1. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – making groundbreaking discoveries in particle physics, including the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012.
2. The Human Genome Project – an international research effort to map and sequence all human genes, leading to advancements in genetics and personalized medicine.
3. The Kepler mission – a NASA space telescope that discovered thousands of exoplanets, revolutionizing our understanding of the universe and the frequency of planets orbiting their stars.
4. The Mars rover missions – multiple NASA missions exploring the surface and environment of Mars, leading to the discovery of evidence for water and the potential for finding life on the planet.
5. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory – a detector located at the South Pole that has discovered high-energy neutrinos from outside our galaxy, opening up a new era of neutrino astronomy.
6. The Human Connectome Project – a collaborative effort to map the structural connectivity of the human brain, leading to insights into brain function and disorders.
7. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey – a telescope survey that has mapped the three-dimensional structure of the universe and led to the discovery of new galaxies and dark matter.
8. The Allen Institute for Brain Science – a project creating high-resolution atlases of the brain and studying brain disorders to improve treatments and understanding of neurological conditions.
9. The Chandra X-ray Observatory – a space telescope studying X-rays from high-energy sources, leading to discoveries in black holes, supernovae, and galaxy clusters.
10. The CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system – a technology allowing precise edits to genes, leading to advancements in genetic engineering and potential therapies for genetic diseases.