2000 (MM) was a leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. 2000 was also the first century leap year since 1600.

2000 was designated as:

• International Year for the Culture of Peace

• World Mathematical Year

2000 is also the first year of the 2000s decade. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium.
According to the Gregorian Calendar this distinction falls to the year 2001, because the first century was retroactively said to start with year AD 1. The calendar has no year zero, so it can be said that the first millennium spanned years 1 to 1000 inclusive. However, since this
was decided at a much later date it's difficult to assign any significance. The next millennium then stretched from 1001 to 2000 (see more at: millennium). Mathematically, 2000 is the last year of the 20th century and the 2nd millenium.

The year 2000 was the subject of Y2K concerns: fears that computers would not shift from 1999 to 2000 correctly.
However, by the end of 1999, many companies had already converted to new, or upgraded their existing, software.
Some even obtained Y2K certification.
In the actual event, relatively few problems occurred.

Events

January

• January 1 – The world enters 2000s without serious, widespread computer failures, despite fears to the contrary.

• January 3–10 – Israel and Syria hold inconclusive peace talks.

• January 4 – Alan Greenspan is nominated for a fourth term as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman.

• January 5–8 – The 2000 al-Qaeda Summit of several high-level al-Qaeda members (including 2 9/11 American Airlines hijackers) is held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

• January 6 The last natural pyrenean ibex is found dead apparently killed by a falling tree.

• January 10 – America Online announces an agreement to purchase Time Warner for $162 billion (the largest-ever corporate merger).

• January 11 – The armed wing of the Islamic Salvation Front concludes its negotiations with the government for an amnesty and disbands in Algeria (see Algerian Civil War#GIA destroyed, GSPC discontinues)

• January 11 – The trawler Solway Harvester sinks off the Isle of Man.

• January 12 – 9/11 hijackers Mohammed Atta and Ziad Jahrah read their wills in the Martyrdom Video.

• January 14 – A United Nations tribunal sentences 5 Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years in prison for the 1993 killing of over 100 Bosnian Muslims in a Bosnian village.

• January 14 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 11,722.98 (at the peak of the Dot-com bubble).

• January 16 – In Sacramento, California, a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the State Capitol building, killing the driver.

• January 18 – The Tagish Lake meteorite impacts the Earth.

• January 24 – God's Army, a Karen militia group led by twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, takes 700 hostages at a Thai hospital near the Burmese border.

• January 26 – The rap-metal band Rage Against the Machine plays in front of Wall Street, prompting an early closing of trading due to the crowds.

• January 30 – Super Bowl XXXIV: The St. Louis Rams win the NFL Championship for the first time since 1951, defeating the Tennessee Titans 23–16.

• January 30 – Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.

• January 31 – Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashes off the California coast into the Pacific Ocean, killing 88.

• January 31 – Dr. Harold Shipman is found guilty of murdering 15 patients between 1995 and 1998 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

February

• February 4 – German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion, in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.

• February 6 – Tarja Halonen is elected the first female president of Finland.

• February 7 – Stipe Mesic is elected president of Croatia.

• February 9 – Torrential rains in Africa lead to the worst flooding in Mozambique in 50 years, which lasts until March and kills 800 people.

• February 11 – A blast from an improvised explosive device in front of a Barclay's Bank, across from the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, wounds dozens but kills none.

• February 13 – The final original Peanuts comic strip is published, following the death of its creator, Charles Schulz.

• February 17 – Microsoft releases Windows 2000.

• February 21 – UNESCO holds the inaugural celebration of International Mother Language Day.

March

• March 1 – The Constitution of Finland is rewritten.

• March 2 – Hans Blix assumes the position of Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC.

• March 7 – George W. Bush and Al Gore emerge victorious in the Republican and Democratic caucuses and primaries of the United States presidential election.

• March 8 – Tokyo train disaster: A sideswipe collision of 2 Tokyo Metro trains kills 5 people.

• March 9 – The FBI arrests art forgery suspect Ely Sakhai in New York City.

• March 9 – Nupedia, predecessor to Wikipedia, is created.

• March 10 – The NASDAQ Composite Index reaches an all-time high of 5,048.

• March 12 – Pope John Paul II apologises for the wrongdoings by members of the Roman Catholic Church throughout the ages.

• March 18 – Republic of China presidential election, 2000: Chen Shui-bian is elected President of the Republic of China (Taiwan); the Democratic Progressive Party ends Kuomintang rule for the first time.

• March 20 – Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown), a former Black Panther, is captured after a gun battle in Atlanta, Georgia that leaves a sheriff's deputy dead.

• March 21 – Pope John Paul II begins the first official visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to Israel.

• March 21 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the government lacks authority to regulate tobacco as an addictive drug, throwing out the Bill Clinton administration's main anti-smoking initiative.

• March 26 – Vladimir Putin is elected President of Russia.

• March 27 – The Phillips explosion of 2000 kills 1 and injured 71 in Pasadena, Texas.

• March 31 – Myra Hindley loses a High Court appeal against her life imprisonment sentence.

April

• April 1 – Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi suffers a stroke, falls into a coma, and dies.

• April 3 – United States v. Microsoft: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.

• April 5 – Yoshiro Mori replaces Keizo Obuchi as prime minister of Japan.

• April 16 – Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor, dies after a reign of 55 years. He was the longest-reigning monarch in the world since the death of Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein.

• April 17 – Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin becomes Raja of Perlis.

• April 22 – Brazil officially celebrates its 500th anniversary, with protests, especially from native and black populations.

• April 22 – In a predawn raid, federal agents seize 6-year old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida and fly him to his Cuban father in Washington, DC, ending one of the most publicized custody battles in U.S. history.

• April 25 – The State of Vermont passes HB847, legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples.

• April 28 – Richard Baumhammers begins a 2-hour racially motivated shooting spree in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, leaving 5 dead and 1 paralyzed.

May

• May 3 – A rare conjunction of 7 celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, planets Mercury–Saturn) occurs on the New Moon.

• May 3 – In San Antonio, Texas, computer pioneer Datapoint files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

• May 4 – After originating in The Philippines, the ILOVEYOU computer virus spreads quickly throughout the world.

• May 11 – The billionth living person in India is born.

• May 11 – Effective date of Canada's first modern-day treaty – The Nisga'a Final Agreement

• May 12 – The Tate Modern Gallery opens in London.

• May 13 – A fireworks factory disaster in Enschede Netherlands, kills 23.

• May 17 – A bomb in Glorietta Mall in Makati City, Philippines injures 13.

• May 20 – Chinese (ROC) president Chen Shui-bian makes the Four Noes and One Without pledge to Taiwan.

• May 25 – Israel withdraws IDF forces from southern Lebanon after 22 years.

June

• June 5 – 405 The Movie, the first short film widely distributed on the Internet, is released.

• June 13 – South Korean President Kim Dae Jung visits North Korea to participate in the first North-South presidential summit.

• June 17 – A centennial earthquake (6.5 on Richter scale) hits Iceland on its national day.

• June 21 – Section 28, a law preventing the promotion of homosexuality, is repealed by the Scottish Parliament.

• June 26 – A preliminary draft of genomes, as part of the Human Genome Project, is finished.

• June 28 – Elian Gonzalez returns to Cuba with his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, ending a protracted custody battle.

• June 30 – At the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen, Denmark, 9 die and 26 are injured on a set while the rock group Pearl Jam performs.

July

• July 2 – France beats Italy 2–1 to win Euro 2000 with a golden goal.

• July 2 – Vicente Fox is elected President of Mexico, as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party), ending 71 years of PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) rule.

• July 10 – In southern Nigeria, a leaking petroleum pipeline explodes, killing about 250 villagers who were scavenging gasoline.

• July 10 – Bashar al-Assad is confirmed as Syria's leader in a national referendum.

• July 11–25 – Israel's prime minister Ehud Barak and PLO head Yasser Arafat meet at Camp David, but fail to reach an agreement.

• July 14 – A powerful solar flare, later named the Bastille Day event, causes a geomagnetic storm on Earth.

• July 18 – Alex Salmond resigns as the leader of the Scottish National Party.

• July 18 – Sussex police launch a murder investigation after the body of a girl found near Pulborough is confirmed to be that of Sarah Payne, who was reported missing on July 1.

• July 21–23 – G-8 Nations hold their 26th Annual Summit; issues include AIDS, the 'digital divide', and halving world poverty by 2015.

• July 22 – News of the World urges its readers to sign a petition for Sarah's Law, new legislation in response to the murder of Sarah Payne, which would give parents the right to know whether a convicted paedophile was living in their area.

• July 25 – Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde aircraft, crashes into a hotel in Gonesse just after takeoff from Paris, killing all 109 aboard and 4 in the hotel.

• July 30 – Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez is reelected with 59% of the vote.

• July 31 – August 3 – The Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania nominates George W. Bush for U.S. President and Dick Cheney for Vice President.

August

• August 3 – Rioting erupts on the Paulsgrove estate in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, after more than 100 people besiege the home of a block of flats allegedly housing a convicted paedophile. This is the latest vigilante violence against suspected sex offenders since the beginning of the "naming and shaming" anti-paedophile campaign by the tabloid newspaper News of the World.

• August 8 – The Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor.

• August 12 – The Russian submarine K-141 Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.

• August 14 – Tsar Nicholas II and his family are canonized by the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.

• August 14–17 – The Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles nominates U.S. Vice President Al Gore for President and Senator Joe Lieberman for Vice President.

• August 23 – John Anthony Kaiser a Roman Catholic priest was murdered in Morendat, Kenya.

• August 27 – The Ostankino Tower fire in Moscow kills 3.

September

• September 5 – Tuvalu joins the United Nations.

• September 5 – The Haverstraw-Ossining Ferry makes its maiden voyage.

• September 6 – In Paragould, Arkansas, Breanna Lynn Bartlett-Stewart is stillborn to Scott Stewart and Lisa Bartlett. Breanna Lynn's stillbirth is notable for being the first stillbirth to be resolved by means of the Kleihauer-Betke test.

• September 6 – The last wholly Swedish-owned arms manufacturer, Bofors, is sold to American arms manufacturer United Defense.

• September 6–8 – World leaders attend the Millennium Summit at UN Headquarters.

• September 7–14 – The UK fuel protests take place, with refineries blockaded, and supply to the country's network of petrol stations halted.

• September 8 – Albania officially joins the World Trade Organization.

• September 14 – Microsoft releases Windows ME.

• September 15 – October 1 – The 2000 Summer Olympics are held in Sydney, Australia.

• September 16 – Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze is last seen alive; this day is taken as the commemoration date of his death.

• September 16 – Peru's president Alberto Fujimori calls for new elections in which he will not run.

• September 26 – The Greek ferry Express Samina sinks off the coast of the island of Paros; 80 out of a total of over 500 passengers perish in one of Greece's worst sea disasters.

• September 26 – Anti-globalization protests in Prague (some 15,000 protesters) turn violent during the IMF and World Bank summits.

• September 28 – Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount, protected by a several-hundred-strong Israeli police force. Palestinian riots erupt, leading to a full-fledged armed uprising (called the Al-Aqsa Intifada by sympathizers and the Oslo War by opponents).

• September 29 – The Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland is closed.

October

• October 1 – The 2000 Summer Olympics close in Sydney, Australia.

• October 5 – President Slobodan Milošević leaves office after widespread demonstrations throughout Serbia.

• October 6 – The last Mini is produced in Longbridge.

• October 11 – 250 million gallons of coal sludge spill in Martin County, Kentucky (considered a greater environmental disaster than the Exxon Valdez oil spill).

• October 12 – In Aden, Yemen, the USS Cole is badly damaged by two Al-Qaeda suicide bombers, who place a small boat laden with explosives alongside the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.

• October 21 – Fifteen Arab leaders convene in Cairo, Egypt, for their first summit in 4 years; the Libyan delegation walks out, angry over signs the summit will stop short of calling for breaking ties with Israel.

• October 22 – The Mainichi Shinbun newspaper exposes Japanese archeologist Shinichi Fujimura as a fraud; Japanese archaeologists had based their treatises on his findings.

• October 23 – Madeleine Albright holds talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il.

• October 26 – Pakistani authorities announce that their police have found an apparently ancient mummy of a Persian princess in the province of Balochistan. Iran, Pakistan and the Taliban all claim the mummy until Pakistan announces it is a forgery on April 17, 2001.

• October 30 – This is the final date during which there is no human presence in space; on October 31, Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station. The ISS has been continuously crewed since.

• October 31 – Singapore Airlines Flight 006 collides with construction equipment in the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport, resulting in 83 deaths.

November

• November – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq rejects new U.N. Security Council weapons inspections proposals.

• November 2 – The first resident crew enters the International Space Station.

• November 3 – Widespread flooding occurs throughout England and Wales after days of heavy rain.

• November 7 – United States presidential election, 2000: Republican candidate Texas Governor George W. Bush defeats Democratic Vice President Al Gore in the closest election in history, but the final outcome is not known for over a month because of disputed votes in Florida.

• November 7 – In London, a criminal gang raids the Millennium Dome to steal The Millennium Star diamond, but police surveillance catches them in the act.

• November 7 – Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected to the United States Senate, becoming the first First Lady of the United States to win public office.

• November 11 – Kaprun disaster, Austria: A cable car fire in an Alpine tunnel kills 155 skiers and snowboarders.

• November 14 – Netscape Navigator 6.0 is launched, following 2 years of open source development, creating a stable Mozilla web browser upon which it is based.

• November 15 – A new Indian state called Jharkhand is formed, carving out the South Chhota Nagpur area from Bihar in India.

• November 16 – Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting U.S. President to visit Vietnam.

• November 17 – A catastrophic landslide in Log pod Mangartom, Slovenia, kills 7, and causes millions of SIT of damage. It is one of the worst catastrophes in Slovenia in the past 100 years.

• November 17 – Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru.

• November 25 – The Rugby League World Cup in England is ended, with Australia winning 40–12 over the New Zealand Kiwis.

• November 26 – The BC Lions win the CFL Championship for the first time since 1994, defeating the Montreal Alouettes 28–26 in the 88th Grey Cup at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta.

• November 27 – Jean Chrétien is re-elected as Prime Minister of Canada, as the Liberal Party increases its majority in the House of Commons.

• November 28 – Ukrainian politician Oleksander Moroz touches off the Cassette Scandal by publicly accusing President Leonid Kuchma of involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

December

• December 1 – Vicente Fox takes office as President of Mexico.

• December 13 – Bush v. Gore: The U.S. Supreme Court stops the Florida presidential recount, effectively giving the state, and the Presidency, to George W. Bush.

• December 13 – The Texas 7 escape from their prison unit in Kenedy, Texas, and start a crime spree.

• December 15 – The third and final reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down and the station is shut down completely.

• December 24 – The Texas 7 rob a sports store in Irving, Texas; police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot dead.

• December 24 – Christmas Eve 2000 Indonesia bombings: 18 people are killed in multiple Islamist bomb attacks on churches across Indonesia.

• December 25 – A shopping center fire at Luoyang, Henan, China kills 309.

• December 28 – U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.

• December 30 – Rizal Day bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines, within a span of a few hours, killing 22 and injuring about 100.

• December 31 – The Millennium Dome closes its doors one year to the day of its opening.

World population

Births

• January 8 – Noah Cyrus, American actress

• February 5 – Jordan Nagai, American voice actor

• August 5 – Maya Bond, Japanese-born American singer and musician

• September 6 – Breanna Lynn Bartlett-Stewart, notable American stillborn baby girl (d. 2000)

• September 26 – Princess Salma bint Al Abdullah II

• September 28 – Frankie Jonas, American actor

• November 20 – Connie Talbot, English singer

Deaths

January

• January 2 – Patrick O'Brian, English writer (b. 1914)

• January 7 – Makhmud Esambayev, Chechen dancer (b. 1924)

• January 9 – Marguerite Churchill, American actress (b. 1910)

• January 15 – Fran Ryan, American actress (b. 1916)

• January 15 – Željko Ražnatović, Serbian mobster and paramilitary leader (b. 1952)

• January 18 – Frances Drake, American actress (b. 1912)

• January 19 – Bettino Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1934)

• January 19 – Hedy Lamarr, Austrian actress (b. 1913)

• January 26 – Don Budge, American tennis champion (b. 1915)

• January 26 – Don Ralke, American music arranger (b. 1920)

February

• February 4 – Phil Tonken, American radio and television announcer (b. 1919)

• February 5 – Claude Autant-Lara, French film director (b. 1901)

• February 5 – Ward Cornell, Canadian radio/TV broadcaster & educator (b. 1924)

• February 5 – Todd Karns, American actor (b. 1921)

• February 7 – Doug Henning, Canadian magician (b. 1947)

• February 7 – Big Pun, American rapper (b. 1971)

• February 9 – Beau Jack, American boxer (b. 1921)

• February 10 – Jim Varney, American actor noted for his character, Ernest P. Worrell. (b. 1949)

• February 11 – Roger Vadim, French film director (b. 1928)

• February 12 – Oliver, American singer (b. 1945)

• February 12 – Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins, American musician (b. 1929)

• February 12 – Tom Landry, American football coach (b. 1924)

• February 12 – Charles M. Schulz, American comic strip artist (Peanuts) (b. 1922)

• February 13 – Anders Aalborg, Canadian politician (b. 1914)

• February 16 – Lila Kedrova, Russian-born French actress (b. 1918)

• February 19 – Friedensreich Hundertwasser, artist (b. 1928)

• February 23 – Sir Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)

• February 23 – Ofra Haza, Israeli singer (b. 1957)

• February 29 – Dennis Danell, American musician (Social Distortion) (b. 1961)

March

• March 3 – Toni Ortelli, Italian composer and alpinist (b. 1904)

• March 5 – Lolo Ferrari, French porn star, billed as "the woman with the largest breasts in the world"

• March 7 – Charles Gray, English actor (b. 1928)

• March 9 – Ivo Robic, Croatian singer (b. 1923)

• March 11 – Alfred Schwarzmann, German Olympic gymnast (b. 1912)

• March 27 – Ian Dury, English singer, songwriter (b. 1942)

• March 28 – Anthony Powell, British author (b. 1905)

• March 30 – Rudolf Kirchschlaeger, Austrian politician (b. 1915)

April

thumb|120px|Habib Bourguiba

• April 3 – Terence McKenna, Writer, Philosopher, Ethnobotanist and Shaman (b. 1946)

• April 4 – Derek Allhusen, British equestrian (b. 1914)

• April 5 – Lee Petty, American race car driver (b. 1914)

• April 6 – Habib Bourguiba, President of Tunisia (b. 1903)

• April 8 – Claire Trevor, American actress (b. 1910)

• April 10 – Larry Linville, American actor (b. 1939)

• April 11 – Diana Darvey, British actress, singer and dancer (b. 1945)

• April 14 – Phil Katz, American computer programmer (b. 1962)

• April 15 – Edward Gorey, American writer and illustrator (b. 1925)

• April 16 – Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, King of Malaysia (b. 1920)

• April 25 – David Merrick, American stage producer (b. 1911)

• April 27 – Vicki Sue Robinson, American singer and actress (b. 1954)

• April 29 – Phạm Văn Ðồng, Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1906)

May

thumb|120px|Keizō Obuchi

• May 1 – Steve Reeves, American actor and bodybuilder (b. 1926)

• May 3 – John Cardinal O'Connor, Archbishop of New York (b. 1920)

• May 7 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American actor (b. 1909)

• May 10 – Craig Stevens, American actor (b. 1918)

• May 11 – René Muñoz, Cuban actor, screenwriter of telenovelas and the cinema of Mexico (b. 1938)

• May 11 – Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (b. 1907)

• May 13 – Tomomi Tsuruta, Former Japanese professional wrestler, better known as Jumbo Tsuruta (b. 1951)

• May 14 – Keizō Obuchi, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)

• May 14 – Karl Shapiro, American poet (b. 1913)

• May 17 – Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1909)

• May 19 – Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut (b. 1933)

• May 20 – Edward Bernds, American director (b. 1905)

• May 20 – Jean Pierre Rampal, French flutist (b. 1922)

• May 21 – Dame Barbara Cartland, English novelist (b. 1901)

• May 21 – Sir John Gielgud, English actor (b. 1904)

• May 21 – Mark R. Hughes, American entrepreneur and founder of Herbalife (b. 1956)

• May 25 – Francis Lederer, American actor (b. 1899)

• May 27 – Maurice Richard, Canadian hockey player (b. 1921)

• May 27 – Kazimierz Leski, Polish engineer, fighter pilot, and Home Army's intelligence and counter-intelligence officer (b. 1912)

• May 30 – Doris Hare, English actress, well known for her role in the 1970s comedy, On the Buses (b. 1905)

• May 31 – John Coolidge, son of American President Calvin Coolidge (b. 1906)

• May 31 – Tito Puente, American jazz musician (b. 1923)

June

thumb|120px|Empress Kōjun

• June 10 – Hafez al-Assad, President of Syria (b. 1930)

• June 10 – Frank Patterson, Irish tenor (b. 1938)

• June 14 – Robert Trent Jones, English-born golf course designer (b. 1906)

• June 16 – Empress Kōjun of Japan (b. 1903)

• June 17 – Brian Statham, English cricketer (b. 1930)

• June 17 – Ismail Mahomed, South African and Namibian Chief Justice (b. 1931)

• June 18 – Nancy Marchand, American actress (b. 1928)

• June 21 – Alan Hovhaness, American composer (b. 1911)

• June 23 – Peter Dubovský, Slovak footballer (b. 1972)

• June 24 – David Tomlinson, English actor (b. 1917)

• June 29 – John Aspinall, British zoo owner (b. 1926)

• June 29 – Vittorio Gassman, Italian actor (b. 1922)

July

thumb|120px|Walter Matthau

• July 1 – Walter Matthau, American actor (b. 1920)

• July 2 – Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle racer (b. 1952)

• July 3 – Harold Nicholas, American dancer (b. 1921)

• July 7 – James C. Quayle, American newspaper publisher (b. 1921)

• July 7 – Kenny Irwin, NASCAR driver (b. 1969)

• July 8 – FM-2030, Transhumanist philosopher (b. 1930)

• July 10 – Vakkom Majeed, Indian Freedom fighter, Travancore-Cochin Legislative member (b. 1909)

• July 10 – Denis O'Conor Don, hereditary chief of the O'Conor Don sept of Ireland (b. 1912)

• July 10 – Conrad McRae, professional basketball player (b. 1971)

• July 11 – Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1921)

• July 12 – Charles Merritt, Canadian Army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross during World War II (b. 1908)

• July 14 – Meredith MacRae, American actress (b. 1944)

• July 27 – Gordon Solie, American wrestling commentator (b. 1929)

• July 28 – Abraham Pais, Dutch-born American physicist (b. 1918)

• July 29 – René Favaloro, Argentinian cardiologist who created the technique for coronary bypass surgery (b. 1923)

August

thumb|120px|Alec Guinness
thumb|120px|Carl Barks

• August 5 – Sir Alec Guinness, English actor and writer (b. 1914)

• August 5 – Otto Buchsbaum, writer and ecological activist (b. 1920)

• August 6 – Sir Robin Day, British political broadcaster (b. 1923)

• August 9 – John Harsanyi, Hungarian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)

• August 9 – Bob Lido, American musician (b. 1914)

• August 12 – Loretta Young, American actress (b. 1913)

• August 12 – Dave Edwards, American musician (b. 1941)

• August 13 – Nazia Hassan First South Asian Pop Singer. (b.1965)

• August 19 – Bineshwar Brahma, Bodo activist and leader (b. 1946)

• August 21 – Daniel Lisulo, Zambian politician (b. 1930)

• August 25 – Carl Barks, American cartoonist (b. 1901)

• August 26 – Bunny Austin, English tennis player (b. 1906)

September

• September 2 – Elvera Sanchez, American dancer (b. 1905)

• September 2 – Curt Siodmak, American novelist and screenwriter (b. 1902)

• September 6 – Breanna Lynn Bartlett-Stewart, notable American stillborn baby girl (b. 2000)

• September 14 – Beah Richards, American actress (b. 1920)

• September 16 – Georgiy Gongadze, Ukrainian journalist (b. 1969)

• September 19 – Ann Doran, American actress (b. 1911)

• September 19 – Anthony Robert Klitz, British artist (b 1917)

• September 20 – Gherman Titov, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1935)

• September 23 – Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican Major League Baseball player (b. 1947)

• September 25 – R. S. Thomas, Welsh poet (b. 1913)

• September 26 – Richard Mulligan, American actor (b. 1932)

• September 26 – Carl Sigman, American songwriter (b. 1909)

• September 27 – Sammy Luftspring, Canadian boxer (b. 1916)

• September 28 – Peter Gennaro, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1919)

• September 28 – Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1919)

October

thumb|right|120px|Steve Allen

• October 3 – Benjamin Orr, the Cars bassist and singer (b. 1947)

• October 4 – Michael Smith, English-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)

• October 6 – Richard Farnsworth, American actor (b. 1920)

• October 8 – Sheila Holland (Sheila Coates, Charlotte Lamb, Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf, Laura Hardy), English writer (b. 1937)

• October 9 – David Dukes, American actor (b. 1945)

• October 9 – Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross (b. 1918)

• October 11 – Donald Dewar, Scottish politician (b. 1937)

• October 13 – Jean Peters, American actress (b. 1926)

• October 13 – Tony Roper, NASCAR driver (b. 1964)

• October 15 – Konrad Emil Bloch, German-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912)

• October 18 – Julie London, American singer and actress (b. 1926)

• October 18 – Gwen Verdon, American actress (b. 1925)

• October 21 – Reginald Kray, leading figure in organised crime in London, UK (b. 1933)

• October 23 – Rodney Anoa'i, American wrestler known as Yokozuna (b. 1966)

• October 27 – Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (b. 1929)

• October 29 – Andújar Cedeño, Dominican Major League Baseball player for the Houston Astros (b. 1969)

• October 30 – Steve Allen, American comedian, composer, talk show host, and author (b. 1921)

• October 31 – Ring Lardner, Jr., American screenwriter, one of the Hollywood Ten (b. 1915)

November

thumb|120px|Ingrid of Sweden

• November 5 – David Brower, American environmental activist (b. 1912)

• November 5 – Roger Peyrefitte, French writer and diplomat (b. 1907)

• November 6 – L. Sprague de Camp, American writer (b. 1907)

• November 7 – C Subramaniam, Indian politician (b. 1910)

• November 7 – Ingrid of Sweden, Queen consort of Frederick IX of Denmark (b. 1910)

• November 11 – Hugh Paddick, British actor (b. 1915)

• November 22 – Sir Cyril Astley Clarke, British physician, geneticist and entomologist, former President of the Royal College of Physicians (b. 1907)

• November 22 – Christian Marquand, French actor and director (b. 1927)

• November 22 – Emil Zátopek, Czech Olympic athlete (b. 1922)

• November 28 – Liane Haid, Austrian actress (b. 1895)

December

thumb|right|120px|Gangodawila Soma Thero

• December 2 – Gail Fisher, American actress (b. 1935)

• December 3 – Gwendolyn Brooks, African American writer (b. 1917)

• December 6 – Werner Klemperer, German actor (b. 1920)

• December 10 – Paul Avery, American journalist (b. 1934)

• December 10 – Marie Windsor, American actress (b. 1919)

• December 12 – Gangodawila Soma Thero, Sri Lankan Buddhist Monk (b. 1948)

• December 12 – George Montgomery, American actor (b. 1916)

• December 18 – Kirsty MacColl, British singer-songwriter (b. 1959)

• December 19 – Roebuck "Pops" Staples, patriarch of The Staple Singers (b. 1914)

• December 23 – Billy Barty, American actor (b. 1924)

• December 23 – Victor Borge, Danish-born comedian and pianist (b. 1909)

• December 23 – Noor Jehan, Pakistani actress and singer (b. 1926)

• December 24 – Nick Massi, bass singer and bass guitarist for The Four Seasons.(b. 1935)

• December 26 – Jason Robards, American actor (b. 1922)

• December 30 – Julius J. Epstein, American screenwriter (b. 1909)

• December 31 – Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, Israeli settler leader (b. 1966)

Nobel Prizes

• Chemistry – Alan J. Heeger, Alan MacDiarmid, Hideki Shirakawa

• Economics – James Heckman, Daniel McFadden

• Literature – Gao Xingjian

• Peace – Kim Dae Jung

• Physics – Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, Herbert Kroemer, Jack Kilby

• Physiology or Medicine – Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard, Eric R. Kandel

Templeton Prize

• Freeman Dyson

See also

• Year 2000 baby boom