1999 in science
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See also:
Other events of 1999
List of years in science
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1998 in science
1999 in science
2000 in science
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The year 1999 in science and technology included many events, including those below.
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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 diameter, 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
Births
Deaths
- February 25 - Glenn T. Seaborg (b. 1912), physical chemist, Nobel laureate in Chemistry
- May 26 - Waldo Semon (b. 1898), inventor.
- November 11 - Vivian Ernest Fuchs (d. 1908), geologist and explorer.