File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set
Set construction is the process undertaken by a construction manager to build full-scale scenery, as specified by a scenic design, production designer or art director working in collaboration with the theatre director, director of a productio ...
of ''Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a 1997 fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers hi ...
'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are ...
passes by Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
and becomes one of the most observed comets
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are ...
of the 20th century
The 20th (twentieth) century began on
January 1, 1901 ( MCMI), and ended on December 31, 2000 ( MM). The 20th century was dominated by significant events that defined the modern era: Spanish flu pandemic, World War I and World War II, nuclear ...
; Golden Bauhinia Square
The Golden Bauhinia Square () is an open area in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. The square was named after the giant statue of a golden ''Bauhinia blakeana'' at the centre of the area, situated outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, where ...
, where sovereignty
Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
of Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
is handed over from the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
to the People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
; the 1997 Central European flood
The 1997 Central European flood or the 1997 Oder Flood of the Oder and Morava (river), Morava river basins in July 1997 affected Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, taking the lives of 114 people and causing material damages estimated at $4.5 ...
kills 114 people in the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, and Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
; Korean Air Flight 801
Korean Air Flight 801 (KE801, KAL801) was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Korean Air. The flight crashed on August 6, 1997, on approach to Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, in the United States territory of Guam, k ...
crashes during heavy rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
on Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
, killing 229; Mars Pathfinder
''Mars Pathfinder'' (''MESUR Pathfinder'') is an American robotic spacecraft that landed a base station with a roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a lightweight, wheeled robot ...
and Sojourner
A sojourner is a person who resides temporarily in a place.
Sojourner may also refer to:
*Sojourner Truth (1797–1883), abolitionist and women's rights activist
*Albert Sojourner (1872–1951), member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
...
land on Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
; flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s left outside Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British royal family since the 17th century, and is currently the official L ...
following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales
In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died from injuries sustained earlier that day in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Dodi Fayed, Diana's partner, and Henri Paul, their chauffeur, were found d ...
, in a car crash in Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
., 300x300px, thumb
rect 0 0 200 200 Titanic (1997 film)
''Titanic'' is a 1997 American epic film, epic romance film, romance and disaster film directed, written, produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. Incorporating both historical and fictionalized aspects, it is based on accounts of the Sinking ...
rect 200 0 400 200 Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
rect 400 0 600 200 Comet Hale-Bopp
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are ...
rect 0 200 300 400 Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died from injuries sustained earlier that day in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Dodi Fayed, Diana's partner, and Henri Paul, their chauffeur, were found d ...
rect 300 200 600 400 Handover of Hong Kong
Sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the British Hong Kong, former colony. Hong Kong was establ ...
rect 0 400 200 600 Mars Pathfinder
''Mars Pathfinder'' (''MESUR Pathfinder'') is an American robotic spacecraft that landed a base station with a roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a lightweight, wheeled robot ...
rect 200 400 400 600 Korean Air Flight 801
Korean Air Flight 801 (KE801, KAL801) was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Korean Air. The flight crashed on August 6, 1997, on approach to Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, in the United States territory of Guam, k ...
rect 400 400 600 600 1997 Central European flood
The 1997 Central European flood or the 1997 Oder Flood of the Oder and Morava (river), Morava river basins in July 1997 affected Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, taking the lives of 114 people and causing material damages estimated at $4.5 ...
Events
January
*
January 11
Events Pre-1600
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalates into violence.
* 630 – Conquest of Mecca: The prophet Muhamma ...
–
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
threatens
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
on account of a deal to buy
Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the
Cypriot Missile Crisis.
*
January 17
Events Pre-1600
* 38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
* 1362 – Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on ...
– A
Delta II
Delta II was an expendable launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II was part of the Delta rocket family and entered service in 1989. Delta II vehicles included the Delta 6000, and the two later Delta 7000 va ...
rocket carrying a military
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
payload explodes, shortly after liftoff from
Cape Canaveral
, image = cape canaveral.jpg
, image_size = 300
, caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991
, map = Florida#USA
, map_width = 300
, type =Cape
, map_caption = Location in Florida
, location ...
.
*
January 18
Events Pre-1600
* 474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
* 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chi ...
– In northwest
Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
,
Hutu
The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...
militia members kill 6 Spanish aid workers and three soldiers, and seriously wound another.
*
January 19
Events Pre-1600
* 379 – Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to ''Augustus'', and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
* 649 – Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrender ...
–
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...
returns to
Hebron
Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...
after more than 30 years, and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
city.
*
January 20
Events Pre-1600
* 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
* 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
* 1156 &ndas ...
–
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
is
sworn in
Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to giv ...
for a second term as President of the United States.
*
January 23
Events Pre-1600
* 393 – Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
* 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
*1264 & ...
–
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic ...
becomes the first female Secretary of State of the United States, after confirmation by the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
.
February
*
February 4
Events Pre–1600
* 211 – Following the death of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians, the empire is left in the control of his two quarrellin ...
** On their way to
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
, two Israeli troop-transport helicopters
collide, killing all 73 on board.
** After at first contesting the results,
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
n President
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...
recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.
** A
magnitude 6.5 earthquake strikes
North Khorasan province
North Khorasan Province ( fa, استان خراسان شمالی, ''Ostān-e Khorāsān-e Shomālī'') is a province located in northeastern Iran. Bojnord is the capital of the province. The counties of North Khorasan Province are Shirvan Count ...
, Iran, killing 88 people and injuring 1,948.
National Geophysical Data Center
The United States National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) provided scientific stewardship, products and services for geophysical data describing the solid earth, marine, and solar-terrestrial environment, as well as earth observations from spac ...
/ World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): NCEI/WDS Global Significant Earthquake Database. NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
National Centers for Environmental Information
The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), an agency of the United States government, manages one of the world's largest archives of atmospheric, coastal, geophysical, and oceanic data, containing information that ranges from th ...
. do
10.7289/V5TD9V7K
*
February 10
Events Pre-1600
* 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
* 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, sparkin ...
–
Sandline affair
The Sandline affair was a political scandal that became one of the defining moments in the history of Papua New Guinea, and particularly the conflict in Bougainville. It brought down the government of Sir Julius Chan, and took Papua New Guinea to ...
: Australian newspapers publish stories that the government of
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
has brought mercenaries onto
Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire-associated North Solomons. Its land area is ...
.
*
February 13
Events Pre-1600
* 962 – Emperor Otto I and Pope John XII co-sign the ''Diploma Ottonianum'', recognizing John as ruler of Rome.
*1322 – The central tower of Ely Cathedral falls on the night of 12th–13th.
*1462 – The ...
– ''
STS-82
STS-82 was the 22nd flight of the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' and the 82nd mission of the Space Shuttle program. It was NASA's second mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, during which ''Discovery's'' crew repaired and upgraded the tel ...
'': Tune-up and repair work on the
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versa ...
is started by
astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
s from the
Space Shuttle ''Discovery''.
*
February 28
Events Pre-1600
*202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty.
* 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.
*1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on ...
–
North Hollywood shootout
The North Hollywood shootout was a confrontation between two heavily armed and armored bank robbers, Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu, and members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in the North Hollywood district of Los Ang ...
: Two robbers, wearing
kevlar
Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...
body armor, and armed with
AK-47
The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian s ...
s containing armor-piercing bullets, injure 17 police officers and civilians in a gun battle. The incident sparks debate on the appropriate firepower for United States patrol officers to have available in similar situations in the future.
March
*
March 4
Events Pre-1600
*AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title '' princeps iuventutis'' (head of the youth).
* 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.
* 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a st ...
– U.S. President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
bans federal funding for any research on
human cloning
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy (or clone) of a human. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning, which is the reproduction of human cells and tissue. It does not refer to the natural concepti ...
.
*
March 7
Events Pre-1600
* 161 – Marcus Aurelius and L. Commodus (who changes his name to Lucius Verus) become joint emperors of Rome on the death of Antoninus Pius.
* 1138 – Konrad III von Hohenstaufen was elected king of Germany at Cob ...
– In
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, the
Tamil Tigers
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
overrun a military base and kill over 100 Sri Lankan troops.
*
March 13
Events Pre-1600
*624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.
*1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.
*1591 – At the Battle of Tond ...
** India's Missionaries of Charity chooses
Sister Nirmala
Maria Nirmala Joshi (23 July 1934 – 23 June 2015) was an Indian Catholic Religious Sister who succeeded Nobel laureate Mother Teresa as the head of her Missionaries of Charity and expanded the movement overseas. After taking over the charity ...
, to succeed
Mother Teresa
Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...
as its leader.
** The
National People's Congress
The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China.
With 2, ...
of the People's Republic of China creates a new
Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
Municipality, out of part of
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
.
*
March 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.
* 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...
– A study of gender reassignment of a boy who lost his penis to a botched circumcision is refuted by a follow-up study. The supposedly successful outcome had been widely cited as proof that gender was determined by nurture, yet the patient,
David Reimer
David Reimer (born Bruce Peter Reimer; 22 August 1965 – 4 May 2004) was a Canadian man born male but raised as a girl following medical advice and intervention after his penis was severely injured during a botched circumcision in infancy. ...
, was deeply unhappy and had returned to his original gender by the age of 15, thus indicating the opposite thesis.
*
March 16
Events Pre-1600
* 934 – Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang.
*1190 – Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York.
* 1244 – Over 200 Cathars who refuse ...
–
Sandline affair
The Sandline affair was a political scandal that became one of the defining moments in the history of Papua New Guinea, and particularly the conflict in Bougainville. It brought down the government of Sir Julius Chan, and took Papua New Guinea to ...
: On Bougainville Island, soldiers of commander
Jerry Singirok
Jerry Singirok (born 5 May 1956) was the commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force throughout the Sandline affair of 1997.
Military career
Jerry Singirok was a career soldier who had risen through the ranks of the Papua New guinea Defense ...
arrest
Tim Spicer
Timothy Simon Spicer, (born 1952) is a former British Army officer, and former chief executive officer of the private security company Aegis Defence Services. He is a veteran of the Falklands War and also served with the British Army in Norther ...
and his
mercenaries
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
of the
Sandline International
Sandline International was a private military company (PMC) based in London, established in the early 1990s. It was involved in conflicts in Papua New Guinea in 1997 and had a contract with the government under then-Prime Minister Julius Chan, ...
.
*
March 18
Events Pre-1600
* 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10.
* 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ara ...
– The tail of a Russian
An-24
The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) ( NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Irk ...
charter plane
breaks off while en route to Turkey, causing the plane to crash, killing all 50 on board, and resulting in the grounding of all An-24s.
*
March 21
Events Pre-1600
* 537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the ''Vivarium'', by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas an ...
– In
Zaire
Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
,
Étienne Tshisekedi
Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba (14 December 1932 – 1 February 2017) was a Congolese politician and the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the main opposing political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC ...
is appointed prime minister; he ejects supporters of
Mobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...
from his cabinet.
*
March 22
Events Pre-1600
* 106 – Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea.
* 235 – Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century.
* 871 – Æthelr ...
– The
Comet Hale–Bopp
Comet Hale–Bopp (formally designated C/1995 O1) is a comet that was one of the most widely observed of the 20th century and one of the brightest seen for many decades.
Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp discovered Comet Hale–Bopp separately ...
makes its closest approach to Earth.
*
March 24
Events Pre-1600
* 1199 – King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6.
*1387 – English victory over a Franco- Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate off ...
– The
69th Academy Awards
The 69th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) took place on March 24, 1997, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the ceremo ...
, hosted by
Billy Crystal
William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...
, are held at the
Shrine Auditorium
The Shrine Auditorium is a landmark large-event venue in Los Angeles, California. It is also the headquarters of the Al Malaikah Temple, a division of the Shriners. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (No. 139) in 1975, and ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, with ''
The English Patient
''The English Patient'' is a 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje. The book follows four dissimilar people brought together at an Italian villa during the Italian Campaign of the Second World War. The four main characters are: an unrecognisably burne ...
'' winning
Best Picture
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
. During the event, the
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
format is launched in the United States.
*
March 24
Events Pre-1600
* 1199 – King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6.
*1387 – English victory over a Franco- Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate off ...
–
26 – In
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
, 39
Heaven's Gate cultists commit
mass suicide
Mass suicide is a form of suicide, occurring when a group of people simultaneously kill themselves.
Overview
Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious settings. In war, defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Su ...
at their compound.
*
March 26
Events Pre-1600
* 590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
* 1021 – On the feast of Eid al-Adha, the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret for six weeks, is ...
– Julius Chan resigns as prime minister of Papua New Guinea, effectively ending the
Sandline affair
The Sandline affair was a political scandal that became one of the defining moments in the history of Papua New Guinea, and particularly the conflict in Bougainville. It brought down the government of Sir Julius Chan, and took Papua New Guinea to ...
.
April
* April 3 – The Thalit massacre in Algeria: all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
* April 14
** Fire breaks out in a pilgrim camp on the Plain of Mena, from Mecca; 343 die.
** Former S.S. Captain Erich Priebke is retried; on July 22 he is sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
* April 18 – The Red River of the North breaks through dikes and 1997 Red River flood, floods Grand Forks, North Dakota, and East Grand Forks, Minnesota, causing US$2 billion in damage.
* April 21 – A Pegasus rocket carries the remains of 24 people into earth orbit, in the first space burial.
* April 22
** Haouch Khemisti massacre: 93 villagers are killed in Algeria.
** A Japanese embassy hostage crisis, 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru.
* April 23 – 42 villagers are killed in the Omaria massacre in Algeria.
* April 29
** The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Chemical Weapons Convention, CWC treaty enters into force.
** Two trains crash at Hunan, China; 126 are killed.
May
* May 1 - Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party wins the 1997 United Kingdom general election and returns to government for the first time in 18 years.
* May 3 – Katrina and the Waves win the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 for the United Kingdom with "Love Shine a Light".
* May 9 – The first genetically modified three-parent baby is born.
* May 10 – The 7.3 1997 Qayen earthquake, Qayen earthquake strikes eastern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). At least 1,567 were killed and 2,300 were injured.
* May 11 – IBM's Deep Blue (chess computer), Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in the Deep Blue – Kasparov, 1997, Game 6, last game of the rematch, the first time a computer beats a chess World champion in a match.
* May 12
**The Russian–Chechnya, Chechen Peace Treaty is signed.
**An 1997 Miami tornado, F1-rated tornado strikes downtown Miami, causing $525,000 in damages. Pictures and videos of this tornado made news headlines around the world.
* May 15 – The United States government acknowledges existence of the Laotian Civil War, "Secret War" in Laos (1953–1975) during the Vietnam War, and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong people, Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
* May 16
** President
Mobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...
is exiled from
Zaire
Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
.
** U.S. President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
issues a formal apology to the surviving victims of the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male and their families.
* May 17 – Troops of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa.
* May 23 – Mohammad Khatami wins the 1997 Iranian presidential election and becomes the first Iranian Reformist President of Iran, president.
* May 25 – A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koroma.
* May 27 – The 1997 Central Texas tornado outbreak, second-deadliest tornado of the 1990s hits in Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 people.
* May 31 – The 13-kilometer Confederation Bridge, the world's longest bridge spanning ice-covered waters, opens between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, Canada.
June
* June 1
** Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party-led Centre-left coalition won the second-round in 1997 French legislative elections, began with the third Cohabitation (government), Cohabitation (1997–2002).
** Hugo Banzer wins the Presidential elections in Bolivia.
* June 2 – In Denver, Colorado, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
* June 10 – Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief, Son Sen, and 11 of Sen's family members, before Pol Pot flees his northern stronghold.
* June 11 – In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons votes for a total ban on handguns.
* June 13 – A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to capital punishment, death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
* June 16 – About 50 people are killed in the Daïat Labguer (M'sila) massacre in Algeria.
*June 21 – The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) plays its first game at The Forum (Inglewood, California), The Great Western Forum in Los Angeles.
* June 25
** A massive eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat leads to evacuation and eventual abandonment of the capital, Plymouth, Montserrat, Plymouth.
** An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
* June 26 – Bertie Ahern is appointed as the 10th Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland and Mary Harney is appointed as the 16th, and first female, Tánaiste, after their parties, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats respectively, win the 1997 Irish general election, 1997 General Election.
* June 26 – Bloomsbury Publishing publishes J. K. Rowling's ''
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a 1997 fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers hi ...
'' in London.
July
* July – The
1997 Central European flood
The 1997 Central European flood or the 1997 Oder Flood of the Oder and Morava (river), Morava river basins in July 1997 affected Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, taking the lives of 114 people and causing material damages estimated at $4.5 ...
occurs across Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
* July 1 – The United Kingdom Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, hands sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.
* July 2 – The Bank of Thailand floats the baht, triggering the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Asian financial crisis.
* July 4 – NASA's Mars Pathfinder, Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
.
* July 5
** In Cambodia, Hun Sen of the Cambodian People's Party overthrows Norodom Ranariddh in a coup.
** The Egyptian Gamaa Islamiya, Islamic Group announces a Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya#Failed nonviolence initiative, cessation-of-violence initiative.
* July 8 – NATO invites the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, Hungary, and
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
to join the alliance in 1999.
* July 10 – In London, scientists report their DNA analysis findings from a Neanderthal skeleton, which support the out of Africa theory of human evolution, placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
* July 11 – Thailand's worst hotel fire at Pattaya kills 90.
* July 13 – The remains of Che Guevara are returned to Cuba for burial, alongside some of his comrades. Guevara and his comrades were executed on October 9 1967 in Bolivia.
* July 15 – Spree killer Andrew Cunanan shoots fashion designer Gianni Versace dead outside Versace's Miami Beach residence.
* July 17 – The F. W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business.
* July 25 – K. R. Narayanan is sworn in as India's 10th president and the first member of the Dalit caste to hold this office.
* July 27 – About 50 are killed in the Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria.
* July 30 – 18 people are killed in the 1997 Thredbo landslide, Thredbo landslide in the Snowy Mountains resort in Australia.
August
* August 1 – Boeing and McDonnell Douglas complete a merger.
* August 3 – Between 40 and 76 villagers are killed in the Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria.
* August 3 – August 11, 11 – Two of the three islands of the Union of the Comoros – Anjouan and Mohéli – attempt to revert to colonial rule by France. The plan fails when the French government of President Jacques Chirac refuses to recolonize them, resulting in the two islands being reintegrated into the Comoros over the next two years.
* August 6 –
Korean Air Flight 801
Korean Air Flight 801 (KE801, KAL801) was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Korean Air. The flight crashed on August 6, 1997, on approach to Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, in the United States territory of Guam, k ...
crash lands west of Guam International Airport, resulting in the deaths of 228 people.
* August 20 – More than 60 are killed, 15 kidnapped in the Souhane massacre in Algeria.
* August 26
** 60–100 are killed in the Beni Ali massacre in Algeria.
** The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning is set up in Northern Ireland, as part of a peace process.
* August 29 – Over 98 (and possibly up to 400) are killed in the Rais massacre in Algeria.
* August 31 –
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died from injuries sustained earlier that day in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Dodi Fayed, Diana's partner, and Henri Paul, their chauffeur, were found d ...
: Diana, Princess of Wales is taken to a hospital after a car accident shortly after midnight, in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris. She is pronounced dead at 4:00 am.
September
![Diana's funeral](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Diana%27s_funeral.jpg)
* September 1
** Dublin Regulation on treatment of applications for right of asylum under European Union law first comes into force.
* September 5
** Over 87 are killed in the Beni Messous massacre in Algeria.
** The International Olympic Committee picks Athens, Greece, to be the host city for the 2004 Summer Olympics.
* September 6 – The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, takes place at Westminster Abbey, watched by over two billion people worldwide.
* September 11 – Scotland votes in favour of a devolved Parliament, forming the Scottish Parliament less than two years later
* September 15 – The 1997 Norwegian parliamentary election, Norwegian parliamentary election was held in Norway.
* September 17 – Iraq disarmament crisis: While waiting for access to a site, UNSCOM inspectors witness and videotape Iraqi guards moving files, burning documents, and dumping waste cans into a nearby river.
* September 18
** Wales votes in favour of devolution and the formation of a National Assembly for Wales.
** Al-Qaeda carries out a Mostar car bombing, terrorist attack in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
* September 19 – 53 are killed in the Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria.
* September 21
** The Islamic Salvation Army, the Islamic Salvation Fronts' armed wing, declares a unilateral ceasefire in Algeria.
** St. Olaf's Church, Tyrvää, St. Olaf's Church, a stone church from the 16th century in Tyrvää, Finland, is burnt down.
* September 25 – Iraq disarmament crisis: UNSCOM inspector Dr. Diane Seaman catches several Iraqi men sneaking out the back door of an inspection site, with log books for the creation of prohibited bacteria and chemicals.
* September 26
** Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 crashes while on approach to Medan, North Sumatra, during the 1997 Southeast Asian haze, killing all 234 people on board. This becomes the deadliest aviation accident in Indonesian history.
** An 1997 Umbria and Marche earthquake, earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and Marche, causing part of the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse.
October
* October 2 – British scientists Moira Bruce and John Collinge, with their colleagues, independently show that the new variant form of the Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is the same disease as Bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
* October 3 – The President of Paraguay, Juan Carlos Wasmosy, orders the arrest of political opponent Lino Oviedo.
* October 4 – October 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery, Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery: The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history ($17.3 million, mostly in small bills) occurs at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Wells Fargo. An FBI investigation eventually results in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the stolen cash.
* October 10 – Uruguay's worst air disaster occurs when Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 2553 crashes near Nuevo Berlín, killing all 74 on board.
* October 12 – Sidi Daoud massacre: 43 are killed at a false roadblock in Algeria.
* October 15
** Andy Green (RAF officer), Andy Green sets the first supersonic land speed record for the ThrustSSC team, led by Richard Noble of the UK. ThrustSSC goes through the flying mile course at Black Rock Desert, Nevada at an average speed of 1,227.985 km/h (763.035 mph).
** NASA launches the Cassini–Huygens probe to Saturn.
* October 16 – The first color photograph appears on the front page of ''The New York Times''.
* October 17 – The remains of Che Guevara are laid to rest with full military honours in a specially built mausoleum in the city of Santa Clara, Cuba, where he had won the Battle of Santa Clara, decisive battle of the Cuban Revolution 1959, 39 years before.
* October 22 – Danish escaped criminal Steen Christensen robs the Hotel Palace in Helsinki, Finland, killing two police officers while evading capture.
* October 29 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq says it will begin shooting down Lockheed U-2 surveillance planes being used by UNSCOM inspectors.
November
![McAleese](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/McAleese.jpg)
* November 11 – Telecom companies WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a US$37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom, the largest merger in U.S. history.
* November 12 – Mary McAleese is elected the eighth President of Ireland in succession to Mary Robinson, the first time in the world that one woman has succeeded another as elected head of state.
* November 13 – Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
* November 17 – In Luxor, Egypt, 62 people are killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut.
* November 19 – In Des Moines, Iowa, Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to McCaughey septuplets, septuplets in the second known case where all seven babies are born alive, and the first in which all survive infancy.
* November 27 – NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission is launched, the start of the satellite component of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System.
December
* December 1 – In the Indian state of Bihar, Ranvir Sena attacks the Central Organising Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Party Unity, CPI(ML) Party Unity stronghold Lakshmanpur-Bathe, killing 63 lower caste people.
* December 3 – In Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign a Ottawa Treaty, treaty prohibiting the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel land mines. However, the United States, the People's Republic of China, Russia, South Korea and 32 other nations do not sign and/or ratify the treaty.
* December 10 – The capital of Kazakhstan is moved from Almaty to Astana.
* December 11 – The Kyoto Protocol is adopted by a United Nations United Nations Climate Change conference#1997: COP 3, The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, committee.
* December 16 – In Japan, over 700 children suffer Epilepsy, epileptic attacks due to Dennō Senshi Porygon, an episode of the anime Pokémon.
* December 18 – In Australia, 20th Century Fox releases a feature-length film about a children's group named The Wiggles called ''The Wiggles Movie''.
* December 19
** Janet Jagan (widow of Cheddi Jagan) takes office in Guyana.
** James Cameron's ''
Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
'', the then highest-grossing film of all time, premieres in the U.S.
** SilkAir Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104.
* December 21 – Brazil national football team, Brazil beats Australia national soccer team, Australia 6–0 in the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, Confederations Cup 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup Final, final.
* December 24 – 50–100 villagers are killed in the Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria.
* December 27 – Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary leader Billy Wright (loyalist), Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, inside Long Kesh prison.
* December 29 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the chickens within its territory (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
* December 30 – Wilaya of Relizane massacres of December 30, 1997: In the worst incident in Algeria's insurgency, 400 are killed from four villages in the ''wilaya'' of Relizane.
Births
January
![Jeremy Shada by Gage Skidmore](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Jeremy_Shada_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg)
* January 1
** Chidozie Awaziem, Nigerian footballer
** Chloé Dygert, American professional cyclist
* January 2 – Gabriel Carlsson, Swedish ice hockey player
* January 4 – Pauline Schäfer, German gymnast
* January 5 – Mikhail Vorobyev (ice hockey), Mikhail Vorobyev, Russian ice hockey player
* January 7 – Lamar Jackson, American football player
* January 9 – Elvira Herman, Belarusian athlete
*
January 11
Events Pre-1600
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalates into violence.
* 630 – Conquest of Mecca: The prophet Muhamma ...
– Cody Simpson, Australian singer-songwriter
* January 12 – Felix Sandström, Swedish ice hockey player
* January 13
** Egan Bernal, Colombian road bicycle racer
** Connor McDavid, Canadian ice hockey player
* January 14 – Francesco Bagnaia, Italian motorcycle racer
* January 15 – Valentina Zenere, Argentine actress, model, and singer
*
January 17
Events Pre-1600
* 38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
* 1362 – Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on ...
** Jake Paul, American boxer, actor and social media personality
** Maxwell Frost, American activist and politician
*
January 18
Events Pre-1600
* 474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
* 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chi ...
– Denis Malgin, Swiss ice hockey player
*
January 20
Events Pre-1600
* 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
* 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
* 1156 &ndas ...
– Blueface, American rapper
* January 21
** Jeremy Shada, American actor, voice actor, singer and musician
**Ilia Topuria, German-Georgian mixed martial artist
** Yang Yang (swimmer), Yang Yang, Chinese paralympic swimmer
* January 22 – Kole Sherwood, American ice hockey player
*
January 23
Events Pre-1600
* 393 – Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
* 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
*1264 & ...
** Sophie Hahn, English paralympic sprinter
** Lexie Priessman, American artistic gymnast
** Ramadan Sobhi, Egyptian footballer
** Gudaf Tsegay, Ethiopian middle-distance runner
* January 25 – Noah Hanifin, American ice hockey player
* January 26 – Gedion Zelalem, American soccer player
* January 28 – Jeffrey Viel, Canadian ice hockey player
* January 29
** Joel Eriksson Ek, Swedish ice hockey player
** Jack Roslovic, American ice hockey player
* January 30 – Shim Suk-hee, South Korean speed skater
February
![Isabelle Fuhrman (Headshot)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Isabelle_Fuhrman_%28Headshot%29.jpg)
* February 2 – Jaheel Hyde, Jamaican sprinter
* February 8 – Kathryn Newton, American actress
*
February 10
Events Pre-1600
* 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
* 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, sparkin ...
** Josh Jackson (basketball), Josh Jackson, American basketball player
** Lilly King, American swimmer
** Chloë Grace Moretz, American actress
** Rozaliya Nasretdinova, Russian swimmer
* February 11 – Rosé (singer), Rosé, New Zealand singer
* February 14
** Jaehyun (singer), Jaehyun, South Korean singer and actor
** Breel Embolo, Swiss footballer
* February 22 – Anton Chupkov, Russian swimmer
* February 23
** Érick Aguirre, Mexican footballer
** Jamal Murray, Canadian basketball player
* February 24 – César Montes, Mexican footballer
* February 25
** Isabelle Fuhrman, American actress
** Santiago Ascacíbar, Argentinian footballer
** Katsiaryna Halkina, Belarusian rhythmic gymnast
* February 26 – Zheng Siwei, Chinese badminton player
March
![Camila Cabello Vogue 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Camila_Cabello_Vogue_4.jpg)
* March 2 – Becky G, American singer
* March 3
** Camila Cabello, Cuban-American singer
** Jaime Carreño, Chilean footballer
** David Neres, Brazilian footballer
*
March 4
Events Pre-1600
*AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title '' princeps iuventutis'' (head of the youth).
* 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.
* 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a st ...
– Matisse Thybulle, American basketball player
* March 6 – Alisha Boe, Norwegian actress
* March 8
** Irene Ekelund, Swedish sprinter
** Jurina Matsui, Japanese singer
* March 10 – Belinda Bencic, Swiss tennis player
*
March 13
Events Pre-1600
*624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.
*1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.
*1591 – At the Battle of Tond ...
– Rúben Neves, Portuguese footballer
*
March 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.
* 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...
** Simone Biles, American gymnast
** Dawid Kownacki, Polish footballer
** Harrie Lavreysen, Dutch track cyclist
* March 17
** Konrad Bukowiecki, Polish athlete
** Katie Ledecky, American swimmer
*
March 18
Events Pre-1600
* 37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ''(aka Caligula = Little Boots)'' emperor.Tacitus, ''Annals'' V.10.
* 1068 – An earthquake in the Levant and the Ara ...
** Ciara Bravo, American actress, voice artist, singer, and comedian
** Mario Burke, Barbadian sprinter
* March 19 – Rūta Meilutytė, Lithuanian swimmer
* March 20 – Bobby Cheng, Australian chess champion
*
March 21
Events Pre-1600
* 537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the ''Vivarium'', by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas an ...
– Martina Stoessel, Argentine actress, singer, dancer, and model
*
March 22
Events Pre-1600
* 106 – Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea.
* 235 – Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century.
* 871 – Æthelr ...
– Harry Wilson (footballer, born 1997), Harry Wilson, Welsh footballer
* March 23 – Thiago Maia, Brazilian footballer
* March 27
** A-Reece, South African hip hop artist
** Lisa (rapper), Lisa, Thai rapper, singer, dancer, and model
* March 30
** Gideon Adlon, American actress
** Cha Eun-woo, South Korean singer
**Shervin Hajipour, Iranian singer
April
![Alexander Zverev (42068440390)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Alexander_Zverev_%2842068440390%29.jpg)
* April 1 – Asa Butterfield, English actor
* April 3 – Gabriel Jesus, Brazilian footballer
* April 6 – Pavel Zacha, Czech ice hockey player
* April 8 – Roquan Smith, American football player
* April 9 – Michael Špaček (ice hockey), Michael Špaček, Czech ice hockey player
* April 10 – Alla Sosnitskaya, Russian artistic gymnast
* April 11
** Max Clegg, English speedway racer
** Mélovin, Ukrainian singer-songwriter
* April 12 – Katelyn Ohashi, American artistic gymnast
* April 14 – D. J. Moore (wide receiver), D. J. Moore, American football player
* April 15
** Jesse Little, American stock car racing driver
** Maisie Williams, English actress
* April 16 – Daniel Rioli, Australian rules footballer
* April 18
** Donny van de Beek, Dutch footballer
** Matthias Blübaum, German chess grandmaster
* April 19 – Malcolm Perry (American football), Malcolm Perry, American football player
* April 20 – Alexander Zverev, German tennis player
* April 21 – Mikel Oyarzabal, Spanish footballer
* April 23
** Zach Apple, American swimmer
** Kim Hae-jin, South Korean figure skater
** Peng Cheng, Chinese figure skater
* April 24
** Kirill Aleshin, Russian ice dancer
** Arturo Deliser, Panamanian sprinter
** Lydia Ko, South Korean-born New Zealand golfer
** Veronika Kudermetova, Russian tennis player
* April 26 – Moritz Wagner (basketball), Moritz Wagner, German basketball player
* April 27 – Livio Loi, Belgian motorcycle racer
* April 28 – Denzel Ward, American football player
* April 29 – Ekaterina Baturina (gymnast), Ekaterina Baturina, Russian artistic gymnast
* April 30 – T. J. Leaf, American basketball player
May
![Jake Short (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Jake_Short_%28cropped%29.jpg)
* May 2
** BamBam (singer), BamBam, Thai singer
** Blake Rutherford, American baseball first baseman and outfielder
* May 3
** Desiigner, American hip hop artist
** Ivana Jorović, Serbian tennis player
* May 4
** Nicolas Prattes, Brazilian actor
** Jon Teske, American basketball player
** Ben Dolic, Slovenian singer
* May 5 – Mitch Marner, Canadian ice hockey player
* May 6 – Duncan Scott (swimmer), Duncan Scott, Scottish swimmer
* May 7
** Daria Kasatkina, Russian tennis player
** Youri Tielemans, Belgian footballer
** Rico Nasty, American rapper and singer
* May 10
** Richarlison, Brazilian footballer
** Enes Ünal, Turkish footballer
* May 11 – Lana Condor, American actress and dancer
* May 12
** Frenkie de Jong, Dutch footballer
** Morgan Lake, English athlete
** Odeya Rush, Israeli-born American actress
* May 14 – Manushi Chhillar, Indian model, actress and Miss World 2017
* May 15 – Ousmane Dembélé, French footballer
* May 19
** Oliver Kylington, Swedish ice hockey player
** Víctor Robles, Dominican baseball outfielder
* May 21 – Kevin Quinn (actor), Kevin Quinn, American actor
* May 22 – Lauri Markkanen, Finnish basketball player
* May 23 – Joe Gomez (footballer), Joe Gomez, English footballer
* May 26 – Julian Yee, Malaysian figure skater
* May 27 – Daron Payne, American football player
* May 30 – Jake Short, American actor
* May 31
** Cupcakke, American rapper
** Woo Jin-young, South Korean singer and rapper
June
![Shannon Purser by Gage Skidmore](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Shannon_Purser_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg)
* June 1 – Youssef En-Nesyri, Moroccan footballer
* June 5
** Sam Darnold, American football quarterback
** Henry Onyekuru, Nigerian footballer
* June 7 – David Montgomery (American football), David Montgomery, American football player
* June 8 – Jeļena Ostapenko, Latvian tennis player
* June 9 – Shen Duo, Chinese swimmer
* June 10 – Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Ukrainian basketball player
* June 11
** Kodak Black, American hip-hop artist
** Julia Lavrentieva, Ukrainian pair skater
** John Hunter Nemechek, American stock car racing driver
** Jorja Smith, English singer
* June 13
** Katie Lou Samuelson, American basketball player
** Yuta Watanabe (badminton), Yuta Watanabe, Japanese badminton player
* June 15 – Madison Kocian, American artistic gymnast
* June 17 – KJ Apa, New Zealand actor
* June 21
** Rebecca Black, American singer
** Derrius Guice, American football player
* June 22
** Lorenzo Dalla Porta, Italian motorcycle racer
** Dinah Jane, American singer
* June 23
** Chen Qingchen, Chinese badminton player
** Antoine Olivier Pilon, French-Canadian actor
* June 25
** Rodrigo Bentancur, Uruguayan footballer
** Bassem Srarfi, Tunisian footballer
* June 27
** H.E.R., American singer
** Shannon Purser, American actress
* June 28 – Shakur Stevenson, American boxer
* June 29 – Jia Yifan, Chinese badminton player
* June 30
** Avika Gor, Indian actress
** Iryna Shymanovich, Belarusian tennis player
July
![Finneas O'Connell 2019 by Glenn Francis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Finneas_O%27Connell_2019_by_Glenn_Francis.jpg)
* July 1 – Grigoriy Oparin, Russian chess grandmaster
* July 2 – Marquese Chriss, American basketball player
* July 3 – Georgios Papagiannis, Greek basketball player
* July 4
** Daniela Nieves, Venezuelan-American actress
** Jason Spevack, Canadian actor and filmmaker
* July 8 – Bryce Love, American football player and sprinter
* July 10
** Ebba Andersson (cross-country skier), Ebba Andersson, Swedish cross-country skier
** Marilena Kirchner, German volksmusik and schlager singer
* July 12 – Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist and Nobel Prize laureate
* July 13 – Leo Howard, American actor and martial artist
* July 14 – Cengiz Ünder, Turkish footballer
* July 17 – Amadou Diawara, Guinese footballer
* July 18
** Bam Adebayo, American basketball player
** Chiara Kreuzer, Austrian ski jumper
** Kwon Jin-ah, South Korean singer
** Noah Lyles, American sprinter
** Fionn Whitehead, English actor
* July 19
** Kang Young-seo, South Korean alpine skier
** Zach Werenski, American ice hockey player
* July 22 – Field Cate, American actor
* July 24
** Emre Mor, Turkish footballer
** Andreas Varady, Slovak jazz guitarist
* July 25 – Kayli Barker, American racing driver
* July 26 – Ewa Swoboda, Polish track and field sprinter
* July 27 – Craig Wighton, Scottish footballer
* July 28 – Bilal Ould-Chikh, Dutch-Moroccan footballer
* July 30
** Teófimo López, American boxer
** Finneas O'Connell, American musician and actor
August
![Greyson Chance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Greyson_Chance.jpg)
* August 1
** Kévin Aymoz, French figure skater
** Yomif Kejelcha, Ethiopian long-distance runner
* August 2
** Ke Jie, Chinese professional go player
** Triston McKenzie, American baseball pitcher
** Christina Robinson (actress), Christina Robinson, American actress
* August 3
** Daniel Crowley (footballer), Daniel Crowley, English footballer
** Ronald Jones II, American football player
* August 4 – Cinzia Zehnder, Swiss footballer
* August 5
** Braxton Garrett, American baseball pitcher
** Olivia Holt, American actress and singer
** Adam Irigoyen, American actor
** Laura Waem, Belgian artistic gymnast
* August 6 – Sander Svendsen, Norwegian footballer
* August 7 – Kyler Murray, American football player
* August 9 – Leon Bailey, Jamaican footballer
* August 10 – Kylie Jenner, American reality television personality
* August 16
** Greyson Chance, American singer, songwriter and pianist
** Piper Curda, American actress
* August 18
** Josephine Langford, Australian actress
** Renato Sanches, Portuguese footballer
* August 19 – Maria Titova, Russian rhythmic gymnast
* August 22 – Lautaro Martínez, Argentine footballer
* August 23 – Lil Yachty, American rapper, singer and songwriter
* August 24 – Alan Walker (music producer), Alan Walker, British-Norwegian music producer
* August 25
** Bryana Salaz, American singer and actress
** Markus Thormeyer, Canadian swimmer
** Mike Weber (American football), Mike Weber, American football player
* August 28
** Bazzi (singer), Bazzi, American singer-songwriter
** Emilia McCarthy, Canadian actress
* August 29 – Ainsley Maitland-Niles, English footballer
* August 30 – Dana Gaier, American actress
September
![Max Verstappen 2017 Malaysia 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Max_Verstappen_2017_Malaysia_3.jpg)
* September 1
** Jungkook, South Korean singer, member of BTS
** Maria Stavitskaia, Russian figure skater
* September 2 – Brandon Ingram, American basketball player
* September 3
** Hana Kimura, Japanese professional wrestler (d. 2020)
** Salome Pazhava, Georgian rhythmic gymnast
* September 6
** Mallory Comerford, American swimmer
** Tsukushi Haruka, Tsukushi, Japanese wrestler
* September 7 – Dean-Charles Chapman, English actor
* September 12
** Almida de Val, Swedish curler
** Sydney Sweeney, American actress
* September 13 – Leah Keiser, American figure skater
* September 14 – Benjamin Ingrosso, Swedish singer-songwriter
* September 15
** Jonatan Christie, Indonesian badminton player
** Forrest Whitley, American baseball pitcher
* September 16
** Zsanett Kaján, Hungarian footballer
** Elena Kampouris, American actress
** Jackie Young (basketball), Jackie Young, American basketball player
* September 17
** Luke Greenbank, British swimmer
** Guan Xiaotong, Chinese actress
** Auston Matthews, American ice hockey player
* September 18 – Alisson Perticheto, Filipina figure skater
* September 20 – Aurélie Fanchette, Seychellois swimmer
* September 23 – John Collins (basketball), John Collins, American basketball player
* September 24 – Malaya Watson, American singer and tuba player
* September 30
** Yana Kudryavtseva, Russian rhythmic gymnast
** Max Verstappen, Dutch racing driver
October
![Press Tren CSKA - MU (3)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Press_Tren_CSKA_-_MU_%283%29.jpg)
* October 1 – Jade Bird, English singer-songwriter
* October 2 – Tammy Abraham, English footballer
* October 3
** Jin Boyang, Chinese figure skater
** Jonathan Isaac, American professional basketball player
** Jo-Ane van Dyk, South African javelin thrower
* October 4 – Seamus O'Connor, Irish snowboarder
* October 6
** Kasper Dolberg, Danish footballer
** Tsao Chih-i, Taiwanese figure skater
* October 7 – Kira Kosarin, American actress and singer
* October 8
** Steven Bergwijn, Dutch footballer
** Bella Thorne, American actress and singer
* October 9 – Angelica Moser, Swiss athlete
* October 10 – Grace Rolek, American actress
* October 16
** Charles Leclerc, Monégasque racing driver
** Naomi Osaka, Japanese tennis player
* October 24
** Claudia Fragapane, British artistic gymnast
** Park So-youn (figure skater), Park So-youn, South Korean figure skater
* October 25 – Federico Chiesa, Italian footballer
* October 27
** Lonzo Ball, American basketball player
** Li Meiyi, Chinese pair skater
* October 28 – Sierra McCormick, American actress
* October 29 – Ale Müller, Mexican actress and singer
* October 31
** Sydney Park (actress), Sydney Park, American actress and comedian
** Marcus Rashford, English footballer
November
![Iordanoglou-2014-ft](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Iordanoglou-2014-ft.jpg)
* November 1
** Max Burkholder, American actor
** Alex Wolff, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
* November 3 – Lázaro Martínez (triple jumper), Lázaro Martínez, Cuban triple jumper
* November 4
** Bea Binene, Filipino actress
** Stratos Iordanoglou, Greek basketball player
* November 6 – Hero Fiennes Tiffin, English actor and model
* November 10 – Daniel James (footballer), Daniel James, English-born Welsh footballer
* November 17 – Jacob Eason, American football player
* November 18 - Micheal Ward, Jamaican-born English actor and former model
* November 19 – Rachel Parsons (figure skater), Rachel Parsons, American ice dancer
* November 23 – Akari Takeuchi, Japanese singer
* November 26 – Aubrey Joseph, American actor and rapper
* November 29
** Agata Kryger, Polish figure skater
** Ye Qiuyu, Chinese tennis player
* November 30 – Liu Huixia, Chinese diver
December
![Vachirawit Chivaaree at GMMTV 2021 event](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Vachirawit_Chivaaree_at_GMMTV_2021_event.jpeg)
* December 3 – Rashan Gary, American football linebacker
* December 5
** Khaleel Ahmed, Indian cricketer
** Clara Rugaard, Danish actress and singer
** Sophie Simnett, English actress
* December 8 – Ilaria Käslin, Swiss artistic gymnast
* December 11 – Taylor Hickson, Canadian actress and singer
* December 14 – DK Metcalf, American football wide receiver
* December 15 – Magdalena Fręch, Polish tennis player
* December 16
** Zara Larsson, Swedish singer and songwriter
** Bassam Al-Rawi, Iraqi-born Qatari footballer
* December 17
** Shoma Uno, Japanese figure skater
** Gabrielle Camille Basiano, Filipino model and beauty pageant titleholder
* December 18 – Ronald Acuña Jr., Venezuelan baseball outfielder
* December 20
** De'Aaron Fox, American basketball player
** Suzuka Nakamoto, Japanese singer
* December 21 – Charlie McAvoy, American ice hockey player
* December 22 – Taylor Rapp, American football player
* December 23
** Luka Jović, Serbian footballer
** Park Yoo-na, South Korean actress
* December 24 – Oreoluwa Cherebin, Grenadian swimmer
* December 27
** Ana Konjuh, Croatian tennis player
** Zhao Ziquan, Chinese figure skater
**Vachirawit Chivaaree, Thai actor and singer
* December 30 – Anastasiya Malyavina, Ukrainian swimmer
Deaths
January
![Alexander Todd Nobel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Alexander_Todd_Nobel.jpg)
* January 1 – Townes Van Zandt, American folk singer (b. 1944)
* January 5
** Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland, Bertil, Swedish prince, Duke of Halland (b. 1912)
** Burton Lane, American composer and lyricist (b. 1912)
* January 6
** Teiichi Matsumaru, Japanese footballer (b. 1909)
** Catherine Scorsese, Italian-American actress (b. 1912)
* January 8 – Melvin Calvin, American chemist (b. 1911)
* January 9
** Edward Osóbka-Morawski, Polish politician (b. 1909)
** Jesse White (actor), Jesse White, American actor (b. 1917)
* January 10
** Sheldon Leonard, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1907)
** Alexander R. Todd, Scottish chemist (b. 1907)
* January 12 – Charles Brenton Huggins, Canadian-born cancer researcher (b. 1901)
* January 14 – King Hu, Chinese film director and actor (b. 1932)
*
January 17
Events Pre-1600
* 38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
* 1362 – Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on ...
** Amha Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1916)
** Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (b. 1906)
*
January 18
Events Pre-1600
* 474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
* 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
* 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chi ...
** Adriana Caselotti, American actress, voice actress and singer (b. 1916)
** Paul Tsongas, American politician (b. 1941)
*
January 19
Events Pre-1600
* 379 – Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to ''Augustus'', and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
* 649 – Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrender ...
– James Dickey, American poet and novelist (b. 1923)
* January 21
** Colonel Tom Parker, Dutch-born celebrity manager (b. 1909)
** Polly Ann Young, American actress (b. 1908)
* January 25 – Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (b. 1904)
* January 28 – Mikel Koliqi, Albanian cardinal (b. 1900)
February
![Deng Xiaoping and Jimmy Carter at the arrival ceremony for the Vice Premier of China](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Deng_Xiaoping_and_Jimmy_Carter_at_the_arrival_ceremony_for_the_Vice_Premier_of_China._-_NARA_-_183157-restored%28cropped%29.jpg)
* February 1 – Marjorie Reynolds, American actress (b. 1917)
* February 5 – Pamela Harriman, American diplomat (b. 1920)
* February 9
** Brian Connolly, Scottish musician (b. 1945)
** Barry Evans (actor), Barry Evans, English actor (b. 1943)
*
February 10
Events Pre-1600
* 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
* 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, sparkin ...
– Milton Cato, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (b. 1915)
* February 19 – Deng Xiaoping, Chinese revolutionary, communist leader, and statesman (b. 1904)
* February 23 – Tony Williams (drummer), Tony Williams, American musician (b. 1945)
* February 26 – David Doyle (actor), David Doyle, American actor (b. 1929)
March
![Fred Zinnemann 1940s](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Fred_Zinnemann_1940s.jpg)
*
March 4
Events Pre-1600
*AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title '' princeps iuventutis'' (head of the youth).
* 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.
* 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a st ...
– Robert H. Dicke, American experimental physicist (b. 1916)
* March 6
** Cheddi Jagan, President of Guyana (b. 1918)
** Michael Manley, 2-Time Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1924)
*
March 7
Events Pre-1600
* 161 – Marcus Aurelius and L. Commodus (who changes his name to Lucius Verus) become joint emperors of Rome on the death of Antoninus Pius.
* 1138 – Konrad III von Hohenstaufen was elected king of Germany at Cob ...
** Edward Mills Purcell, American physicist (b. 1912)
** Martin Kippenberger, German artist (b. 1953)
* March 9
** The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (b. 1972)
** Terry Nation, Welsh screenwriter (b. 1930)
** Jean-Dominique Bauby, French journalist and author (b. 1952)
* March 10 – LaVern Baker, American singer (b. 1929)
* March 11 – Lars Ahlin, Swedish author and aesthetician (b. 1915)
*
March 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.
* 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...
** Jurek Becker, Polish-born German writer (b. 1937)
** Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-born American film director (b. 1907)
* March 15 – Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-French artist (b. 1906)
* March 17 – Jermaine Stewart, American singer (b. 1957)
* March 19 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch artist (b. 1904)
* March 20 – Tony Zale, American boxer (b. 1913)
*
March 21
Events Pre-1600
* 537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the ''Vivarium'', by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas an ...
– Wilbert Awdry, British children's writer (b. 1911)
*
March 26
Events Pre-1600
* 590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
* 1021 – On the feast of Eid al-Adha, the death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret for six weeks, is ...
– Marshall Applewhite, American cult leader (b. 1931)
* March 31
** Friedrich Hund, German physicist (b. 1896)
** Lyman Spitzer, American theoretical physicist and astronomer (b. 1914)
April
![Laura Nyro 1966 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Laura_Nyro_1966_%28cropped%29.jpg)
* April 4 – Alparslan Türkeş, Turkish politician (b. 1917)
* April 5
** Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b. 1926)
** Ignazio Buttitta, Sicilian dialectal poet (b. 1899)
* April 8 – Laura Nyro, American singer and composer (b. 1947)
* April 7 – Georgy Shonin, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1935)
* April 12 – George Wald, American scientist (b. 1906)
* April 13 – Shuhei Nishida, Japanese athlete (b. 1910)
* April 16 – Roland Topor, French illustrator (b. 1938)
* April 17 – Chaim Herzog, Israel politician, 6th President of Israel (b. 1918)
* April 20 – Jean Louis, American costume designer (b. 1907)
* April 21
** Andrés Rodríguez (politician), Andrés Rodríguez, 47th President of Paraguay (b. 1923)
** Diosdado Macapagal, 9th President of the Philippines (b. 1910)
*April 23 - Denis Compton, English cricketer (b. 1918)
* April 24 – Eugene Stoner, American firearms designer and engineer (b. 1922)
* April 26 – John Beal (actor), John Beal, American actor (b. 1909)
May
![President Virgilio Barco](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/President_Virgilio_Barco.png)
* May 1 – Bo Widerberg, Swedish film director (b. 1930)
* May 2
** John Eccles (neurophysiologist), John Eccles, Australian neurophysiologist (b. 1903)
** Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator and philosopher (b. 1921)
* May 3, Narciso Yepes, Spanish guitarist (b. 1927)
* May 4 – Wijeyananda Dahanayake, 5th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (b. 1901)
* May 5 – Walter Gotell, German actor (b. 1924)
* May 13 – Laurie Lee, English author (b. 1914)
* May 16 – Giuseppe De Santis, Italian film director (b. 1917)
* May 20 – Virgilio Barco Vargas, 27th President of Colombia (b. 1921)
* May 22 – Alfred Hershey, American biochemist (b. 1908)
* May 24 – Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (b. 1923)
* May 26 – Manfred von Ardenne, German physicist and inventor (b. 1907)
* May 29 – Jeff Buckley, American musician (b. 1966)
June
![Jacques-Yves Cousteau](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Jacques-Yves_Cousteau.jpg)
* June 1
** Robert Serber, American physicist (b. 1909)
** Nikolai Tikhonov, Soviet-Russian statesman (b. 1905)
* June 2 – Helen Jacobs, American tennis champion (b. 1908)
* June 4 – Ronnie Lane, English musician (b. 1946)
* June 6 – Magda Gabor, Hungarian-American actress (b. 1915)
* June 12 – Bulat Okudzhava, Soviet Union, Soviet singer (b. 1924)
* June 14 – Richard Jaeckel, American actor (b. 1926)
* June 15
** Edmond Leburton, 42nd Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1915)
** Son Sen, Cambodian politician and criminal (b. 1930)
* June 18
** Lev Kopelev, Soviet writer and dissident (b. 1912)
** Héctor Yazalde, Argentine footballer (b. 1946)
* June 21 – Shintaro Katsu, Japanese actor, singer, producer, and director (b. 1931)
* June 22 – Ted Gärdestad, Swedish singer, songwriter, and musician (b. 1956)
* June 23 – Betty Shabazz, American educator and activist (b. 1934)
* June 24
** Don Hutson, American football player (b. 1913)
** Brian Keith, American actor (b. 1921)
* June 25 – Jacques Cousteau, French explorer (b. 1910)
* June 26 – Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, Hawaiian singer (b. 1959)
* June 29 – William Hickey (actor), William Hickey, American actor (b. 1927)
July
![Annex - Stewart, James (Call Northside 777) 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Annex_-_Stewart%2C_James_%28Call_Northside_777%29_01.jpg)
* July 1 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (b. 1917)
* July 2 – James Stewart, American actor and soldier (b. 1908)
* July 8 – Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem, 6th President of Bangladesh (b. 1916)
* July 9 – Aurelio González (footballer), Aurelio González, Paraguayan footballer (b. 1905)
* July 13 – Alexandra Danilova, Russian-American ballerina and dance instructor (b. 1903)
* July 15 – Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (b. 1946)
* July 17 – Robert C. Weaver, American economist and academic (b. 1907)
* July 18 – Eugene Merle Shoemaker, American astronomer (b. 1928)
* July 20 – John Akii-Bua, Ugandan hurdler (b. 1949)
* July 23
** Andrew Cunanan, American serial killer (b. 1969)
** Chūhei Nambu, Japanese athlete (b. 1904)
* July 24
** William J. Brennan Jr., American Supreme Court Justice (b. 1906)
** Frank Parker (tennis), Frank Parker, American tennis champion (b. 1916)
* July 25 – Ben Hogan, American golf champion (b. 1912)
* July 26 – Jaime Milans del Bosch, Spanish general and insurgent (b. 1915)
* July 28
** Rosalie Crutchley, English actress (b. 1920)
** Seni Pramoj, Thai politician, 6th Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1905)
* July 30 – Bảo Đại, Emperor of Vietnam (b. 1913)
August
![Diana, Princess of Wales 1997 (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Diana%2C_Princess_of_Wales_1997_%282%29.jpg)
* August 1
** Ngiratkel Etpison, 5th President of Palau (b. 1925)
** Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist (b. 1915)
* August 2
** William S. Burroughs, American author (b. 1914)
** Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and political activist (b. 1938)
* August 4 – Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian, oldest person ever lived (b. 1875)
* August 6 – Jürgen Kuczynski, German economist and communist (b. 1904)
* August 10 – Conlon Nancarrow, American-born composer (b. 1912)
* August 12 – Luther Allison, American musician (b. 1939)
* August 16 – Sultan Ahmad Nanupuri, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar and teacher (b. 1914)
* August 20 – Norris Bradbury, American physicist (b. 1909)
* August 21
** Misael Pastrana Borrero, 23rd President of Colombia (b. 1923)
** Yuri Nikulin, Soviet and Russian actor and clown (b. 1921)
* August 22 – Matti Sippala, Finnish athlete (b. 1908)
* August 23
** Eric Gairy, 1st Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1922)
** John Kendrew, British molecular biologist (b. 1917)
* August 24 – Louis Essen, English physicist (b. 1908)
* August 27 – Sally Blane, American actress (b. 1910)
* August 30 – Ernst Wilimowski, German–Polish footballer (b. 1916)
* August 31
** Diana, Princess of Wales (b. 1961)
** Dodi Fayed, Egyptian film producer (b. 1955)
September
![Red Skelton 1960 rebalance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Red_Skelton_1960_rebalance.jpg)
* September 1 – Zoltán Czibor, Hungarian footballer (b. 1929)
* September 2 – Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (b. 1905)
* September 4
** Hans Eysenck, German-born British psychologist (b. 1916)
** Aldo Rossi, Italian architect and designer (b. 1931)
* September 5
** Sir Georg Solti, Hungarian-born British conductor (b. 1912)
**
Mother Teresa
Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...
, Indian nun, missionary and saint (b. 1910)
* September 7 –
Mobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic o ...
, 2nd President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, President of Zaire (b. 1930)
* September 9 – Burgess Meredith, American actor (b. 1907)
* September 10 – Fritz Von Erich, American professional wrestler (b. 1929)
* September 12 – Stig Anderson, Swedish talent manager (b. 1931)
* September 17
** Red Skelton, American actor and comedian (b. 1913)
** Jan P. Syse, Norwegian politician, Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1930)
* September 18 – Jimmy Witherspoon, American blues singer (b. 1920)
* September 19 – Rich Mullins, American Christian musician (b. 1955)
* September 23 – Shirley Clarke, American filmmaker (b. 1919)
* September 25 – Jean Françaix, French composer (b. 1912)
* September 28 – Ho Feng-Shan, Chinese diplomat (b. 1901)
* September 29 – Roy Lichtenstein, American artist (b. 1923)
October
![Audra Lindley 1975](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Audra_Lindley_1975.JPG)
* October 1 – Francisco Aramburu, Brazilian footballer (b. 1922)
* October 4
** Otto Ernst Remer, German Wehrmacht officer (b. 1912)
** Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese video game franchise creator (b. 1941)
* October 5 – Brian Pillman, American professional wrestler (b. 1962)
* October 7 − Orlando Ramón Agosti, Argentine general (b. 1924)
* October 11 – Ivan Yarygin, Soviet and Russian heavyweight wrestler (b. 1948)
* October 12 – John Denver, American musician (b. 1943)
* October 13 – Adil Çarçani, Albanian politician (b. 1922)
* October 14 – Harold Robbins, American writer (b. 1916)
* October 16
** Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark (b. 1903)
** Audra Lindley, American actress (b. 1918)
** James A. Michener, American writer (b. 1907)
* October 19
** Glen Buxton, American guitarist (b. 1947)
** Pilar Miró, Spanish screenwriter and film director (b. 1940)
* October 23
**Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker (b. 1916)
**Luther Simjian, Armenian-American inventor (b. 1905)
* October 29 – Anton LaVey, American author, musician, and occultist (b. 1930)
* October 30 – Samuel Fuller, American screenwriter and director (b. 1912)
November
![Dr HK Banda, first president of Malawi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Dr_HK_Banda%2C_first_president_of_Malawi.jpg)
* November 2 – Shōshin Nagamine, Japanese author and soldier, police officer, and karate master (b. 1907)
* November 5 – Isaiah Berlin, Russian-British social and political theorist (b. 1909)
* November 8 – Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh, Iranian author (b. 1892)
* November 9 - Carl Gustav Hempel, German philosopher from the Vienna and the Berlin Circle (b. 1905)
* November 11 – Rod Milburn, American athlete (b. 1950)
* November 16 - George O. Petrie, American actor and director (b. 1912)
* November 21 – Robert Simpson (composer), Robert Simpson, English composer (b. 1921)
* November 22
** Joanna Moore, American actress (b. 1934)
** Michael Hutchence, Australian singer-songwriter (b. 1960)
* November 24 – Barbara (singer), Barbara, French singer (b. 1930)
* November 25 – Hastings Banda, 1st President of Malawi (b. 1898)
* November 30 – Kathy Acker, American author (b. 1947)
December
![Toshiro Mifune in Seven Samurai (1954) (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Toshiro_Mifune_in_Seven_Samurai_%281954%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
* December 1 – Stéphane Grappelli, French violinist (b. 1908)
* December 2 – Michael Hedges, American composer and guitarist (b. 1953)
* December 7 – Billy Bremner, British footballer (b. 1942)
* December 14
** Stubby Kaye, American actor (b. 1918)
** Owen Barfield, British philosopher, poet, and critic (b. 1898)
* December 16
** Lillian Disney, American artist (b. 1899)
** Nicolette Larson, American pop singer (b. 1952)
* December 18 – Chris Farley, American actor and comedian (b. 1964)
* December 19
** Masaru Ibuka, Japanese electronics industrialist (b. 1908)
** Jimmy Rogers, American musician (b. 1924)
* December 20
** Juzo Itami, Japanese film director (b. 1933)
** Denise Levertov, English-born American poet (b. 1923)
* December 23 – Stanley Cortez, American cinematographer (b. 1908)
* December 24 – Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor (b. 1920)
* December 25
** Denver Pyle, American actor (b. 1920)
** Anita Conti, French explorer and photographer (b. 1899)
** Anatoli Boukreev, Russian mountain climber (b. 1958)
* December 31 – Billie Dove, American actress (b. 1903)
Nobel Prizes
* Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – Paul D. Boyer, John E. Walker, Jens C. Skou
* Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Economics – Bank of Sweden – Robert C. Merton, Myron Scholes
* Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – Dario Fo
* Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – ICBL, International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Jody Williams
* Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, William D. Phillips
* Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Medicine – Stanley B. Prusiner
References
External links
1997 Year in Review– CNN
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