2004

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Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century 21st century 22nd century
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Years:	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

2004 by topic:

Arts

Animation (Anime) – Architecture – Comics – Film (Horror, ) – Home video – Literature (Poetry) – Music (Classical, Country, Hip hop, Jazz, Latin, Metal, , UK, ) – Radio – – Television (Italy, UK, Scotland, US) – Video games

– International leaders – Sovereign states Sovereign state leaders – Territorial governors

Science and technology

Archaeology – – Computing – Palaeontology – – – – Spaceflight –

Environment

Birding/Ornithology

Transportation

Aviation – Rail transport

Sports

– Association football – Athletics (sport) – – Baseball �� Basketball – Chess – – Cricket – – Golf – – – – Tennis –

By place

Afghanistan – Albania – – – – – Argentina – – Australia – – – Bangladesh – – – – – Belgium – – – – Bosnia and Herzegovina – – Brazil – Bulgaria – Burkina Faso – – – – Canada – Cape Verde – – – Chile – China – – – – – – Cyprus – – Denmark – – – – Eritrea – Estonia – – European Union – – – – France – Gabon – – Germany – Ghana – Greece – – – – – Haiti – – – Hungary – Iceland – India – Indonesia – Iran – Iraq – Ireland – Israel – Italy – – Japan – – – – – – Kuwait – – Laos – – – – – Libya – – Luxembourg – Macau – – – – Malaysia – – – – Mexico – – – – – – – – – Namibia – Nepal – Netherlands – New Zealand – – – – North Korea – – Norway – – Pakistan – – Palestine – – – – – Philippines – – Portugal – – Romania – Russia – Rwanda – – – Senegal – – – Singapore – – – Somalia – South Africa – – South Korea – – Spain – – – Sweden – Switzerland – – Taiwan – – – Thailand – – – – Turkey – – – – – United Arab Emirates – United Kingdom – United States – – Uzbekistan – – – – – – Zimbabwe

Other topics

Religious leaders

Birth and death categories

Births – Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments – Disestablishments

Works and introductions categories

Works – Introductions

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2004 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	2004 MMIV
Ab urbe condita	2757
Armenian calendar	1453 ԹՎ ՌՆԾԳ
Assyrian calendar	6754
Bahá'í calendar	160–161
Balinese saka calendar	1925–1926
Bengali calendar	1411
Berber calendar	2954
British Regnal year	52 Eliz. 2 – 53 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2548
Burmese calendar	1366
Byzantine calendar	7512–7513
Chinese calendar	癸未年 (Water Goat) 4700 or 4640     — to — 甲申年 (Wood Monkey) 4701 or 4641
Coptic calendar	1720–1721
Discordian calendar	3170
Ethiopian calendar	1996–1997
Hebrew calendar	5764–5765
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2060–2061
- Shaka Samvat	1925–1926
- Kali Yuga	5104–5105
Holocene calendar	12004
Igbo calendar	1004–1005
Iranian calendar	1382–1383
Islamic calendar	1424–1425
Japanese calendar	Heisei 16 (平成１６年)
Javanese calendar	1936–1937
Juche calendar	93
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4337
Minguo calendar	ROC 93 民國93年
Nanakshahi calendar	536
Thai solar calendar	2547
Tibetan calendar	阴水羊年 (female Water-Goat) 2130 or 1749 or 977     — to — 阳木猴年 (male Wood-Monkey) 2131 or 1750 or 978
Unix time	1072915200 – 1104537599

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2004.

2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2004th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 4th year of the 3rd millennium, the 4th year of the 21st century, and the 5th year of the 2000s decade.

2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice (by the United Nations) and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).^[1]

Events[]

January[]

• January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, killing all 148 aboard, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history at the time.^[2]
• January 4 – NASA's MER-A (Spirit) spacecraft lands on a surface of Mars.
• January 8 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, at the time the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by its namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
• January 25 – NASA's MER-B (Opportunity) spacecraft lands on the surface of Mars.
• January 26 – The current Constitution of Afghanistan is adopted.
• January 26 - President Nicanor Duarte Frutos denounces an assassination attempt as an explanation to his long stay in São Paulo with his family.

February[]

• February 1 – Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy takes place.
• February 4 – Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site Facebook (for Harvard University only at this time).
• February 17 – Orcus, a dwarf planet candidate, was discovered at the Palomar Observatory with the Samuel Oschin Telescope
• February 26 – Macedonian president Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[3]
• February 29 – Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide is overthrown in a coup d'état.^[4]

March[]

• March 2 – A series of bombings occur in Karbala, Iraq, killing over 140 Shia Muslims commemorating the Day of Ashura.^[5]
• March 11 – Coordinated bombings at a Cercanías train station in Madrid, Spain, kill at least 192 people.^[6][7]
• March 14 – The PSOE wins the election in Spain; José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is elected Prime Minister of Spain, replacing José María Aznar.^[8]
• March 28 – Hurricane Catarina, the first ever recorded South Atlantic tropical cyclone, makes landfall in Santa Catarina, Brazil.^[9]
• March 29 – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are admitted to NATO, the largest expansion of the organization.^[10]

April[]

• April 8 – The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups, in order to put a pause on the War in Darfur.
• April 17 – Israeli helicopters fire missiles at a convoy of vehicles in the Gaza Strip, killing Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi.^[11]
• April 24 – Referendums on the Annan Plan for Cyprus, which proposes to reunite the island, take place in both the Greek-controlled and the Turkish-controlled parts. Although the Turkish Cypriots vote in favour, the Greek Cypriots reject the proposal.^[12]

May[]

• May 1 – The European Union expands by 10 new member states: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.^[13]
• May 12–15 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 takes place in Istanbul, Turkey, and is won by Ukrainian entrant Ruslana with the song "Wild Dances".

June[]

• June 5 – Death of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
• June 8 – 2004 transit of Venus.
• June 12 – July 4 – Portugal hosts the UEFA Euro 2004 football tournament, which is won by Greece.
• June 21 – In Mojave, California, SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.^[14]
• June 28 – The U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), transfers sovereignty to the Iraqi Interim Government.^[15]
• June 30 – Preliminary hearings begin in Iraq in the trial of president Saddam Hussein, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

July[]

• July 1 - The unpiloted Cassini–Huygens spacecraft arrives at Saturn.^[16]
• July 11 - The Russian Federation stops recognizing Soviet Union passports as legal identification.^[17]

August[]

• August 1 – A fire in the "Ycua Bolaños-Botánico" supermarket in Asunción, Paraguay kills around 400 people.^[18]
• August 3 – NASA's unpiloted MESSENGER spacecraft is launched, with its primary mission being the study of Mercury.^[19]
• August 12 – Lee Hsien Loong is sworn in as the third Prime Minister of Singapore.^[20]
• August 13–29 – The 2004 Summer Olympics are held in Athens, Greece.^[21]
• August 22 – Armed robbers steal Edvard Munch's The Scream, Madonna, and other paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway.^[22]
• August 24 – After departing Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303, a Tupolev Tu-134, explodes over Russia's Tula Oblast and crashes, killing all 43 people on board; minutes later, Siberia Airlines Flight 1047, a Tupolev Tu-154 departing the same airport, explodes over Rostov Oblast and crashes, killing all 46 on board. The Government of Russia declares the explosions to have been caused by female Chechen suicide bombers.
• August 29 – Michael Schumacher won his 7th and last World Championship with Scuderia Ferrari in F1

September[]

• September 1 – Chechen rebels take 1,128 people hostage, mostly children, at a school in Beslan, Russia. The crisis ends when Russian security forces storm the building, resulting in more than 330 people being killed.^[23]
• Italy in Mazara del Vallo in Sicily, a 3-year-old girl named Denise Pipitone is declared missing, the case was closed but will be reopened later in 2021.

• September 9 – A car bomb of the Jemaah Islamiyah explodes at the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 9 people.^[24]

October[]

• October 8 – Suicide bombers detonate two bombs at the Red Sea resort of Taba, Egypt, killing 34 people and injuring 171, mostly Israeli tourists.^[25]
• October 9 – 2004 Australian federal election: John Howard's Liberal/National Coalition Government is re-elected with an increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by Mark Latham.^[26]
• October 19 – A team of explorers reach the bottom of Krubera Cave, the world's deepest cave, with a depth of 2,080 meters (6,824 feet).^[27]
• October 20 – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is sworn in as the 6th President of Indonesia, becoming the first directly elected president in Indonesia.^[28]
• October 29 – European heads of state sign in Rome the Treaty and Final Act, establishing the first European Constitution.^[29]

November[]

• November 2 – George W. Bush was reelected President of the United States, defeating his Democratic challenger John Kerry.
• November 13 – The European Space Agency probe SMART-1 arrives at the Moon, becoming the first European satellite to fly to the Moon and orbit it.^[30]
• November 16 – NASA's hypersonic Scramjet breaks a record by reaching a velocity of about 7,000 mph (Mach 9.6) in an unpiloted experimental flight.
• November 16 – Release of Valve's first-person shooter Half-life 2.
• November 21 – The Nintendo DS, the best selling handheld game console of all time, is released in North America.
• November 22 – The Orange Revolution begins following a disputed presidential election in Ukraine where Viktor Yanukovych won against Viktor Yushchenko amid accusations of electoral fraud. A revote results in Yushchenko being declared the winner.^[31]

December[]

• December 14 – The world's tallest bridge, the Millau Viaduct over the Tarn in the Massif Central mountains, France, is officially opened.^[32]
• December 21 – Iraqi insurgents attack a U.S. military base in the city of Mosul, killing 22 people.^[33]
• December 26 – The 9.1–9.3 M_w  Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). One of the largest observed tsunamis follows, affecting coastal areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, killing over 200,000 people.^[34]
• December 27 – Astrophysicists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching near Munich measure the strongest burst from a magnetar. At 21:30:26 UT Earth is hit by a huge wave front of gamma and X-rays. It is the strongest flux of high-energetic gamma radiation measured so far.
• December 30 – A fire in the República Cromañón nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 194.
• December 31 – Taipei 101, at the time the tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of 1,670 feet (510 m), officially opens.^[35]

Births[]

• January 7 – Sofia Wylie, American actress and dancer^[36]
• January 15 – Grace VanderWaal, American singer-songwriter^[37]
• January 21 – Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway^[38]
• January 28 – Shafali Verma, Indian woman cricketer^[39]
• February 19 – Millie Bobby Brown, English actress and producer^[40]
• March 13 – Coco Gauff, American tennis player^[41]
• March 28 – Anna Shcherbakova, Russian figure skater^[42]
• May 1 – Charli D'Amelio, American dancer and social media personality^[43]
• October 3 – Noah Schnapp, American actor^[44]
• October 6 – Bronny James, American basketball player^[45]
• October 10 – Zain Al Rafeea, Syrian-born actor
• October 12 – Darci Lynne, American ventriloquist^[46]

Deaths[]

January[]

• January 4 – Joan Aiken, English writer (b. 1924)^[47]
• January 6 – Pierre Charles, 5th Prime Minister of Dominica (b. 1954)
• January 7 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (b. 1926)^[48]
• January 9 – Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher (b. 1909)
• January 11 – Spalding Gray, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1941)^[49]
• January 13 – Harold Shipman, British serial killer (b. 1946)
• January 14
  • Terje Bakken, Norwegian musician (b. 1978)
  • Uta Hagen, American actress (b. 1919)
• January 16 – Kalevi Sorsa, Finnish politician, 34th Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
• January 17 – Czesław Niemen, Polish singer-songwriter (b. 1939)
• January 18 – Galina Gavrilovna Korchuganova, Russian-born Soviet test pilot and aerobatics champion (b. 1935)
• January 22 – Ann Miller, American dancer and actress (b. 1923)^[50]
• January 23 – Helmut Newton, German-Australian photographer (b. 1920)
• January 24 – Leônidas, Brazilian footballer (b. 1913)
• January 25
  • Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (b. 1918)^[51]
  • Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (b. 1979)
• January 27 – Jack Paar, American author, actor, radio comedian, and talk show host (b. 1918)
• January 28 – Joe Viterelli, American actor (b. 1937)

February[]

• February 14 – Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (b. 1970)
• February 17 – José López Portillo, 51st President of Mexico (b. 1920)
• February 21 – John Charles, Welsh footballer (b. 1931)
• February 24 – John Randolph, American actor (b. 1915)
• February 26
  • Adolf Ehrnrooth, Finnish general (b. 1905)
  • Boris Trajkovski, 2nd president of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1956)
• February 27 – Paul Sweezy, American economist and editor (b. 1910)
• February 28 – Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian and Librarian of Congress (b. 1914)
• February 29 – Harold Bernard St. John, 3rd Prime Minister of Barbados (b. 1931)

March[]

• March 2 – Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (b. 1916)
• March 4 – Claude Nougaro, French singer (b. 1929)
• March 5 – Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy, 31st President of Ecuador (b. 1919)
• March 7 – Paul Winfield, American actor (b. 1939)
• March 8 – Muhammad Zaidan, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (b. 1948)
• March 15 – John Pople, English Nobel chemist (b. 1925)
• March 18 – Abdujalil Samadov, 4th Prime Minister of Tajikistan (b. 1949)
• March 20 – Juliana, Queen regnant of the Netherlands (b. 1909)^[52]
• March 22 – Ahmed Yassin, Palestinian co-founder of Hamas (b. 1937)
• March 29 – Peter Ustinov, English actor and director (b. 1921)^[53]
• March 30 – Alistair Cooke, English-born American journalist and broadcaster (b. 1908)^[54]

April[]

• April 1 – Carrie Snodgress, American actress (b. 1945)
• April 10 – Jacek Kaczmarski, Polish singer, songwriter, poet and author (b. 1957)
• April 15 – Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Japanese manga artist (b. 1934)
• April 17 – Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, Palestinian Hamas leader (b. 1947)
• April 18 – Kamisese Mara, 1st Prime Minister and 2nd president of Fiji (b. 1920)
• April 19 – John Maynard Smith, English biologist (b. 1920)
• April 22 – Pat Tillman, American football player (b. 1976)
• April 24 – Estée Lauder, American cosmetics entrepreneur (b. 1906)
• April 25 – Thom Gunn, English poet (b. 1929)^[55]
• April 26 – Hubert Selby Jr., American writer (b. 1928)

May[]

• May 4 – David Reimer, Canadian victim of a botched circumcision and transgender reassignment surgery (b. 1965)^[56]
• May 5 – Ritsuko Okazaki, Japanese songwriter (b. 1959)
• May 9 – Alan King, American actor and comedian (b. 1927)
• May 14 – Anna Lee, British-born American actress (b. 1913)^[57]
• May 16 – Marika Rökk, Egyptian-born Austrian singer, dancer and actress (b. 1913)
• May 17
  • Tony Randall, American actor (b. 1920)^[58]
  • Ezzedine Salim, 45th Prime Minister of Iraq (b. 1943)
• May 18 – Elvin Jones, American jazz drummer (b. 1927)
• May 22
  • Richard Biggs, American actor (b. 1960)
  • Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (b. 1945)
• May 29 – Archibald Cox, American lawyer and professor (b. 1912)

June[]

• June 1 – William Manchester, American historian (b. 1922)
• June 2
  • Dom Moraes, Indian poet and writer (b. 1938)
  • Tesfaye Gebre Kidan, Ethiopian general, defense minister and acting president of Ethiopia (b. c. 1935)
• June 3 – Quorthon, Swedish singer, songwriter, musician and record producer (b. 1966)
• June 4 – Steve Lacy, American jazz soprano saxophonist (b. 1934)
• June 5 – Ronald Reagan, American politician and actor, 40th President of the United States (b. 1911)
• June 10
  • Ray Charles, American singer and musician (b. 1930)
  • Xenophon Zolotas, Greek economist and politician, interim Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1904)
• June 16 – Thanom Kittikachorn, Thai military general, 10th Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1911)
• June 22 – Thomas Gold, American astrophysicist (b. 1920)
• June 26 – Naomi Shemer, Israeli songwriter (b. 1931)

July[]

• July 1 – Marlon Brando, American actor (b. 1924)
• July 2 – Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Portuguese poet and writer (b. 1919)
• July 5
  • Hugh Shearer, Jamaican politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1923)
  • Rodger Ward, American race car driver (b. 1921)
• July 6
  • Eric Douglas, American actor (b. 1958)
  • Thomas Klestil, Austrian politician and diplomat, 10th President of Austria (b. 1932)
• July 10
  • Isabel Sanford, American actress (b. 1917)
  • Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, 108th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1930)
• July 13 – Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (b. 1930)
• July 16 – Charles Sweeney, American WWII pilot (b. 1919)
• July 19 – Zenkō Suzuki, Japanese politician, 44th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1911)
• July 21
  • Jerry Goldsmith, American composer (b. 1929)^[59]
  • Edward B. Lewis, American Nobel geneticist (b. 1918)
• July 22 – Sacha Distel, French singer (b. 1933)
• July 23 – Joe Cahill, Irish paramilitary leader, Chief of Staff for the Provisional IRA (b. 1920)
• July 28 – Francis Crick, English Nobel molecular biologist (b. 1916)^[60]
• July 31 – Virginia Grey, American actress (b. 1917)

August[]

• August 1 – Philip Abelson, American Nobel physicist (b. 1913)
• August 3 – Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer (b. 1908)^[61]
• August 6 – Rick James, American musician (b. 1948)
• August 8 – Fay Wray, Canadian-American actress (b. 1907)
• August 12 – Godfrey Hounsfield, English Nobel electrical engineer and inventor (b. 1919)^[62]
• August 13 – Julia Child, American chef (b. 1912)
• August 14 – Czesław Miłosz, Polish-born Nobel writer (b. 1911)
• August 15 – Sune Bergström, Swedish Nobel biochemist (b. 1916)
• August 17 – Frank Cotroni, Canadian mobster (b. 1931)
• August 18 – Elmer Bernstein, American composer (b. 1922)
• August 24 – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (b. 1926)
• August 26 – Laura Branigan, American singer (b. 1952)
• August 29 – Leonardus Benjamin Moerdani, Indonesian military force commander (b. 1932)
• August 30 – Fred Lawrence Whipple, American astronomer (b. 1906)

September[]

• September 1 - 3 - 334 people (mostly children) have been killed during a siege in a school located in Beslan, Russia; responsible was a rebel group from Chechnya, led by Shamil Bassayev
• September 8 – Frank Thomas, American animator and pianist (b. 1912)
• September 11 – Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria (b. 1949)
• September 13 – Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist (b. 1925)
• September 15
  • Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (b. 1948)
  • Daouda Malam Wanké, 6th President of Niger (b. 1946)
• September 18
  • Russ Meyer, American director and photographer (b. 1922)
  • Klara Rumyanova, Soviet and Russian actress and voice actress (b. 1929)
• September 19 – Skeeter Davis, American country music singer-songwriter (b. 1931)
• September 20 – Brian Clough, British football manager (b. 1935)
• September 22
  • Winston Cenac, 3rd Prime Minister of Saint Lucia (b. 1925)
  • Ray Traylor Jr., American professional wrestler (b. 1963)
• September 23 – Bryce DeWitt, American theoretical physicist (b. 1923)
• September 24 – Françoise Sagan, French writer (b. 1935)^[63]

October[]

• October 1 – Richard Avedon, American photographer (b. 1923)
• October 3 – Janet Leigh, American actress (b. 1927)
• October 4 – Gordon Cooper, American astronaut (b. 1927)
• October 5
  • Rodney Dangerfield, American comedian and actor (b. 1921)
  • Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born Nobel physicist (b. 1916)
• October 7 – Miki Matsubara, Japanese composer and singer (b. 1959)
• October 8 – Jacques Derrida, Algerian-born French literary critic (b. 1930)^[64]
• October 10 – Christopher Reeve, American actor and activist (b. 1952)
• October 11 – Keith Miller, Australian sportsman (b. 1919)
• October 17 – Julius Harris, American actor (b. 1923)
• October 23 – Bill Nicholson, English footballer, coach and manager (b. 1919)
• October 25 – John Peel, British radio disc jockey (b. 1939)
• October 29 – Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (b. 1901)^[65]

November[]

• November 1 – Mac Dre, American rapper (b. 1970)
• November 2
  • Theo van Gogh, Dutch film director (b. 1957)
  • Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, 1st president of the United Arab Emirates (b. 1918)
• November 3 – Sergejs Žoltoks, Latvian hockey player (b. 1972)
• November 6 – Fred Dibnah English Steeplejack and Television personality (b. 1938)
• November 7 – Howard Keel, American singer and actor (b. 1919)
• November 9
  • Iris Chang, American journalist (b. 1968)
  • Emlyn Hughes, English footballer (b. 1947)
  • Stieg Larsson, Swedish writer (b. 1954)^[66]
• November 11 – Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Nobel leader (b. 1929)
• November 13
  • John Balance, English musician, occultist, artist and poet (b. 1962)
  • Ol' Dirty Bastard, American rapper (b. 1968)
• November 17 – Alexander Ragulin, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1941)
• November 18 – Robert Bacher, American physicist (b. 1905)
• November 19 – John Vane, British Nobel pharmacologist (b. 1927)
• November 23 – Rafael Eitan, Israeli politician (b. 1929)
• November 24 – Arthur Hailey, British-Canadian novelist (b. 1920)^[67]
• November 26 – Philippe de Broca, French film director (b. 1933)
• November 29
  • Yvonne Aitken, Australian botanist (b. 1911)
  • John Drew Barrymore, American actor (b. 1932)

December[]

• December 1 – Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, Prince consort of the Netherlands (b. 1911)^[68]
• Leonid Telyatnikov, Ukrainian firefighter at Chernobyl disaster (b. 1951)
• December 8 – Dimebag Darrell, American guitarist (b. 1966)
• December 14 – Fernando Poe Jr., Filipino actor, director and politician (b. 1939)
• December 19
  • Herbert C. Brown, English-born Nobel chemist (b. 1912)
  • Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano (b. 1922)
• December 23 – P. V. Narasimha Rao, Indian politician, 10th Prime Minister of India (b. 1921)
• December 28
  • Jerry Orbach, American actor (b. 1935)
  • Susan Sontag, American writer and activist (b. 1933)^[69]
• December 29 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
• December 30 – Artie Shaw, American musician (b. 1910)
• December 31 – Gérard Debreu, French-born Nobel economist (b. 1921)

Nobel Prizes[]

• Chemistry – Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Irwin Rose
• Economics – Finn E. Kydland, Edward C. Prescott
• Literature – Elfriede Jelinek
• Peace – Wangari Maathai
• Physics – David J. Gross, H. David Politzer, Frank Wilczek
• Physiology or Medicine – Linda B. Buck, Richard Axel

New English words and terms[]

• e-waste
• life hack
• paywall
• podcast
• roentgenium
• Silver Alert
• social media
• waterboarding^[70]

References[]