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European science and technology Ariane Rocket Galileo Project Aribus A380 Eurofighter Typhoon Columbus laboratory/ATV/Node3 TGV/Transrapid LHC/CERN 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics: Albert Fert (EU) Peter Grünberg (EU) 2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Gerhard Ertl (EU) 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Mario Capecchi (US citizen, born in Europe) Oliver Smithies (US citizen, born in Europe) Martin J. Evans (EU) 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature: Doris Lessing (EU) 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics: Leonid Hurwicz (USA) Eric S. Maskin (USA) Roger B. Myerson (USA) Europe is gaining ground on the US in the field of innovation thanks mainly to Nordic countries leading the way. The EU-US innovation gap has been decreasing year-on-year since 2003, according to a 2006 report . The latest version of the EU’s “innovation scoreboard” reveals it was the Danes, Finns, Germans and Swedes who were ahead of the pack, establishing themselves as world leaders in the field. The report also highlighted outstanding performance in life-long learning, with participation levels highest among the Swedish population at 35%, compared to Europe’s overall 11%. Published by a Maastricht research institute, the scoreboard ranks the economies of 34 countries on the basis of 25 indicators, including education, investment in modern technologies, R&D expenditure and numbers of patents granted. The countries under the microscope are the US, Japan and the EU, as well as Croatia, Turkey, Iceland, Norway and …

[BBC] European Space freighter primed for launch 2008.03.08

By Jonathan Amos Science reporter, BBC News: Europe is set to launch the biggest, most sophisticated spacecraft in its history. The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is an unmanned ship that can carry up to 7.6 tonnes of supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). Its other primary role is to push the orbiting outpost higher into the sky to keep it from falling back to Earth. The ATV will launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana at 0403 GMT on Sunday. Its mission will be a huge statement of capability. The maiden voyage will announce that Europe now has some important new technical competencies to rival the very best in the space exploration business. The most notable is the atv’s automatic rendezvous and docking technology – the ship can find its own way to the station and attach itself without any human intervention. “The ATV is how we contribute to the operations costs of the space station – by taking up several tonnes of logistics,” says Alan Thirkettle, the European Space Agency’s (Esa) ISS programme manager. “It’s also very important as a development. ATV is a marriage of human spacecraft and satellites. It’s a very complicated spacecraft; and European industry has had the opportunity to develop new technologies and new techniques as a result of ATV,” he told BBC News. The vehicle has been dubbed “Jules Verne” for Sunday’s flight and will weigh some 20 tonnes at launch. Its booster, the Ariane 5, has had to be specially …

Hubble’s Successor: The James Webb Space Telescope

European science and technology

European science and technology Ariane Rocket Galileo Project Aribus A380 Eurofighter Typhoon Columbus laboratory/ATV/Node3 TGV/Transrapid LHC/CERN 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics: Albert Fert (EU) Peter Grünberg (EU) 2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Gerhard Ertl (EU) 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Mario Capecchi (US citizen, born in Europe) Oliver Smithies (US citizen, born in Europe) Martin J. Evans (EU) 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature: Doris Lessing (EU) 2007 Nobel Prize in …