Home > 1996 in science

The year 1996 in science and technology consisted of many events, including those below.

1 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-BoppComet Hale-Bopp (formally designated as C/1995 O1 was discovered on 23 July 1995 at an enormous distance from the sun. Expectations were raised that the comet could become very bright when it passed close to the sun, and the comet lived up to them. It bec.
• November 7November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. Events 1665 The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is first published. 1783 A man convicted of forgery is the last to be publicly h - NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA (established 1958) is the government agency responsible for the United States of America's space program and long-term general aerospace research. A civilian organization, it conducts (or oversees) re launches the Mars Global SurveyorThe launch of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft in November 1996 by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory began America's return to Mars after a 20-year absence. The Surveyor spacecraft, fabricated at the Lockheed Martin Astronautics plant in Den.
• The second 9.8 m reflecting telescopeA reflecting telescope reflector is an optical telescope which uses mirrors, rather than lenses, to reflect light. The British scientist Sir Isaac Newton designed the first reflector circa 1670. He designed the reflector in order to solve the problem of c opens at Keck Observatory, Mauna KeaMauna Kea is a dormant volcano in the Hawaiian Islands, one of five volcanic peaks that together form the Island of Hawaii. In Hawaiian mauna kea means "white mountain", a reference to the fact that it is regularly snow or frost capped in the northern hem, HawaiiFor the 1959 novel and 1966 movie, see Hawaii (novel). Hawaii ( Hawaiian/ Hawaiian English: Hawai‘i with the ‘okina is the archipelago of the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Hawaii constitutes the 50th state of the United States, and as of the 2000.

2 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.