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Months in Year 2003: January February March April May June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 145

Jan 13th - Rock musician Pete Townshend of The Who was arrested in London on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children. He was later cleared.
Jan 16th - The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.
Jan 18th - A bushfire kills 4 people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.
Jan 22nd - Last successful contact with the spacecraft Pioneer 10, one of the most distant man-made objects.
Jan 23rd - Final communication between Earth and Pioneer 10
Jan 24th - The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
Jan 30th - Belgium legally recognizes same-sex marriage.
Jan 31st - The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.
Feb 1st - Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
Feb 2nd - Jennifer Lopez starts a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'All I Have'
Feb 2nd - Russian pop girl duo Tatu start a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'All The Things She Said'
Feb 4th - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
Feb 10th - France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.
Feb 15th - An estimated eleven million people around the world take to the streets to protest against the looming war with Iraq
Feb 16th - Michael Waltrip wins motor racing's Daytona 500 after rain stops the race for a second time at lap 109
Feb 17th - The London Congestion Charge scheme begins.
Feb 18th - Comet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) makes perihelion, seen by SOHO.
Feb 18th - Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.
Feb 20th - During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the club ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 300 others.
Feb 27th - Fred Rogers, host of TV's "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" dies at age 74
Feb 27th - Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavsic is sentenced by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, to 11 years in prison
Feb 27th - Rowan Williams is enthroned as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury in the Anglican church.
Mar 1st - Management of the United States Customs Service and the United States Secret Service move to the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Mar 2nd - The first International Symposium on Taiwan Sign Language Linguistics is held at Chung Cheng University.
Mar 5th - In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed by a Hamas suicide bomb in the Haifa bus 37 massacre.
Mar 11th - The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague.
Mar 12th - Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.
Mar 12th - Elizabeth Smart, was found after having been missing for 9 months.
Mar 13th - Human evolution: The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old footprints of an upright-walking human have been found in Italy.
Mar 14th - Start of weekend of protests against war in Iraq that are attended by millions
Mar 15th - Hu Jintao takes over presidency for the People's Republic of China.
Mar 16th - The largest coordinated worldwide vigil takes place, as part of the global protests against Iraq war.
Mar 17th - British Cabinet Minister Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for the war with Iraq.
Mar 18th - FBI agents raid the corporate headquarters of HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama on suspicion of massive corporate fraud led by the company's top executives.
Mar 18th - British Sign Language is recognised as an official British language.
Mar 20th - Invasion of Iraq by American and British led coalition begins without United Nations support and in defiance of world opinion
Mar 23rd - In Nasiriyah, Iraq, 11 soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Company as well as 18 U.S. Marines are killed during the first major conflict of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Mar 24th - The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
Mar 28th - In a "friendly fire" incident, two A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft from the United States Idaho Air National Guard's 190th Fighter Squadron attack British tanks participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, killing British soldier Matty Hull.
Apr 7th - U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later.
Apr 9th - Baghdad falls to U.S. forces resulting in widespread looting
Apr 14th - The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.
Apr 14th - U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner the Achille Lauro in 1985.
Apr 16th - The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens admitting 10 new member states to the European Union.
Apr 23rd - Beijing closes all schools for two weeks because of the SARS virus.
May 1st - 2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" on board the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of California.
May 3rd - New Hampshire's famous Old Man of the Mountain collapses.
May 10th - The May 2003 tornado outbreak sequence takes place.
May 12th - The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, kill 26.
May 12th - Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers bring the Texas Legislature to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan.
May 16th - In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.
May 21st - An earthquake hits northern Algeria killing more than 2,000 people.
May 22nd - In Fort Worth, Texas, Annika Sörenstam becomes the first woman to play the PGA Tour in 58 years.
May 23rd - The euro exceeds its initial trading value as it hits $1.18 for the first time since its introduction in 1999.
May 25th - Néstor Kirchner becomes President of Argentina after defeating Carlos Menem. He is the first elected President since the economic crisis.
May 26th - Only three days after a previous record, Sherpa Lakpa Gelu climbs Mount Everest in 10 hours 56 minutes. The tourism ministry of Nepal confirms this record in July that year.
May 28th - Peter Hollingworth becomes the first Governor-General of Australia to resign his office as a result of criticism of his conduct.
Jun 1st - The People's Republic of China begins filling the reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam.
Jun 2nd - Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.
Jun 5th - A severe heat wave across Pakistan and India reaches its peak, as temperatures exceed 50°C (122°F) in the region.
Jun 10th - The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission.
Jun 26th - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that gender-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
Jun 27th - The United States National Do Not Call Registry, formed to combat unwanted telemarketing calls and administered by the Federal Trade Commission, enrolls almost three-quarters of a million phone numbers on its first day.
Jul 2nd - Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy, insults German MP Martin Schulz by calling him a "kapo" during a session of the European Parliament.
Jul 5th - SARS is declared to be contained by the WHO.
Jul 6th - The 70-meter Eupatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message Cosmic Call 2 to 5 stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri, HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris that will arrive to these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044, 2044 and 2049 respectively.
Jul 7th - The United Communist Party of Armenia is formed.
Jul 8th - Sudan Airways Flight 39, with 116 people on board, crashes in Sudan; the only survivor is a two-year-old boy who subsequently dies as a result of his injuries.
Jul 10th - A Neoplan bus, owned by Kowloon Motor Bus, collides with a truck, falls off a bridge on Tuen Mun Road, Hong Kong, and plunges into the underlying valley, killing 21 people. This is the deadliest traffic accident to date in Hong Kong.
Jul 15th - AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.
Jul 20th - France: Sixteen people are injured after two bombs explode outside a tax office in Nice.
Jul 22nd - Members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attack a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay's 14-year old son, and a bodyguard.
Jul 30th - In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.
Aug 5th - A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.
Aug 10th - The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK - 38.5°C (101.3°F) in Kent . It is the first time the UK has recorded a temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Aug 10th - Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko becomes the first person to marry in space.
Aug 11th - Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
Aug 11th - A heat wave in Paris results in temperatures rising to 112°F (44° C), leaving about 144 people dead.
Aug 11th - NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
Aug 14th - Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada.
Aug 16th - U.S. Representative from South Dakota Bill Janklow hits and kills a motorcyclist with his car at a rural intersection near Trent, South Dakota; he will eventually be convicted of manslaughter and will resign from Congress.
Aug 19th - A Hamas planned suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem kills 23 Israelis, 7 of them children in the Jerusalem bus 2 massacre.
Aug 19th - A car-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees.
Aug 22nd - Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building.
Aug 25th - The Tli Cho land claims agreement is signed between the Dogrib First Nations and the Canadian federal government in Rae-Edzo (now called Behchoko).
Aug 26th - The Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final reports on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
Aug 27th - Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.
Aug 28th - An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.
Aug 29th - Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, is assassinated in a terrorist bombing, along with nearly 100 worshippers as they leave a mosque in Najaf.
Sep 10th - Anna Lindh, the foreign minister of Sweden, is fatally stabbed while shopping, and dies of her wounds on September 11.
Sep 11th - Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh dies after being assaulted and fatally wounded on September 10.
Sep 11th - The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety enters into effect.
Sep 12th - In Fallujah, US forces mistakenly shoot and kill eight Iraqi police officers.
Sep 12th - The United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
Sep 14th - In a referendum Sweden rejects adopting the euro.
Sep 14th - Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
Sep 18th - The United Kingdom's Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, receives Royal Assent.
Sep 20th - Maldives civil unrest: the death of prisoner Hassan Evan Naseem sparks a day of rioting in Malé.
Sep 20th - A referendum is held in Latvia to decide the country's accession to the European Union.
Sep 21st - Galileo mission terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes.

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 7 of 7

Apr 29th - Barbaro, American thoroughbred racehorse (d. 2007)
Apr 29th - Maud Behn, Princess of Norway
Jul 4th - Alessia di Matteo, Italian medical figure (d. 2005)
Aug 20th - Prince Gabriel of Belgium
Aug 24th - Alexandre Coste, son of Albert II, Prince of Monaco
Nov 8th - Lady Louise Windsor, British royal
Dec 7th - Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 508

Jan 1st - Joe Foss, American politician, fighter pilot and AFL Commissioner (b. 1915)
Jan 1st - F. William Free, American advertising executive (b. 1928)
Jan 1st - Cyril Shaps, English actor (b. 1923)
Jan 2nd - Eric Jupp, British-Australian pianist, composer, arranger (b. 1922)
Jan 3rd - Sid Gillman, American football coach (b. 1911)
Jan 4th - Sabine Ulibarri, Mexican American writer (b. 1919)
Jan 4th - Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese-born violinist (b. 1923)
Jan 4th - Conrad Hall, American cinematographer (b. 1927)
Jan 5th - Massimo Girotti, Italian film actor (b. 1918)
Jan 5th - Roy Jenkins, British politician (b. 1920)
Jan 5th - Doreen Carwithen, British composer, widow of William Alwyn (b. 1922)
Jan 5th - Jean Kerr, American author (b. 1923)
Jan 8th - Ron Goodwin, British composer and conductor (b. 1925)
Jan 9th - Will McDonough, American sports journalist (b. 1935)
Jan 11th - Richard Simmons, American actor (b. 1913)
Jan 11th - Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (b. 1925)
Jan 11th - Mickey Finn, English drummer (T. Rex) (b. 1947)
Jan 12th - Dean Amadon, American ornithologist (b. 1912)
Jan 12th - Kinji Fukasaku, Japanese director (b. 1930)
Jan 12th - Leopoldo Galtieri, dictator of Argentina (b. 1926)
Jan 12th - Maurice Gibb, British singer, songwriter, and musician (Bee Gees) (b. 1949)
Jan 12th - Allan Nunn May, English physicist and Soviet spy (b. 1911)
Jan 13th - Norman Panama, American screenwriter and director (b. 1914)
Jan 14th - Koloman Sokol, Slovak painter (b. 1902)
Jan 15th - Doris Fisher, American singer and songwriter (b. 1915)
Jan 16th - Richard Wainwright, English politician (b. 1918)
Jan 17th - Richard Crenna, American actor (b. 1926)
Jan 17th - Balint Vazsonyi, Hingarian pianist (b. 1936)
Jan 18th - Edward "The Sheik" Farhat, American professional wrestler (b. 1926)
Jan 19th - Françoise Giroud, French writer and journalist (b. 1916)
Jan 20th - Al Hirschfeld, American caricaturist (b. 1903)
Jan 20th - Nedra Volz, American actress (b. 1908)
Jan 20th - Bill Werbeniuk, Canadian snooker player (b. 1947)
Jan 21st - Paul Haines, American-born Canadian poet (b. 1933)
Jan 22nd - Bill Mauldin, American World War II cartoonist (b. 1921)
Jan 23rd - Nell Carter, American singer and actress (b. 1948)
Jan 24th - Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (b. 1921)
Jan 25th - Samuel Weems, Arkansas judge (b. 1936)
Jan 26th - Valeriy Brumel, Soviet Olympic athlete (b. 1942)
Jan 26th - Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, English historian (b. 1917)
Jan 26th - George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, British politician (b. 1931)
Jan 27th - Henryk Jabłoński, President of Poland (b. 1909)
Jan 27th - Louis Archambault, Quebec sculptor (b. 1915)
Jan 29th - Frank Moss, American politician (b. 1911)
Feb 1st - Michael P. Anderson - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1959)
Feb 1st - David Brown - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1956)
Feb 1st - Kalpana Chawla - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1961)
Feb 1st - Laurel Clark - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1961)
Feb 1st - Rick D. Husband - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1957)
Feb 1st - Willie McCool - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1961)
Feb 1st - Ilan Ramon - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1954)
Feb 1st - Mongo Santamaria, Cuban percussionist and band leader (b. 1922)
Feb 2nd - Lou Harrison, American composer (b. 1917)
Feb 3rd - Lana Clarkson, American actress (b. 1962)
Feb 4th - Charlie Biddle, Canadian jazz bassist (b. 1926)
Feb 4th - Benyoucef Ben Khedda, Algerian politician (b. 1920)
Feb 4th - André Noyelle, Belgian cyclist (b. 1931)
Feb 5th - Helge Boes, American Central Intelligence Agency officer
Feb 7th - Augusto Monterroso, Guatemalan author (b. 1921)
Feb 7th - John Reading, Mayor of Oakland, California (b. 1917)
Feb 10th - Edgar de Evia, American photographer (b. 1910)
Feb 10th - Curt Hennig, American professional wrestler (b. 1959)
Feb 10th - Clark MacGregor, United States Congressman from Minnesota (b. 1922)
Feb 10th - Al Ruffo, Mayor of San Jose, California (b. 1908)
Feb 10th - Ron Ziegler, press secretary to Richard Nixon (b. 1939)
Feb 12th - Vali Myers, Australian painter (b. 1930)
Feb 13th - Kid Gavilan, Cuban boxer (b. 1926)
Feb 13th - Axel Jensen, Norwegian author (b. 1932)
Feb 13th - Walt Rostow, U.S. government official (b. 1916)
Feb 14th - Dolly the sheep, first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell dies young form a progressive lung disease aged 6
Feb 14th - Johnny Longden, English jockey (b. 1907)
Feb 16th - Eleanor "Sis" Daley, wife of Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley (b. 1907)
Feb 18th - Isser Harel, Israeli Mossad leader (b. 1912)
Feb 18th - Johnny Paycheck, American country singer/songwriter (b. 1938)
Feb 19th - Johnny PayCheck, American singer (b. 1938)
Feb 20th - Maurice Blanchot, French author (b. 1907)
Feb 20th - Orville Freeman, American politician (b. 1918)
Feb 20th - Mushaf Ali Mir, Pakistani Chief of the Air Staff (b. 1947)
Feb 20th - Harry Jacunski, American football player
Feb 20th - Ty Longley, American guitarist (Great White) (b. 1971)
Feb 21st - Eddie Thomson, Scottish football player and coach (b. 1947)
Feb 22nd - Daniel Taradash, American screenwriter (b. 1913)
Feb 23rd - Robert K. Merton, American sociologist (b. 1910)
Feb 23rd - Howie Epstein, American bass guitarist (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) (b. 1955)
Feb 24th - John Edward Christopher Hill, English historian (b. 1912)
Feb 24th - Bernard Loiseau, French chef (b. 1951)
Feb 25th - Tom O'Higgins, Irish Chief Justice (b. 1916)
Feb 25th - Alberto Sordi, Italian actor (b. 1920)
Feb 26th - Christian Goethals, Belgian racing driver (b. 1928)
Feb 27th - John Lanchbery, English composer (b. 1923)
Feb 27th - Fred Rogers, American children's television actor (b. 1928)
Feb 28th - Chris Brasher, English athlete (b. 1928)
Feb 28th - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (b. 1917)
Feb 28th - Roger Michael Needham, British cryptographer (b. 1935)
Feb 28th - Rudolf Kingslake, Lens designer, and Engineer (b. 1903)
Mar 2nd - Hank Ballard, American musician (b. 1927)
Mar 2nd - Malcolm Williamson, Australian composer (b. 1931)
Mar 3rd - Horst Buchholz, German actor (b. 1933)
Mar 3rd - Luis Marden, American photojournalist (b. 1913)
Mar 3rd - Goffredo Petrassi, Italian composer (b. 1904)