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File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform
Piper Alpha Piper Alpha was an oil platform located in the North Sea approximately north-east of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Limited (OPCAL) and began production in 1976, initially as an oil-only platform but la ...
explodes and collapses in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
, killing 165 workers; The
USS Vincennes (CG-49) USS ''Vincennes'' (CG-49) was a guided missile cruiser outfitted with the Aegis combat system that was in service with the United States Navy from July 1985 to June 2005. She was one of 27 ships of the ''Ticonderoga'' class constructed for the ...
mistakenly shoots down
Iran Air Flight 655 Iran Air Flight 655 was a scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas that was shot down on 3July 1988 by two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles fired by the , a guided-missile cruiser of the United States Navy. The aircraft, ...
; Australia celebrates its
Bicentennial __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe *French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...
on
January 26 Events Pre-1600 * 661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph. *1531 – The 6.4–7.1 Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people. * 1564 – The Council of Tren ...
; The
1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...
are held in
Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
,
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
;
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
troops begin their withdrawal from
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, which is completed the next year; The
1988 Armenian earthquake The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake ( hy, Սպիտակի երկրաշարժ, ), occurred on December 7 at with a surface wave magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum MSK intensity of X (''Devastating''). The shock occurre ...
kills between 25,000-50,000 people; The
8888 Uprising The 8888 Uprising ( my, ၈၈၈၈ အရေးအခင်း), also known as the People Power UprisingYawnghwe (1995), pp. 170 and the 1988 Uprising, was a series of nationwide protests, marches, and riots in Burma (present-day Myanmar) th ...
in
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, led by students, protests the
Burma Socialist Programme Party The Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), ; abbreviated , was Burma's ruling party from 1962 to 1988 and sole legal party from 1964 to 1988. Party chairman Ne Win overthrew the country's democratically elected government in a coup d'ét ...
; A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 103, causing the plane to crash down on the town of Lockerbie,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
- the event kills 270 people., 300x300px, thumb rect 0 0 200 200
Piper Alpha Piper Alpha was an oil platform located in the North Sea approximately north-east of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Limited (OPCAL) and began production in 1976, initially as an oil-only platform but la ...
rect 200 0 400 200
Iran Air Flight 655 Iran Air Flight 655 was a scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas that was shot down on 3July 1988 by two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles fired by the , a guided-missile cruiser of the United States Navy. The aircraft, ...
rect 400 0 600 200 Australian Bicentenary rect 0 200 300 400 Pan Am Flight 103 rect 300 200 600 400
1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...
rect 0 400 200 600
8888 Uprising The 8888 Uprising ( my, ၈၈၈၈ အရေးအခင်း), also known as the People Power UprisingYawnghwe (1995), pp. 170 and the 1988 Uprising, was a series of nationwide protests, marches, and riots in Burma (present-day Myanmar) th ...
rect 200 400 400 600
1988 Armenian earthquake The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake ( hy, Սպիտակի երկրաշարժ, ), occurred on December 7 at with a surface wave magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum MSK intensity of X (''Devastating''). The shock occurre ...
rect 400 400 600 600 Soviet-Afghan War
1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United States (
NSFNET The National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) was a program of coordinated, evolving projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 1985 to 1995 to promote advanced research and education networking in the United States. The p ...
) and Europe (Nordunet) as well as the first Internet-based chat protocol,
Internet Relay Chat Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called '' channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat an ...
. The concept of the
World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...
was first discussed at CERN in 1988. The
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
began its major deconstructing towards a
mixed economy A mixed economy is variously defined as an economic system blending elements of a market economy with elements of a planned economy, markets with state interventionism, or private enterprise with public enterprise. Common to all mixed economie ...
at the beginning of 1988 and began its gradual dissolution. The Iron Curtain began to disintegrate in 1988 as
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
began allowing freer travel to the
Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.
. The first
extrasolar planet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
,
Gamma Cephei Ab Gamma Cephei Ab (abbreviated γ Cephei Ab, γ Cep Ab), formally named Tadmor , is an exoplanet approximately 45 light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus (the King). The planet was confirmed to be in orbit around Gamma Cephei A in 200 ...
(confirmed in 2002) was detected this year and the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
began its mission to eradicate polio.


Events


January

* January – The cargo ship '' Khian Sea'' deposits 4,000 tons of toxic waste in Haiti after wandering around the Atlantic for sixteen months. *
January 1 January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
– The Soviet Union begins its program of economic restructuring ( perestroika) with legislation initiated by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev (though Gorbachev had begun minor restructuring in 1985). * January 78 – In the Afghan War, 39 men of the
Soviet Airborne Troops The Soviet Airborne Forces or VDV (from ''Vozdushno- desantnye voyska SSSR'', Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска СССР, ВДВ; Air-landing Forces) was a separate troops branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. First formed be ...
from the
345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment The 345th Guards Airborne Regiment (345th PPD) of the Soviet Airborne Forces, and after 1992, the Russian Airborne Forces, was active from 1944 to 1998. History It was formed on 30 December 1944 at Lapichi, Osipovichi district, Mogilev Oblast, ...
fight off an attack by 200 to 250 Mujahideen in the Battle for Hill 3234, later dramatized in the Russian film ''
The 9th Company ''The 9th Company'' (russian: 9 рота, 9 rota) is a 2005 Russian war film directed by Fedor Bondarchuk and set during the Soviet–Afghan War. The film is loosely based on a real-life battle that took place at Elevation 3234 in early 1988, d ...
''. * January 13 – Vice-President Lee Teng-hui takes over as President of the Republic of China and Chairman of the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
following the death of
Chiang Ching-kuo Chiang Ching-kuo (27 April 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a politician of the Republic of China after its retreat to Taiwan. The eldest and only biological son of former president Chiang Kai-shek, he held numerous posts in the government ...
.


February

*
February 12 Events Pre-1600 *1404 – The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sophie performed the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna. *1429 – English forces under ...
– The
1988 Black Sea bumping incident The Black Sea bumping incident of 12 February 1988 occurred when American cruiser tried to exercise the right of innocent passage through Soviet territorial waters in the Black Sea during the Cold War. The cruiser was bumped by the Soviet friga ...
: Soviet frigate '' Bezzavetnyy'' intentionally rams USS ''Yorktown'' in Soviet territorial waters while ''Yorktown'' claims
innocent passage Innocent passage is a concept in the law of the sea that allows for a vessel to pass through the archipelagic and territorial waters of another state, subject to certain restrictions. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Article 19 ...
. The accompanying US destroyer escapes damage. * February 1328 – The 1988 Winter Olympics are held in Calgary,
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada. * February 17 **
1988 Oshakati bomb blast The 1988 Oshakati bomb blast was a bombing in Oshakati, Ovamboland, South West Africa (now Oshana Region, Namibia) which killed 27 people and left 70 others injured on 19 February 1988. The target of the bombing was the Barclay's Bank in the town. ...
: A bomb explodes outside the First National Bank in
Oshakati Oshakati is a town in northern Namibia. It is the regional capital of the Oshana Region and one of Namibia's largest places. Oshakati was founded in July 1966 and proclaimed a town in 1992. The town was used as a base of operations by the S ...
,
Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
, killing 27 and injuring 70. ** U.S. Lieutenant Colonel William R. Higgins, serving with a
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
group monitoring a truce in southern
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 Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
, is kidnapped (and later killed by his captors). * February 20 – The
Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), DQMV, hy, Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի Ինքնավար Մարզ, ԼՂԻՄ was an autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic that was created on July 7, 1923. Its cap ...
votes to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and join the Armenian SSR, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. * February 23 – Start of
Anfal campaign The Anfal campaign; ku, شاڵاوی ئەنفال or the Kurdish genocide was a counterinsurgency operation which was carried out by Ba'athist Iraq from February to September 1988, at the end of the Iran–Iraq War. The campaign targeted rur ...
, a genocidal
counterinsurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionari ...
operation within the
Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...
carried out by Ba'athist Iraqi forces led by
Ali Hassan al-Majid Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti ( ar, علي حسن عبد المجيد التكريت, ʿAlī Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Tikrītī; 30 November 1941 – 25 January 2010), nicknamed Chemical Ali ( ar, علي الكيمياوي, ʿAlī al-Kīm ...
on the orders of President
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
that will kill between 50,000 and 182,000
Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...
in
Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also inc ...
. * February 25 – The constitution of the
Sixth Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its east ...
comes into effect. * February 2729
Collapse of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
: The Sumgait pogrom of Armenians occurs in
Sumqayit Sumgait (; az, Sumqayıt, ) is a city in Azerbaijan, located near the Caspian Sea, on the Absheron Peninsula, about away from the capital Baku. The city has a population of around 345,300, making it the second largest city in Azerbaijan after Bak ...
. *
February 29 February 29, also known as leap day or leap year day, is a date added to leap years. A leap day is added in various solar calendars (calendars based on the Earth's revolution around the Sun), including the Gregorian calendar standard in mos ...
– A
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
document implicates
Kurt Waldheim Kurt Josef Waldheim (; 21 December 1918 – 14 June 2007) was an Austrian politician and diplomat. Waldheim was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981 and president of Austria from 1986 to 1992. While he was running for t ...
in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
deportations.


March

*
March 6 Events Pre-1600 * 12 BCE – The Roman emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor. * 632 – The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. * 845 & ...
Operation Flavius: A Special Air Service team of the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
shoots dead 3 unarmed members of a
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...
(IRA) Active service unit in Gibraltar. * March 16 ** The Halabja chemical attack is carried out by Iraqi government forces. ** Iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. ** Milltown Cemetery attack: Three men are killed and 70 wounded in a gun and grenade attack by Michael Stone (loyalist), loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone on mourners at Milltown Cemetery in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the funerals of the 3 Provisional Irish Republican Army, IRA members killed in Gibraltar. ** In the United States, the First Republic Bank Corporation, First Republic Bank of Texas fails and enters FDIC receivership, the largest FDIC assisted bank failure in history. * March 17 ** A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near the Venezuelan border, killing 143 people. ** Eritrean War of Independence – Battle of Afabet: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on 3 sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF). * March 19 – Corporals killings in Belfast: Two British Army corporals are abducted, beaten and shot dead by Irish republicanism, Irish republicans after driving into the funeral cortege of Provisional Irish Republican Army, IRA members killed in the Milltown Cemetery attack. * March 20 – Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the EPLF enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet. * March 24 – The first McDonald's restaurant in a country run by a Communist party opens in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. In 1989 it will be followed by one in Budapest, and in 1990 in Moscow and Shenzhen, China. * March 25 – The Candle demonstration in Bratislava, Slovakia, is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the socialist government in Czechoslovakia.


April

* April 5 – Kuwait Airways Flight 422 is hijacked while en route from Bangkok, Thailand, to Kuwait. The hijackers demand the release of 17 Shiite Muslims, Shiite Muslim prisoners held by Kuwait. Kuwait refuses to release the prisoners, leading to a 16-day siege across 3 continents. Two passengers are killed before the siege ends. * April 10 – The Ojhri Camp, Ojhri Camp Disaster occurs in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. * April 14 ** In the Geneva Accords (1988), Geneva Accords, the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
commits itself to withdrawal of its forces from
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. ** The USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58), USS ''Samuel B. Roberts'' (FFG-58) strikes a naval mine in the Persian Gulf, while deployed on Operation Earnest Will, during the Iran–Iraq War#Attacks on shipping, Tanker War phase of the
Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...
. * April 16 – Israeli commandos kill the Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO's Abu Jihad in Tunisia. * April 18 – The United States Navy retaliates for the mining with Operation Praying Mantis, in a day of strikes against Iranian oil platforms and naval vessels. * April 20 – The world's longest skyjacking comes to an end when the remaining passengers of Kuwait Airways Flight 422 are released by their captors. * April 28 – Aloha Airlines Flight 243 safely lands after losing its roof in midair, killing a flight attendant and injuring 65 people. * April 30 – World Expo 88 opens in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.


May

* May 8 – Re-election of François Mitterrand as President of France for 7 years. * May 15 – Soviet–Afghan War: After more than 8 years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, its withdrawal from Afghanistan. * May 16–May 18, 18 – 1988 Gilgit massacre: A revolt by the Shias of Gilgit (in northern Pakistan) is ruthlessly suppressed by the Zia-ul Haq regime. * May 27–May 29, 29 – Somaliland War of Independence: Somali National Movement launches a 1988 Hargeisa-Burao offensive, major offensive against Somali government forces in Hargeisa and Burao, then second and third largest cities of Somalia.


June

* June 10–June 14, 14 – Spontaneous 100,000 strong mass night-singing demonstrations in Estonian SSR eventually give name to the Singing Revolution. * June 10–June 25, 25 – West Germany hosts the UEFA Euro 1988 football tournament, which is won by the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands. * June 23 – NASA scientist James Hansen testifies to the U.S. Senate that man-made global warming has begun, becoming one of the first environmentalists to warn of the problem. * June 27 ** The Gare de Lyon rail accident occurs in Paris, France as a commuter train headed inbound to the terminal crashes into a stationary outbound train, killing 56 and injuring 57. **Villa Tunari massacre: UMOPAR, Bolivian anti-narcotics police kills 9 to 12 and injuries over a hundred protesting Cocalero, coca-growing peasants. * June 30 – Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrates four bishops at Écône, Switzerland, for his Society of St. Pius X, apostolate, along with Antônio de Castro Mayer, Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer, without a Pope, papal mandate.


July

* July 1 – The Soviet Union votes to end the CPSU's monopoly on economic and other non-political power and to further economic changes towards a less rigidly Marxist-Leninist economy. * July 3 ** The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus. **
Iran Air Flight 655 Iran Air Flight 655 was a scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas that was shot down on 3July 1988 by two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles fired by the , a guided-missile cruiser of the United States Navy. The aircraft, ...
is shot down by a missile launched from the , killing a total of 290 people on board. * July 6 – The
Piper Alpha Piper Alpha was an oil platform located in the North Sea approximately north-east of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Limited (OPCAL) and began production in 1976, initially as an oil-only platform but la ...
production platform in the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
is destroyed by explosions and fires, killing 165 oil workers and 2 rescue mariners. 61 workers survive. * July 31 – Thirty-two people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim Ferry terminal Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal bridge collapse, collapses in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia.


August

* August 5 – The 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis culminates in the ousting of the Lord President of the Supreme Court, Lord President of Malaysia, Salleh Abas. * August 8 –
8888 Uprising The 8888 Uprising ( my, ၈၈၈၈ အရေးအခင်း), also known as the People Power UprisingYawnghwe (1995), pp. 170 and the 1988 Uprising, was a series of nationwide protests, marches, and riots in Burma (present-day Myanmar) th ...
: Thousands of protesters in Burma, now known as ''Myanmar'', are killed during anti-government Demonstration (protest), demonstrations. * August 11 – A meeting of Islamic Jihadi leaders, including Osama bin Laden, takes place, leading to the founding of Al-Qaeda. * August 17 – President of Pakistan, Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and the United States Ambassador to Pakistan, U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Lewis Raphel, are among those killed when a plane crashes and explodes near Bahawalpur. * August 20 – A ceasefire effectively ends the
Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...
, with an estimated one million lives lost. * August 21 – The 6.9 1988 Nepal earthquake, Nepal earthquake shakes the Nepal–India border with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''), leaving 709–1,450 people killed and thousands injured. * August 28 – Seventy-five people are killed and 346 injured in one of the worst Ramstein air show disaster, air show disasters in history at Germany's Ramstein Air Base, when three Jet aircraft, jets from the Italian air demonstration team, ''Frecce Tricolori'', collide, sending one of the aircraft crashing into the crowd of spectators.


September

* September 11 – Singing Revolution: In the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 300,000 people gather to express their support for independence. * September 12 – Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica; it turns towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 2 days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage. * September 15 – The International Olympic Committee awards Lillehammer the right to host the 1994 Winter Olympics. * September 17–October 2 – The
1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...
are held in
Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
, South Korea. * September 22 – The Ocean Odyssey drilling rig suffers a blowout and fire in the North Sea (see also July 6), resulting in one death. * September 29 – STS-26: NASA resumes Space Shuttle flights, grounded after the ''Space Shuttle Challenger, Challenger'' STS-51-L, disaster, with Space Shuttle Discovery, Space Shuttle ''Discovery''.


October

* October 5 ** Thousands riot in Algiers, Algeria against the National Liberation Front (Algeria), National Liberation Front government; by October 10 the army has tortured and killed about 500 people in crushing the riots. ** Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet loses a 1988 Chilean national plebiscite, national plebiscite on his rule; he relinquishes power in 1990. ** Promulgation of the Constitution of Brazil, 1988 Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil. * October 12 ** Walsh Street police shootings: Two Victoria Police officers are gunned down, execution-style murder, execution style, in Australia. ** The Birchandra Manu massacre occurs in Tripura, India. * October 20 – The Los Angeles Dodgers won 4 games to 1 in the 1988 World Series against the Oakland Athletics. * October 27 – Ronald Reagan decides to tear down the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow because of Soviet listening devices in the building structure. * October 28 – Abortion: 48 hours after announcing it was abandoning RU-486, French manufacturer Roussel Uclaf states that it will resume distribution of the drug. * October 29 – Pakistan's General Rahimuddin Khan resigns from his post as the governor of Sindh, following attempts by the President of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, to limit the powers Rahimuddin had accumulated. * October 30 – Jericho bus firebombing: Five Israeli Jews, Israelis are killed and five wounded in a Palestinian people, Palestinian attack in the West Bank.


November

* November – TAT-8, the first transatlantic telephone cable to use optical fibers, is completed. This led to more robust connections between the American and European Internet. * November 2 – The Morris worm, the first computer worm distributed via the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
, written by Robert Tappan Morris, is launched from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. * November 3 – Sri Lankan Tamil people, Tamil mercenary, mercenaries try to overthrow the Maldives, Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's request, the Indian military suppresses the coup d'état, coup attempt within 24 hours. * November 6 – The 1988 Lancang–Gengma earthquakes kills at least 938 people when it strikes the China–Myanmar border region in Yunnan. * November 8 – The United States Vice President of the United States, Vice-President and Republican Party (United States), Republican nominee George H. W. Bush, defeats the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic nominee and Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, in the 1988 United States presidential election, 1988 United States Presidential Election. * November 15 ** In the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
, the unmanned Shuttle ''Buran (spacecraft), Buran'' is launched by an Energia (rocket), Energia rocket on its maiden orbital spaceflight (the first and last space flight for the shuttle). ** Israeli–Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed at the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253–46. ** The very first Fairtrade label, Stichting Max Havelaar, Max Havelaar, is launched by Nico Roozen, Frans van der Hoff and ecumenical development agency Solidaridad in the Netherlands. * November 16 ** Singing Revolution: The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR adopts the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in which the laws of the Estonian SSR are declared supreme over those of the Soviet Union. The USSR declares it unconstitutional on November 26. It is the first declaration of sovereignty from Moscow of any Soviet or Eastern Bloc entity. ** In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister. Elections are held as planned despite head of state Zia-ul-Haq's death earlier in August. * November 23 – Former Korean president Chun Doo-hwan makes a formal apology for corruption during his presidency, announcing he will go into exile.


December

* December 1 ** Carlos Salinas de Gortari takes office as President of Mexico. ** The first World AIDS Day is held. * December 2 ** Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state. ** A 1988 Bangladesh cyclone, cyclone in Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless and thousands dead. * December 6 – The Australian Capital Territory is granted self-government by the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988. * December 7 – In Soviet Armenia, the 6.8 1988 Armenian earthquake, Spitak earthquake kills nearly 25,000, injures 31,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless. * December 12 – The Clapham Junction rail crash in London kills 35 and injures 132. * December 16 – Perennial U.S. presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche is convicted of mail fraud. * December 20 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna. * December 21 – Pan Am Flight 103 is blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270 people. Libya is suspected of involvement.


Date unknown

* Near the end of the year, the first proper and official
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
connection between North America and Europe is made between Princeton, New Jersey, United States, and Stockholm, Sweden. * Zebra mussels, a species originally native to the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, are found in the Great Lakes of North America.


Births


January

* January 3 – Jonny Evans, Northern Irish footballer * January 5 – Azizulhasni Awang, Malaysian track cyclist * January 7 – Haley Bennett, American actress and singer * January 8 – Alex Tyus, American-Israeli basketball player * January 12 – Claude Giroux, Canadian ice hockey player * January 15 – Skrillex, American musician and DJ * January 16 ** Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer ** FKA Twigs, English singer-songwriter, record producer, director and dancer ** Li Xiaoxia, Chinese table tennis player * January 18 – Angelique Kerber, German tennis player * January 21 ** Ashton Eaton, American decathlete ** Glaiza de Castro, Filipino actress and singer * January 27 – Liu Wen (model), Liu Wen, Chinese model * January 29 – Stephanie Gilmore, Australian surfer


February

* February 3 ** Cho Kyuhyun, Korean singer ** Gregory van der Wiel, Dutch footballer ** Kamil Glik, Polish footballer * February 4 – Carly Patterson, American gymnast * February 7 ** Ai Kago, Japanese singer ** Lee Joon, South Korean idol singer (MBLAQ), dancer, actor and model *
February 12 Events Pre-1600 *1404 – The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sophie performed the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna. *1429 – English forces under ...
– Nicolás Otamendi, Argentinian footballer * February 13 – Aston Merrygold, English singer * February 14 – Ángel Di María, Argentine footballer * February 16 ** Zhang Jike, Chinese table tennis player ** Kim Soo-hyun, South Korean actor * February 17 – Natascha Kampusch, Austrian television hostess and kidnapping victim * February 18 – Changmin, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor * February 20 – Rihanna, Barbadian pop singer * February 21 – Matthias de Zordo, German javelin thrower * February 22 ** Ximena Navarrete, Mexican actress, Miss Universe 2010 ** Efraín Juárez, Mexican footballer * February 28 – Markéta Irglová, Czech songwriter *
February 29 February 29, also known as leap day or leap year day, is a date added to leap years. A leap day is added in various solar calendars (calendars based on the Earth's revolution around the Sun), including the Gregorian calendar standard in mos ...
** Lena Gercke, German fashion model ** Benedikt Höwedes, German footballer


March

* March 2 – Matthew Mitcham, Australian diver * March 4 – Gal Mekel, Israeli basketball player *
March 6 Events Pre-1600 * 12 BCE – The Roman emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor. * 632 – The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. * 845 & ...
** Agnes (singer), Agnes, Swedish recording artist ** Simon Mignolet, Belgian footballer ** Lee Seung-hoon, South Korean speed skater * March 10 – Ivan Rakitić, Croatian and Swiss footballer * March 11 – Fábio Coentrão, Portuguese footballer * March 12 – Sebastian Brendel, German canoeist * March 14 – Stephen Curry, American basketball player * March 16 – Jhené Aiko, American singer-songwriter * March 19 – Zhou Lulu, Chinese weightlifter * March 21 – Josepmir Ballón, Peruvian footballer * March 23 – Jason Kenny, British cyclist * March 25 ** Big Sean, American rapper ** Ryan Lewis, American musician * March 27 ** Jessie J, English singer-songwriter ** Brenda Song, American actress ** Atsuto Uchida, Japanese footballer * March 28 – Lacey Turner, English actress


April

* April 2 – Jesse Plemons, American film and television actor * April 5 – Daniela Luján, Mexican pop singer and actress * April 7 – Ed Speleers, British actor * April 8 – Stephanie Cayo, Peruvian actress, singer-songwriter and model * April 10 – Haley Joel Osment, American actor * April 14 – Roberto Bautista Agut, Spanish tennis player * April 15 – Eliza Doolittle (singer), Eliza Doolittle, English singer-songwriter * April 18 ** Vanessa Kirby, English actress and model ** Kayleigh McEnany, White House press secretary * April 21 ** Robbie Amell, Canadian-American actor and producer ** Ricky Berens, American Olympic swimmer * April 23 – Alistair Brownlee, English triathlete * April 25 – Laura Lepisto, Finnish figure skater * April 27 – Lizzo, American singer-songwriter and rapper * April 28 – Juan Mata, Spanish footballer * April 29 – Jonathan Toews, Canadian ice hockey player * April 30 – Ana de Armas, Cuban actress


May

* May 1 – Anushka Sharma, Indian actress * May 4 – Radja Nainggolan, Belgian footballer * May 6 – Dakota Kai, New Zealand wrestler * May 5 – Adele, British singer-songwriter * May 11 ** Ace Hood, American rapper ** Blac Chyna, American model and entrepreneur ** Brad Marchand, Canadian ice hockey player * May 12 – Marcelo Vieira, Brazilian footballer * May 16 – Behati Prinsloo, Namibian model * May 17 – Nikki Reed, American actress * May 18 – Taeyang, South Korean recording artist and model * May 21 – Park Gyu-ri, South Korean idol singer * May 25 – Cameron van der Burgh, South African Olympic swimmer * May 26 ** Dani Samuels, Australian discus thrower ** Juan Cuadrado, Colombian footballer * May 27 ** Geoffrey Couët, French actor and comedian ** Stevin John, American children's entertainer * May 28 – Cheng Fei, Chinese gymnast * May 29 – Tobin Heath, American women's soccer player


June

* June 2 ** Sergio Agüero, Argentine footballer ** Amber Marshall (actor), Amber Marshall, Canadian actress ** Staniliya Stamenova, Bulgarian canoeist ** Awkwafina, American actress * June 7 ** Michael Cera, Canadian actor, comedian, producer and singer-songwriter ** Ekaterina Makarova, Russian tennis player ** Milan Lucic, Canadian ice hockey player * June 9 ** Mae Whitman, American actress, voice actress and singer ** Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Greek footballer * June 11 – Claire Holt, Australian actress * June 12 – Eren Derdiyok, Swiss footballer * June 14 – Kevin McHale (actor), Kevin McHale, American actor, dancer and singer * June 16 ** Banks (singer), Banks, American singer-songwriter ** Thierry Neuville, Belgian rally driver * June 17 – Stephanie Rice, Australian swimmer * June 18 – Josh Dun, American drummer * June 22 ** Portia Doubleday, American actress ** Dean Furman, South African footballer * June 23 – Chellsie Memmel, American gymnast * June 25 – Therese Johaug, Norwegian cross-country skier * June 27 – Matthew Spiranovic, Australian soccer player * June 29 – Éver Banega, Argentine footballer


July

* July 1 – Aleksander Lesun, Russian modern pentathlete * July 2 – Lee Chung-yong, South Korean footballer * July 4 – Angelique Boyer, French-Mexican actress and singer * July 10 – Sarkodie (rapper), Sarkodie, Ghanaian hip hop artist * July 13 ** Colton Haynes, American actor and model ** Tulisa Contostavlos, British singer-songwriter * July 14 – Conor McGregor, Irish mixed martial artist * July 16 ** Eric Johannesen, German rower ** Sergio Busquets, Spanish footballer * July 20 – Julianne Hough, American ballroom dancer, country music singer and actress * July 21 – DeAndre Jordan, American basketball player * July 22 – Noriko Senge, Japanese princess * July 24 – Han Seung-yeon, South Korean singer and actress * July 25 – Sarah Geronimo, Filipina singer and actress * July 26 – Francia Raisa, American actress * July 31 – Charlie Carver, American actor


August

* August 1 – Max Carver, American actor * August 5 – Federica Pellegrini, Italian swimmer * August 8 – Princess Beatrice of York, British princess * August 9 – Willian (footballer, born 1988), Willian, Brazilian footballer * August 11 – Irfan Bachdim, Indonesian footballer * August 12 – Tyson Fury, British boxer * August 13 – MØ, Danish singer * August 18 – G-Dragon, South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter and fashion icon * August 19 – Veronica Roth, American novelist and short story writer * August 21 ** Kacey Musgraves, American country music artist ** Robert Lewandowski, Polish footballer * August 24 – Rupert Grint, English actor * August 25 ** Alexandra Burke, English singer **Giga Chikadze, Georgian mixed martial artist * August 28 – Rosie MacLennan, Canadian trampoline gymnast * August 29 – Bartosz Kurek, Polish volleyball player


September

* September 1 – Simona de Silvestro, Swiss racing driver * September 2 – Ishant Sharma, Indian cricketer * September 3 – Jérôme Boateng, German footballer * September 5 ** Nuri Şahin, Turkish footballer ** Felipe Caicedo, Ecuadorian association footballer * September 6 – Sargun Mehta, Indian model, comedian, dancer, presenter and actress. * September 7 – Kevin Love, American basketball player * September 9 – Sergey Stanev, Bulgarian Association football, footballer of Ukraine, Ukrainian descent * September 10 – Coco Rocha, Canadian fashion model * September 11 – Lee Yong-dae, South Korean male badminton player * September 12 – Prachi Desai, Indian film and television actress * September 14 – Martin Fourcade, French biathlete * September 15 – Chelsea Kane, American actress and singer * September 21 – Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistani politician * September 23 – Juan Martín del Potro, Argentine tennis player * September 26 ** Kiira Korpi, Finnish figure skater ** James Blake (musician), James Blake, English electronic music producer and singer-songwriter * September 27 – Alma (French singer), Alma, French singer-songwriter * September 29 – Kevin Durant, American basketball player


October

* October 1 ** Cariba Heine, Australian actress and performer ** Nemanja Matić, Serbian footballer * October 3 ** ASAP Rocky, American rapper and music video director ** Alicia Vikander, Swedish actress * October 4 ** Melissa Benoist, American actress and singer ** Derrick Rose, American basketball player * October 5 – Sam Warburton, Welsh rugby union player * October 15 – Mesut Özil, German football player * October 20 ** Ma Long, Chinese table tennis player ** Candice Swanepoel, South African supermodel * October 21 ** Blanca Suárez, Spanish actress ** Hope Hicks, American public relations consultant, White House Communications Director ** Glen Powell, American actor * October 22 – Parineeti Chopra, Indian actress * October 31 – Sébastien Buemi, Swiss racing driver


November

* November 1 – Scott Arfield, Scottish footballer * November 2 – Julia Görges, German tennis player * November 5 – Virat Kohli, Indian international cricketer * November 6 ** Emma Stone, American actress ** Conchita Wurst, Austrian singer, Eurovision Song Contest 2014 winner * November 7 ** Alexandr Dolgopolov, Ukrainian tennis player ** Tinie Tempah, English rapper * November 8 **Makwan Amirkhani, Iranian-Finnish mixed martial artist **Jessica Lowndes, Canadian actress and singer * November 12 – Russell Westbrook, American basketball player * November 15 – B.o.B., American rapper, singer, record producer and conspiracy theorist * November 19 – Patrick Kane, American ice hockey player * November 20 – Dušan Tadić, Serbian footballer * November 23 – Juha-Pekka Inkeröinen, Finnish football player * November 26 – Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, Icelandic strongman and actor * November 29 – Russell Wilson, American football player * November 30 ** Rebecca Rittenhouse American actress ** Phillip Hughes, Australian cricketer (d. 2014)


December

* December 1 ** Tyler Joseph, American singer ** Zoë Kravitz, American actress, singer and model * December 2 – Alfred Enoch, British actor * December 4 – Mario Maurer, Thai model and actor * December 6 – Sandra Nurmsalu, Estonian musician * December 7 ** Nathan Adrian, American Olympic swimmer ** Emily Browning, Australian actress * December 9 – Kwadwo Asamoah, Ghanaian footballer * December 10 – Wilfried Bony, Ivorian footballer * December 14 ** Nicolas Batum, French basketball player ** Vanessa Hudgens, American actress and singer * December 16 ** Mats Hummels, German footballer ** Park Seo-joon, South Korean actor and singer * December 17 ** David Rudisha, Kenyan middle-distance runner ** Rin Takanashi, Japanese film and television actress * December 19 – Alexis Sánchez, Chilean footballer * December 25 – Marco Mengoni, Italian singer-songwriter * December 27 – Hayley Williams, American singer


Deaths


January–February

* January 2 – E. B. Ford, British geneticist (b. 1901) * January 3 ** Gaston Eyskens, Belgian politician, 35th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1905) ** Rose Ausländer, German poet (b. 1901) * January 5 – Pete Maravich, American basketball player (b. 1947) * January 7 – Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913) * January 11 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1898) * January 13
Chiang Ching-kuo Chiang Ching-kuo (27 April 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a politician of the Republic of China after its retreat to Taiwan. The eldest and only biological son of former president Chiang Kai-shek, he held numerous posts in the government ...
, Chinese politician, 3rd President of the Republic of China (b. 1910) * January 14 – Georgy Malenkov, Soviet politician, 5th Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (b. 1902) * January 15 – Seán MacBride, Irish Republican Army leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1904) * January 20 – Philippe de Rothschild, French vineyard owner (b. 1902) * January 25 – Colleen Moore, American actress (b. 1899) * January 28 – Klaus Fuchs, German-British physicist and spy (b. 1911) * February 5 – Emeric Pressburger, Hungarian-British film producer (b. 1902) * February 6 – Carmen Polo, wife of Francisco Franco (b. 1900) * February 13 – Léon Goossens, British oboist (b. 1897) * February 14 – Frederick Loewe, Austrian-American composer (b. 1901) * February 15 – Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918) * February 19 ** René Char, French poet (b. 1907) ** André Frédéric Cournand, French-American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)


March–April

* March 3 – Lois Wilson (actress), Lois Wilson, American actress (b. 1894) * March 7 – Divine (performer), Divine, American singer and actor (b. 1945) * March 8 – Henryk Szeryng, Polish-born violinist (b. 1918) * March 9 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, German politician, List of Chancellors of Germany, 28th Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) (b. 1904) * March 10 ** Andy Gibb, English singer, songwriter, performer, and teen idol (b. 1958) ** Phạm Hùng, 3rd Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1912) * March 11 ** Rashid Bakr (politician), Rashid Bakr, 10th Prime Minister of Sudan (b. 1930) ** Abdullahi Issa, Somalian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Somalia (b. 1922) * March 29 – Dulcie September, South African ANC activist (b. 1935; assassinated). * March 30 – Edgar Faure, French politician, 69th Prime Minister of France (b. 1908) * March 31 – William McMahon, Sir William McMahon, Australian politician, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908) * April 12 – Alan Paton, South African author (b. 1903) * April 17 – Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-American sculptor (b. 1900) * April 18 – Pierre Desproges, French humorist (b. 1939) * April 21 ** I. A. L. Diamond, American screenwriter (b. 1920) ** Princess Nadejda Petrovna of Russia (b. 1898) * April 23 – Michael Ramsey, British Anglican bishop, 100th Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1904) * April 26 ** Valerie Solanas, American author (b. 1936) ** Valery Legasov, Soviet chemist, chief of the Chernobyl disaster investigation commission (b. 1936) * April 28 – Fenner Brockway, British politician and anti-war activist (b. 1888)


May–June

* May 3 ** Premendra Mitra, Indian poet, writer and film director (b. 1904) ** Lev Pontryagin, Russian mathematician (b. 1908) * May 8 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction author (b. 1907) * May 10 – Shen Congwen, Chinese writer (b. 1902) * May 11 – Kim Philby, British spy (b. 1912) * May 13 – Chet Baker, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1929) * May 14 – Willem Drees, Dutch politician and historian, 30th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1886) * May 15 – Greta Nissen, Norwegian-born actress (b. 1905) * May 21 – Dino Grandi, Italian politician (b. 1895) * May 27 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906) * May 29 – Siaka Stevens, 3rd Prime Minister of Sierra Leone and 1st President of Sierra Leone (b. 1905) * May 30 – Ella Raines, American actress (b. 1920) * June 2 – Raj Kapoor, Indian actor, producer and director (b. 1924) * June 10 – Louis L'Amour, American writer (b. 1908) * June 11 – Giuseppe Saragat, Italian politician, 5th President of Italy (b. 1898) * June 26 – Hans Urs von Balthasar, Swiss theologian and Catholic priest (b. 1905) * June 27 – Aparicio Méndez, former President of Uruguay (b. 1904)


July–August

* July 8 ** Ray Barbuti, American athlete (b. 1905) ** Ranjit Khanwilkar, Indian cricketer (b. 1960) * July 12 – Joshua Logan, American stage and film director (b. 1908) * July 18 – Nico, German rock musician, fashion model, actress and Warhol socialite (b. 1938) * July 27 ** Brigitte Horney, German actress (b. 1901) ** Frank Zamboni, American inventor (b. 1901) * August 1 ** Florence Eldridge, American actress (b. 1901) ** Georges Wambst, French cyclist (b. 1902) * August 2 – Raymond Carver, American short-story writer and poet (b. 1938) * August 6 – Anatoly Levchenko, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1941) * August 9 – Ramón Valdés, Mexican actor, comedian, songwriter and entrepreneur (b. 1923) * August 10 – Arnulfo Arias, Panamanian politician, 3-time President of Panama (b. 1901) * August 11 – Anne Ramsey, American actress (b. 1929) * August 12 – Jean-Michel Basquiat, American musician/graffiti painter (b. 1960) * August 14 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian car maker (b. 1898) * August 15 - Viktor Tsoi, Russian rock artist and lead singer of the band Kino (band), Kino (b. 1962) * August 17 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, 6th President of Pakistan (b. 1924) * August 19 – Sir Frederick Ashton, choreographer (b. 1904) * August 20 – Lazarus Salii, 3rd President of Palau (b. 1936) * August 25 – Françoise Dolto, French physician and psychoanalyst (b. 1908) * August 28 – Paul Grice, British philosopher (b. 1913) * August 30 – Jack Marshall, 28th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1912)


September–October

* September 1 – Luis Walter Alvarez, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911) * September 5 – Gert Fröbe, German actor (b. 1913) * September 12 – Roger Hargreaves, English author (b. 1935) * September 18 – Alan Watt (diplomat), Alan Watt, Australian public servant (b. 1901) * September 28 – Charles Addams, American cartoonist (b. 1912) * September 30 – Trường Chinh, Vietnamese political leader, 3rd President of Vietnam (b. 1907) * October 2 ** Hamengkubuwono IX, 9th Sultan of Yogyakarta and 2nd Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1912) ** Alec Issigonis, Greek-British engineer (b. 1906) * October 3 – Franz Josef Strauss, German politician (b. 1915) * October 9 ** Jackie Milburn, English footballer (b. 1924) ** Felix Wankel, German mechanical engineer (b. 1902) * October 10 – Juan Pujol García ('Garbo'), Spanish Catalan-born double agent (b. 1912) * October 11 – Bonita Granville, American actress (b. 1923) * October 16 – Queen Farida of Egypt, consort of King Farouk of Egypt (b. 1921) * October 19 – Son House, American musician (b. 1902) * October 22 – Henry Armstrong, American boxer (b. 1912) * October 29 ** Thomas Cooray, Sri Lankan Roman Catholic archbishop and servant of God (b. 1901) ** Nataša Gollová, Czech actress (b. 1912) * October 31 – John Houseman, Romanian-American actor and producer (b. 1902)


November–December

* November 4 – Hermann Graf, German fighter ace (b. 1912) * November 13 – Antal Doráti, Hungarian conductor (b. 1906) * November 14 – Takeo Miki, Japanese politician, List of Prime Ministers of Japan, 41st Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1907) * November 15 – Mona Washbourne, English actress (b. 1903) * November 19 – Christina Onassis, American shipping magnate (b. 1950) * November 22 ** Luis Barragán, Mexican architect (b. 1902) ** Raymond Dart, Australian anatomist and anthropologist (b. 1893) * November 24 – Irmgard Seefried, German operatic soprano (b. 1919) * November 25 ** Alphaeus Philemon Cole, American artist, engraver, etcher and supercentenarian (b. 1876) ** Muhammad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi prince (b. 1910) * November 27 ** John Carradine, American actor (b. 1906) ** Takieddin el-Solh, Lebanese politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1908) * December 6 – Roy Orbison, American rock musician (b. 1936) * December 10 – Richard S. Castellano, American actor (b. 1933) * December 21 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ornithologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1907) * December 22 – Chico Mendes, Brazilian environmental activist (murdered) (b. 1944) * December 27 – Hal Ashby, American film director (b. 1929)


Nobel Prizes

* Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, Jack Steinberger * Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – Johann Deisenhofer, Robert Huber, Hartmut Michel * Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Medicine – Sir James Black (pharmacologist), James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion, George H. Hitchings * Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – Naguib Mahfouz * Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – The
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
United Nations peacekeeping, Peace-Keeping Forces * Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – Maurice Allais


References

{{Authority control 1988, Leap years in the Gregorian calendar