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The year 2008 in science involves some significant events, listed below.

Events

Scientific events scheduled to occur in the year 2008 include:

• January 15 - NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes its first of three flybys of Mercury at 200 km altitude, to decrease velocity enough to a 2011 orbit insertion.
• April 2 - A cross human-cow embryo survives a third straight day after being fertilized at Newcastle University, England. A director for embryonic stem cell laboratories at the Australian Stem Cell Centre said that the "99 per cent human" embryo could improve research within the field of human diseases. The Catholic Church in England however said that the creation was "monstrous" and says that the later destruction of it is unethical. (News.com.au)
• May - The proton-proton Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator and collider at CERN is scheduled to begin operations. It will be the world's largest particle physics laboratory.
• March 12 - Cassini Spacecraft is set to orbit within 100 km of Enceladus, its closest encounter of the sixth largest moon of Saturn.
• June 8 - NASA's Pluto probe New Horizons will cross the orbit of Saturn, after 2½ years journey. The Voyagers spent 3 to 4 years to get to Saturn.
• August 1 - Total solar eclipse: northern Canada, Siberia, Mongolia, northern China.
• October 6 - NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes the second of three flybys of Mercury.
• The Indian Space Research Organization plans an unmanned mission to the Moon.

Deaths

• April 13 - John Wheeler (b.1911), theoretical physicist, coined the terms black hole and worm hole.