2000

2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. Popular culture also holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium. By strict interpretation of the Gregorian Calendar, however, this distinction falls to the year 2001.

The year 2000 is also marked as:

• The International Year for a Culture of Peace.
• The World Mathematical Year.

Events

January

• January 1
  • Millennium celebrations take place throughout the world. Y2K passes without the serious, widespread computer failures and malfunctions that had been predicted.
• January 5-January 8 - The 2000 al-Qaida Summit
• January 6 - The last remaining Pyrenean Ibex is found dead.
• January 10 - America On-line announces an agreement to buy Time Warner for $162 billion. This is the largest-ever corporate merger.
• January 11 - AIS, the armed wing of FIS, concludes its negotiations with the government for an amnesty and disbands in Algeria.
• January 11 - The trawler Solway Harvester sinks off the Isle of Man.
• January 14 - A United Nations tribunal sentences five Bosnian Croats up to 25 years for the 1993 killing of over 100 Muslims in a Bosnian village.
• January 16 - In Sacramento, California a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the state capitol building killing the driver.
• January 31 - Dr Harold Shipman in sentenced to life in prison for murder of at least 15 of his patients out of 365 suspected victims.

February

• February 4 - German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with sabotage of German railway lines.
• February 6 - Tarja Halonen is elected the first Finnish female president.
• February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published.
• February 14 - The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker entered orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

March

• March 1
  • The Constitution of Finland is rewritten.
  • Hans Blix assumes the position of Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC.
• March 9 - FBI arrests suspected purveyor of art forgeries, Ely Sakhai, in New York City.
• March 10 - The NASDAQ Composite Index reaches an all-time high of 5048. ([1])
• March 18 - 2000 Taiwanese presidential election: Chen Shui-bian is elected President of the Republic of China.
• March 20 - Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther, is captured after gun battle that left a sheriff's deputy dead.
• March 26 - Presidential elections in Russia: Vladimir Putin elected President.
• March 30 - America's Cup 2000 retained by Team New Zealand near Auckland. Prada Challenge 2000 lost 0-5 in a "best-of-9".

April

• April 1 - Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi suffers a stroke and falls into a coma.
• 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 Obuchi as prime minister of Japan.
• April 7 - Attack submarine ex-Trepang completes being recycled.
• April 16 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, Raja of Perlis 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 - In a predawn raid, federal agents seize six-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 US history.
• April 25 - The State of Vermont passes HB847, legalizing Civil Unions for same-sex couples.

May

• May 3 - A rare conjunction occurs on the New Moon including all seven of the traditional celestial bodies known from ancient times up until 1781 with the discovery of Uranus. The May 2000 conjunction consisted of: the Sun and Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
• May 3 - Computer pioneer Datapoint Corporation files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• May 12 - The Tate Modern opens in London.
• May 13 - In Enschede a heavy fireworks explosion kills 20 and leaves an entire neighborhood in ruins.
• May 18 - Boo.com collapses due to lack of funds after six months.
• May 25 - Israel withdraws IDF troops from southern Lebanon after 22 years.
• May 28 - The volcano Mount Cameroon erupts.

June

• June 10
  • The New Jersey Devils defeat the Dallas Stars 4 games to 2 to win the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals.
  • The 2000 European Football Championship begins, hosted jointly by Belgium and the Netherlands.
• June 21 - Section 28, a law preventing the promotion of homosexuality is repealed by the Scottish Parliament.
• June 23 - Palace Backpackers Hostel fire in Childers, Queensland, Australia, kills 15 people.
• June 30 - During a set of the band Pearl Jam at the Roskilde Festival near Copenhagen, 9 die and 26 are injured in the crowd.

July

• July 2 - France beat Italy 2-1 at the final of the 2000 European Football Championship.
• July 2 - Presidential election of Mexico. Vicente Fox wins the Presidency as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party).
• July 10 - In southern Nigeria, a leaking petroleum pipeline explodes killing about 250 villagers who were scavenging gasoline
• July 18 - Alex Salmond resigns as the leader of the Scottish National Party
• July 25 - A Concorde supersonic passenger jet crashes just after takeoff from Paris killing all 109 aboard and 5 on the ground.

August

• August 8 - Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor.
• August 12 - The Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.
• August 14 - The first comic of MegaTokyo goes online. This web comic will later become one of the most popular comics on the web (in terms of page views) and spawn numerous imitators.
• August 27 - The Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.

September

• September 6 - In New York City, the United Nations Millennium Summit begins with more than 180 world leaders present.
• September 6 - The last wholly Swedish-owned arms manufacturer, Bofors, is sold to American arms manufacturer United Defense
• 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 15 - The 2000 Summer Olympics are opened 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 24 - The American Family Association begins lobbying the U.S. Congress to eradicate the National Endowment for the Arts for funding the controversial book One of the Guys by Robert Clark Young
• September 28 - Ariel Sharon leads several hundred armed Israelis in a visit to the Temple Mount, provoking an increase in Palestinian civil disorder which developed into the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
• September 29 - The Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland is closed.

October

• October 4 - President Slobodan Milošević leaves office after widespread demonstrations throughout Serbia and the withdrawal of Russian support.
• 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 suicide bombers who placed a small boat laden with explosives along-side the United States Navy destroyer, killing 17 crew members and wounding at least 39.
• October 31 - Singapore Airlines Flight 006 collides with construction equipment in the Chiang Kai Shek International Airport - 83 dead.
• October 31 - The last Multics machine is shut down.

November

• November - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq rejects new U.N. Security Council weapons inspections proposals
• November 3 - Widespread flooding throughout England and Wales after days of heavy rain
• November 7
  • U.S. presidential election, 2000: Republican challenger George W. Bush defeats Democrat Vice President Al Gore, but the final outcome is not known for over a month because of disputed votes in Florida.
  • Criminal gang raids the Millennium Dome to steal The Millennium Star diamond but police surveillance catches them in the act
  • 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, where 155 skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel.
• November 13 - Richard C. Duncan presents his paper, "The Peak Of World Oil Production And The Road To The Olduvai Gorge", on the Olduvai theory (about the collapse of the industrial civilization), at the Summit 2000 Pardee Keynote Symposia of the Geological Society of America)
• November 14 - Netscape version 6.0 is launched following two years of open source development creating a stable Mozilla web browser upon which it is based
• November 16 - Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting US President to visit Vietnam
• November 17 - Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru
• November 27 - Canada - Parliamentary elections - Jean Chrétien re-elected as Prime Minister as Liberal Party increases majority in 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 - Mexico - Vicente Fox becomes the first opposition President to take office since Francisco I. Madero in 1911. He wins the Presidency as candidate of the rightist PAN (National Action Party).
• 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 a hundred.

Unknown Date

• Limited reintroduction of routinely armed police in the UK for the first time since 1936.
• Scientists at University of Szeged's laboratory were first in the world to produce artificial heredity material.

Births

• February 23 - Max & Sam Christy, child actors
• March 27 - Halle Bailey, child actress
• April 4 - Alyssa & Lauren Libby, child actresses
• April 25 - Jacob & Joshua Rips, child actors
• May 20 - Leo Blair, son of the Rt Hon Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Cherie Booth QC.
• October 6 - Amanda & Rachel Pace, child actresses
• October 20 - Cooper Guynes, child actor, nephew of Demi Moore
• October 20 - Oliver Guynes, child actor, nephew of Demi Moore
• November 8 - Madison Poer, child actress
• November 8 - Marissa Poer, child actress

Deaths

January

• January 19 - Bettino Craxi, Italian prime minister (b. 1934)
  • Hedy Lamarr, Austrian actress (b. 1913)

February

• February 9 - Beau Jack, American boxer (b. 1921)
• February 11 - Roger Vadim, French movie director (b. 1928)
• February 12 - Jalacy "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins, American rock musician (b. 1929)
  • Tom Landry, American football coach (b. 1924)
  • Charles M. Schulz, comic strip artist (b. 1921)
• February 23 - Sir Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)

April

• April 6 - Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian President (b. 1903)
• April 16 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, Raja of Perlis and 3rd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (b. 1920)
• April 25 - David Merrick, American Broadway producer (b. 1911)
• April 29 - Phạm Văn Ðồng, Prime Minister of North Vietnam, and of reunified Vietnam (b. 1906)

May

• May 11 - Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (b. 1907)
• May 14 - Keizo Obuchi, Japanese prime minister (b. 1937)
• May 17 - Donald Coggan, English Archbishop (of Canterbury) (b. 1909)
• May 19 - Yevgeny Khrunov, Soviet cosmonaut {b. 1933)
• May 20 - Edward Bernds, American director (b. 1905)
• May 21 - Dame Barbara Cartland, English novelist (b. 1901)
  • Sir John Gielgud, English actor (b. 1904)
• May 27 - Maurice Richard, Canadian hockey player (b. 1921)

June

• June 10 - Hafez al-Assad, President of Syria (b. 1930)
• June 14 - Robert Trent Jones, English born golf course designer (b. 1906)
• June 17 - Brian Statham, English cricketer (b. 1930)
• June 18 - Nancy Marchand, American actress (b. 1928)
• June 21 - Alan Hovhaness, American composer (b. 1911)

July

• July 1 - Walter Matthau, American actor (b. 1920)
• July 11 - Robert Runcie, English Archbishop (of Canterbury) (b. 1921)
• July 14 - Meredith MacRae, American actress (b. 1944)

July 30 - Bertil Karlberg, Swedish politician

August

• August 5 - Sir Alec Guinness, English actor and writer (b. 1914)
• August 25 - Carl Barks, American cartoonist (b. 1901).

September

• September 2 - Elvera Sanchez, Puerto Rican dancer (b. 1905)
• September 16 - Georgiy Gongadze, Ukrainian journalist (b. 1969)
• September 20 - Gherman Titov, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1935)
• September 23 - Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican Baseball player (b. 1947)
• September 25 - R. S. Thomas, Welsh poet (b. 1913)
• September 26 - Carl Sigman, American songwriter (b. 1909)
• September 28 - Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1919)

October

• October 11 - Donald Dewar, First Minister of the Scottish Parliament (b. 1937)
• October 27 - Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (b. 1929)
• October 30 - Steve Allen, American comedian, composer, talk show host, and author (b. 1921)

November

• November 11 - Hugh Paddick, British actor (b. 1915)
• November 17 - Louis Eugène Félix Néel, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
• November 28 - Liane Haid, Austrian actress (b. 1895)

December

• December 6 - Werner Klemperer, German actor (b. 1920)
• December 31 - Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, Israeli settler leader (b. 1966)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, Herbert Kroemer, Jack Kilby
• Chemistry - Alan J Heeger, Alan G MacDiarmid, Hideki Shirakawa
• Medicine - Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard, Eric R. Kandel
• Literature - Gao Xingjian
• Peace - Kim Dae Jung
• Economics - James Heckman, Daniel McFadden

Templeton Prize

Wikimedia Commons has more media related to:

2000

• Freeman Dyson