2002
About this schools Wikipedia selection
SOS Children have produced a selection of wikipedia articles for schools since 2005. SOS mothers each look after a a family of sponsored children.
Millennium: | 3rd millennium |
---|---|
Centuries: | 20th century – 21st century – 22nd century |
Decades: | 1970s 1980s 1990s – 2000s – 2010s 2020s 2030s |
Years: | 1999 2000 2001 – 2002 – 2003 2004 2005 |
2002 by topic: |
News by month |
Jan – Feb – Mar – Apr – May – Jun Jul – Aug – Sep – Oct – Nov – Dec |
Arts |
Architecture – Art – Comics – Film – Home video – Literature ( Poetry) – Music ( Country, Metal, UK) – Radio – Television – Video gaming |
Politics |
Elections – Int'l leaders – Politics – State leaders – Sovereign states |
Science and technology |
Archaeology – Aviation – Birding/Ornithology – Meteorology – Palaeontology – Rail transport – Science – Spaceflight |
Sports |
Sport – Athletics (Track and Field) – Australian Football League – Baseball – Basketball – Football (soccer) – Cricket – Ice Hockey – Motorsport – Tennis – Rugby league |
By place |
Algeria – Argentina – Australia – Bangladesh - Belgium - Brazil – Canada – People's Republic of China – Denmark – El Salvador – Egypt – European Union – France – Georgia – Germany – Ghana – Hungary – India – Iraq – Iran – Ireland – Israel – Italy – Japan – Kenya – Lithuania – Luxembourg – Malaysia – Mexico – New Zealand – Norway – Pakistan – Palestinian territories – Philippines – Poland – Romania – Russia – Singapore – South Africa – South Korea – Spain – Sri Lanka – United Arab Emirates – United Kingdom – United States |
Other topics |
Awards – Law – Religious leaders |
Birth and death categories |
Births – Deaths |
Establishments and disestablishments categories |
Establishments – Disestablishments |
Works and introductions categories |
Works – Introductions Works entering the public domain |
Gregorian calendar | 2002 MMII |
Ab urbe condita | 2755 |
Armenian calendar | 1451 ԹՎ ՌՆԾԱ |
Assyrian calendar | 6752 |
Bahá'í calendar | 158–159 |
Bengali calendar | 1409 |
Berber calendar | 2952 |
British Regnal year | 50 Eliz. 2 – 51 Eliz. 2 |
Buddhist calendar | 2546 |
Burmese calendar | 1364 |
Byzantine calendar | 7510–7511 |
Chinese calendar | 辛巳年十一月十八日 (4638/4698-11-18) — to — 壬午年十一月廿八日(4639/4699-11-28) |
Coptic calendar | 1718–1719 |
Ethiopian calendar | 1994–1995 |
Hebrew calendar | 5762–5763 |
Hindu calendars | |
- Vikram Samvat | 2058–2059 |
- Shaka Samvat | 1924–1925 |
- Kali Yuga | 5103–5104 |
Holocene calendar | 12002 |
Igbo calendar | |
- Ǹrí Ìgbò | 1002–1003 |
Iranian calendar | 1380–1381 |
Islamic calendar | 1422–1423 |
Japanese calendar | Heisei 14 (平成14年) |
Juche calendar | 91 |
Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
Korean calendar | 4335 |
Minguo calendar | ROC 91 民國91年 |
Thai solar calendar | 2545 |
Unix time | 1009843200–1041379199 |
2002 (MMII) was a common year that started on a Tuesday. In the Gregorian calendar, it was the 2002nd year of Anno Domini, the 2nd year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century, and the 3rd of the 2000s decade. The year 2002 was a palindrome, the first since 1991, which by coincidence, was also a common year that started on a Tuesday.
2002 was designated the:
- International Year of Ecotourism and Mountains
- Year of the Outback in Australia
- National Science Year in the United Kingdom
- Autism Awareness Year in the United Kingdom
Events
January
- January 1
- January 16 – The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and freezes the assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban.
- January 17 – The eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo displaces an estimated 400,000 people.
- January 23 – Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Pakistan, accused of being a CIA agent by his captors.
- January 27 – Several explosions at a military dump in Lagos, Nigeria kill more than 1,000. Confirmation needed
- January 31 – A large section of the Antarctic Larsen Ice Shelf begins disintegrating, consuming about 3,250 km (2,020 mi) over 35 days.
February
- February 1 – Kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is murdered in Karachi, Pakistan.
- February 6 – Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II upon 50th Anniversary of King George VI's death in 1952.
- February 8 - February 24 – The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
- February 9 - Elizabeth II's sister Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon dies in her sleep aged 71 after suffering a major stroke.
- February 12 – The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
- February 15 - The funeral of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon takes place on the 50th anniversary of her father's funeral.
- February 19 – NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
- February 20 – In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.
- February 22
- Robert William Pickton; the most prolific serial killer in Canadian history is arrested and charged with the first two (of twenty-seven) counts of first-degree murder.
- A Spanish-facilitated ceasefire begins in Sri Lanka.
- February 27 – A series of riots leaves hundreds dead, after 59 Hindu pilgrims die aboard a train burned by a Muslim in Godhra, India.
- February 28
- The ex-currencies of all euro-using nations cease to be legal tender in the European Union.
- Gujarat communal riots begin, wherein 97 people are burnt alive or killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre, and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre in Ahmedabad.
March
- March 1
- U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins.
- Continuing violence in Ahmedabad, India kills 28; police shoot and kill 5 rioters.
- The Envisat environmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit 800 km above the Earth using an Ariane 5 on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload to date at 8,500 kg.
- STS-109: Space Shuttle Columbia flies the Hubble Space Telescope service mission, penultimate flight before its ill-fated STS-107 mission.
- March 12 – In Houston, Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her 5 children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison.
- March 14 – Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament established.
- March 17 – In Islamabad, Pakistan, the International Protestant Church attack occurs.
- March 19 – US war in Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends after killing 500 Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities.
- March 21 – In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and 3 others are charged with the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
- March 27 – A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 30 Israeli civilians and injures 140 others at the Park Hotel in Netanya, triggering Operation Defensive Shield, a large-scale counter-terrorist Israeli military incursion into the West Bank, two days later.
April
- April 2 – Israeli forces besiege the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, when militants take shelter there.
- April 9 – The funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother takes place in Westminster Abbey, London.
- April 11 – April 14 – A military coup d'état against the leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez fails.
- April 15 – An Air China Boeing 767-200 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Busan, South Korea, killing 128.
- April 17 – Four Canadian infantrymen are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from 2 US F-16s.
- April 18 – The discovery of a new insect order, Mantophasmatodea, is announced.
- April 25 – Soyuz TM-34: South African Mark Shuttleworth blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome; he had paid £15 million for the trip.
May
- May 9
- A 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem ends, when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected militants among them deported to several different countries.
- In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-control bomb explodes during a holiday parade, killing 43 and injuring at least 130.
- May 10 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
- May 20 – East Timor regains its independence.
- May 21 – The US State Department releases a report naming 7 state sponsors of terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.
- May 25 – China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrates near the Penghu Islands at Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 people on board.
- May 26
- The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large water ice deposits on the planet Mars.
- A barge collides with the Interstate 40 bridge across the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma, killing 14.
June
- June 4 – The planetoid Quaoar is discovered orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper belt.
- June 6 – Eastern Mediterranean Event: An object with an estimated diameter of 10 meters collides with Earth, over the Mediterranean Sea, and detonates in mid-air.
- June 10
- An annular solar eclipse occurs.
- The first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of 2 humans, is carried out by Kevin Warwick in the United Kingdom.
- June 11 – Antonio Meucci is recognized as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
- June 14 – In Karachi, Pakistan, a car bomb in front of the U.S. Consulate kills 12 Pakistanis and injures 50.
- June 15 – Near Earth Asteroid 2002 MN misses the planet by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about 1/3 the distance to the moon.
- June 24 – The Igandu train disaster in Dodoma Region, Tanzania, kills 281 people in the worst rail accident in African history.
- June 30 – Brazil wins their 5th FIFA World Cup by defeating Germany 2-0 in the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final.
July
- July 1
- The International Criminal Court is established.
- Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937: A Russian passenger jet and a cargo plane collide over the town of Überlingen, Germany; 72 are killed.
- July 9 – The Organization of African Unity is disbanded and replaced by the African Union.
- July 15 – In Washington, D.C., "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to aiding the enemy and possession of explosives during the commission of a felony; Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each charge.
- July 19 – Hail kills 25 and injures hundreds in the Chinese province of Henan.
- July 21 – Telecommunications giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (the largest such filing in United States history).
- July 27 – A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes at an air show in Ukraine, killing 77 and injuring more than 100, making it the worst air show disaster in history (see Sknyliv airshow disaster).
August
- August – The 2002 European floods ravage Central Europe.
September
- September 2 – The United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, successor of the Conference on the Human Environment, World Commission on Environment and Development, and the Conference on Environment and Development, opens.
- September 5 – A car bomb kills at least 30 people in Afghanistan, and an apparent assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai fails the same day.
- September 10 – Switzerland joins the United Nations.
- September 11 – The World Summit on Sustainable Development comes to a close.
- September 19 – Civil war starts in Côte d'Ivoire.
- September 20 – The Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide occurs.
- September 25 – The Vitim event, a possible bolide impact, occurs in Siberia, Russia.
- September 26 – The Senegalese passenger ferry Joola capsizes in a storm off the coast of Gambia; 1,863 are killed.
October
- October 2
- The Beltway sniper attacks begin with 5 shootings in Montgomery County, Maryland.
- October 7 – The discovery of Quaoar is announced.
- October 11 – Myyrmanni bombing: A lone bomber explodes a home-made bomb in the Myyrmanni shopping mall north of Helsinki, Finland; the casualties include himself.
- October 12 – Terrorists detonate bombs in 2 nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and injuring over 300.
- October 22 – 25 – Chechen rebels take control of the theatre Nord-Ost in Moscow and hold the audience hostage.
November
- November 7 – Iran bans the advertising of United States products.
- November 8 – Iraq disarmament crisis: The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves UN Security Council Resolution 1441, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences".
- November 13
- Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq agrees to the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 1441.
- The oil tanker Prestige sinks off the Galician coast, causing an oil spill.
- November 14 – Argentina defaults on a US $805 million World Bank loan payment.
- November 18 – Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.
- November 21 – At the NATO Summit in Prague, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia are invited to join the organization.
- November 22 – In Nigeria, more than 100 are killed at an attack aimed at the Miss World contestants.
- November 25 – U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law, establishing the Department of Homeland Security, in the largest U.S. government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947,
December
- December 7 – As required by the recently passed U.N. resolution, Iraq files a 12,000 page weapons declaration with the U.N. Security Council.
- December 10 – The High Court of Australia hands down its judgement in the Internet defamation dispute in the case of Gutnick v Dow Jones.
- December 27 – A suicide truck-bomb attack destroys the headquarters of Chechnya's Moscow-backed government, killing 72.
- December 30 – An eruption on the volcanic island Stromboli off the coast of Sicily causes a flank failure and tsunami. The island is later evacuated.
Date unknown
- The Population Division of the United Nations calculate that 40 million people around the world are infected with HIV.
Deaths
January
- January 3 – Freddy Heineken, Dutch-born beer magnate (b. 1923)
- January 8
- Alexander Prokhorov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- Dave Thomas, American fast food entrepreneur (Wendy's) (b. 1932)
- January 12
- January 15 – Eugène Brands, Dutch painter (b. 1913)
- January 16
- January 17
- January 22
- January 23
- January 28 – Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children's book author (b. 1907)
February
- February 6 – Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1914)
- February 8
- February 9 – Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (b. 1930)
- February 10 – Traudl Junge, German private secretary of Adolf Hitler (b. 1920)
- February 12 – John Eriksen, Danish football player (b. 1957)
- February 13 – Waylon Jennings, American country music singer (b. 1937)
- February 14 – Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1922)
- February 15
- February 16 – Walter Winterbottom, English football manager (b. 1913)
- February 19 – Virginia Hamilton, American writer (b. 1936)
- February 22
- February 24 – Leo Ornstein, American composer and pianist (b. 1892)
- February 27 – Spike Milligan, British comedian, writer, and poet (b. 1918)
- February 28 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)
March
- March 11 – James Tobin, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- March 12 – Spyros Kyprianou, former President of Cyprus (b. 1932)
- March 20 – Ibn Al-Khattab, Saudi guerilla (b. 1969)
- March 24 – César Milstein, Argentine scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1927)
- March 27
- March 29 – Rico Yan, Filipino Actor (b. 1975)
- March 30 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (née Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon), queen consort of George VI and mother of Elizabeth II (b. 1900)
April
- April 1 – Simo Häyhä, Finnish sniper (b. 1905)
- April 5 – Layne Staley, American singer( Alice in Chains) (b. 1967)
- April 8 – María Félix, Mexican actress (b. 1914)
- April 9 – Leopold Vietoris, Austrian mathematician (b. 1891)
- April 15 – Byron White, American athlete and Supreme Court Justice (b. 1917)
- April 16
- April 18
- April 22 – Linda Lovelace, American pornographic actress (b. 1949)
- April 25 – Lisa Lopes, American rapper; one-third of the multi-platinum girl group TLC (b. 1971)
- April 27
- April 28 – Lou Thesz, American professional wrestler (b. 1916)
May
- May 5 – Hugo Banzer, Bolivian politician, 62nd and 75th President of Bolivia (b. 1926)
- May 6 – Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician, author and professor (b. 1948)
- May 11 – Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (b. 1905)
- May 13 – Valeri Lobanovsky, Ukrainian football manager (b. 1939)
- May 18 – Davey Boy Smith, British professional wrestler (b. 1962)
- May 19 – John Gorton, Australian politician, 19th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1911)
- May 20 – Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist and author (b. 1941)
- May 21 – Niki de Saint Phalle, French artist (b. 1930)
- May 23 – Sam Snead, American golfer (b. 1912)
- May 26 – Mamo Wolde, Ethiopian runner (b. 1932)
- May 28 – Jean Berger, German-American composer (b. 1909)
June
- June 2 – Hansie Cronje, South African cricketer and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s.(b. 1969)
- June 4 – Fernando Belaúnde Terry, Peruvian politician, 85th and 88th President of Peru (b. 1912)
- June 5 – Dee Dee Ramone, American bassist (b. 1951)
- June 6 – Hans Janmaat, Dutch politician (b. 1934)
- June 7 – Lilian, Princess of Réthy, Belgian princess (b. 1916)
- June 10 – John Gotti, American gangster (b. 1940)
- June 17 – Fritz Walter, German footballer (b. 1920)
- June 24 – Pierre Werner, Luxembourgian politician, 19th and 21st Prime Minister of Luxembourg (b. 1913)
- June 26 – Arnold Brown, English General of The Salvation Army (b. 1913)
- June 27 – John Entwistle, English bassist(The Who) (b. 1944)
- June 29 – Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (b. 1928)
- June 30 – Chico Xavier, Brazilian medium (b. 1910)
July
- July 5
- July 6
- Dhirubhai Ambani, Indian businessman (b. 1932)
- John Frankenheimer, American film director (b. 1930)
- Abdul Qadir, Vice president of Afghanistan (b. 1951)
- July 9
- Mayo Kaan, bodybuilder (b. 1914)
- Rod Steiger, American actor (b. 1925)
- July 10 – Evangelos Florakis, Greek military officer (b. 1943)
- July 13 – Yousuf Karsh, Turkish-born photographer (b. 1908)
- July 14 – Joaquín Balaguer, Dominican politician, 41st, 45th and 49th President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1906)
- July 16 – John Cocke, American computer scientist (b. 1925)
- July 17 – Joseph Luns, Dutch politician and diplomat, 5th Secretary General of NATO (b. 1911)
- July 19 – Alan Lomax, American folklorist and musicologist (b. 1915)
- July 21 - Antti Koivumäki, Finnish poet and keyboardist ( Aavikko) (b. 1976)
- July 23 – Chaim Potok, American author and rabbi (b. 1929)
- July 25 – Abdur Rahman Badawi, Egyptian philosopher (b. 1917)
- July 28 – Archer John Porter Martin, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
August
- August 4 – Carmen Silvera, British actress (b. 1922)
- August 5
- August 6 – Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (b. 1930)
- August 11 – Galen Rowell, American photographer, writer, and climber (b. 1940)
- August 14 – Dave Williams, American singer (b. 1972)
- August 16 – Abu Nidal, Paleiostinian militant (b. 1937)
- August 31
- Lionel Hampton, American musician (b. 1908)
- George Porter, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
September
- September 11 – Kim Hunter, American actress (b. 1922)
- September 18 – Bob Hayes, American athlete (b. 1942)
- September 19
- September 21 – Robert Lull Forward, American author and physicist (b. 1932)
- September 22 – James Miller, known as the 'Fan Man' (b. 1963)
October
- October 6 – Claus van Amsberg, German born Prince Consort of the Netherlands (b. 1926)
- October 9
- October 12 – Ray Conniff, American musician and bandleader (b. 1916)
- October 13 – Stephen Ambrose, American historian and biographer (b. 1936)
- October 18 – Nikolai Rukavishnikov, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1932)
- October 25 – Richard Harris, Irish actor (b. 1930)
- October 30 – Jam-Master Jay, American Hip-Hop DJ (b. 1965)
November
- November 2 – Charles Sheffield, English author and physicist (b. 1935)
- November 9 – Merlin Santana, American actor (b. 1976)
- November 12 – Károly Doncsecz, Slovenian potter (b. 1918)
- November 15 – Myra Hindley, English murderer (b. 1942)
- November 17 – Abba Eban, Israeli politician and diplomat, 3rd Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1915)
- November 18 – James Coburn, American actor (b. 1928)
- November 19 – Max Reinhardt, British publisher (b. 1915)
- November 22 – Parley Baer, American actor (b. 1914)
- November 24 – John Rawls, American political theorist (b. 1921)
December
- December 3 – Glenn Quinn, Irish actor (b. 1970)
- December 5 – Ne Win, Burmese military commander (b. 1911)
- December 18 – Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor General of Canada (b. 1934)
- December 22
Nobel Prizes
- Peace – Jimmy Carter
- Literature – Imre Kertész
- Chemistry – John B. Fenn and Koichi Tanaka, Kurt Wüthrich
- Physics – Raymond Davis Jr. and Masatoshi Koshiba, Riccardo Giacconi
- Physiology or Medicine – Sydney Brenner, H. Robert Horvitz, and John E. Sulston
- Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – Daniel Kahneman and Vernon L. Smith
Fields Medalists
- Laurent Lafforgue, Vladimir Voevodsky