia from hydrogen and atmospheric nitrogen under conditions of high temperature and...
), inventor and founder of PolaroidPolaroid CorporationPolaroid Corporation is an American-based international consumer electronics and eyewear company, originally founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February...
. - June 5 – Min Chueh ChangMin Chueh ChangDr. Min Chueh Chang , often credited as M.C. Chang, was a Chinese American reproductive biologist. His specific area of study was the fertilisation process in mammalian reproduction...
(b. 1908), embryologist.