1997
1997 (
MCMXCVII) was a
common year starting on Wednesday of the
Gregorian calendar.
January
*
January 5 -
NBC's
Today Show host
Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time.
*
January 8 -
Mister Rogers receives a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
*
January 9 - Yachtsman
Tony Bullimore is found alive, five days after his boat capsized in the Southern Ocean.
*
January 16 -
Ennis Cosby, the only son of actor
Bill Cosby, is killed by a gunman while changing a flat tire in
Los Angeles, California.
*
January 18 - In northwest
Rwanda,
Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound one other.
*
January 19 -
Yasser Arafat returns to
Hebron after more than 30 years, and joins celebrations over the handover of the last
Israeli-controlled
West Bank city.
*
January 20 -
Bill Clinton starts his second term as
President of the United States.
*
January 21 -
Newt Gingrich becomes the first
Speaker of the House to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct.
*
January 22 -
Madeleine Albright becomes the first female secretary of state after confirmation by the
United States Senate.
*
January 23 -
Mir Aimal Kasi receives the death sentence for a
1993 assault rifle attack outside
CIA headquarters that killed two and wounded three others.
*
January 26 - The
Green Bay Packers defeat the
New England Patriots, 35-21, in
Super Bowl XXXI.
*
January 27 - It is revealed that
French museums had nearly 2,000 pieces of art that were stolen by
Nazis.
*
January 28 -
Clive Davis receives a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
February
*
February 4 -
O. J. Simpson is found in civil court to be liable for the death of
Ron Goldman and for the battery of
Nicole Brown Simpson.
Simpson is ordered to pay $35,000,000 in damages to the families of the two victims
*
February 4 - On their way to
Lebanon, two
Israeli troop-transport
helicopters collide, killing 73.
*
February 4 - After at first contesting the results,
Serbian President
Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November
1996 elections.
*
February 5 - The so-called "Big Three" banks in
Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid
Holocaust survivors and their families.
*
February 5 -
Morgan Stanley and
Dean Witter investment banks announce a $10 billion merger.
*
February 6 - British citizen
Diane Blood wins the right to use the sperm of her dead husband to have a child.
*
February 9 -
The Simpsons surpasses
The Flintstones as the longest-running prime-time
animated series.
*
February 10 - The
United States Army suspends Sgt. Major
Gene McKinney, its top-ranking
enlisted soldier, after hearing allegations of sexual misconduct.
*
February 10 -
Australian newspapers publish stories that the government of
Papua New Guinea has brought mercenaries onto
Bougainville - the
Sandline affair goes public.
*
February 13 - The
Washington Post reported that
U.S. Justice Department investigators found evidence the Chinese Embassy in
Washington, DC may have coordinated financial contributions to the Democratic party in violation of U.S. law. This brings a new dimension to the growing
1996 U.S. campaign finance scandal.
*
February 13 - Tune-up and repair work on the
Hubble Space Telescope is started by
astronauts from the Space Shuttle
Discovery.
*
February 13 - The
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 7,000
for the first time, gaining 60.81 to 7,022.44.
*
February 19 - The last of the
People's Republic of China's major revolutionaries,
Deng Xiaoping, dies at 92, this was followed by weeks of mourning for the leader.
*
February 22 - In
Roslin,
Scotland, scientists announce that an adult
sheep named
Dolly had been successfully
cloned, and was born in
July 1996.
*
February 23 - A large fire occurred in the
Russian
Space station,
Mir.
*
February 28 - The
North Hollywood shootout takes place between two heavily armed bank robbers and the
Los Angeles Police Department SWAT Team.
March
|
Osaka Dome during the evening. |
*
March 1 - The
Osaka Dome opens in Chiyozaki,
Nishi-ku,
Osaka,
Japan.
*
March 4 -
United States President Bill Clinton bars federal funding for any research on
human cloning.
*
March 6 -
Picasso's
Tête de Femme is stolen from a
London gallery (it was recovered a week later).
*
March 6 - In
Sri Lanka,
Tamil Tigers overrun a
military base and kill more than 200.
*
March 9 -
Rap legend
Notorious B.I.G. is murdered in
Los Angeles, just six months after the killing of
Tupac Shakur.
*
March 10 - The main office of
Fuji TV moves from Kawadacho,
Shinjuku-ku,
Tokyo,
Japan to
Odaiba,
Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
*
March 11 - An explosion at a
nuclear waste reprocessing plant in
Japan exposes 35 workers to low-level
radioactive contamination, in the worst
nuclear accident in
Japan's history.
*
March 12 -
Mikail Markhasev is arrested in
Los Angeles, California and charged with shooting
Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son,
Ennis Cosby.
*
March 13 -
India's Missionaries of Charity chooses
Sister Nirmala to succeed
Mother Teresa as its leader.
*
March 16 -
Sandline affair - On
Bougainville, soldiers of commander
Jerry Singirok arrest
Tim Spicer and his
mercenaries of the
Sandline International.
*
March 18 - The tail of a
Russian
An-24 charter plane breaks off while en-route to
Turkey, causing the plane to crash, killing all 50 on board, and resulting in the grounding of all An-24s.
*
March 21 - In
Zaire,
Etienne Tshiksekedi is appointed new prime minister - he ejects supporters of
Mobutu Sese Seko from his cabinet.
*
March 21 - Mercenaries of
Sandline International withdraw from
Papua New Guinea.
*
March 22 - Fourteen year, 10 month old
Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest champion of the women's world
figure skating competition.
*
March 22 - The comet
Hale-Bopp has its closest approach to Earth.
*
March 24 -
Roberto Sanchez Vilella, the second Democratically Elected
Governor of Puerto Rico, dies at age 84.
*
March 26 - Thirty-nine bodies are found in the
Heaven's Gate cult compound, in
San Diego,
California, the result of a mass suicide.
*
March 26 - Survey of a claimed gold site of
Bre-X Minerals in
Indonesia reveals it is worthless; Bre-X complains and accuses Internet rumours.
*
March 26 -
Julius Chan resigns as a prime minister of
Papua New Guinea - the
Sandline affair ends.
April
*
April 1 -
Comic strip switcheroo - Cartoonists of popularly syndicated comic strips swapped cartoons for the day.
*
April 3 -
Thalit massacre begins in
Algeria; all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
*
April 11 - Fire damages the
Turin Cathedral in
Italy.
*
April 13 -ECW has their first ppv called Barely Legal. The shopw is now on DVD with ECW One Night Stand 2006.
*
April 14 - Fire breaks out in a pilgrim camp on the Plain of Mena, seven miles form Mecca - 343 die.
*
April 14 - Former SS Captain
Erich Priebke is retried. On
July 22 he is sentenced for five years in prison.
*
April 16 -
Houston,
Texas socialite
Doris McGowen Beck Angleton is murdered in her
River Oaks home.
Roger Nicholas Angleton admits to the crime in the suicide note. Despite being found innocent of the crime by a
Texas jury, he later gets arrested by the
Department of Justice for similar charges.
*
April 18 - The
Red River of the North breaks through dikes and
floods Grand Forks, North Dakota and
East Grand Forks, Minnesota, causing
$2 billion in damage.
*
April 21 - First
space burial, carrying the remains of 24 people on a Pegasus rocket into earth orbit.
*
April 22 -
Haouch Khemisti massacre in
Algeria; 93 villagers killed.
*
April 22 - A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the
Japanese ambassador in
Lima,
Peru ends after government commandos storm and capture the building rescuing 71 hostages. One hostage dies of a
heart attack, two soldiers are killed from rebel fire, and all 14
Tupac Amaru rebels are slain.
*
April 22 -
France supports the new
transitional government in
Zaire, withdrawing its support of
Mobutu.
*
April 23 -
Omaria massacre in
Algeria; 42 villagers killed.
*
April 27 -
Andrew Cunanan murders
Jeffrey Trail, beginning a murder spree that will last until July and terminate with the murder of fashion designer
Gianni Versace.
May
*
May 1 -
Tasmania becomes the last state in
Australia to decriminalize
homosexuality*
May 1 - The
UK's
Labour Party ends 18 years of
Conservative rule in the
1997 UK general election.
*
May 1 -
HM Prison Pentridge in
Melbourne,
Australia, is officially closed.
*
May 2 -
Tony Blair is appointed
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
*
May 10 - An
earthquake near
Ardekul, in northeastern
Iran, kills at least 2,400.
*
May 11 -
IBM's
Deep Blue defeated
Garry Kasparov in the
last game of the rematch, the first time a computer beat a
chess World champion in a match.
*
May 12 - The
Russian-
Chechen Peace Treaty signed.
*
May 14 - The
Star Alliance is formed between
Air Canada,
Lufthansa,
SAS,
Thai Airways International and
United Airlines.
*
May 14 -
Laurent Kabila does not attend a second meeting with
Mobutu.
*
May 16-
Mobutu Sese Seko leaves
Kinshasa (eventually settles in Morocco).
*
May 16 - US President
Bill Clinton issues a formal apology to the surviving victims of the
Tuskegee Syphilis Study and their families, 25 years after the 40 year "study" was exposed by reporter
Jean Heller.
*
May 17 - Troops of
Laurent Kabila march into
Kinshasa*
May 22 -
Women in the military:
Kelly Flinn, the
U.S. Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepts a
general discharge in order to avoid a
court martial.
*
May 25 -
Strom Thurmond becomes the longest serving member in the history of the
United States Senate (41 years and 10 months).
*
May 25 - A military
coup in
Sierra Leone replaces President
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major
Johnny Paul Koromah.
*
May 27 - A strong tornado hits in
Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 people. It was the second deadliest tornado of the
1990s (see
Jarrell Tornado).
*
May 31 - Official opening of the
Confederation Bridge, the longest bridge spanning ice covered waters, between
Prince Edward Island and
New Brunswick.
June
|
Timothy McVeigh's police mug shot |
*
June 1 -
Iraq disarmament crisis:
Iraqi military escorts on board an UNSCOM helicopter try to physically prevent the UNSCOM pilot from flying the helicopter in the direction of its planned destination, threatening the safety of the aircraft and their crews.
*
June 1 -
Chivas wins
Verano '97 championship 7-2 against
Toros Neza, winning their 10th championship.
*
June 2 -
Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the
1995 terrorist bombing of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
*
June 5 -
Kim Hyun Chul, son of
Kim Young Sam,
president of South Korea, is charged with
bribery and
corruption related to the awarding of
government contracts.
*
June 6 -
Melissa Drexler, a high school senior in
New Jersey, kills her newborn baby in a toilet.
*
June 7 - A computer user known as "_eci" published his
Microsoft C source code on a
Windows 95 and
Windows NT exploit, which would later become
WinNuke. The source code gets wide distribution across the
internet, and
Microsoft is forced to release a security patch.
*
June 10 -
Khmer Rouge leader
Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief,
Son Sen, and 11 of Sen's family members, before Pol Pot flees his northern stronghold (the news did not reach outside
Cambodia for three days).
*
June 11 - The British
House of Commons votes for a total ban on
handguns.
*
June 12 - The
United States Department of the Treasury unveils a new
$50 bill, meant to be more
counterfeit-resistant.
*
June 13 - A jury sentences
Timothy McVeigh to the
death penalty for his part in the 1995
Oklahoma City bombing.
*
June 16 -
Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; some 50 people killed.
*
June 16 -
Radiohead's landmark third album
OK Computer is released.
*
June 19 - The fast food chain
McDonald's wins a partial victory in its libel trial, known as the
McLibel case, against two environmental campaigners. The judge decides it was true that McDonald's targeted its advertising at children, who pestered their parents into visiting company's restaurants.
*
June 21 - French musician
Jean Michel Jarre's
"Oxygene Tour" concert in
Spodek (
Katowice,
Poland), for
deaf and poorly hearing
children of
Europe.
*
June 25 - An unmanned
Progress spacecraft collides with the
Russian
Space station,
Mir.
*
June 30 - The first book in the award winning
Harry Potter series by
J. K. Rowling is published.
July
*
July 1 - The
United Kingdom hands sovereignty of
Hong Kong to the
People's Republic of China.
*
July 4 -
NASA's
Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of
Mars.
*
July 5 - In
Cambodia,
Hun Sen of the
Cambodian People's Party overthrows
Norodom Ranariddh in a
coup.
*
July 6 - A major wildfire burns approximately 40% of Seich Sou, a forest just north of
Thessaloniki, also posing a significant threat to several areas in the city.
*
July 8 -
Mayo Clinic researchers warn that the
dieting-drug "
fen-phen" can cause severe
heart and
lung damage.
*
July 8 -
NATO invites the
Czech Republic,
Hungary, and
Poland to join the alliance in
1999.
*
July 10 - In
London, scientists report their
DNA analysis findings from a
Neanderthal skeleton, which support the
out of Africa theory of
human evolution, placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
*
July 10 -
Miguel Ángel Blanco is kidnapped in the Spanish city of
Ermua and two days before, murdered by
ETA. At this time the "
Ermua spirit" was born.
*
July 13 - The remains of
Che Guevara are returned to
Cuba for burial, alongside some of his other comrades.
*
July 15 -
Serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan shoots fashion designer
Gianni Versace to death outside Versace's
Miami, Florida residence.
*
July 16 - The
Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 63.17 to close at 8,038.88. It is the Dow's
first close above 8,000. The Dow has doubled its value in 30 months.
*
July 17 - The
F.W. Woolworth Company closes after
117 years in business.
*
July 21 - The fully restored
USS Constitution (aka "
Old Ironsides") celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
*
July 22 - The second
Blue Water Bridge opens between
Port Huron, Michigan and
Sarnia, Ontario.
*
July 23 -
Digital Equipment Corporation files
antitrust charges against chipmaker
Intel.
*
July 25 -
K.R. Narayanan is sworn-in as
India's 10th president and the first member of the
Dalit caste to hold this office.
*
July 27 -
Si Zerrouk massacre in
Algeria; about 50 people killed.
August
*
August 1 -
Boeing and
McDonnell Douglas complete merger.
*
August 2 -
Australian ski instructor
Stuart Diver is rescued as the sole survivor from the
Thredbo landslide in
New South Wales,
Australia, in which 18 lives were lost.
*
August 3 -
Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in
Algeria; 40-76 villagers killed.
*
August 4 - 185,000
Teamsters union
United Parcel Service drivers walk off the job.
*
August 6 -
Microsoft buys a $150 million share of financially troubled
Apple Computer.
*
August 13 - In
Belo Horizonte,
Brazil,
Cruzeiro wins
Sporting Cristal of
Peru by 1-0 and are
Copa Libertadores de América champions by second time.
South Park premieres on
Comedy Central.
*
August 20 -
Souhane massacre in
Algeria; over 60 people killed, 15 kidnapped.
*
August 26 -
Beni-Ali massacre in
Algeria; 60-100 people killed.
*
August 26 - The
Independent International Commission on Decommissioning is set up in
Northern Ireland, as part of the peace process.
*
August 29 -
Rais massacre in
Algeria; over 98 (and possibly up to 400) people killed.
*
August 29 -
Christopher Maier of
Lexington, Kentucky is bludgeoned to death by serial killer
Angel Maturino Resendiz.
Angel also rapes and beats Christopher's girlfriend, who survives. This is the first of a string of murders that Angel commits.
*
August 31 -
Diana, Princess of Wales is taken to a hospital after a car crash shortly after midnight in the
Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in
Paris. She is pronounced dead at 4:00 am that morning.
September
*
September 3 -
Arizona Governor
Fife Symington is convicted for various crimes tied to his
real estate business, effectively forcing him out of office.
*
September 4 - In
Lorain, Ohio, the last
Ford Thunderbird for three years rolls off the
assembly line.
*
September 5 -
Beni-Messous massacre in
Algeria; over 87 killed.
*
September 5 - The
IOC picks
Athens to be the host city for the
2004 Summer Olympics.
*
September 5 -
Mother Theresa of
Calcutta dies of heart failure in
Kolkata,
India.
*
September 6 - The funeral of
Diana, Princess of Wales takes place at
Westminster Abbey, watched by over 1 billion people worldwide.
*
September 6 - 3.5 million people attended a
Jean Michel Jarre's
Oxygen in Moscow concert celebrating the 850th anniversary of
Moscow.
*
September 7 - First test flight of the
F-22 Raptor.
*
September 11 -
Scotland votes to create its own Parliament after 290 years of union with
England.
*
September 13 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: An
Iraqi military officer attacks an UNSCOM weapons inspector on board an UNSCOM helicopter while the inspector was attempting to take photographs of unauthorized movement of Iraqi vehicles inside a site designated for inspection
*
September 15 -
Norwegian parliamentary election, 1997*
September 17 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: While waiting for access to a site, UNSCOM inspectors witness and videotape
Iraqi guards moving files, burning documents, and dumping waste cans into a nearby river.
*
September 18 -
Wales votes in favour of
devolution and the formation of a
National Assembly.
*
September 19 -
Guelb El-Kebir massacre in
Algeria; 53 killed.
*
September 21 - The
AIS, the
FIS' armed wing, declares a unilateral ceasefire in
Algeria.
*
September 22 -
Bentalha massacre in
Algeria; over 200 villagers killed.
*
September 25 -
Iraq disarmament crisis: UNSCOM inspector Dr. Diane Seaman catches several
Iraqi men sneaking out the back door of an inspection site, with log books for the creation of prohibited bacteria and chemicals.
*
September 26 - An air crash in
Indonesia kills 234 people. Probable cause is the smoke rising from numerous forest fires in the area.
*
September 26 - An
earthquake strikes the
Italian regions of
Umbria and
Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at
Assisi to collapse.
*
September 27 - The
Požega Diocese (
Catholic) is founded.
October
*
October 1 - The main office of
Kansai TV moves from Nishi-Temma,
Kita-ku,
Osaka,
Japan to Ogimachi, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan.
*
October 1 -
Luke Woodham walked into
Pearl High School in
Pearl, Mississippi and opened fire, killing two girls, after earlier in the morning killing his mother.
*
October 2 –
UK scientists
Moira Bruce and
John Collinge, with their colleagues, independently show that the new variant form of the
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is the same disease as
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or "mad-cow disease".
*
October 4 - One million men gather for
Promise Keepers' "
Stand in the Gap" event in
Washington, DC.
*
October 12 -
Sidi Daoud massacre in
Algeria; 43 killed at a fake roadblock.
*
October 15 -
Andy Green sets the first supersonic
land speed record for the
ThrustSSC team, led by
Richard Noble of the
United Kingdom. ThrustSSC goes through the flying mile course at Black Rock Desert, Nevada at an average speed of 1,227.985 km/h (763.035 mph).
*
October 17 - The remains of
Che Guevara are laid to rest with full military honours in a specially built mausoleum in the city of Santa Clara,
Cuba, where he had won the decisive battle of the Cuban Revolution thirty-nine years before.
*
October 27 - The
Florida Marlins win Game 7 of the
1997 World Series agaist the
Cleveland Indians 3-2 in 11 innings.
*
October 27 -
Stock markets around the world
crash because of a global
economic crisis scare. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average follows suit and plummets 554.26, or 7.18%, to 7,161.15. The points loss exceeds the loss from
Black Monday. Officials at the
New York Stock Exchange for the first time invoke the "circuit breaker" rule to stop trading (this was a very controversial move and prompted a quick change in the rule; trading stops will only occur when the DJIA drops at least 10 or 20 percent) (see
October 27, 1997 mini-crash).
*
October 28 - The
bulls come running back as the
Dow Jones Industrial Average gains a record 337.17 to 7,498.32. One billion shares are traded on the
New York Stock Exchange for the first time ever.
*
October 29 -
Iraq disarmament crisis:
Iraq says it will begin shooting down
U-2 surveillance planes being used by UNSCOM inspectors.
*
October 30 -
British au pair
Louise Woodward is found guilty of the
baby-shaking death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.
November
*
November 3 - In
France, striking truck drivers blockade ports during a dispute over pay.
*
November 10 - Telcoms
WorldCom and
MCI Communications announce a US$37 billion merger to form
MCI WorldCom (the largest merger in US history).
*
November 10 - A jury in
Fairfax, Virginia finds
Mir Aimal Kasi guilty of the murder of two
CIA employees in
1993.
*
November 11 -
Mary McAleese is elected the eighth
President of Ireland.
*
November 11 - The last
Pentium 586 MMX cpu (233 MHz) is made (until the Pentium II).
*
November 12 -
Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the
1993 World Trade Center bombing.
*
November 16 - After nearly
18 years of incarceration, the
People's Republic of China releases
Wei Jingsheng, a pro-
democracy dissident, from jail for medical reasons.
*
November 17 - In
Luxor,
Egypt, 62 people are killed by 6
Islamic militants outside the
Temple of Hatshepsut (police killed the assailants).
*
November 19 - In
Carlisle, Iowa,
Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to
septuplets in the second known case where all seven babies were born alive.
*
November 27 - Second
Souhane massacre in
Algeria; 25 killed.
December
*
December 1 -
Michel Carneal fires at fellow students at Heath High School in
West Paducah, Kentucky, leaving three dead and five wounded.
*
December 3 - In
Ottawa,
Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign a
treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel
landmines. The
United States,
People's Republic of China, and
Russia do not sign the treaty, however.
*
December 16 - An episode of
Pokémon (called
Electric Soldier Porygon) in
Japan causes 685 children to have
epileptic seizures. The majority of these seizures are later determined to be the result of
collective hysteria.
*
December 24 -
Sid El-Antri massacre in
Algeria; 50-100 villagers killed.
*
December 27 -
Loyalist paramilitary leader
Billy Wright is assassinated in
Northern Ireland, inside
Long Kesh prison.
*
December 29 -
Hong Kong begins to kill all the
chickens within its territory (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly
influenza strain.
*
December 30 - In the worst incident in
Algeria's insurgency, the
Wilaya of Relizane massacres of December 30, 1997, 400 people are killed from four villages in the
wilaya of
Relizane:
Khrouba (176 deaths),
Sahnoun (113 deaths),
El-Abadel (73 deaths), and
Ouled-Tayeb (50 deaths). Six days later they would be followed by another set of local massacres.
*
December 31 - After 26 years in operation,
Opryland USA theme park in
Nashville,
Tennessee closes permanently.
*
December 31 -
X Japan's last live at Tokyo Dome.
Unknown Dates
*
Miami police arrests Russian criminal who tries to sell a Russian submarine to the
Colombian drug cartels.
* The term
"weblog" was coined by
Jorn Barger in December 1997.
* The
Toyota Prius comes to showrooms, only in
Japan. The Prius was the first hybrid vehicle to go into full production. The Prius would come to US showrooms in
2000.
Fictional Events
*
January 12:
HAL 9000 comes online in the novel
2001: A Space Odyssey (it's 1992 in the movie)
*
August 29:
Judgment Day in the
Schwarzenegger movie
Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
*
October 1: The "end day" in the
SNK game,
Crystalis for the
NES and
Game Boy Color.
*
October 16: The Jupiter II was supposed to launched. (
Lost in Space).
* Unknown:
Michael Corleone dies in Sicily following his retirement (
The Godfather, Part III).
* Unknown: Dr. Proton begins his assault on the Earth in
Duke Nukem.
*
February 1 -
Ellie Phaunt, American actress
*
May 1 -
Ariel Gade, American actress
*
July 20 -
Billi Bruno, American actress
*
October 3-
Ariel Allen Smith American actress
*
November 19 -
McCaughey septuplets, the world's first surviving set of septuplets
January
*
January 6 -
Catherine Scorsese, Italian-American actress (b.
1912)
*
January 10 -
Sheldon Leonard, American producer, actor, director (b.
1907)
* January 10 -
Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1907)
*
January 12 -
Charles B. Huggins, Canadian-born cancer researcher, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1901)
*
January 17 -
Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (b.
1906)
*
January 19 -
James Dickey, American poet and novelist (b.
1923)
*
January 20 -
Curt Flood, American baseball player (b.
1938)
*
January 21 - Colonel
Tom Parker, Dutch-born celebrity manager (b.
1909)
*
January 30 -
Nicholas Mallett, TV director
February
*
February 1 -
Herb Caen, American newspaper columnist (b.
1916)
*
February 2 -
Chico Science, Brazilian musician (automobile accident) (b.
1967)
*
February 5 -
Pamela Harriman, U.S. Ambassador to France (b.
1920)
*
February 11 -
Don Porter, American actor (b.
1912)
*
February 19 -
Deng Xiaoping, leader of the People's Republic of China (b.
1904)
March
*
March 4 -
Robert H. Dicke, American experimental physicist (b.
1916)
*
March 4 -
Carey Loftin, American actor and stuntman (b.
1914)
*
March 6 -
Cheddi Jagan,
President of Guyana (b.
1918)
*
March 7 -
Edward Mills Purcell, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1912)
* March 7 -
Martin Kippenberger, German artist (b.
1953)
*
March 9 -
The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (b.
1972)
*
March 10 -
La Vern Baker, American singer (b.
1929)
*
March 14 -
Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-born director (b.
1907)
*
March 19 -
Willem de Kooning, Dutch artist (b.
1904)
*
March 20 -
Tony Zale, American boxer (b.
1913)
*
March 21 -
W.V. Awdry, British children's writer (b.
1911)
April
*
April 5 -
Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b.
1926)
*
April 7 -
Witto Aloma, Cuban
Major League Baseball player (b.
1923)
* April 7 -
Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut (b.
1935)
*
April 12 -
George Wald, American scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1903)
*
April 16 -
Doris Angleton, American socialite (b.
1951)
* April 16 -
Roland Topor, French illustrator (b.
1938)
May
*
May 2 -
John Carew Eccles, Australian neurophysiologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1903)
*
May 5 -
Walter Gotell, German actor (b.
1924)
*
May 14 -
Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician (b.
1934)
*
May 22 -
Alfred Hershey, American biochemist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1908)
*
May 23 -
James Lee Byars, American artist (b.
1932)
*
May 24 -
Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (b.
1923)
*
May 29 -
Jeff Buckley, American musician (drowned) (b.
1966)
*
May 31 -
James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist (b.
1905)
June
*
June 3 -
Dennis James, American game show host. (b.
1917)
*
June 22 -
Gérard Pelletier, French journalist, politician and diplomat (b.
1919)
*
June 24 -
Brian Keith, American actor (b.
1921)
*
June 26 -
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, Hawaiian singer (b.
1959)
*
June 28 -
Mrs. Miller, American singer (b.
1907)
July
*
July 1 -
Robert Mitchum, American actor (b.
1917)
*
July 2 -
James Stewart, American actor (b.
1908)
*
July 4 -
Charles Kuralt, American television reporter (b.
1934)
* July 4 -
John Zachary Young, British biologist (b.
1907)
*
July 15 -
Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (murdered) (b.
1946)
*
July 20 -
John Akii-Bua Ugandan hurdler (b.
1949)
*
July 23 -
Chuhei Nambu, Japanese athlete (b.
1904)
*
July 24 -
William J. Brennan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b.
1906)
August
*
August 2 -
William S. Burroughs, American author (b.
1914)
*
August 2 -
Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician and political activist (b.
1938)
*
August 8 -
Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist (b.
1915)
*
August 10 -
Conlon Nancarrow, American-born composer (b.
1912)
*
August 12 -
Luther Allison, American musician (b.
1939)
*
August 23 -
John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b.
1917)
*
August 24 -
Louis Essen, English physicist (b.
1908)
*
August 31 -
Diana, Princess of Wales, (automobile accident) (b.
1961)
*
August 31 -
Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (automobile accident) (b.
1955)
September
*
September 2 -
Rudolph Bing, Austrian opera manager (b.
1902)
*
September 2 -
Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (b.
1905)
*
September 5 -
Georg Solti, Hungarian conductor (b.
1912)
*
September 5 -
Mother Teresa, Albanian missionary and humanitarian, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (b.
1910)
*
September 9 -
Burgess Meredith, American actor (b.
1907)
*
September 17 -
Red Skelton, American comedian (b.
1913)
*
September 19 -
Rich Mullins, American musician (b.
1955)
*
September 25 -
Jean Françaix, French composer (b.
1912)
October
*
October 1 -
Jerome H. Lemelson, American inventor (b.
1923)
*
October 4 -
Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese video game franchise creator (automobile accident) (b.
1941)
*
October 5 -
Brian Pillman, Professional wrestler (overdose) (b.1962)
*
October 6 -
Adrienne Hill, British actress
* October 6 -
Johnny Vander Meer, baseball player (b.
1914)
*
October 12 -
John Denver, American musician (b.
1943)
*
October 19 -
Glen Buxton, American guitarist (b.
1947)
*
October 23 -
Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker (b.
1916)
*
October 24 -
Don Messick, American voice actor (b.
1926)
*
October 29 -
Anton Szandor LaVey, American founder of the Church of Satan (b.
1930)
November
*
November 5 - Sir
Isaiah Berlin, Russian historian of ideas (b.
1909)
*
November 11 -
Rodney Milburn, American athlete (b.
1950)
*
November 12 -
Carlos Surinach, Spanish composer (b.
1915)
*
November 17 -
John Wimber, American leader of the Vineyard Movement (b.
1934)
*
November 21 -
Robert Simpson, English composer (b.
1921)
*
November 22 -
Michael Hutchence, Australian musician (b.
1960)
*
November 25 -
Monique Serf, French singer (b.
1930)
*
November 30 -
Kathy Acker, American author (b.
1947)
December
*
December 18 -
Chris Farley, American actor and comedian (b.
1964)
*
December 19 -
David Schramm, American astrophysicist (b.
1945)
*
December 21 -
Amie Comeaux, American country singer (b.
1976)
*
December 25 -
Denver Pyle, American actor (b.
1920)
*
December 27 -
Billy Wright, Irish paramilitary leader (b.
1960)
Unknown date
*
Laurence Henry Hicks, Australian composer (b.
1912)
International organizations, including the
United Nations, designated 1997 as the
International Year of the Reef.
*
Physics -
Steven Chu,
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji,
William D. Phillips*
Chemistry -
Paul D. Boyer,
John E. Walker,
Jens C. Skou*
Medicine -
Stanley B. Prusiner*
Literature -
Dario Fo*
Peace -
International Campaign to Ban Landmines and
Jody Williams*
Economics -
Robert Carhart Merton,
Myron Scholes*
Pandurang Shastri Athavalezh-yue:1997年
