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1997




International Year of the Reef

Events

   * January 3 - NBC's Today show Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time.
   * January 8 - Mister Rogers receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of
     Fame.
   * 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 north west 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 leader of the United
     States House of Representatives 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 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 4 - O.J. Simpson is found to be civilly liable for the deaths
     of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. 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 Milosevic 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 9 - The Simpsons surpasses the 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 11 - Bill Parcells becomes head coach of New York Jets.
   * February 13 - Tune-up and repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope is
     started by astronauts from the Space Shuttle Discovery .
   * February 19 - The last of the People's Republic of China's major
     revolutionaries, Deng Xiaoping dies at 92.
   * February 22 - In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult
     sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned and was born in July
     1996.
   * March 4 - United States President Bill Clinton bars federal funding for
     any research on human cloning.
   * March 6 - Picasso's Tete de Femme is stolen from a London gallery (it
     was recovered a week later).
   * 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 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 later the grounding of all An-24s.
   * March 22 - 14 year, 10 month old Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest
     champion of the women's world figure skating competition.
   * March 26 - Thirty-nine bodies found in Heaven's Gate cult suicide.
   * 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 rebels were
     slain.
   * April 16 - Houston, Texas socialite Doris McGown Beck Angleton is
     murdered in her River Oaks home. Roger Nicholas Angleton admits to the
     crime in the suicide note; Robert Nicholas Angleton, Doris' husband,
     was found innocent of the crime by a Texas jury.
   * April 27 - Andrew Cunanan murders Jerffrey Trail, beginning a murder
     spree that will last until July and terminate with the murder of
     fashion designer Gianni Versace.
   * May 1 - The UK's Labour Party end 18 years of Conservative rule in the
     1997 UK general election
   * May 10 - An earthquake near Ardekul in northeastern Iran kills at least
     2,400.
   * May 11 - IBM's Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov, the first time a
     computer beat a chess grand master
   * May 22 - Women in the military: Kelly Flinn, US 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.
   * June - 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.
   * 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 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 15 - In Miami, Florida, serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan guns
     down Gianni Versace outside his home.
   * 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 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 Dalits caste to hold this office.
   * 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 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.
   * September 6 - Princess Diana's funeral at Westminster Abbey draws large
     crowds
   * September 7 - First test flight of the F/A-22 Raptor
   * September 11 - Scotland votes to create its own Parliament after 290
     years of union with England.
   * South Korea suffers a severe economic crisis
   * 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 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 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.
   * October 15 - The first supersonic land speed record is set by the
     ThrustSSC team from the United Kingdom.
   * October 29 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq says it will begin shooting
     down U-2 surveillance planes being used by UNSCOM inspectors.
   * December 2 - Actress/model Anat Elimelech R.I.P. got murdered by her
     boyfriend, the hairstyler David Afuta.
   * December 27 - Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is
     assassinated in Northern Ireland.
   * 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, 400 people
     are killed from four villages.

   * Timothy McVeigh is found guilty of Oklahoma City bombing

Art, Culture & Fashion

   * 1997 in film
        o Summer - Production begins on Star Wars, Episode I - The Phantom
          Menace.
        o Titanic
        o As Good As It Gets
        o Good Will Hunting
        o L.A. Confidential
   * 1997 in sports
        o January 18 - Boerge Ousland of Norway becomes the first person to
          cross Antarctica alone and unaided
        o January 26 - Super Bowl XXXI Green Bay Packers (35) def. New
          England Patriots (21)
   * 1997 in television
        o The murder of JonBenet Ramsey dominates the news in the United
          States.
        o June 6 - Actress Farrah Fawcett makes a bizarre appearance on The
          Late Show with David Letterman. Fawcett tells long, rambling
          stories without a point, fails to understand simple questions, and
          gets easily distracted by things like blinking lights on the set.
        o December 6 - The last episode of the Magic School Bus cartoon
          series is released.

Historical Relic and Ancient Remain

   * Gardens in Suzhou were added to the list of the World Heritage Sites.

Deaths

   * January 10 - Sheldon Leonard, producer, actor, director
   * January 17 - Clyde Tombaugh, astronomer
   * January 19 - James Dickey, poet, novelist
   * January 20 - Curt Flood, baseball star
   * January 21 - Colonel Tom Parker, celebrity manager
   * February 1 - Herb Caen, newspaper columnist
   * February 5 - Pamela Harriman, US embassador to France
   * February 11 - Don Porter, actor.
   * February 19 - Deng Xiaoping, Chinese politician and leader
   * February 20 - Edmond Yu, medical student
   * March 9 - The Notorious B.I.G., rap musician
   * March 10 - La Vern Baker, singer
   * March 14 - Fred Zinnemann, director
   * March 19 - Willem de Kooning, artist
   * March 20 - Tony Zale, Boxer
   * April 7 - Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut
   * May 14 - Harry Blackstone Jr., magician
   * May 29 - Jeff Buckley, musician (accidental drowning)
   * June 28 - Mrs. Miller, singer
   * July 2 - James Stewart
   * July 4 - Charles Kuralt, television reporter
   * July 15 - Gianni Versace, fashion designer
   * July 20 - John Akii-Bua Ugandan hurdler
   * August 2 - William S. Burroughs, US author
   * August 10 - Conlon Nancarrow, composer
   * August 31 - Diana, Princess of Wales
   * September 5 - Georg Solti
   * September 5 - Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa)
   * September 9 - Burgess Meredith
   * September 17 - Red Skelton
   * September 19 - Rich Mullins, singer
   * November 5 - Isaiah Berlin, historian of ideas
   * November 30 - Kathy Acker, author
   * December 3 - Kathy Acker, post-punk post-feminist and post-industrial
     author
   * Allen Ginsberg, US poet
   * December 27 - Billy Wright, Irish paramilitary leader

Nobel Prizes

   * 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 (ICBL) and Jody
     Williams
   * Economics - Robert Merton, Myron Scholes

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