Astronomy and space exploration Richard Ellis, Michael R. Santos, Jean-Paul Kneib, and Konrad Kuijken discover a star cluster 13.4 billion light years from Earth. NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touchdown in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid. Genesis spacecraft launched. NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io. Biology The publicly funded Human Genome Project, led by Francis Collins and the privately funded Celera effort, led by Craig Venter simultaneously publish their decoding of the human genome (in Nature and Science, respectively). Craig Venter and Mark Adams complete the genetic map of the laboratory mouse. Fossil remains of the whale Rodhocetus Balochistanensis found in Balochistan Province, Pakistan by Philip Gingerich. Computer science In quantum computing, the first working 7-qubit NMR computer is demonstrated at IBM's Almaden Research Center, demonstrating Shor's algorithm Medicine July 2 - World's first self-contained artificial heart implanted in Robert Tools. Awards Nobel Prizes Physics - Eric A Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle, Carl E Wieman Chemistry - William S. Knowles, Ryoji Noyori, K. Barry Sharpless Medicine - Leland H. Hartwell, R. Timothy Hunt, Paul M. Nurse Wollaston Medal for Geology: Harry Blackmore Whittington Births Deaths February 22 - Claude E. Shannon, mathematician May 28 - Francisco Varela, 54, biologist and philosopher August 20 - Fred Hoyle, astronomer and science fiction writer November 30 - Robert Tools, first recipient of a self-contained artificial heart, at age 59 after 151 days without a living heart. December 5 - Franco Rasetti, physicist
Deaths February 22 - Claude E. Shannon, mathematician May 28 - Francisco Varela, 54, biologist and philosopher August 20 - Fred Hoyle, astronomer and science fiction writer November 30 - Robert Tools, first recipient of a self-contained artificial heart, at age 59 after 151 days without a living heart. December 5 - Franco Rasetti, physicist