---
title: "2020s in science and technology"
chunk: 1/1
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020s_in_science_and_technology"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:38:10.099531+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

This article is a summary of the 2020s in science and technology.


== Biology and medicine ==

DeepMind used artificial intelligence for the first time to predict protein folding.
Singapore became the first jurisdiction to approve the sale of cultured meat.
The vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna against Coronavirus disease 2019 became the first vaccines developed using messenger RNA and mark the fastest vaccine development and approval, taking only 10 months.
Oregon became the first jurisdiction to legalize the medicinal use of psilocybin for mental health treatment.


== Energy ==

QuantumScape revealed that it had created the first functioning prototype of a  solid-state battery, promising to massively increase battery capacity.
The Chinese Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak was turned on for the first time. The China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor is being planned for commissioning later in the decade.
Group14 Technologies has patented SCC55, a silicon-carbon composite, leading to 50% more in fully lithiated volumetric energy density than graphite used in conventional lithium-ion battery anodes.


== Environmental sciences ==

The United Nations has designated the 2020s as the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.


== Space ==


== Transport ==


=== Air ===
In 2021, United Airlines revealed plans to purchase 15 supersonic Boom Overture aircraft by the end of the decade.


=== Land ===
Waymo became the first company to offer self-driving car services to the general public without a human supervisor in Chandler, Arizona.
Autonomous delivery vehicles began transporting food to customers in Texas in 2021.


== Computing and artificial intelligence ==

Artificial intelligence-assisted coding began to emerge in the early 2020s.
El Salvador passed Bitcoin law to become the first country to give cryptocurrency and bitcoin the status of legal tender.


== Robotics and machine learning ==


== Physics ==
In January 2020, Physicists discovered a unique metal with billions of quantum entangled electrons.
The Large Hadron Collider will once again begin operation in early 2021; the collider was shut down in December 2018 "to enable major upgrade and renovation works."


== Paleontology ==


== Archaeology ==


== See also ==

2020s#Science and technology
History of science and technology
List of science and technology articles by continent
List of years in science
2026 in science
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on science and technology
History of technology by type
List of science timelines


== References ==