File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the

Subprime mortgage crisis The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the Financial crisis of 2007–2008, 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline ...

; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 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 C. Wells, Joh ...

; A scene from the opening ceremony of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing; the 2008 Sichuan earthquake kills over 87,000; a destroyed Georgian T-72 tank during the Russo-Georgian War; the Trident Hotel in Mumbai was the site of the

November 2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from Pakistan, c ...

;a line of

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

in a backyard made during the December, 2008 resulting from the

Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill The Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill was an environmental and industrial disaster that occurred on Monday December 22, 2008, when a dike ruptured at a coal ash pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant in Roan ...

; Poster in Pristina celebrating the

Independence of Kosovo The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, which proclaimed the Republic of Kosovo to be a state independent from Serbia, was adopted at a meeting held on 17 February 2008 by 109 out of the 120 members of the Assembly of Kosovo, including the P ...

from Serbia., 300x300px, thumb rect 0 0 200 200

rect 200 0 400 200 Cyclone Nargis rect 400 0 600 200

rect 0 200 300 400

2008 Kosovo declaration of independence The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, which proclaimed the Republic of Kosovo to be a state independent from Serbia, was adopted at a meeting held on 17 February 2008 by 109 out of the 120 members of the Assembly of Kosovo, including the P ...

rect 300 200 600 400 2008 Sichuan earthquake rect 0 400 200 600

rect 200 400 400 600

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of Terrorism, terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from P ...

rect 400 400 600 600 Russo-Georgian War 2008 was designated as: * International Year of Languages *

International Year of Planet Earth The United Nations General Assembly declared 2008 as the International Year of Planet Earth to increase awareness of the importance of Earth sciences for the advancement of sustainable development. UNESCO was designated as the lead agency. The Ye ...

* International Year of Sanitation *

International Year of the Potato The year 2008 was declared the International Year of the Potato by the United Nations, noting that the potato is a staple food in the diet of the world's population, and affirming the need to focus world attention on the role that the potato can pla ...

The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, continued through the entirety of 2008.

Events

January–February

* January 1 – Cyprus and Malta adopt the euro currency. *

January 14 Events Pre-1600 *1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence. *1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary. 1601–1900 *1639 – The "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, Fundamenta ...

– At 19:04:39 UTC, the uncrewed

MESSENGER ''MESSENGER'' was a NASA robotic space probe that orbited the planet Mercury between 2011 and 2015, studying Mercury's chemical composition, geology, and magnetic field. The name is a backronym for "Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geoche ...

space probe is at its closest approach during its first flyby of the planet

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

. * January 21 **Stock markets around the world plunge amid growing fears of a U.S. Great Recession, fueled by the 2007

subprime mortgage crisis The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the Financial crisis of 2007–2008, 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline ...

. **

Online activist Internet activism is the use of electronic communication technologies such as social media, e-mail, and podcasts for various forms of activism to enable faster and more effective communication by citizen movements, the delivery of particular infor ...

group

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

initiates

Project Chanology Project Chanology (also called Operation Chanology) was a protest movement against the practices of the Church of Scientology by members of Anonymous, a leaderless Internet-based group. "Chanology" is a combination of "4chan" and "Scientology" ...

, after a leaked interview of Tom Cruise by the

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a scientology as a business, bu ...

is published on YouTube, and the Church of Scientology issued a "copyright infringement" claim. In response, Anonymous sympathizers took to the streets to protest outside the church (after February 10), while the church's websites and centres were getting

DoS attacks In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host connect ...

, phone line nukes, and

black faxes The term black fax refers to a prank fax transmission, consisting of one or more pages entirely filled with a uniform black tone. The sender's intention is generally to use up as much of the recipient's fax ink, toner, or thermal paper as possible, ...

. * January 24 – A peace deal is signed in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, ending the Kivu conflict. *

February 17 Events Pre-1600 * 1370 – Northern Crusades: Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau. * 1411 – Following the successful campaigns during the Ottoman Interregnum, Musa Çelebi, one of the sons of ...

– Kosovo formally declares independence from Serbia, to a mixed response from the international community. * February 18 – WikiLeaks releases allegations of

illegal activities In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

carried out by the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

branch of

Swiss banking Banking in Switzerland dates to the early eighteenth century through Switzerland's merchant trade and has, over the centuries, grown into a complex, regulated, and international industry. Banking is seen as emblematic of Switzerland, along with ...

corporation

Julius Baer Julius Bär Group AG, known alternatively as Julius Baer Group Ltd., is a private banking corporation founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it is among the older Swiss banking institutions. In terms of assets under managemen ...

; a subsequent lawsuit against WikiLeaks prompts a temporary suspension of the website, but uproar about violations of

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

causes WikiLeaks to be brought back online.

March–April

* March 2 – Venezuela and Ecuador move troops to the Colombian border, following a Colombian raid against FARC guerrillas inside Ecuadorian territory, in which senior commander Raúl Reyes is killed. * March 8 – Barisan National loses two-thirds majority, for the first time since

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, to opposition during the

2008 Malaysian general election A general election was held on Saturday, 8 March 2008 for members of the 12th Parliament of Malaysia. Voting took place in all 222 parliamentary constituencies of Malaysia, each electing one Member of Parliament to the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant ...

but still retains control of government. The coalition also loses majority control of five states to the opposition. * March 9 – The first

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

Automated Transfer Vehicle, a cargo spacecraft for the International Space Station, launches from Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. * March 19 – An Energy release of a Gamma-ray burst called the GRB 080319B is the brightest event ever recorded in the Universe. * March 24 – Bhutan holds its first-ever general elections following the adoption of a new Constitution which changed the country from an absolute monarchy to a multiparty democracy. *

March 25 Events Pre-1600 * 421 – Italian city Venice is founded with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo di Rialto on the islet of Rialto. * 708 – Pope Constantine becomes the 88th pope. He would be the last pope to vi ...

–

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

and

Comoros The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It ...

forces

invade An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing c ...

the rebel-held island of Anjouan, returning the island to Comorian control.

May–June

* May 3 – Cyclone Nargis passes through

, killing more than 138,000 people. * May 12 – An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the moment magnitude scale strikes Sichuan, China, killing an estimated 87,000 people. * May 20– 24 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 takes place in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, Serbia, and is won by Russian entrant Dima Bilan with the song "

Believe Believe may refer to: *Belief, a psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, with or without proof for such proposition *Faith, a belief in something which has not been proven Arts, entertainment, and me ...

". * May 21 **

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

wins their third European Cup after they beat Chelsea in the first all-English final in the history of the European Cup. Manchester United won the match 6–5 on penalties, following a 1–1 draw after extra time. ** The Union of South American Nations, an intergovernmental organization between states in South America, is founded. ** The International Court of Justice awards

Middle Rocks The Middle Rocks ( ms, Batuan Tengah; Jawi: باتون تڠه; ) are two uninhabited small rocks separated by of open water at the eastern opening of the Strait of Singapore on the western edge of the South China Sea. The islands were dispute ...

to Malaysia and Pedra Branca to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries. * May 25 – NASA's uncrewed ''Phoenix'' spacecraft becomes the first to land on the northern polar region of Mars. * May 28 – The Legislature Parliament of Nepal votes overwhelmingly in favor of abolishing the country's 240-year-old monarchy, turning the country into a republic. *

May 30 Events Pre-1600 * 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres ...

– International Convention on Cluster Munitions is adopted in Dublin. * June 7– 29 – Austria and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

jointly host the UEFA Euro 2008 football tournament, which is won by Spain. * June 11 ** The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is launched. ** Canadian Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

formally apologizes, on behalf of the Canadian government, to the country's First Nations for the Canadian Indian residential school system. * June 14 – Expo 2008 opens in Zaragoza, Spain, lasting to September 14, with the topic "Water and sustainable development". *

June 21 Events Pre-1600 * 533 – A Byzantine expeditionary fleet under Belisarius sails from Constantinople to attack the Vandals in Africa, via Greece and Sicily (approximate date). * 1307 – Külüg Khan is enthroned as Khagan of the Mo ...

Chia Kikov is declared 2008 champion after beating Eli Sdayeb in combat

July–August

* July 2 –

Íngrid Betancourt Íngrid Betancourt Pulecio (; born 25 December 1961) is a Colombian politician, former senator and anti-corruption activist, especially opposing political corruption. Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) ...

and 14 other hostages are

rescued "Rescued" is a song by American Rock music, rock band Foo Fighters. Released on April 19, 2023, it is the first single by the band since the death of longtime drummer, Taylor Hawkins, and the first from their eleventh studio album, ''But Here We Ar ...

from FARC rebels by

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

n security forces. * July 11 – South Korea suspends all trips to North Korea's Mount Kumgang after a 53-year-old South Korean tourist is shot and killed by a North Korean sentry. * July 21 – Radovan Karadžić, the first president of the Republika Srpska, is arrested in

, Serbia, on allegations of war crimes, following a 12-year-long

manhunt Manhunt may refer to: Search processes * Manhunt (law enforcement), a search for a dangerous fugitive * Manhunt (military), a search for a high-value target by special operations forces or intelligence agencies Social organisations * Manhun ...

. * August 1 – India and United States sign the historic Civil Nuclear deal. * August 1 – Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions die on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth, in the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering. *

August 6 Events Pre-1600 *1284 – The Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Republic of Genoa, thus losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean. * 1538 – Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada ...

– President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi of

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

is deposed in a

military coup d'état A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. * August 7 – Georgia invades the breakaway state of South Ossetia, sparking a war with Russia as the latter intervenes in support of separatists in both South Ossetia and

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

. * August 8– 24 – The

take place in Beijing, China. * August 20 – Spanair Flight 5022 crashes at Madrid–Barajas Airport, killing 154 people on board

September–October

* September 5 – Quentin Bryce becomes the first female

Governor-General of Australia The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.September 10 – The

proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

is circulated for the first time in the

Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundred ...

, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, located at

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

, near Geneva, under the Franco-Swiss border. *

September 15 Events Pre-1600 * 994 – Major Fatimid victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of the Orontes. *1440 – Gilles de Rais, one of the earliest known serial killers, is taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by ...

– Stocks fall sharply Monday on a triptych of Wall Street woe: Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy filing,

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

's acquisition by Bank of America, and AIG's unprecedented request for short-term financing from the Federal Reserve. * September 20 – A suicide truck bomb explosion destroys the

Marriott Hotel Marriott Hotels & Resorts is Marriott International's brand of full-service hotels and resorts based in Bethesda, Maryland. As of June 30, 2020, there were 582 hotels and resorts with 205,053 rooms operating under the brand, in addition to 160 ...

in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least 54 and injuring 266. *

September 28 Events Pre-1600 *48 BC – Pompey disembarks at Pelusium upon arriving in Egypt, whereupon he is assassinated by order of King Ptolemy XIII. * 235 – Pope Pontian resigns. He is exiled to the mines of Sardinia, along with Hippolytus ...

–

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

Falcon 1 becomes the world's first privately developed space launch vehicle to successfully make orbit. * October 3 – Global financial crisis:

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

signs the revised

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, often called the "bank bailout of 2008", was proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, passed by the 110th United States Congress, and signed into law by President George W. Bush. It beca ...

into law, creating a 700 billion dollar Treasury fund to purchase failing bank assets. * October 6 – A controversial Peruvian tape regarding a Norwegian oil company causes the

2008 Peru oil scandal The 2008 Peru oil scandal started after a Peruvian TV station broadcast an audio tape of an alleged conversation between a government official and a lobbyist agreeing to help a firm win contracts. The speakers were allegedly Alberto Quimper, an ...

, sparking protests which cause Jorge de Castillo's resignation from office. * October 21 – The

(LHC) is officially inaugurated at Geneva. * October 22 – The

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

successfully launches the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft on a

lunar exploration The physical exploration of the Moon began when ''Luna 2'', a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made an impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of exploration had been observation ...

mission.

November–December

November 1 Events Pre-1600 * 365 – The Alemanni cross the Rhine and invade Gaul. Emperor Valentinian I moves to Paris to command the army and defend the Gallic cities. * 996 – Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk, Bishop of Freising, ...

– Satoshi Nakamoto publishes "

Bitcoin Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...

: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System". * November 2 – In a race won by Brazilian driver

Felipe Massa Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one poin ...

, British driver Lewis Hamilton ends in 5th place in

2008 Brazilian Grand Prix The 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio do Brasil 2008) was a Formula One motor race held on 2 November 2008 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Interlagos, in São Paulo, Brazil. It was the eighteenth and final rac ...

and becomes the first black driver to win the Formula One World Championship, and the second youngest driver to achieve the feat at the age of 23. * November 4 – –

2008 United States presidential election The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from ...

: Democratic U.S. Senator Barack Obama defeats Republican candidate

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

and is elected the 44th President of the United States, making him the first African-American to be elected to the office. *

November 19 Events Pre-1600 * 461 – Libius Severus is declared emperor of the Western Roman Empire. The real power is in the hands of the ''magister militum'' Ricimer. * 636 – The Rashidun Caliphate defeats the Sasanian Empire at the Battle o ...

– Claudia Castillo of Spain becomes the first person to have a successful trachea

transplant Transplant or Transplantation may refer to: Sciences *Transplanting a plant from one location to another *Organ transplantation, moving an organ from one body to another *Transplant thought experiment, an experiment similar to Trolley problem *Tra ...

using a tissue-engineered

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

. *

November 26 Events Pre-1600 * 783 – The Asturian queen Adosinda is held at a monastery to prevent her king from retaking the throne from Mauregatus. *1161 – Battle of Caishi: A Song dynasty fleet fights a naval engagement with Jin dynasty ...

– 29 – Members of Lashkar-e-Taiba carry out four days of coordinated bombing and shooting attacks across Mumbai, killing 164 people. * December 10 – The

Channel Island The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

of Sark, a British Crown dependency, holds its first fully democratic elections under a new constitutional arrangement, becoming the last European territory to abolish feudalism. * December 18 – The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds

Théoneste Bagosora Théoneste Bagosora (16 August 1941 – 25 September 2021) was a Rwandan military officer. He was chiefly known for his key role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal ...

and two other senior Rwandan army officers guilty of genocide,

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

and war crimes and sentences them to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

for their role in the Rwandan genocide. * December 23 – A

deposes the government of

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

shortly after the death of longtime President Lansana Conté. * December 27 – Israel invades the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

, in response to rockets being fired into Israeli territory by Hamas, and due to weapons being smuggled into the area. * December 31 – An extra leap second (23:59:60) is added to end the year. The last time this occurred was in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Date unknown

European Certification and Qualification Association The European Certification and Qualification Association is a not-for-profit association that aims to unify the certification processes for various professions. It is joining institutions and thousands of professionals from all over Europe and a ...

is founded. *

National Disaster Recovery Fund The National Disaster Recovery Fund is a disaster management fund established by the Government of Jamaica in 2008 following the extensive damage done to the island of Jamaica following Hurricane Gustav Hurricane Gustav () was the second most de ...

, a disaster management fund is established by the Government of Jamaica.

Births

* April 16 – Princess Eléonore of Belgium * June 3 – Harshaali Malhotra, Indian actress and model * June 10 – Sara James, Polish singer and songwriter

Deaths

January

January 2 Events Pre-1600 * 69 – The Roman legions in Germania Superior refuse to swear loyalty to Galba. They rebel and proclaim Vitellius as emperor. * 366 – The Alemanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading the Roman Empi ...

–

Galyani Vadhana Galyani Vadhana, Princess of Naradhiwas ( th, กัลยาณิวัฒนา; ; 6 May 1923 – 2 January 2008) was a princess of Thailand and the elder sister of King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) and King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX). She w ...

, Princess of Naradhiwas and Princess of Thailand (b.

1923 Events January–February * January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory). * January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...

) *

January 3 Events Pre-1600 *AD 69, 69 – The Roman legions on the Rhine refuse to declare their allegiance to Galba, instead proclaiming their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor. * 250 – Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (ex ...

Aleksandr Abdulov Aleksandr Gavrilovich AbdulovАбдулов Г. Д.
Ферганский г� ...

, Soviet/Russian actor (b.

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

) **

Choi Yo-sam Choi Yo-sam (; March 1, 1972 – January 3, 2008) was a Korean world boxing champion. He was born in Jeongeup, Jeollabukdo, South Korea. Pro career Choi turned pro in 1993 and won the Lineal and WBC light flyweight titles in 1999 with a de ...

, Korean boxer (b.

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

) *

January 7 Events Pre-1600 *49 BC – The Senate of Rome says that Caesar will be declared a public enemy unless he disbands his army. This prompts the tribunes who support him to flee to Ravenna, where Caesar is waiting. * 1325 – Alfonso IV ...

–

Philip Agee Philip Burnett Franklin Agee (; January 19, 1935 – January 7, 2008)Will Weissert"Ex-CIA Agent Philip Agee Dead in Cuba" Associated Press (sfgate.com), January 9, 2008. was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer and writer of t ...

, American spy and writer (b.

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

) *

January 10 Events Pre-1600 *49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war. * 9 – The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the be ...

** Christopher Bowman, American figure skater (b.

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

) ** Maila Nurmi, Finnish-American actress and television personality (b.

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

) * January 11 – Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist (b.

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...

) *

– Judah Folkman, American medical scientist (b.

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

) *

January 15 Events Pre-1600 * 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months. * 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...

– Brad Renfro, American actor (b.

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

) *

January 16 Events Pre-1600 * 27 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire. * 378 – General Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spear ...

– Nikola Kljusev, first

Prime Minister of Macedonia } The prime minister of North Macedonia ( mk, Премиер на Северна Македонија, al, Kryeministri i Maqedonisë së Veriut), officially the President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia ( mk, Претсед ...

(b.

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. * January 7 * ...

) * January 17 ** Bobby Fischer, American chess grandmaster and former World Chess Champion (b.

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

) ** Allan Melvin, American actor (b.

) * January 18 – Lois Nettleton, American actress (b.

) * January 19 –

Suzanne Pleshette Suzanne Pleshette (January 31, 1937 – January 19, 2008) was an American theatre, film, television, and voice actress. Pleshette started her career in the theatre and began appearing in films in the late 1950s and later appeared in prominent ...

, American actress (b.

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

) * January 21 – Marie Smith Jones, Native American speaker (b.

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

) *

January 22 Events Pre-1600 * 613 – Eight-month-old Constantine is crowned as co-emperor (''Caesar'') by his father Heraclius at Constantinople. * 871 – Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vi ...

** Cao Văn Viên, South Vietnamese general and Chair of the South Vietnamese Joint General Staff (b.

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

) ** Heath Ledger, Australian actor (b.

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

) ** Claude Piron, Swiss linguist and psychologist (b.

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

) *

January 25 Events Pre-1600 * 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate. * 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty ...

– Aziz Sedky, 36th prime minister of Egypt (b.

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

) * January 26 –

George Habash George Habash ( ar, جورج حبش, Jūrj Ḥabash), also known by his laqab "al-Hakim" ( ar, الحكيم, al-Ḥakīm, "the wise one" or "the doctor"; 2 August 1926 – 26 January 2008) was a Palestinian Christian politician who founded the ...

, Palestinian politician (b.

1926 Events January * January 3 – Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator in Greece. * January 8 **Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz. ** Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuy ascends the throne, the last monarch of V ...

) *

January 27 Events Pre-1600 * 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule the Roman Empire will reach its maximum extent. * 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to becom ...

Gordon B. Hinckley Gordon Bitner Hinckley (June 23, 1910 – January 27, 2008) was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from March 1995 until his death in January 200 ...

, American Mormon leader (b.

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

) **

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

, 2nd President of Indonesia (b.

) * January 28 – Archbishop

Christodoulos of Athens Christodoulos (17 January 1939 – 28 January 2008) ( el, Χριστόδουλος, born Christos Paraskevaidis, ''Χρήστος Παρασκευαΐδης'') was Archbishop of Athens and All Greece and as such the primate of the Autocephalous O ...

(b.

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

) * January 29 – Margaret Truman, American singer and writer (b.

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

) *

January 30 Events Pre-1600 *1018 – Poland and the Holy Roman Empire conclude the Peace of Bautzen. *1287 – King Wareru founds the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, and proclaims independence from the Pagan Kingdom. 1601–1900 *1607 – An estimated ...

– Marcial Maciel, Mexican Catholic priest (b.

) * January 31 –

František Čapek František Čapek (24 October 1914 – 31 January 2008) was a Czechoslovakian sprint canoeist who competed from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s. He won a gold medal in the C-1 10000 m event at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Born ...

, Czechoslovakian canoeist (b.

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

)

February

February 2 Events Pre-1600 * 506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths, promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (''Breviarium Alaricianum'' or ''Lex Romana Visigothorum''), a collection of "Roman law". * 880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King ...

** Joshua Lederberg, American Nobel molecular biologist (b.

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...

) ** Barry Morse, English-Canadian actor (b.

) *

February 5 Events Pre-1600 * 62 – Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy. * 1576 – Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion. * 1597 – A group of early Japanese Christians ar ...

–

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 1918

, Indian spiritual leader (b.

) *

February 6 Events Pre-1600 * 1579 – The Archdiocese of Manila is made a diocese by a papal bull with Domingo de Salazar being its first bishop. 1601–1900 * 1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of ...

–

John Alvin John Henry Alvin (November 24, 1948 – February 6, 2008) was an American cinematic artist and painter who illustrated many movie posters. Alvin created posters and key art for more than 135 films, beginning with the poster for Mel Brooks' ''Bl ...

, American cinematic artist and painter (b.

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

) * February 7 – Andrew Bertie, 78th Grand Master of the Order of Malta (b.

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

) * February 9 – Baba Amte, Indian social activist (b.

) * February 10 – Roy Scheider, American actor (b.

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

) *

February 11 Events Pre-1600 *660 BC – Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu. * 55 – The death under mysterious circumstances of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman empire, on the eve of his coming ...

** Tom Lantos, Hungarian-American politician (b.

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...

) **

Alfredo Reinado Alfredo Alves Reinado (11 November 1968 in Dili – 11 February 2008), sometimes spelled Reinhado, was a major in the military of Timor-Leste, the Timor Leste Defence Force (F-FDTL). He deserted on 4 May 2006 to join approximately 600 for ...

, East Timorese rebel (b.

) * February 12 ** Imad Mughniyah, Lebanese militant (b.

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

) ** Badri Patarkatsishvili, Georgian businessman and politician (b.

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

) *

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 ...

** Kon Ichikawa, Japanese film director (b.

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

) ** Henri Salvador, French singer (b.

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

) * February 16 – Brendan Hughes, Northern Irish paramilitary leader (b.

) * February 18 – Alain Robbe-Grillet, French writer and filmmaker (b.

) *

February 19 Events Pre-1600 * 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies. * 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan ...

** Natalia Bessmertnova, Russian ballerina (b.

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

) **

Yegor Letov Igor Fedorovich "Yegor" Letov (russian: link=no, И́горь Фёдорович "Его́р" Ле́тов, ; 10 September 1964 – 19 February 2008) was a Russian poet, musician, singer-songwriter, audio engineer and conceptual artist, best know ...

, Russian singer (b.

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

) *

February 23 Events Pre-1600 * 303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution. * 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a ...

** Janez Drnovšek, two-time prime minister and second president of Slovenia (b.

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

) ** Paul Frère, Belgian racing driver (b.

) *

February 25 Events Pre-1600 * 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor. * 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II. ...

– Static Major, American musician (b.

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

) *

February 27 Events Pre-1600 * 380 – Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I and his co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II declare their wish that all Roman citizens convert to Nicene Christianity. * 425 – The University of Constantinople ...

William F. Buckley Jr. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator. In 1955, he founded ''National Review'', the magazine that stim ...

, American author and conservative commentator (b.

) ** Ivan Rebroff, German singer (b.

)

March

* March 1 – Raúl Reyes, Colombian guerrilla (b.

) * March 2 ** Sofiko Chiaureli, Georgian actress (b.

) ** Jeff Healey, Canadian musician (b.

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

) * March 3 **

Giuseppe Di Stefano Giuseppe Di Stefano (24 July 19213 March 2008) was an Italian operatic tenor who sang professionally from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s. Called Pippo by both fans and friends, he was known as the "Golden voice" or "The most beautiful voic ...

, Italian operatic tenor (b.

) ** Norman Smith, English singer and record producer (b.

) * March 4 – Gary Gygax, American writer and game designer (b.

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

) *

March 5 Events Pre-1600 * 363 – Roman emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death. * 1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern ...

– Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American author and computer scientist (b.

) * March 6 –

Peter Poreku Dery Peter Porekuu Dery (10 May 1918 – 6 March 2008), originally Porekuu Der, was a Ghanaian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Tamale from 1974 to 1994, and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 2006. He was the Bish ...

, Ghanaian cardinal (b.

) * March 12 – Howard Metzenbaum, American politician (b.

) * March 14 – Chiara Lubich, Italian Catholic activist (b.

) * March 16 **Bill Brown (cricketer), Bill Brown, Australian cricketer (b. 1912) ** Ivan Dixon, American actor (b.

) * March 18 – Anthony Minghella, English film director and screenwriter (b. 1954) * March 19 ** Sir Arthur C. Clarke, English author, inventor, and futurist (b.

) ** Hugo Claus, Flemish writer, painter, and film director (b.

) ** Paul Scofield, English actor (b.

) * March 21 – Klaus Dinger, German musician (b. 1946) * March 22 – Adolfo Suárez Rivera, Mexican cardinal (b.

) * March 24 ** Neil Aspinall, British record producer and business executive (b. 1942) ** Richard Widmark, American actor (b.

) * March 26 – Manuel Marulanda, Colombian guerrilla (b. 1930) * March 27 – Jean-Marie Balestre, French sports executive (b.

) * March 30 – Dith Pran, Cambodian-American photojournalist (b. 1942) * March 31 – Jules Dassin, American film director (b. 1911)

April

* April 3 – Hrvoje Ćustić, Croatian footballer (b. 1983) * April 5 – Charlton Heston, American actor (b.

) * April 8 – Stanley Kamel, American actor (b.

) * April 10 – Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada, Mexican cardinal (b.

) * April 12 – Patrick Hillery, 6th President of Ireland (b.

) * April 13 – John Archibald Wheeler, American theoretical physicist (b. 1911) * April 14 – Ollie Johnston, American animator (b. 1912) * April 15 – Benoît Lamy, Belgian motion picture writer and director (b. 1945) * April 16 – Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (b.

) * April 17 – Aimé Césaire, French Martinican poet and politician (b. 1913) * April 26 – Árpád Orbán, Hungarian footballer (b. 1938) * April 29 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and writer (b. 1906)

May

* May 1 ** Anthony Mamo, 1st president of Malta (b. 1909) ** Philipp von Boeselager, German Wehrmacht officer involved in the 20 July Plot (b.

) * May 3 – Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Spanish prime minister (b.

) * May 8 ** Eddy Arnold, American country music singer (b.

) ** François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (b.

) * May 10 – Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano (b.

) * May 11 – John Rutsey, Canadian musician (b. 1952) * May 12 ** Robert Rauschenberg, American pop artist (b.

) ** Irena Sendler, Polish humanitarian (b.

) * May 13 ** Saad Al-Salim Al-Sabah, fourth Emir of Kuwait (b. 1930) ** Bernardin Gantin, Beninese cardinal (b.

) ** John Phillip Law, American actor (b.

) * May 15 ** Willis Lamb, American physicist and Nobel laureate (b. 1913) ** Tommy Burns (footballer), Tommy Burns, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1956) * May 19 – Vijay Tendulkar, Indian playwright (b.

) * May 23 – Cornell Capa, Hungarian-American photographer (b.

) * May 24 – Rob Knox, English actor (b. 1989) * May 26 ** Sydney Pollack, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1934) ** Koloa Talake, seventh prime minister of Tuvalu (b. 1934) * May 28 – Sven Davidson, Swedish tennis player (b.

) * May 29 ** Luc Bourdon, Canadian ice hockey defenceman (b. 1987) ** Harvey Korman, American actor and comedian (b.

) *

– Boris Shakhlin, Soviet gymnast (b.

)

June

George Carlin 1975 (Little David Records) Publicity

* June 1 ** Tommy Lapid, Israeli television presenter, journalist, and politician (b.

) ** Yves Saint Laurent (designer), Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer (b. 1936) * June 2 ** Bo Diddley, American musician (b.

) ** Mel Ferrer, American actor, director, and producer (b.

) *June 4 – Agata Mróz-Olszewska, Polish volleyball player (b.

) *June 5 – Jameson Mbilini Dlamini, seventh prime minister of Swaziland (b.

) * June 7 ** Mustafa Khalil, 40th prime minister of Egypt (b.

) ** Dino Risi, Italian director (b. 1916) * June 8 – Šaban Bajramović, Serbian musician (b. 1936) * June 9 ** Karen Asrian, Armenian chess grandmaster (b. 1980) ** Algis Budrys, Lithuanian-American science fiction writer (b.

) * June 10 – Chinghiz Aitmatov, Kyrgyzstani writer (b.

) * June 11 ** Ove Andersson, Swedish rally driver (b.

) ** Võ Văn Kiệt, 5th prime minister of Vietnam (b.

) * June 13 – Tim Russert, American journalist (b.

) * June 15 – Stan Winston, American special effects and makeup artist (b. 1946) * June 17 – Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer (b.

) * June 18 – Jean Delannoy, French film director (b. 1908) * June 22 – George Carlin, American author, actor, and comedian (b.

) * June 23 – Arthur Chung, first President of Guyana (b.

) * June 24 – Leonid Hurwicz, American Nobel economist and mathematician (b.

) * June 26 – Lilyan Chauvin, French-American actress, television host, and director (b.

) * June 27 – Sam Manekshaw, Indian Field Marshal (b.

) * June 28 – Ruslana Korshunova, Kazakhstani model (b. 1987) * June 29 – Don S. Davis, American actor (b. 1942)

July

* July 4 – Evelyn Keyes, American actress (b. 1916) * July 5 – René Harris, four-time president of Nauru (b. 1947) * July 11 – Michael E. DeBakey, American surgeon and inventor (b. 1908) * July 12 – Tony Snow, American political commentator (b.

) * July 13 – Bronisław Geremek, Polish social historian and politician (b.

) * July 15 – György Kolonics, Hungarian canoeist (b.

) * July 16 – Jo Stafford, American singer (b.

) * July 20 – Dinko Šakić, Croatian concentration camp commander (b.

) * July 22 – Estelle Getty, American actress (b.

) * July 25 ** Johnny Griffin, American saxophonist (b.

) ** Randy Pausch, American author and computer scientist (b. 1960) * July 27 – Youssef Chahine, Egyptian film director (b.

) * July 28 – Suzanne Tamim, Lebanese singer and actress (b. 1977) * July 29 – Mate Parlov, Croatian boxer (b.

)

August

* August 1 ** Pauline Baynes, English illustrator (b.

) ** Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Indian politician (b. 1916) * August 3 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer and Nobel laureate (b.

) * August 9 ** Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet (b.

) ** Bernie Mac, American actor and comedian (b. 1957) * August 10 – Isaac Hayes, American singer, songwriter, and actor (b. 1942) * August 11 – Fred Sinowatz, Austrian politician (b.

) * August 13 – Henri Cartan, French mathematician (b. 1904) * August 15 – Jerry Wexler, American music producer (b.

) * August 16 ** Ronnie Drew, Irish folk singer and actor (b. 1934) ** Masanobu Fukuoka, Japanese microbiologist (b. 1913) * August 19 ** Levy Mwanawasa, 3rd President of Zambia (b.

) ** LeRoi Moore, American saxophonist (b. 1961) * August 20 – Hua Guofeng, Chairman of the Communist Party and Chinese Premier (b.

) * August 23 – Thomas Huckle Weller, American virologist and Nobel laureate (b.

) * August 28 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (b.

)

September

* September 1 ** Don LaFontaine, American voice actor (b. 1940) ** Jerry Reed, American actor and country singer (b.

) * September 2 – Bill Melendez, Mexican-American character animator, film director, voice artist, and producer (b. 1916) * September 6 – Anita Page, American actress (b.

) * September 9 ** Nouhak Phoumsavanh, third president of Laos (b.

) ** Warith Deen Mohammed, American Muslim leader, theologian, philosopher, and revivalist (b.

) * September 12 – David Foster Wallace, American writer (b.

) *

– Richard Wright (musician), Richard Wright, English keyboardist (b.

) * September 18 – Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer (b.

) * September 19 – Earl Palmer, American R&B Drummer (b.

) * September 21 – Dingiri Banda Wijetunga, ninth prime minister and fourth president of Sri Lanka (b. 1916) * September 26 – Paul Newman, American actor, film director, entrepreneur, and philanthropist (b.

)

October

* October 1 – Boris Yefimov, Russian political cartoonist (b. 1900) * October 6 – Paavo Haavikko, Finnish poet (b.

) * October 8 – George Emil Palade, Romanian cell biologist and Nobel laureate (b. 1912) * October 10 – Alexey Prokurorov, Russian cross-country skier (b.

) * October 11 – Jörg Haider, Austrian politician (b.

) * October 13 ** Alexei Cherepanov, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1989) ** Guillaume Depardieu, French actor (b. 1971) ** Antonio José González Zumárraga, Ecuadorian cardinal (b.

) * October 15 ** Edie Adams, American actress, singer, and businesswoman (b.

) ** Wang Yung-ching, Taiwanese entrepreneur (b.

) * October 20 – Sœur Emmanuelle, Belgian-born French nun (b. 1908) * October 25 ** Federico Luzzi, Italian tennis player (b. 1980) ** Muslim Magomayev (musician), Muslim Magomayev, Azerbaijani singer (b. 1942) ** Estelle Reiner, American actress and singer (b.

) * October 26 – Tony Hillerman, American writer (b.

) * October 29 – William Wharton (author), William Wharton, American author (b.

) * October 31 – Studs Terkel, American author and liberal commentator (b. 1912)

November

** Jimmy Carl Black, American drummer (b.

) ** Jacques Piccard, Swiss explorer and engineer (b.

) ** Yma Sumac, Peruvian soprano (b.

) * November 4 ** Michael Crichton, American author and producer (b. 1942) ** Juan Camilo Mouriño, Mexican politician (b. 1971) * November 6 – Larry James, American athlete (b. 1947) * November 8 – Mieczysław Rakowski, Polish politician, historian, and journalist (b.

) * November 9 – Miriam Makeba, South African singer and civil rights activist (b.

) * November 10 – Kiyosi Itô, Japanese mathematician (b.

) * November 12 – Mitch Mitchell, English drummer (b. 1946) * November 14 – Tsvetanka Khristova, Bulgarian athlete (b.

) * November 22 – Ibrahim Nasir, second president of the Maldives (b.

) *

– Edna Parker, American supercentenarian (b. 1893) * November 27 – V. P. Singh, seventh prime minister of India (b.

) * November 29 – Jørn Utzon, Danish architect (b.

)

December

* December 1 ** Paul Benedict, American actor (b.

) ** Mikel Laboa, Basque singer and songwriter (b. 1934) * December 2 ** Frank Crean, Australian politician (b. 1916) ** Odetta, American singer (b. 1930) * December 5 ** Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church (b.

) ** Nina Foch, Dutch-born American actress (b.

) ** Beverly Garland, American actress (b.

) * December 8 – Robert Prosky, American actor (b. 1930) * December 9 ** Yury Glazkov, Russian cosmonaut (b.

) ** Dražan Jerković, Croatian footballer and manager (b. 1936) * December 11 ** Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, American physician and Nobel laureate (b.

) ** Bettie Page, American pin-up model (b.

) ** Maddie Blaustein, American voice actress and comic writer (b. 1960) * December 12 ** Avery Dulles, American cardinal (b.

) ** Van Johnson, American actor (b. 1916) ** Tassos Papadopoulos, fifth president of Cyprus (b. 1934) * December 13 – Horst Tappert, German actor (b.

) * December 15 – León Febres Cordero, 35th president of Ecuador (b.

) * December 18 – Mark Felt, American FBI agent (b. 1913) * December 19 – James Bevel, Civil Rights Movement strategist (b. 1936) Rev

* December 20 ** Joseph Conombo, third prime minister of Burkina Faso (b.

) ** Olga Lepeshinskaya (dancer), Olga Lepeshinskaya, Russian ballerina (b. 1916) ** Robert Mulligan, American director (b.

) * December 22 – Lansana Conté, 2nd president of Guinea (b. 1934) * December 24 ** Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist (b.

) ** Harold Pinter, English playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor (b. 1930) * December 25 – Eartha Kitt, American singer, actress, activist, and author (b.

) * December 29 – Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpeter (b.

)

Date unknown

* Wilfred Andrew Rose, Trinidad and Tobago diplomat and politician (b. 1922) * Victor Ruzo, Swiss painter (b. 1913)

Nobel Prizes

* Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – Martin Chalfie, Osamu Shimomura, and Roger Y. Tsien * Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Economics – Paul Krugman * Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – J. M. G. Le Clézio * Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – Martti Ahtisaari * Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – Makoto Kobayashi (physicist), Makoto Kobayashi, Toshihide Maskawa, and Yoichiro Nambu * Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Physiology or Medicine – Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Harald zur Hausen, and Luc Montagnier

New English words

References

External links

2008 Calendar
at Internet Accuracy Project {{DEFAULTSORT:2008 2008, Leap years in the Gregorian calendar