Current year was marked above all great discoveries in fundamental physics. "Of course, the Higgs boson. I think it is fair to call this discovery main", - said the member of the CMS collaboration of the Large hadron Collider Andrey Krakhotin, answering the question about the most important scientific discovery of 2012.

In addition, this year was finally solved the riddle "Pioneers", says the candidate of physical and mathematical Sciences, senior researcher of the State astronomical Institute. Sternberg, Moscow state University Vladimir Surdin prize laureate "Educator" this year.

"40 years ago, NASA launched the first probes to the planets-giants Jupiter and Saturn: "pioneer-10" and "pioneer-11", the link to which was maintained until 2003, respectively and 1995. These probes were the first who left the limits of our planetary system. When they have already gone far enough to where there is no massive bodies, measuring their speed showed that the probes have very weak excessive acceleration towards the Sun. This "anomaly Pioneers" questioned the fairness of the law of gravitation.

NASA experts have worked on this problem for many years, but never was finally able to solve it. Recently a new generation of engineers and physicists have returned to this problem, using the power of modern computers. With difficulty, but have been found the original magnetic recording sessions probes, restored recorders capable of reading these entries, and with "old" NASA these records managed to decipher. According to him celestial mechanics more accurately than before, calculated anomalous acceleration probe. While engineers have built a 3D computer model of the probes (they also helped experience "old" and the surviving documentation) and studied their behavior in space. It turned out that the anomalous acceleration due to thermal radiation of space vehicles, or rather their radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which radiate heat into space and return pushes probes in the opposite direction. The calculations agree with the observations of mystery "Pioneers" resolved, justice theory of gravity confirmed. A great example of what scientists promoting the front of studies ahead, do not intend to leave in the rear of the unsolved problem", - he said.

Not less important for fundamental science was "the closing of the year" - a refutation of the information that neutrinos can move faster than the speed of light.

"From September 2011 a message stating that neutrino is moving a little faster than light, kept in suspense all physics. After all, this message came from a highly qualified group of 122 experimentalists working at SPS (Switzerland) and in the underground neutrino laboratories in Gran Sasso (Italy). The claim that the speed of light elusive particles with masses (and neutrinos among them), is the basis of modern physics. Therefore, all were looking forward to further research. In November 2011, the panel was informed that all possible sources of error into account, but the speed of neutrinos still exceeds the light. Soon, however, was still found error experimenters: an erroneous assumptions about the superluminal became a technical defect - loose optic connector cable which to the computer came signals from the GPS antenna.

Fundamental physics survived.

This is a wonderful example of how carefully scientists do their job, and how thoroughly checked the Foundation of modern physics" - commented Surdin.

"The importance of scientific achievements usually appears after some time, therefore, to evaluate it for the works of the current year is almost impossible" - said Alexei Khokhlov, academician of the RAS, rector of Moscow state University. In practice, however, possible to estimate the legislative steps "towards science", and that they were made in 2012 in the field of cellular technologies, says Roman Deev, candidate of medical Sciences, scientific Director of the Institute of human stem cells.

"The first thing I would note is not so much the opening of many events, namely the formal recognition by government authorities in different parts of the world the legitimacy of cell and gene drugs: at the turn of the 2011/12 years in the USA registered and allowed for use of the drug, which as the beginning of the current used stem cells from umbilical cord blood; in South Korea at the beginning of the year approved the drug, consisting also of cells in umbilical cord blood, but of another kind used for the treatment of articular cartilage lesions; in Canada allowed the preparation of allogeneic multipotent mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of reactions "transplant against host" in children. Finally, the European medicines Agency has approved the use of gene preparation created on the basis of adeno-associated viruses, for the treatment of rare monogenic diseases. This is a fundamental events, 2012 actually opened a new era of Biopharmaceuticals" - he said.

Today's achievement is the Foundation for tomorrow's breakthroughs. The same Higgs boson will remain on the agenda and in 2013.

"So far analyzed not all typed statistics. May be, further analysis will be better able to clarify the nature found boson, because while we can not say with certainty whether it is the Higgs boson. For example, in ATLASe mass of this particle was a little different when it is measured in different decay channels", - explains Andrey Krakhotin.

"Among the discoveries of this year, I would note the successful landing of the apparatus Curiosity on the surface of Mars, its first steps and the discovery of organic molecules. In 2013, we hope, the Rover will find a lot of interesting and new on the surface of Mars that will shed light on many important scientific questions that remain still not fully clear.

For example, is there still life on Mars and in what form? Only if it can be bacteria or other forms of life?", - says Marina Ivanova, senior researcher of the Institute of Geochemistry RAS.

"In 2013, will start to work in full force several new extremely powerful astronomical instruments: Russian space radio telescope "Radioastron", the international system for observations in the millimeter and submillimeter ranges ALMA (Atacama Large Millimetre Array), created in highland Atacama desert in Northern Chile, as well as several large survey telescope optical range of the European southern Observatory (ESO).

Creation of instruments such calibre has always led to new interesting discoveries. Without them this time.

For example, I hope that I will be able to trace the fall of interstellar clouds on the giant black hole at the center of our galaxy (this cloud is already on its way), and there are new star clusters and small galaxies-companions, remained on the periphery of our star system with distant epoch of its formation" - says Vladimir Surdin.

In the future we will be able not only to follow the experiment, but also to predict in advance, many data; be not only "observers", but also to manage the life processes.

"I think that with the development of computer technology will make possible the accurate (i.e. with the use of quantum-mechanical approaches) atomistic computer simulation of the most important processes with biological macromolecules (DNA, RNA, and proteins) in the cell. And on this way we get a much more complete understanding of the molecular basis of phenomena that we call "life" - believes Alexei Khokhlov.

"I think there is reason to expect create effective way of reprogramming cells directly into the tissues of the body.

On Mars have found "tracks" life

As is known, a Signa Yamanaka was awarded this year's Nobel prize for reprogramming and obtaining cells with induced pluripotency in vitro - in the laboratory, " said Roman Deev. - But already a few years to go work on "transform" unwanted cell type in the required directly in the tissues of the body using a local injection of a mixture of specific nucleic acids. For example, in mice were able to show the reprogramming of cells scar in the muscle of the heart after a heart attack in healthy cardiomyocytes. While the results of these studies are mixed. Apparently, in 2013 it will be possible to solve some technical problems and reliably show the effectiveness of this method (the animals), which means that many future treatments - both surgical and therapeutic - will be significantly adjusted".

However, many scholars hold the view that the plan of scientific discovery is a thankless task. "To the question, what are the actual problems of science can be solved in the next year, I would have said standard: it is impossible to predict, says mathematician Andrei raigorodsky. "There are many important tasks that I want to solve, but whether it will be made in 2013, no one will say".