Encyclopedia:
2003,
October 2003,
Deaths in 2003,
Talk:2003,
2003 in music,
January 2003,
2003 in politics,
2003 in film,
2003 in television,
February 2003
2003 (
MMIII) was a
common year starting on Wednesday of the
Gregorian calendar.
It has been designated the:
*
International Year of Freshwater*
European Disability Year*
Year of the Sheep in the
Chinese Zodiac* The Year of
Scorpio in
Western AstrologySee also
the almanac of events for this year.
2003 is prime. The next prime year is 2011.
Events
January
*
January 1 -
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva becomes the 37th President of
Brazil.
*
January 1 -
Pascal Couchepin becomes
President of the Confederation in
Switzerland.
*
January 3 -
The Ohio State University defeats the
University of Miami in double-overtime in the
Fiesta Bowl, 31-24, for the national
Bowl Championship Series (BCS) title. The game is considered to be among the best in recent years.
*
January 7 -
Oolong (rabbit), famous for balancing various objects on his head, dies.
*
January 8 -
US Airways Express Flight 5481 crashes at
Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in
Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people aboard.
*
January 15 -
Eldred v. Ashcroft: The
Supreme Court of the United States allows the extension of copyright terms in the U.S.
*
January 16 - Gekkai Merry Go Round/Shunkashuutou by
Psycho le cemu debuts.
*
January 18 - The Canberra Bushfires occur in Canberra, Australia, killing 4 people.
*
January 24 - The new
United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
*
January 25 - A Central Line train crashes into the tunnel wall at Chancery Lane station in
London, injuring 34 people.
*
January 25 - An
international group of volunteers leaves London for
Baghdad to act as voluntary
human shields, hoping to avert a U.S. invasion.
*
January 26 -
Super Bowl XXXVII: The
Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat the
Oakland Raiders 48-21.
*
January 30 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: The leaders of
Britain,
Spain,
Italy,
Portugal,
Hungary,
Poland,
Romania,
Denmark, and the
Czech Republic release a statement, The Letter of the Eight, demonstrating support for the
United States' plans to invade
Iraq.
February
thumb|200px|Anti-war protestors gather in [London, during world-wide protests against war in Iraq.]
thumb|Debris from the Shuttle Columbia falls over
Texas, on a
Time cover].
*
February 1 -
STS-107: Space Shuttle
Columbia disintegrates over
Texas upon reentry, killing all 7
astronauts onboard.
*
February 1 - In
Northern Ireland,
Protestant UDA Belfast leader
John Gregg is killed by a loyalist faction.
*
February 5 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell addresses the
UN Security Council on
*
February 9 - The
Cricket World Cup begins in
South Africa.
*
February 15 - Global
protests against Iraq war: More than 10 million people protest in over 600 cities worldwide, the largest war protest to take place before the war occurs.
*
February 17 - The Antwerp Diamond Center in
Belgium opens its vaults after the weekend, and discovers that unknown burglars had stolen
diamonds worth $100 million (the largest diamond theft so
*
February 20 -
The Station nightclub fire in
West Warwick, Rhode Island claims the lives of 100 people, the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in
United States history.
*
February 22 - In his first after losing to
Lennox Lewis,
Mike Tyson beats
Clifford Etienne by first round KO in a fight held at The Pyramid in Memphis, TN.
*
February 26 - An American businessman is admitted to the Vietnam France Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam with the first identified case of
SARS.
WHO doctor
Carlo Urbani reports the unusual highly contagious disease to WHO. Both the businessman and the doctor later die of the disease.
*
February 28 -
Phish plays a show at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.
* February -
The Druid Network is founded in the
United Kingdom.
March
*
March 1 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: The
United Arab Emirates calls for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to step down to avoid war, a sentiment later echoed by
Bahrain and
Kuwait.
*
March 1 - The Turkish parliament vetoes U.S. troop access to airbases in Turkey in order to attack Iraq from the north. The Bush administration starts working on Plan B, namely attacking Iraq from the south, through the Persian Gulf.
*
March 1 - The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the
United States Customs Service, and the
United States Secret Service move to the
United States Department of Homeland Security.
*
March 1 -
War on Terrorism:
Pakistani authorities capture
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the
September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, along with money man
Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi.
*
March 1 -
Ohio celebrates its
bicentennial statehood.
*
March 3 -
Australia wins the 2003
Cricket World Cup, defeating
India by 125 runs.
*
March 5 - The
Supreme Court of the United States, by a 5-4 margin, upholds California's "
three strikes and you're out" law.
*
March 11 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi fighters threaten 2 U.S.
U-2 surveillance planes, on missions for U.N. weapons inspectors, forcing them to abort their mission and return to base.
*
March 12 -
Serbian Prime Minister
Zoran Đinđić is assassinated in
Belgrade.
thumb|A SARS hospital in [Taiwan.]
*
March 12 - The
WHO issues a global alert on
SARS.
*
March 12 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: British prime minister
Tony Blair proposes an amendment to the possible 18th U.N. resolution, which would call for Iraq to meet certain benchmarks to prove that it was disarming. The amendment is immediately rejected by France, who promises to
veto any new resolution.
*
March 12 - Police find
Elizabeth Smart in
Sandy,
Utah, in the company of
Brian David Mitchell and
Wanda Ileen Barzee, whom they arrest for kidnapping her.
*
March 13 -
Human evolution: The journal
Nature reports that 350,000-year-old upright-walking
human footprints had been found in
Italy.
*
March 15 -
Hu Jintao becomes
president of the People's Republic of China, replacing
Jiang Zemin.
*
March 16 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: The leaders of the
United States,
Britain,
Portugal, and
Spain meet at a summit in the
Azores Islands. U.S. President Bush calls March 17th the "moment of truth", meaning that the "
coalition of the willing" will make its final effort to extract a resolution from the
U.N. Security Council, giving Iraq an ultimatum to disarm immediately or be disarmed by force.
*
March 17 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President
George W. Bush gives an ultimatum: Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his sons must either leave Iraq, or face military action at a time of the U.S.'s choosing.
*
March 18 - The UK government recognises
British Sign Language as an official British language.
*
March 18 - The
Parliament of the United Kingdom votes in favour of a motion understood as giving the government final authority to join the invasion of Iraq.
http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2003-03-18&number=118&display=allpossible*
March 19 - The first American bombs drop on
Baghdad, Iraq. President
Saddam Hussein and his sons do not comply with President Bush's 48-hour mandate demanding their exit from
Iraq.
*
March 20 -
2003 invasion of Iraq: Land troops from United States,
United Kingdom,
Australia and
Poland invade Iraq.
*
March 22 - The United States and the United Kingdom begin their
shock and awe campaign, with a massive air strike on military targets in Baghdad.
*
March 23 - Tradewinds wins Euclid 6' and Under Division 2 basketball championship.
*
March 23 - The
Cricket World Cup ends as
Australia wins over
India in Centurion,
South Africa.
*
March 29 - WHO doctor
Carlo Urbani, who first identified SARS, dies of the disease.
*
March 30 -
Meigs Field Airport in
Chicago,
Illinois is demolished overnight.
April
*
April 3 - A passenger bus hits a remote-controlled land mine in the
Chechen capital, killing at least 8.
*
April 3 - U.S. forces seize control of Saddam International Airport, changing the airport's name to
Baghdad International Airport.
*
April 9 - U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, apparently ending the regime of Saddam Hussein.
*
April 14 - The
Human Genome Project is successfully completed, with 99% of the human
genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy.
*
April 17 - The
Stevens Report concludes that members of the
Royal Ulster Constabulary and British Army cooperated with the
Ulster Defence Association in the killings of Catholics in
Northern Ireland.
*
April 21 - Retired U.S. Army General
Jay Garner becomes Interim Civil Administrator of Iraq.
*
April 30 - The last American owned vehicle frame manufacturer, Midland Steel Products, goes out of business after almost 110 years, laying off almost 250 people.
May
*
May 1 - George W. Bush lands on the aircraft carrier
USS Abraham Lincoln, in a
Lockheed S-3 Viking, where he gives a speech announcing the end of major combat in the
2003 Invasion of Iraq. A banner behind him declares "
Mission Accomplished."
*
May 2 - The
Monkeyman superhero hoax begins in
Tunbridge Wells,
Kent, UK.
*
May 3 - The
Old Man of the Mountain, a rock formation in
New Hampshire, crumbles after heavy rain.
*
May 4-
May 10 - A major severe weather outbreak spawns more tornadoes than any week in U.S. history; 393 tornadoes are reported in 19 states.
*
May 11 -
Benvenuto Cellini's
Saliera is stolen from the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in
Vienna.
*
May 12 - A suicide truck-bomb attack kills at least 60 at a government compound in northern
Chechnya.
*
May 12 - In
Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, 26 people are killed in the
Riyadh Compound Bombings.
*
May 14 - A female
suicide bomber blows up
explosives strapped to her waist in a crowd of thousands of
Muslim pilgrims, killing at least 18 people in
Chechnya.
*
May 16 - In
Casablanca,
Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 injured in the
Casablanca terrorist attacks.
*
May 17 -
Arsenal beats
Southampton 1-0 to win the
FA Cup.
*
May 19 - Pen Hadow becomes the first man to walk alone, without any outside help, from
Canada to the
North Pole.
*
May 20 -
Buffy The Vampire Slayer airs its final show, ending a 7 year run on both
The WB Network and
UPN.
*
May 21 -
Miracle high tension! by
Psycho le Cému debuts.
*
May 21 -
F.C. Porto defeats
Celtic 3-2 (AET) in the
UEFA Cup Final in
Seville,
Spain.
*
May 21 - An
earthquake in the
Boumerdès region of northern
Algeria kills 2,200.
*
May 22 - The
Sheffield Winter Gardens are officially opened by
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
*
May 23 -
Dewey, the first
deer cloned by scientists at
Texas A&M University, is born.
*
May 26 - A draft of the proposed
European Constitution is unveiled.
*
May 28 -
Prometea, the first
horse cloned by Italian scientists, is born.
*
May 28 -
AC Milan defeats fellow Italian rival
Juventus 3-2 on penalties after a scoreless tie to win the
UEFA Champions League, their sixth European title.
*
May 31 -
Eric Rudolph, suspected in the
Centennial Olympic Park bombing in 1996, is captured in
Murphy, North Carolina behind a
Save-A-Lot store.
June
*
June 1 - The
Group of Eight summit opens in
Évian-les-Bains,
France, to tight security and tens of thousands of protesters.
*
June 1 - The
People's Republic of China begins filling the
lake behind the massive
Three Gorges Dam, raising the water level near the dam over 100 metres.
*
June 4 -
Martha Stewart and her broker are
indicted for using privileged investment information and then obstructing a federal investigation. Stewart also resigns as chairperson and chief executive officer of
Martha Stewart Living.
*
June 5 - A female
suicide bomber detonates a
bomb near a bus carrying soldiers and civilians to a military airfield in
Mozdok, a major
staging point for
Russian troops in
Chechnya, killing at least 16 people.
*
June 9 - The
New Jersey Devils beat the
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 4 games to 3 in the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals.
*
June 15 - The
San Antonio Spurs defeat the
New Jersey Nets to win the
2003 NBA Finals, 4-2. The series, the first televised by
ABC in 30 years, is the lowest
rated since
1981.
*
June 20 - The
North East MRT Line, the world's first fully automated and driverless subway opens in Singapore, bringing the total number of lines in the
Mass Rapid Transit to 3.
*
June 21 -
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by
J.K. Rowling, the 5th book in the
Harry Potter series, is published in the UK and elsewhere.
*
June 22 - The largest
hailstone ever recorded falls in
Aurora, Nebraska.
*
June 23 -
Grutter v. Bollinger: The [[Supreme Court of the United States upholds
affirmative action in university admissions.
*
June 26 -
Lawrence v. Texas: The
U.S. Supreme Court declares
sodomy laws unconstitutional.
*
June 26 -
Cameroon international footballer
Marc-Vivien Foe, 28, collapses and dies during a
Confederations Cup game in
Lyon,
France. Foe had represented his country at two
World Cups and had played for two English clubs;
West Ham United and
Manchester City.
July
*
July 1 - 500,000 Hong Kong people march to protest
Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, which controversially redefines
treason.
*
July 2 - At the
International Olympic Committee session in
Prague,
Vancouver,
British Columbia is declared the Host City for the
XXI Olympic Winter Games in
2010.
*
July 5 -
SARS is declared to be contained by
WHO.
*
July 5 - A double
suicide bombing at a
Moscow rock concert kills the female attackers and 15 other people.
*
July 6 -
Los Angeles Lakers star
Kobe Bryant's arrest is made public. Bryant is charged with
sexual assault in
Eagle County, Colorado.
*
July 7 -
Corsica voters reject a referendum for increased autonomy for the region from
France by a very narrow margin.
*
July 7 - Canon
Jeffrey John, first would-be gay bishop in the Church of England, withdraws his acceptance of the post of The
Bishop of
Reading after discussions with church leaders.
*
July 8 - Australian actress
Delta Goodrem is diagnosed with cancer.
*
July 10 - A Russian security agent dies in
Moscow, while trying to defuse a bomb a woman had tried to carry into a cafe on central
Moscow's
main street.
*
July 10 -
Wikibooks, a
free content set of
textbooks, goes online.
*
July 14 -
Washington Post columnist
Robert Novak publishes the name of
Valerie Plame, blowing her cover as a
CIA operative. The
CIA leak scandal begins.
*
July 18 - The
Convention on the Future of Europe finishes its work and proposes the first European Constitution.
*
July 18 - The body of
David Kelly, a scientist at the
Ministry of Defence, is found a few miles from his home, leading to the
Hutton inquiry.
*
July 22 - Uday and Qusay Hussein, sons of Saddam Hussein, are killed by the U.S. military in
Iraq, after being tipped off by an informant.
*
July 23 -
Operation Warrior Sweep is the first major military deployment of the
Afghan National Army.
*
July 24 - The Regional Assistance Mission to the
Solomon Islands,
Operation Helpem Fren, led by
Australia, begins.
*
July 27 -
Bob Hope, legendary English-born American comedian whose career spanned over 70 years, dies in
Toluca Lake,
California, at age 100.
*
July 30 - The last old-style
Volkswagen Beetle rolls off its production line in
Puebla, Puebla,
Mexico.
*
July 31 -
Avenue Q, a new musical, opens on
Broadway. It later wins the
Tony Award for
Best New Musical.
August
thumb|Toronto, Ontario, on the evening of August 14.*
August 1 - A suicide bomber rams a truck filled with
explosives into a military hospital near
Chechnya, killing 50 people, including
Russian troops wounded in
Chechnya.
*
August 2 - The
United Nations authorizes an international
peacekeeping force for
Liberia.
*
August 10 - The highest temperature ever is recorded in the
UK; 38.5
°C (101.3
°F) at
Brogdale near
Faversham in
Kent http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/2003/. It is the first time the
UK has recorded a temperature over 100 degrees
Fahrenheit.
*
August 11 -
NATO takes over command of the
peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
*
August 11 -
Jemaah Islamiah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as
Hambali, is arrested in
Bangkok,
Thailand.
*
August 11 - A big
heat wave in
Paris has had temperatures up to 44
°C (112
°F), killing more than 3,000 people.
*
August 14 - A widespread
power outage affects the northeastern United States and South-Central Canada.
*
August 14 - A 6.4
Richter scale earthquake occurs near the Greek
Ionian island of
Lefkada; 24 are injured.
*
August 16 - The
2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire spreads quickly on the outskirts of
Kelowna, British Columbia, threatening to engulf the largest town in B.C.'s interior.
*
August 22 - A rocket explosion kills 21 at the
Brazilian rocket complex in
Alcântara,
Brazil, due to the premature ignition of a
solid rocket booster.
*
August 25 - Two bomb blasts in
Mumbai,
India kill 52.
*
August 27 - Perihelic
Opposition:
Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in over 50,000 years.
September
thumb|SMART-1. (ESA) *
September 4 -
Europe's largest shopping centre, the
Bullring in
Birmingham, is officially opened by Sir Albert Bore.
*
September 10 -
Swedish foreign minister
Anna Lindh is stabbed in a
Stockholm department store and dies the next day.
*
September 10 -
Nupedia, an old free
encyclopedia, goes offline.
*
September 10 - Sweden rejects adopting the
Euro in a referendum.
*
September 10 -
Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
*
September 15 - The
ELN kidnaps 8 foreign tourists in the
Ciudad Perdida in
Colombia; they demand a human rights investigation and release the last hostages 3 months later.
*
September 16 - Two
suicide bombers drive an explosive-filled truck into a government security services building near
Chechnya, killing 3 and injuring 25.
*
September 23 -
Nickelback releases their fourth alblum,
The Long Road.
*
September 27 -
Smart 1, a
European Space Agency satellite, is launched from
French Guiana.
*
September 27 - The
Uniterran Church is founded in Victor,
New York.
*
September 28 - A power failure affects all of
Italy except Sardinia, cutting service to more than 56 million people.
*
September 29 - Hurricane Juan lands at
Halifax,
Nova Scotia,
Canada as a category 2 storm, killing 2 directly and 5 indirectly.
October
thumb|175px|The insignia of [Shenzhou 5, the first Chinese manned space mission.]
*
October 7 -
2003 California recall: Voters recall Governor
Gray Davis from office and elect actor
Arnold Schwarzenegger to succeed him.
*
October 8 A trip to Arcadia by
Psycho le cemu is re-released.
*
October 10 - Facing an investigation surrounding allegations of illegal drug use,
American right-wing radio host
Rush Limbaugh publicly admits that he is addicted to prescription
pain killers, and will seek treatment.
*
October 14 - The
Florida Marlins defeat the
Chicago Cubs in Game 6 of
Major League Baseball's
National League Championship Series; the game is remembered for Cubs fan
Steve Bartman interfering with a foul ball which could have helped Chicago win the game and the series. The Marlins go on to win the World Series.
*
October 15 -
China launches
Shenzhou 5, their first
manned space mission.
*
October 15 - The
2003 Staten Island Ferry crash kills 11 after one of its ferries slams into a pier.
*
October 23 -
Luis A. Ferre, the third democratically elected
Governor of Puerto Rico, dies at age 99.
*
October 24 - The
Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner
supersonic travel to a close, at least for the time being.
*
October 25 - The
Cedar Fire begins in
San Diego County, burning 280,000 acres (1,100 km²), 2,232 homes and killing 14.
*
October 26 -
Viva La Bam first airs on
MTV.
*
October 30 -
Wicked, a new musical with music by
Stephen Schwartz and book by
Winnie Holzman, opens on
Broadway at the
Gershwin Theatre. The musical stars
Idina Menzel as
Elphaba, and
Kristen Chenoweth as
Glinda.
*
October 31 -
Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of
Malaysia after 22 years in power.
November
*
November 5 -
Gary Ridgway, The "Green River Killer", confesses to murdering 48 women.
*
November 9 - A
lunar eclipse is seen in
the Americas, Europe,
Africa, and
Central Asia.
*
November 12 -
Occupation of Iraq: In
Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 Iraq war, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
*
November 15 - Two
car bombs explode simultaneously in
Istanbul, Turkey, targeting 2 synagogues, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 300;
Al-Qaida claims responsibility.
*
November 18 - In
Santa Barbara,
California, an arrest warrant is issued for
Michael Jackson after new child molestation claims are made against the King of Pop.
*
November 18 - U.S. President
George W. Bush makes a state visit to
London in the midst of massive protests.
*
November 18 - The Massachusetts Supreme Court, in
Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, rules anti-
same-sex marriage laws unconstitutional in
Massachusetts.
*
November 18 -
Britney Spears breaks her own record, with her 4th album
In The Zone going to #1 on the
Billboard 200, making her the only artist in music history to have her first 4 albums go to #1 on the Billboard 200.
*
November 19 - At the end of a long public inquiry, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
John Prescott, gives planning approval to
London Bridge Tower, set to become the tallest building in Europe.
*
November 20 - Several bombs explode in
Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of
HSBC and the
British consulate.
thumb|Police mug-shot of Michael Jackson taken in 2003.*
November 20 -
Michael Jackson is arrested by police on charges of child molestation, a charge that can carry an 8-year jail term.
*
November 22 -
England wins the
2003 Rugby World Cup, defeating Australia 20-17 after extra time.
*
November 22 - The pilots and flight engineer of a DHL cargo plane are acknowledged after they become the first ever flight crew to successfully land a plane with no hydraulics, by means of engine thrust. The steering failure was the consequence of a fire started on the left wing, which was the result of a surface-to-air missile hit, while on the descent for landing in
Baghdad.
*
November 23 - The
Georgian
Rose Revolution ends with overwhelming victory - president
Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over fraudulent elections.
*
November 23 - A total
solar eclipse is seen over
Antarctica.
*
November 24 - The High Court in
Glasgow imposes a minimum sentence of 27 years for Al Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of bombing
Pan Am Flight 103 over
Lockerbie,
Scotland.
*
November 24 -
Nintendo NSider Forums is created.
*
November 28 –
Kalev Ots succeeds to the presidency of the pre-WW II Republic of Estonia in exile, after the death of
Mihkel Mathiesen.
December
thumb|200px|A captured [Saddam Hussein is investigated by US military doctors.]
*
December 1 - The use of hand-held
cell phones while driving is made illegal in the
United Kingdom.
*
December 1 -
Boeing chairman and
CEO Phil Condit resigns unexpectedly. He is replaced by
Lewis Platt as non-executive chairman and
Harry Stonecipher as president and CEO.
*
December 5 - A
suicide bombing on a commuter train in southern
Russia kills 44 people. President
Vladimir Putin condemns the attack as a bid to destabilize the country 2 days before parliamentary elections.
*
December 7 - Parliamentary elections are held in
Russia.
*
December 7 - The new Government in Exile of the pre-
World War II Republic of Estonia, headed by
Ahti Mänd, assumes office.
*
December 9 - A female suicide bomber blows herself up outside
Moscow's National Hotel, across from
the Kremlin and
Red Square, killing 5 bystanders.
*
December 12 -
Paul Martin becomes the 21st
Prime Minister of Canada.
*
December 12 -
Olympic Airlines,
Greece's new flag carrier, is launched.
*
December 12 -
Saddam Hussein, former
President of Iraq, is captured in
Tikrit by the
U.S. 4th Infantry Division.
*
December 16 - The
United Kingdom announces plans to build a new runway at
Stansted Airport in
Essex and a short-haul runway at
Heathrow Airport, sparking anger from environmental groups.
*
December 17 - The film
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is released, effectively completing the Lord of the Rings Trilogy directed by
Peter Jackson.
*
December 18 - The
Soham Murder Trial ends at the
Old Bailey in
London, with
Ian Huntley found guilty of 2 counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
*
December 20 -
Libya admits to building a
nuclear bomb.
*
December 22 - An
earthquake shakes up
California, killing 2 people.
*
December 22 -
Parmalat is first accused of falsifying accounts to the tune of USD $5 billion, later admitted by founder Calisto Tanzi; observers call it "Europe's
Enron".
*
December 24 - A
BSE (mad cow disease) outbreak in
Washington State is announced. Several countries including
Brazil,
Australia and
Taiwan ban the import of beef from the
United States of America.
Beagle 2 as it would have looked on Mars|thumb*
December 24 - At the request of the U.S. Embassy in Paris, the
French Government orders
Air France to cancel several flights between France and the U.S. in response to terrorist concerns.
*
December 24 - The
Spanish police thwart an attempt by
ETA to detonate 50 kg of
explosives at 3:55 p.m. on
Christmas Eve inside
Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.
*
December 25 -
Beagle 2 is scheduled to land on Mars, but nothing is heard from the lander.
*
December 25 - President
Pervez Musharraf of
Pakistan escapes the second assassination attempt in 2 weeks.
*
December 26 - A massive
earthquake devastates southeastern
Iran. Over 40,000 people are reported killed in the city of
Bam.
*
December 26 - A policeman is murdered and 2 others injured after they are shot by a motorist in a suspicious black
BMW in
Leeds.
*
December 31 - The world's largest
Hogmanay party in
Edinburgh,
Scotland is cancelled 20 minutes before midnight due to bad weather.
*
December 31 -
David Bieber is arrested on suspicion of the
Boxing Day police shootings in
Leeds.
Events by
Births
*
April 29 -
Maud Angelica Behn, daughter of
Ari Behn and
Princess Märtha Louise of Norway*
August 20 -
Prince Gabriel of Belgium, son of
Philippe, Duke of Brabant*
August 24 -
Alexandre Coste, son of
Albert II, Prince of Monaco*
November 8 -
Lady Louise Windsor, daughter of
Earl and
Countess of Wessex*
December 7 -
Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, daughter of
Prince Willem-Alexander of the NetherlandsDeaths
For more deaths, see: Deaths in 2003January
*
January 3 -
Sid Gillman, American football coach (b.
1911)
*
January 4 -
Conrad Hall, Tahitian-born cinematographer (b.
1926)
*
January 4 -
Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese-born violinist (b.
1923)
*
January 8 -
Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (b.
1925)
*
January 11 -
Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (b.
1925)
*
January 11 -
Richard Simmons, American actor (b.
1913)
*
January 12 -
Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine dictator (b.
1926)
*
January 12 -
Maurice Gibb, Australian musician (
Bee Gees) (b.
1949)
*
January 15 -
Doris Fisher, American singer and songwriter (b.
1915)
*
January 17 -
Richard Crenna, American actor (b.
1926)
*
January 20 -
Al Hirschfeld, American cartoonist (b.
1903)
*
January 20 -
Bill Werbeniuk, Canadian snooker player (b.
1947)
*
January 22 - Rev. John Francis Reuel
b.1917 *
January 23 -
Nell Carter, American singer and actress (b.
1948)
*
January 24 -
Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (b.
1921)
*
January 26 -
Valeriy Brumel, Russian athlete (b.
1942)
*
January 26 -
Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, English historian (b.
1917)
*
January 29 -
Frank Moss, U.S. Senator from Utah (b.
1911)
February
*
February 1 - Crew of the
Space Shuttle Columbia (burned up on reentry)
**
Michael P. Anderson (b.
1959)
**
David M. Brown (b.
1956)
**
Kalpana Chawla (b.
1961)
**
Laurel Clark (b.
1961)
**
Rick Husband (b.
1957)
**
William McCool (b.
1961)
**
Ilan Ramon (b.
1954)
*
February 2 -
Lou Harrison, American composer (b.
1917)
*
February 10 -
Edgar de Evia, American photographer (b.
1910)
*
February 10 -
Ron Ziegler,
Richard Nixon's White House Press Secretary (b.
1939)
*
February 10 -
Curt Hennig, "Mr. Perfect", professional wrestler (b.
1958)
*
February 16 -
Eleanor "Sis" Daley, wife of Chicago mayor
Richard J. Daley (b.
1907)
*
February 19 -
Johnny PayCheck, American singer (b.
1938)
*
February 20 -
Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and writer (b.
1907)
*
February 20 -
Orville Freeman, American politician (b.
1918)
*
February 27 -
Fred Rogers, American children's television host ("Misterogers' Neighborhood") (b.
1928)
*
February 28 -
Fidel Sánchez Hernández,
President of El Salvador (heart attack) (b.
1917)
March
*
March 2 -
Hank Ballard, American musician (b.
1927)
*
March 9 -
Bernard Dowiyogo,
President of Nauru (diabetes) (b.
1946)
*
March 12 -
Zoran Đinđić,
Prime Minister of Serbia (assassinated) (b.
1952)
*
March 12 -
Lynne Thigpen, American actress (b.
1948)
*
March 22 -
Paul Moran, Australian cameraman (Iraq, car bomb) (b.
1963)
*
March 26 -
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator from New York (b.
1926)
*
March 29 -
Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (SARS) (b.
1956)
April
*
April 1 -
Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong singer and actor (b.
1956)
*
April 7 -
Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (b.
1903)
*
April 11 -
Cecil Howard Green, British-born geophysicist and businessman (b.
1900)
*
April 17 -
Robert Atkins, American nutritionist (b.
1930)
*
April 17 -
Paul Getty, American-born philanthropist (b.
1932)
*
April 17 -
Earl King, American musician (b.
1934)
*
April 20 -
Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (b.
1908)
*
April 20 -
Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1911)
*
April 20 -
Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle rider, after crashing into a
Suzuka wall on
April 6 (b.
1976)
*
April 21 -
Nina Simone, American singer (b.
1933)
*
April 23 -
Fernand Fonssagrives, French photographer (b.
1910)
*
April 26 -
Peter Stone, American writer (b.
1930)
*
April 30 -
Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (b.
1923)
May
*
May 3 -
Suzy Parker, American actress (b.
1932)
*
May 9 -
Russell B. Long, U.S. Senator from Louisiana (b.
1933)
*
May 11 -
Noel Redding, American Musician (b. [[1946)
*
May 12 -
Prince Sadruddhin Aga Khan, French UN High Commissioner for Refugees (b.
1933)
*
May 14 -
Wendy Hiller, English actress (b.
1912)
*
May 14 -
Robert Stack, American actor (b.
1919)
*
May 15 -
June Carter Cash, American singer (b.
1929)
*
May 15 -
Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgian cyclist (b.
1924)
*
May 26 -
Kathleen Winsor, American writer (b.
1919)
*
May 27 -
Luciano Berio, Italian composer (b.
1925)
*
May 28 -
Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b.
1917)
*
May 28 -
Martha Scott, American actress (b.
1912)
June
*
June 2 -
Burke Marshall, American lawyer and politician (b.
1922)
*
June 2 -
"Classy" Freddy Blassie, professional wrestler and manager (b.
1918)
*
June 6 -
Ken Grimwood, American writer (b.
1944)
*
June 10 -
Donald Regan, U.S. Treasury Secretary (b.
1918)
* June 10 -
Bernard Williams, English philosopher (b.
1929)
*
June 11 -
David Brinkley, American television reporter (b.
1920)
*
June 12 -
Gregory Peck, American actor (b.
1916)
*
June 14 -
Jimmy Knepper, American jazz trombonist (b.
1927)
*
June 15 -
Hume Cronyn, Canadian actor (b.
1911)
*
June 18 -
Larry Doby, baseball player (b.
1923)
*
June 19 -
Laura Sadler, British TV actress (b.
1980)
*
June 21 -
Leon Uris, American writer (b.
1924)
*
June 23 -
Maynard Jackson, Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (b.
1938)
*
June 25 -
Lester Maddox, Governor of Georgia (b.
1915)
*
June 26 -
Denis Thatcher, husband of
Margaret Thatcher (b.
1915)
* June 26 -
Strom Thurmond, U.S. Senator (b.
1902)
*
June 29 -
Katharine Hepburn, American actress (b.
1907)
*
June 30 -
Buddy Hackett, American comedian and actor (b.
1924)
July
*
July 1 -
Herbie Mann, American jazz flutist (b.
1930)
*
July 1 -
George Roper, British comedian (b.
1934)
*
July 4 -
Barry White, American singer (b.
1944)
*
July 5 -
Roman Lyashenko, Russian hockey player (b.
1979)
*
July 7 -
Buddy Ebsen, American actor (b.
1908)
*
July 10 -
Winston Graham, English writer (b.
1908)
*
July 10 -
Hartley Shawcross, British chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials (b.
1902)
*
July 12 -
Benny Carter, American musician (b.
1907)
*
July 13 -
Compay Segundo, Cuban musician (
Buena Vista Social Club) (b.
1907)
*
July 14 -
Éva Janikovszky, Hungarian novelist (b.
1926)
*
July 15 -
Roberto Bolaño, Chilean writer (b.
1953)
*
July 15 -
Tex Schramm, American football team president and general manager (b.
1920)
*
July 16 -
Celia Cruz, Cuban singer (b.
1924)
*
July 16 -
Carol Shields, American-born writer (b.
1935)
*
July 17 -
Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (b.
1914)
*
July 22 -
Uday and
Qusay Hussein, sons of
Saddam Hussein*
July 25 -
Ludwig Bölkow, German aeronautical engineer (b.
1912)
*
July 25 -
John Schlesinger, English film director (b.
1926)
*
July 27 -
Bob Hope, English-born U.S. comedian (b.
1903)
*
July 30 -
Sam Phillips, American record producer (b.
1923)
August
*
August 1 -
Marie Trintignant, French actress (b.
1962)
*
August 4 -
Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1916)
*
August 4 -
Brian Trueman, English musician (b.
1930)
*
August 9 -
Gregory Hines, American dancer and actor (cancer) (b.
1946)
*
August 9 -
Ray Harford, English footballer and manager (b.
1945)
*
August 11 -
Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (b.
1923)
*
August 14 -
Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b.
1929)
*
August 16 -
Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator
*
August 19 -
Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (b.
1948)
*
August 19 -
Carlos Roberto Reina,
President of Honduras (b.
1926)
*
August 22 -
Imperio Argentina, Argentinian singer and actress (b.
1906)
*
August 23 -
Bobby Bonds, American baseball player (b.
1946)
*
August 29 -
Vladimir Vasicek, Czech painter (b.
1919)
*
August 30 -
Charles Bronson, American actor (b.
1921)
September
*
September 1 -
Terry Frost, English artist (b.
1915)
*
September 1 -
John Gould, American humorist, essayist, and columnist (b.
1908)
*
September 6 -
Harry Goz, American actor (b.
1932)
*
September 7 -
Warren Zevon, American singer (b.
1947)
*
September 8 -
Jaclyn Linetsky, Canadian actress (b.
1986)
*
September 8 -
Leni Riefenstahl, German film director (b.
1902)
*
September 8 -
Vadim Schneider, French actor (automobile accident) (b.
1986)
*
September 9 -
Larry Hovis, American actor (b.
1936)
*
September 9 -
Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist (b.
1908)
*
September 11 -
Anna Lindh, Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs (assassinated) (b.
1957)
*
September 11 -
John Ritter, American actor (b.
1948)
*
September 12 -
Johnny Cash, American singer and guitarist (b.
1932)
*
September 13 -
Frank O'Bannon, American politician (b.
1930)
*
September 14 -
Yetunde Price, sister of
Venus and
Serena Williams (murdered) (b.
1972)
*
September 17 -
Erich Hallhuber, German actor (b.
1951)
*
September 17 -
Sheb Wooley, American actor and singer (b.
1921)
*
September 22 -
Gordon Jump, American actor (b.
1932)
*
September 23 -
Yuri Senkevich, Russian TV anchorman (b.
1937)
*
September 24 -
Edward Said, Palestinian-born literary critic (b.
1935)
*
September 25 -
Franco Modigliani, Italian-born economist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1918)
*
September 25 -
George Plimpton, American writer and actor (b.
1927)
*
September 26 -
Robert Palmer, English singer (b.
1949)
*
September 27 -
Donald O'Connor, American actor, singer, and dancer (b.
1925)
*
September 28 -
Althea Gibson, American tennis player (b.
1927)
*
September 28 -
Elia Kazan, Hungarian-born director (b.
1909)
October
*
October 3 -
William Steig, American cartoonist (b.
1907)
*
October 5 -
Denis Quilley, British actor (b.
1927)
*
October 5 -
Dan Snyder, Canadian hockey player (b.
1978)
*
October 5 -
Neil Postman, American educator, media theorist, and cultural critic (b.
1931)
*
October 10 -
Eugene Istomin, American pianist (b.
1925)
*
October 12 -
Jim Cairns, Australian politician (b.
1914)
*
October 12 -
Willie Shoemaker, American jockey (b.
1931)
*
October 13 -
Bertram Brockhouse, Canadian physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1918)
*
October 16 -
László Papp, Hungarian boxer (b.
1926)
*
October 16 -
Stu Hart, Wrestling Promoter (b.1915)
*
October 19 -
Alija Izetbegović,
Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (b.
1925)
*
October 19 -
Michael Hegstrand, (Hawk) WWE Wrestler
*
October 20 -
Jack Elam, American actor (b.
1918)
*
October 21 -
Fred Berry, American actor (b.
1951)
*
October 21 -
Elliott Smith, American musician (b.
1969)
*
October 22 -
Tony Renna, American race car driver (b.
1976)
*
October 23 -
Tony Capstick, English comedian, actor, and musician (b.
1944)
*
October 23 -
Soong May-ling, Chinese wife of
Chiang Kai-shek (b.
1898)
*
October 29 -
Hal Clement, American writer (b.
1922)
*
October 29 -
Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (b.
1921)
*
October 31 -
Richard Neustadt, American political historian (b.
1919)
November
*
November 4 -
Richard Wollheim, British philosopher (b.
1923)
*
November 5 -
Bobby Hatfield, American singer (
Righteous Brothers) (b.
1940)
*
November 5 -
Dorothy Fay, American actress (b.
1915)
*
November 6 -
Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer (b.
1919)
*
November 6 -
Mike Lockwood (Crash Holly) WWE wrestler (b.
1971)
*
November 6 -
Eduardo Palomo, Mexican actor (b.
1962)
*
November 9 -
Art Carney, American actor (b.
1918)
*
November 10 -
Canaan Banana, first
President of Zimbabwe (b.
1936)
*
November 10 -
Irv Kupcinet, American columnist and television personality (murdered) (b.
1912)
*
November 12 -
Jonathan Brandis, American actor (suicide) (b.
1976)
*
November 12 -
Penny Singleton, American actress (b.
1908)
*
November 13 -
Kellie Waymire, American actress (b.
1967)
*
November 14 -
Gene Anthony Ray, American actor (b.
1962)
*
November 15 -
Ray Lewis, Canadian runner (b.
1910)
*
November 15 -
T. Y. Lin, Chinese-born civil engineer (b.
1912)
*
November 15 -
Dorothy Loudon, American actress (b.
1933)
*
November 18 -
Michael Kamen, American composer (b.
1948)
*
November 20 -
Robert Addie, British actor (cancer) (b.
1960)
*
November 20 -
David Dacko, first
President of the Central African Republic (b.
1930)
*
November 20 -
Jim Siedow, American actor (b.
1920)
*
November 24 -
Hugh Kenner, Canadian literary critic (b.
1922)
*
November 24 -
Warren Spahn, baseball player (b.
1921)
*
November 26 -
Abed Hamed Mowhoush, Iraqi general
*
November 26 -
Stefan Wul, French writer (b.
1922)
*
November 28 -
Mihkel Mathiesen, Estonian statesman (b.
1918)
*
November 30 -
Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (b.
1906)
December
*
December 3 -
David Hemmings, English actor (b.
1941)
*
December 6 -
Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio,
President of Guatemala (b.
1918)
*
December 7 -
Carl F. H. Henry, American theologian and publisher (b.
1913)
*
December 7 -
Azie Taylor Morton, U.S. Treasurer (b.
1936)
*
December 8 -
Rubén González, Cuban pianist (
Buena Vista Social Club) (b.
1919)
*
December 9 -
Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois (b.
1928)
*
December 11 -
Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (b.
1927)
*
December 12 -
Geidar Aliev,
President of Azerbaijan*
December 12 -
Keiko,
Orca from
Free Willy*
December 13 -
William Roth, U.S. Senator from Delaware (b.
1921)
*
December 14 -
Jeanne Crain, American actress (b.
1925)
*
December 15 -
George Fisher, American political cartoonist (b.
1923)
*
December 15 -
Keith Magnuson, Canadian hockey player (b.
1947)
*
December 16 -
Robert Stanfield, Premier of Nova Scotia (b.
1914)
*
December 16 -
Gary Stewart, American singer (suicide) (b.
1945)
*
December 17 -
Ed Devereaux, Australian actor (b.
1925)
*
December 17 -
Otto Graham, American football player (b.
1921)
*
December 19 -
Hope Lange, American actress (b.
1941)
*
December 22 -
Dave Dudley, American singer (b.
1928)
*
December 27 -
Alan Bates, English actor (b.
1934)
*
December 27 -
Ivan Calderon, Puerto Rican baseball player (murdered) (b.
1962)
*
December 29 -
Earl Hindman, American actor (lung cancer) (b.
1942)
*
December 29 -
Dinsdale Landen, English actor (cancer) (b.
1932)
*
December 29 -
Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (b.
1928)
*
December 30 -
David Bale, South African-born activist (cancer) (b.
1941)
*
December 30 -
John Gregory Dunne, American writer (b.
1932)
*
December 30 -
Anita Mui, Hong Kong singer (b.
1963)
*
December 31 -
Arthur R. von Hippel, German-born physicist (b.
1898)
Unknown date
*
Jorge Oteiza, Spanish painter (b.
1908)
Nobel prizes
*
Physics -
Alexei Alexeevich Abrikosov,
Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg,
Anthony James Leggett*
Chemistry -
Peter Agree,
Roderick MacKinnon*
Physiology or Medicine -
Paul Lauterbur, Sir
Peter Mansfield*
Literature -
John Maxwell Coetzee*
Peace -
Shirin Ebadi*
Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel -
Robert F. Engle,
Clive W. J. GrangerExternal links
*
http://www.fimoculous.com/year-review-2003.cfm 2003 Year in Review - comprehensive listing of 2003 reviews and lists
*
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist2003.html 2003 Year-End Google Zeitgeist - Google's Yearly List of Major Events and Top Searches for 2003
*af:2003als:2003am:2003 እ.ኤ.አ.ar:2003an:2003ast:2003zh-min-nan:2003 nîbe:2003bpy:মারি ২০০৩bs:2003bg:2003ca:2003cv:2003cs:2003cy:2003da:2003de:2003et:2003el:2003es:2003eo:2003eu:2003fo:2003fr:2003fy:2003fur:2003ga:2003gl:2003ko:2003년hy:2003hi:२००३hr:2003io:2003id:2003ia:2003os:2003is:2003it:2003he:2003ka:2003csb:2003kw:2003sw:2003ku:2003la:2003lb:2003lt:2003li:2003lmo:2003hu:2003mk:2003mi:2003mr:ई.स. २००३ms:2003nl:2003nds-nl:2003cr:2003ja:2003年nap:2003no:2003nn:2003nrm:2003oc:2003nds:2003pl:2003pt:2003ro:2003ru:2003 годse:2003sq:2003scn:2003simple:2003sk:2003sl:2003sr:2003sh:2003su:2003fi:2003sv:2003tl:2003ta:2003tt:2003te:2003th:พ.ศ. 2546vi:2003tpi:2003tr:2003uk:2003uz:2003wa:2003yi:2003zh-yue:2003年zh:2003年
