2002



2002 was designated as:
 * International Year of Ecotourism
 * International Year of Mountains
 * Year of the Outback in Australia
 * National Science Year in the United Kingdom
 * Autism Awareness Year in the United Kingdom

January

 * January 1
 * The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially enters into force.
 * Euro notes and coins are introduced in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Finland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and the Netherlands.
 * January 16 – The United Nations 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 18 – The Sierra Leone government - with British assistance, Guinean air support and US logistical support - defeats the Revolutionary United Front, bringing the Sierra Leone Civil War to a conclusion.
 * January 27 – Several explosions at a military dump in Lagos, Nigeria kill more than 1,000 people.
 * January 31 – A large section of the Antarctic Larsen Ice Shelf begins disintegrating, consuming about 3,250 km over 35 days.

February

 * February 6 – Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II celebrates her Golden Jubilee, marking 50 years since her accession to the British throne.
 * February 8–24 – The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
 * February 12 – The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of Yugoslavia, begins at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
 * February 19 – NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
 * February 20 – A train catches fire at Reqa Al-Gharbiya in Egypt while en route to Luxor from Cairo, killing 383 people.
 * February 22
 * Robert William Pickton, the most prolific serial killer in Canadian history, is arrested and charged with the first 2 (of 27) counts of first-degree murder.
 * Sri Lankan Civil War: A Spanish-facilitated ceasefire begins in Sri Lanka.
 * Angolan Civil War: UNITA guerilla leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in clashes against government troops led by Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos in Moxico Province, Angola.
 * February 27 – 59 Hindu pilgrims are killed aboard the Sabarmati Express train which was burned by Muslim extremists at Godhra in the Indian state of Gujarat, starting the 2002 Gujarat riots.
 * February 28 – The ex-currencies of all euro-using nations cease to be legal tender in the European Union.

March

 * March 1
 * War in Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins.
 * 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, the penultimate flight before its ill-fated STS-107 mission.
 * March 19 – War in Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends after the killing of what the United States claimed was 500 Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities.
 * March 27 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: 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 operation in the West Bank, 2 days later.

April

 * April 2 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces besiege the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, when militants took shelter there. The siege would last for 38 days.
 * April 4 – The Angolan Civil War comes to an end after 26 years of fighting that left over 500,000 people killed.
 * April 9 – The Funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother takes place in Westminster Abbey, London.
 * April 11–14 – A military coup d'état against 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 129.
 * April 17 – War in Afghanistan: Four Canadian soldiers are killed near Kandahar, Afghanistan by friendly fire from 2 US F-16s.
 * April 18 – The discovery of a new insect order, Mantophasmatodea, is announced.
 * April 25 – South African Mark Shuttleworth blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Soyuz TM-34, becoming the first African space tourist.

May

 * May 6 – In the Netherlands, politician and Prime Ministerial candidate Pim Fortuyn is assassinated in Hilversum.
 * May 9 – A remote-control bomb explodes during a holiday parade in Kaspiysk, Russia, killing 44 people and injuring at least 130 more.
 * May 10 – Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to the Soviet Union for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
 * May 20 – East Timor regains its independence after 26 years of occupation by Indonesia since 1975.
 * May 21 – The US State Department releases an updated report naming seven state sponsors of terrorism, which lists Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.
 * May 24 – In Moscow, United States President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin sign the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty to replace the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 and the START II Treaty of 1993.
 * May 25 – China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrates near the Penghu Islands at the Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 people on board.
 * May 26 – The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large water ice deposits on the planet Mars.
 * May 31 – June 30 – The 2002 FIFA World Cup begins in South Korea and Japan.

June

 * June 4 – The planetoid Quaoar is discovered orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper belt.
 * June 6 – An object with an estimated diameter of 10 meters collides with Earth over the Mediterranean and detonates in mid-air.
 * June 10
 * An annular solar eclipse occurs over the Pacific Ocean.
 * The first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two 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 13 – The United States Senate withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972. The Russian State Duma withdraws from START II Treaty of 1993 in response.
 * June 15 – A near Earth Asteroid called 2002 MN misses the planet by 75,000 mi, about 1/3 the distance to the moon.
 * June 24 – A passenger train collides with a freight train in Dodoma Region, Tanzania, killing 281 people. This made it the worst rail accident in African history.
 * June 30 – Brazil wins their 5th FIFA World Cup title by defeating Germany 2-0 in the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final.

July

 * July 1
 * The International Criminal Court is established.
 * A Russian passenger jet and cargo plane collide over the town of Überlingen, Germany, killing 71 people.
 * July 9 – The Organization of African Unity is disbanded and replaced by the African Union.
 * July 21 – Telecommunications giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the largest such filing in United States history at the time.
 * July 27 – A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes at an air show near Lviv, Ukraine, killing 77 and injuring more than 100, making it the worst air show disaster in history.

August

 * August 4 – Soham murders: Ten-year-old school girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells go missing from the town of Soham, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.
 * August 13 – Deadly floods ravage much of Central Europe, killing dozens of people.
 * August 19 – Khankala Mi-26 crash: A Russian Mil Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
 * August 20 – A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin, Germany for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.
 * August 26 – Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa, aimed at discussing sustainable development by the United Nations.

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, lasting until September 11.
 * September 5 – War in Afghanistan: A car bomb kills at least 30 people in Kabul, Afghanistan, and an apparent assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai fails the same day.
 * September 10 – Switzerland joins the United Nations as the 190th member state after rejecting a place in 1986.
 * September 19 – Ivory Coast descends into civil war after army troops mutinied across the country.
 * September 20 – The Kolka Glacier collapses, resulting in an avalanch on the northern slope of Mount Kazbek in North Ossetia, Russia that kills at least 125 people.
 * September 23 – The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released.
 * September 25 – The Vitim event, a possible bolide impact, occurs in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.
 * September 26 – The Senegalese passenger ferry Joola capsizes in a storm off the coast of the Gambia, killing 1,863 people.
 * September 27 – The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste is admitted to the United Nations as the 191st member state.

October

 * October 2 – A series of coordinated shootings take place across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., killing 17 people.
 * October 11 – A lone bomber explodes a home-made bomb in the Myyrmanni shopping mall north of Helsinki, Finland, killing seven people including himself.
 * October 12 – Terrorists detonate bombs in 2 nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and injuring over 300 in the worst terrorist act in Indonesia's history.
 * October 16 – Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated.
 * October 23–25 – Chechen rebels take control of the Nord-Ost theatre in Moscow and hold the audience hostage. 170 people are killed following a Russian attempt to subdue the militants.
 * October 24 – Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, D.C.
 * October 26 – Moscow theater hostage crisis: Approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before.
 * October 29 – Ho Chi Minh City ITC fire, a fire destroys a luxurious department store where 1500 people are shopping. Over 60 people die and over 100 are unaccounted for. It is the deadliest disaster in Vietnam during peacetime.
 * October 31 – A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas indicts former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the collapse of his ex-employer.

November

 * November 4 – Chinese authorities arrest cyber-dissident He Depu for signing a pro-democracy letter to the 16th Communist Party Congress.
 * November 7 – A sovereignty referendum in Gibraltar is held since the Gibraltar sovereignty referendum in 1967. The people again reject Spanish sovereignty.
 * 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 10 – Veteran's Day Weekend Tornado Outbreak: A tornado outbreak stretching from Northern Ohio to the Gulf Coast, one of the largest outbreaks recorded in November. The strongest tornado, an F4, hits Van Wert, Ohio.
 * November 13 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq agrees to the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 1441.
 * November 14 – Argentina defaults on a US $805 million World Bank loan payment.
 * November 15 – Hu Jintao becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and a new nine-member Politburo Standing Committee is inaugurated.
 * November 18 – Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.
 * November 19 – The Greek oil tanker Prestige splits in half and sinks off the coast of Galicia, releasing over 20 million US gallons (76,000 m³) of oil in the largest environmental disaster in Spanish and Portuguese history.
 * November 21 – NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.
 * 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.
 * Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov survives an alleged assassination attempt on his life. The government responded by detaining thousands of alleged conspirators afterward.
 * November 28 – Suicide bombers blow up an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya; their colleagues fail in their attempt to bring down Arkia Israel Airlines Flight 582 with surface-to-air missiles.

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 13 – European Union enlargement: The EU announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.
 * December 18 – California gubernatorial recall: Then Governor of California Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier.
 * December 23 – A U.S. MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 in the first combat engagement between a drone and conventional aircraft.
 * 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.

Births

 * February 5 – Davis Cleveland, American child actor
 * April 8 – Skai Jackson, American actress
 * May 6 – Emily Alyn Lind, American child actress
 * July 22 – Prince Felix of Denmark, Prince of Denmark
 * September 30 – Maddie Ziegler, American dancer
 * October 6 – Cleopatra Stratan, Moldovan child singer
 * November 19 – Gaia Cauchi, Maltese child singer

January

 * January 8 – Alexander Prokhorov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
 * January 12 – Cyrus Vance, American politician, 59th United States Secretary of State (b. 1917)
 * January 17 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer (b. 1916)
 * January 19 – Vavá, Brazilian footballer (b. 1934)
 * January 22
 * Jack Shea, American double-Gold medalist in skating speedly (b. 1910)
 * Peggy Lee, American singer and actress (b. 1920)
 * January 23
 * Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist (b. 1930)
 * Robert Nozick, American philosopher (b. 1938)
 * January 28 – Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children's book author (b. 1907)

February

 * February 1 – Hildegard Knef, German actress (b. 1925)
 * February 6 – Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1914)
 * February 8 – Thomaz Soares da Silva, Brazilian football player (b. 1921)
 * 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 – Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (b. 1963)
 * February 16 – Walter Winterbottom, English football manager (b. 1913)
 * February 22
 * Chuck Jones, American animator (b. 1912)
 * Jonas Savimbi, Angolan rebel and political leader (b. 1934)
 * February 24 – Leo Ornstein, American composer and pianist (b. 1895)
 * February 27 – Spike Milligan, English-Irish comedian, writer, and poet (b. 1918)

March

 * March 11
 * Marion Dönhoff, German journalist (b. 1909)
 * James Tobin, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
 * March 12 – Spyros Kyprianou, former President of Cyprus (b. 1932)
 * March 13 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (b. 1900)
 * March 20 – Ibn al-Khattab, Saudi guerrilla (b. 1969)
 * March 24 – César Milstein, Argentine scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1927)
 * March 27
 * Milton Berle, American comedian and actor (b. 1908)
 * Dudley Moore, English pianist, comedian, and actor (b. 1935)
 * Billy Wilder, Polish-American film screenwriter and director (b. 1906)
 * March 30 – The Queen Mother, consort of George VI of the United Kingdom 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 16
 * Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946)
 * Ramiro de León Carpio, 31st President of Guatemala (b. 1942)
 * April 18 – Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer (b. 1914)
 * 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
 * George Alec Effinger, American author (b. 1947)
 * Ruth Handler, American toy manufacturer (b. 1916)
 * 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 – Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Ukrainian football manager (b. 1939)
 * May 17 – László Kubala, Hungarian footballer (b. 1927)
 * 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)

June

 * 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 7 – Lilian, Princess of Réthy, Belgian princess (b. 1916)
 * June 10 – John Gotti, American gangster (b. 1940)
 * June 15 - Choi Hong Hi, Korean martial artist, "Father of Taekwondo" (b. 1918)
 * June 17 – Fritz Walter, German footballer (b. 1920)
 * June 24 – Pierre Werner, Luxembourgian politician, 19th and 21st Prime Minister of Luxembourg (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 2 – Ray Brown, American bassist (b. 1926)
 * July 5
 * Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (b. 1924)
 * Ted Williams, American baseball player (b. 1918)
 * July 6
 * Dhirubhai Ambani, Indian businessman (b. 1932)
 * John Frankenheimer, American film director (b. 1930)
 * July 8 – Ward Kimball, American cartoonist (b. 1914)
 * July 9 – Rod Steiger, American actor (b. 1925)
 * 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 23 – Chaim Potok, American author and rabbi (b. 1929)
 * July 28 – Archer John Porter Martin, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)

August

 * August 6 – Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (b. 1930)
 * August 14 – Dave Williams, American singer (b. 1972)
 * August 16 – Abu Nidal, Palestinian 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 – Robert Guéï, Ivorian military ruler (b. 1941)
 * September 20 – Sergei Bodrov, Jr., Russian actor (b. 1971)

October

 * October 6 – Prince Claus of the Netherlands, German-born Prince Consort of Queen Beatrix (since 1980), father of King Willem-Alexander (b. 1926)
 * October 9
 * Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (executed) (b. 1956)
 * October 12 – Ray Conniff, American musician and bandleader (b. 1916)
 * October 13 – Stephen Ambrose, American historian and biographer (b. 1936)
 * October 18 – Nikolay 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 7 – Rudolf Augstein, German journalist, founder and part-owner of German magazine Der Spiegel (b. 1923)
 * November 12 – Károly Doncsecz, Slovenian potter (b. 1918)
 * November 15
 * Myra Hindley, English murderer (b. 1942)
 * Sohn Kee-Chung, Korean Olympic athlete (b. 1912)
 * 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 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. 1910)
 * December 18 – Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor General of Canada (b. 1934)
 * December 22
 * Desmond Hoyte, Guyanese politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Guyana and 4th President of Guyana (b. 1929)
 * Joe Strummer, British musician (The Clash) (b. 1952)
 * December 30 − Mary Brian, American actress (b. 1906)

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
 * Economics – Daniel Kahneman and Vernon L. Smith

Fields medalists

 * Laurent Lafforgue
 * Vladimir Voevodsky