1997

history

1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year that started on a Wednesday. In the Gregorian calendar, it was the 1997th year of the Common Era, or of Anno Domini; the 997th year of the 2nd millennium; the 97th year of the 20th century; and the 8th of the 1990s.

Events

January

  • January 9 – Yachtsman Tony Bullimore is found alive, 5 days after his boat capsized in the Southern Ocean., the President of the United States, began his second term on January 20]]
  • January 17 – A Delta II rocket carrying a military GPS payload explodes, shortly after liftoff from Cape Canaveral.
  • January 18 – In northwest Rwanda, Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers, and seriously wound another.
  • 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 – U.S. President Bill Clinton is inaugurated for his second term.
  • January 22 – Madeleine Albright becomes the first female Secretary of State, after confirmation by the United States Senate.
  • January 23 – Mir Aimal Kasi is sentenced to death for a 1993 assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters that killed 2 and wounded 3.
  • January 27 – It is revealed that French museums had nearly 2,000 pieces of art that had been stolen by Nazis.

February

March

  • March 4 – U.S. President Bill Clinton bars federal funding for any research on human cloning.
  • March 6 – President of Guyana Cheddi Jagan dies in office.
  • March 6 – Pablo Picasso's Tête de Femme is stolen from a London gallery (recovered a week later).
  • March 6 – In Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers overrun a military base and kill more than 200.
  • March 11 – An explosion at the Tokaimura nuclear waste reprocessing plant in Japan exposes 35 workers to low-level radioactive contamination, in the worst nuclear accident in Japan's history.
  • March 13 – India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.
  • March 13 – The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China creates a new Chongqing Municipality, out of part of Sichuan.
  • March 13 – The Phoenix Lights are seen over Phoenix, AZ.
  • March 16 – Sandline affair: On Bougainville Island, 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 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 – Tara Lipinski, 14, becomes the youngest women's world figure skating champion.
  • March 22 – The Comet Hale-Bopp makes its closest approach to Earth.
  • March 24 – The 69th Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, are held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, with The English Patient winning Best Picture.
  • March 26 – In San Diego, California, 39 Heaven's Gate cultists commit mass suicide at their compound.
  • March 26 – Julius Chan resigns as prime minister of Papua New Guinea, ending the Sandline affair.

April

  • April 3 – The Thalit massacre in Algeria: All but one of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
  • April 11 – Fire damages the Turin Cathedral in Italy.
  • April 14 – Fire breaks out in a pilgrim camp on the Plain of Mena, from Mecca; 343 die.
  • April 14 – Former SS Captain Erich Priebke is retried; on July 22 he is sentenced to 5 years in prison.
  • April 16 – Houston, Texas socialite Doris Angleton is murdered in her River Oaks home. Roger Angleton later admits to the crime in his suicide note. Despite being found innocent of the crime by a Texas jury, he is later arrested by the United States Department of Justice on 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 US$ 2 billion in damage.
  • April 21 – A Pegasus rocket carries the remains of 24 people into earth orbit, in the first space burial.
  • April 22 – Haouch Khemisti massacre: 93 villagers are killed in Algeria.
  • 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, 2 soldiers are killed by 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 Sese Seko.
  • April 23 – 42 villagers are killed in the Omaria massacre in Algeria.
  • April 27 – Andrew Cunanan murders Jeffrey Trail, beginning a murder spree that lasts until July and ends with the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace.
  • April 29 – Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), CWC treaty enters into force.
  • April 29 – Two trains crash at Hunan, China; 126 are killed.

May

June

  • 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 – Hugo Banzer wins the Presidential elections in Bolivia.
  • June 2 – In Denver, Colorado, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
  • June 6 – In Lacey Township, New Jersey, high school senior Melissa Drexler kills her newborn baby in a toilet.
  • June 7 – A computer user known as "_eci" publishes his Microsoft C source code on a Windows 95 and Windows NT exploit, which later becomes WinNuke. The source code gets wide distribution across the internet, and Microsoft is forced to release a security patch.
  • June 7 – The Detroit Red Wings win their first Stanley Cup championship in 42 years, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 4 games to 0. Red Wings goaltender Mike Vernon is awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
  • June 8 – A United States Coast Guard helicopter crashes near Humboldt Bay, California; all 4 crewmembers perish.
  • 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 does not reach outside Cambodia for 3 days).
  • June 11 – In the United Kingdom, the 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 difficult to counterfeit.
  • June 13 – A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
  • June 16 – About 50 are killed in the Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria.
  • June 19 – The fast food chain McDonald's wins a partial victory in its libel trial, known as the McLibel case, against 2 environmental campaigners.
  • June 22 – Swedish musician Ted Gärdestad commits suicide by jumping in front of a train. He is found dead later the morning.
  • June 25 – An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
  • June 26 – Bertie Ahern is appointed as the 10th Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland and Mary Harney is appointed as the 16th, and first female, Tánaiste, after their parties, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats respectively, win the 1997 General Election.
  • June 30 – Bloomsbury Publishing published JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone.

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 7 – The Great Flood begins in southern Poland.
  • 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 Ermua, Spain and murdered by the ETA.
  • July 11 – Thailand's worst hotel fire at Pattaya kills 90.
  • July 13 – The remains of Che Guevara are returned to Cuba for burial, alongside some of his comrades.
  • July 15 – Spree killer Andrew 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 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 – About 50 are killed in the Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria.
  • July 30 – 18 people are killed in the Thredbo landslide in the Snowy Mountains resort in Australia. Stuart Diver is the only survivor.

August

September

, on route to Westminster Abbey from Kensington Palace.]]

  • September 4 – In Lorain, Ohio, the last Ford Thunderbird for 3 years rolls off the assembly line.
  • September 5 – Over 87 are killed in the Beni-Messous massacre in Algeria.
  • September 5 – The International Olympic Committee picks Athens, Greece 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 2 billion people worldwide.
  • September 6 – A Jean Michel Jarre Oxygene in Moscow concert, celebrating the city's 850th anniversary, draws 3.5 million people.
  • September 7 – The F-22 Raptor makes its first test flight.
  • 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 attempts 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 – 53 are killed in the Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria.
  • September 21 – The Islamic Salvation Army, the Islamic Salvation Fronts' armed wing, declares a unilateral ceasefire in Algeria.
  • September 22 – Over 200 villagers are killed in the Bentalha massacre in Algeria.
  • 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 (likely caused by smoke rising from numerous forest fires in the area) kills 235 people (see Garuda Indonesia Flight 152).
  • 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 Catholic diocese of Požega, Croatia is founded.

October

  • October 1 – Luke Woodham walks into Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi and opens fire, killing 2 girls, after killing his mother earlier that morning.
  • October 2 – British 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.
  • October 4 – One million men gather for Promise Keepers' "Stand in the Gap" event in Washington, DC.
  • October 4 – Loomis Fargo Bank Robbery: The second largest cash robbery in U.S. history ($17.3 million, mostly in small bills) occurs at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Wells Fargo. An FBI investigation eventually results in 24 convictions and the recovery of approximately 95% of the stolen cash.
  • October 11 – The mixed martial arts organization PRIDE Fighting Championships holds its inaugural event at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. In the main event Rickson Gracie defeats Nobuhiko Takada by armbar.
  • October 12 – 43 are killed at a false roadblock, in the Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria.
  • October 15 – Andy Green sets the first supersonic land speed record for the ThrustSSC team, led by Richard Noble of the UK. 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 15 – NASA launches the Cassini-Huygens probe to Saturn.
  • October 16 – The first color photograph appears on the front page of the New York Times.
  • 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 39 years before.
  • October 26 – 1997 World Series: The Florida Marlins defeat the Cleveland Indians.
  • 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.
  • October 28 – In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average gains a record 337.17 points, closing at 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 Lockheed U-2 surveillance planes being used by UNSCOM inspectors.
  • October 30 – In Newton, Massachusetts, British au pair Louise Woodward is found guilty of the baby-shaking death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.
  • October 30 – After suffering a brain aneurysm onstage, R.E.M.'s drummer Bill Berry announces that he will leave the band.

November

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  • November 3 – In France, striking truck drivers blockade ports during a pay dispute.
  • November 10 – Telecom companies WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a US$37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom (the largest merger in U.S. history).
  • November 10 – A Fairfax, Virginia jury finds Mir Aimal Kasi guilty of murdering 2 CIA employees in 1993.
  • November 11 – Mary McAleese is elected the 8th President of Ireland.
  • November 12 – Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the World Trade Center 1993 bombings.
  • November 16 – The Toronto Argonauts win their second consecutive Canadian Football League title by defeating the Saskatchewan Roughriders 47–23 to win the 85th Grey Cup at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta.
  • November 17 – In Luxor, Egypt, 62 people are killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut.
  • November 19 – In Des Moines, Iowa, Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to septuplets in the second known case where all 7 babies are born alive, and the first in which all survive infancy.
  • November 27 – NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission is launched, the start of the satellite component of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System.

December

  • December 3 – In Ottawa, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign a treaty prohibiting the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel land mines. However, the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty.
  • December 8 – Myra Hindley, one of the Moors murderers, arrives at the High Court of Justice, to contest a recent Home Secretary's decision that she should remain in prison until she dies.
  • December 11 – The Kyoto Protocol is adopted by a United Nations committee.
  • December 12 – Demonstrations occur in the state capitals of Australia against the WTO and IMF.
  • December 16 – "Dennō Senshi Porygon", an episode of the Pokémon TV series, is aired in Japan, inducing seizures in hundreds of Japanese children.
  • December 17 – The Ukrainian aircraft VK-42 crashes into a mountain in Greece, killing 62 passengers.
  • December 18 – Myra Hindley loses her High Court appeal against the government's decision to keep her behind bars for the rest of her life.
  • December 19 – Janet Jagan the former wife of Cheddi Jagan took office in Guyana.
  • December 19 – James Cameron's Titanic, the highest-grossing film of all time until Avatar, premiers in the US.
  • December 24 – 50–100 villagers are killed in the Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria.
  • December 27 – Ulster 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 – Wilaya of Relizane massacres of December 30, 1997: In the worst incident in Algeria's insurgency, 400 are killed from four villages in the wilaya of Relizane.

Undated

Fictional

  • In the book , the computer HAL 9000 was activated on January 17.
  • In the 1968 episode Samantha Fights City Hall from the television show Bewitched". Samantha remarks to Darin about setting a date with city hall. Because the city hall was booked she said the only available date was on April 15th, 1997 at 2:30.
  • In the 1965 TV series, Lost in Space, the spacecraft Jupiter II is launched on October 16, 1997.
  • The 1984 film The Terminator'' and its sequel, , both referenced the year 1997 as the time in which the fictional computer entity Skynet would launch a catastrophic massive nuclear attack on mankind on August 29.
  • The 1987 NES RPG-game, Crystalis, references October 1, 1997 as the day when a terrible war takes place and the whole human kind goes back in time, therefore, strange animals populate in cities and a few build a tower that goes high into the sky.
  • John Carpenter's 1981 film Escape from New York is set in 1997 of a United States so crime-ridden that Manhattan Island in New York City has become a maximum security prison.
  • The events of Alan Moore and David Lloyd's V for Vendetta supposedly begin on November 5, 1997.
  • The 1990 film Predator 2 takes place in 1997 Los Angeles.
  • The manga and anime InuYasha takes place in 1997 in Tokyo.

Births

Deaths

January

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February

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March

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April

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  • April 1 – Jolie Gabor, Hungarian socialite (b. 1896)
  • April 4 – Leo Picard, Israeli geologist and an expert in the field of hydrology (b. 1900)
  • April 5 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b. 1926)
  • April 8 – Laura Nyro, American singer and composer (b. 1947)
  • April 7 – Witto Aloma, Cuban baseball player (b. 1923)
  • April 7 – Georgi Shonin, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1935)
  • April 11 – Wang Xiaobo, Chinese writer(b. 1952)
  • April 12 – George Wald, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
  • April 15 – Mildred Cleghorn, Chairwoman of the Fort Sill Apache tribe (b. 1910)
  • April 16 – Doris Angleton, American socialite (b. 1951)
  • April 16 – Roland Topor, French illustrator (b. 1938)
  • April 19 – El Duce, American singer and drummer (b. 1958)
  • April 20 – Jean Louis, American costume designer (b. 1907)
  • April 20 – Henry Mucci, American Colonel of the 98th Ranger Battalion (b. 1909)
  • April 22 – Baroness Seear, President of the UK Liberal Party (b. 1913)
  • April 24 – Pat Paulsen, American comedian (b. 1927)
  • April 26 – John Beal, American actor (b. 1909)
  • April 30 – Henry Picard, American golfer (b. 1906)

May

June

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July

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August

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September

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October

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November

December

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Unknown dates

Nobel Prizes

Templeton Prize

Notes

External links

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