2003
history
2003 (MMIII) was a common year that started on a Wednesday, according to the Gregorian calendar. It was the 2003rd year of the Anno DominiCommon Era, the 3rd year in the 3rd millennium and 21st century, and the 4th year in the 2000s.
2003 was designated as:
Met Office: 2003 Monthly weather summary].
- September 3 – The Hubble Space Telescope starts Hubble Ultra Deep Field.
- September 4 – Europe's busiest shopping centre, the Bullring in Birmingham, is officially opened by Sir Albert Bore.
- September 10 – Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh is stabbed in a Stockholm department store and dies the next day.
- September 10 – Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
- September 14 – Sweden rejects adopting the Euro in a referendum.
- September 15 – The ELN kidnaps 8 foreign tourists in the Ciudad Perdida in Colombia; they demand a human rights investigation and release the last hostages 3 months later.
- September 16 – Two suicide bombers drive an explosive-filled truck into a government security services building near Chechnya, killing 3 and injuring 25.
- September 18 – Hurricane Isabel makes landfall as a Category 2 Hurricane on North Carolina's Outer Banks. It directly kills 16 people in the Mid–Atlantic area.
- September 27 – Smart 1, a European Space Agency satellite, is launched from French Guiana.
- September 28 – A power failure affects all of Italy except Sardinia, cutting service to more than 56 million people.
- September 29 – Hurricane Juan lands at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada as a category 2 storm, killing 2 directly and 5 indirectly.
- October 5 – Israeli warplanes strike inside Syrian territory.
- October 7 – 2003 California recall: Voters recall Governor Gray Davis from office and elect actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to succeed him.
- October 10 – Facing an investigation surrounding allegations of illegal drug use, American right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh publicly admits that he is addicted to prescription pain killers, and will seek treatment.
- October 12 – Michael Schumacher wins the 2003 FIA Formula One World Championship in Suzuka, Japan, beating Kimi Räikkönen to the title.
- October 15 – China launches Shenzhou 5, their first manned space mission.
- October 15 – The 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash kills 11 after one of its ferries slams into a pier.
- October 24 – The Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic travel to a close, at least for the time being.
- October 25 – The Cedar Fire begins in San Diego County, burning 280,000 acres (1,100 km²), 2,232 homes and killing 14.
- October 25 – The Florida Marlins defeat the New York Yankees to win their second World Series title.
- October 31 – Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia after 22 years in power.
- November 5 – Gary Ridgway, The "Green River Killer", confesses to murdering 48 women.
- November 9 – A lunar eclipse is seen in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Central Asia.
- November 12 – Occupation of Iraq: In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 Iraq war, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
- November 15 – Two car bombs explode simultaneously in Istanbul, Turkey, targeting 2 synagogues, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 300; Al-Qaida claims responsibility.
- November 18 – U.S. President George W. Bush makes a state visit to London in the midst of massive protests.
- November 18 – The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, rules anti-same-sex marriage laws unconstitutional in Massachusetts.
- November 19 – At the end of a long public inquiry, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, John Prescott, gives planning approval to London Bridge Tower, set to become the tallest building in Europe.
- November 20 – Several bombs explode in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC and the British consulate.
- November 22 – 2003 Rugby World Cup: England defeats Australia 20–17 after extra time.
- November 23 – The Georgian Rose Revolution ends in overwhelming victory; president Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over fraudulent elections.
- November 23 – A total solar eclipse is seen over Antarctica.
- November 24 – The High Court in Glasgow imposes a minimum sentence of 27 years for Al Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
- November 28 – Kalev Ots succeeds to the presidency of the pre-WW II Republic of Estonia in exile, after the death of Mihkel Mathiesen.
- December 1 – The use of hand-held cell phones while driving is made illegal in the United Kingdom.
- December 1 – Boeing chairman and CEO Phil Condit resigns unexpectedly. He is replaced by Lewis Platt as non-executive chairman and Harry Stonecipher as president and CEO.
- December 5 – A suicide bombing on a commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people. President Vladimir Putin condemns the attack as a bid to destabilize the country 2 days before parliamentary elections.
- December 5 – The eighteenth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting opens in Abuja, Nigeria.
- December 7 – Parliamentary elections are held in Russia.
- December 7 – Australian schoolboy Daniel Morcombe disappears from a bus stop on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the country's highest profile mysteries.
- December 7 – The new Government in Exile of the pre-World War II Republic of Estonia, headed by Ahti Mänd, assumes office.
- December 8 – The Aso Rock Declaration is issued at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, outlining the Commonwealth's priority objectives.
- December 9 – A female suicide bomber detonates outside Moscow's National Hotel, across from the Kremlin and Red Square, killing 5 bystanders.
- December 12 – Paul Martin becomes the 21st Prime Minister of Canada.
- December 12 – Olympic Airlines, Greece's new flag carrier, is launched.
- December 13 – Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, is captured in Tikrit by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.
- December 16 – The United Kingdom announces plans to build a new runway at Stansted Airport in Essex and a short-haul runway at Heathrow Airport, sparking anger from environmental groups.
- December 18 – The Soham Murder Trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
- December 20 – Libya admits to building a nuclear bomb.
- December 22 – An earthquake in California kills 2.
- December 22 – Parmalat is first accused of falsifying accounts to the tune of USD $5 billion, later admitted by founder Calisto Tanzi; observers call it "Europe's Enron".
- December 23 – A PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion in Guoqiao, Kai County, Chongqing, China kills 234.
- December 23 – WTO becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.
- December 24 – A BSE (mad cow disease) outbreak in Washington State is announced. Several countries including Brazil, Australia and Taiwan ban the import of beef from the United States.
- December 24 – At the request of the U.S. Embassy in Paris, the French Government orders Air France to cancel several flights between France and the U.S. in response to terrorist concerns.
- December 24 – The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. on Christmas Eve inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.
- December 25 – Beagle 2 is scheduled to land on Mars, but nothing is heard from the lander.
- December 25 – President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan escapes the second assassination attempt in 2 weeks.
- December 26 – A massive earthquake devastates southeastern Iran; over 40,000 people are reported killed in the city of Bam.
- December 31 – David Bieber is arrested on suspicion of the Boxing Day police shootings in Leeds.
- December 31 – British Airways Flight 223, a Boeing 747-400 flying from London Heathrow to Washington Dulles, is escorted into Dulles Airport by F-16 fighter jets after intelligence reports of terrorists trying to board the jet and use it in a terrorist attack.
- January 8 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (b. 1925)
- January 11 – Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (b. 1925)
- January 11 – Richard Simmons, American actor (b. 1913)
- January 12 – Dean Amadon, American ornithologist (b. 1912)
- January 12 – Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine dictator (b. 1926)
- January 12 – Maurice Gibb, British rock musician (Bee Gees) (b. 1949)
- January 15 – Doris Fisher, American singer-songwriter (b. 1915)
- January 17 – Richard Crenna, American actor (Marooned) (b. 1926)
- January 20 – Al Hirschfeld, American cartoonist (b. 1903)
- January 23 – Nell Carter, African-American singer and actress (b. 1948)
- January 24 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (b. 1921)
- January 26 – Valeriy Brumel, Russian athlete (b. 1942)
- January 26 – Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, English historian (b. 1917)
- January 29 – Frank Moss, American politician (b. 1911)
- February 1 – Michael P. Anderson, American astronaut (b. 1959)
- February 1 – David M. Brown, American astronaut (b. 1956)
- February 1 – Kalpana Chawla, American astronaut (b. 1961)
- February 1 – Laurel Clark, American astronaut (b. 1961)
- February 1 – Rick Husband, American astronaut (b. 1957)
- February 1 – William McCool, American astronaut (b. 1961)
- February 2 – Lou Harrison, American composer (b. 1917)
- February 10 – Edgar de Evia, American photographer (b. 1910)
- February 10 – Ron Ziegler, American White House Press Secretary (b. 1939)
- February 10 – Curt Hennig, American wrestler (b. 1959)
- February 19 – Johnny Paycheck, American singer (b. 1938)
- February 20 – Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and writer (b. 1907)
- February 20 – Orville Freeman, American politician (b. 1918)
- February 27 – Fred Rogers, American children's television host (b. 1928)
- February 28 – Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (b. 1917)
- February 28 – Rudolf Kingslake, British lens designer and engineer (b. 1903)
March
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- March 2 – Evgeniy Matveyev, Russian actor and film director (b. 1922)
- March 2 – Hank Ballard, American musician (b. 1927)
- March 9 – Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (b. 1946)
- March 12 – Zoran Đinđić, Serbian prime minister (b. 1952)
- March 22 – Milton G. Henschel, American Jehovah's Witnesses leader (b. 1920)
- March 26 – Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American politician (b. 1926)
- March 29 – Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (b. 1956)
- March 30 – Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952)
- April 1 – Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong singer and actor (b. 1956)
- April 7 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (b. 1903)
- April 9 – Jorge Oteiza, Spanish painter (b. 1908)
- April 11 – Cecil Howard Green, British-born geophysicist and businessman (b. 1900)
- April 17 – Robert Atkins, American nutritionist (b. 1930)
- April 17 – Paul Getty, American-born philanthropist (b. 1932)
- April 17 – Earl King, American musician (b. 1934)
- April 19 – Mirza Tahir Ahmad, British-born Muslim leader (b. 1928)
- April 20 – Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (b. 1908)
- April 20 – Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911)
- April 20 – Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1976)
- April 21 – Nina Simone, American singer (b. 1933)
- April 23 – Fernand Fonssagrives, French photographer (b. 1910)
- April 26 – Peter Stone, American writer (b. 1930)
- April 30 – Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (b. 1923)
- May 11 – Noel Redding, English musician (b. 1946)
- May 12 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French UN High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1933)
- May 14 – Wendy Hiller, English actress (b. 1912)
- May 14 – Robert Stack, American actor (b. 1919)
- May 15 – June Carter Cash, American singer (b. 1929)
- May 15 – Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgian cyclist (b. 1924)
- May 26 – Kathleen Winsor, American writer (b. 1919)
- May 27 – Luciano Berio, Italian composer (b. 1925)
- May 28 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1917)
- May 28 – Martha Scott, American actress (b. 1912)
June
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- June 2 – Burke Marshall, American lawyer and politician (b. 1922)
- June 2 – Freddie Blassie, American professional wrestler and manager (b. 1918)
- June 10 – Donald Regan, American Treasury Secretary (b. 1918)
- June 10 – Bernard Williams, English philosopher (b. 1929)
- June 11 – David Brinkley, American television reporter (b. 1920)
- June 12 – Gregory Peck, American actor (b. 1916)
- June 14 – Jimmy Knepper, American musician (b. 1927)
- June 15 – Hume Cronyn, Canadian actor (b. 1911)
- June 18 – Larry Doby, American baseball player (b. 1923)
- June 21 – Leon Uris, American writer (b. 1924)
- June 25 – Lester Maddox, American politician (b. 1915)
- June 26 – Denis Thatcher, British husband of Margaret Thatcher (b. 1915)
- June 26 – Strom Thurmond, American politician (b. 1902)
- June 26 – Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroon footballer (b. 1975)
- June 29 – Katharine Hepburn, American actress (b. 1907)
- June 30 – Buddy Hackett, American comedian and actor (b. 1924)
July
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- July 1 – Herbie Mann, American jazz flautist (b. 1930)
- July 1 – N!xau, Namibian actor (b. 1944)
- July 1 – George Roper, British comedian (b. 1934)
- July 4 – Barry White, American singer (b. 1944)
- July 5 – Roman Lyashenko, Russian hockey player (b. 1979)
- July 7 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor (b. 1908)
- July 10 – Winston Graham, English writer (b. 1908)
- July 10 – Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross, British chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials (b. 1902)
- July 11 – Zahra Kazemi, Iranian-Canadian freelance photographer. (b. 1949)
- July 12 – Benny Carter, American musician (b. 1907)
- July 13 – Compay Segundo, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1907)
- July 14 – Éva Janikovszky, Hungarian novelist (b. 1926)
- July 15 – Roberto Bolaño, Chilean writer (b. 1953)
- July 15 – Tex Schramm, American football team president and general manager (b. 1920)
- July 16 – Celia Cruz, Cuban singer (b. 1924)
- July 16 – Carol Shields, American-born writer (b. 1935)
- July 17 – Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (b. 1914)
- July 22 – Uday Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein (b. 1964)
- July 22 – Qusay Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein (b. 1966)
- July 25 – Ludwig Bölkow, German aeronautical engineer (b. 1912)
- July 25 – John Schlesinger, English film director (b. 1926)
- July 27 – Bob Hope, English-born American comedian (b. 1903)
- July 30 – Sam Phillips, American record producer (b. 1923)
August
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- August 1 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (b. 1962)
- August 4 – Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- August 4 – Brian Trueman, English musician (b. 1930)
- August 9 – Gregory Hines, American dancer and actor (b. 1946)
- August 11 – Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (b. 1923)
- August 14 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929)
- August 16 – Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator (b. 1924)
- August 19 – Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (b. 1948)
- August 19 – Carlos Roberto Reina, President of Honduras (b. 1926)
- August 22 – Imperio Argentina, Argentinian singer and actress (b. 1906)
- August 23 – Jack Dyer, Australian football player, coach, and commentator (b. 1913)
- August 29 – Vladimir Vasicek, Czech painter (b. 1919)
- August 30 – Charles Bronson, American actor (b. 1921)
September
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- September 1 – Terry Frost, English artist (b. 1915)
- September 1 – John Gould, American humorist, essayist, and columnist (b. 1908)
- September 6 – Harry Goz, American actor (b. 1932)
- September 7 – Warren Zevon, American singer (b. 1947)
- September 8 – Leni Riefenstahl, German film director (b. 1902)
- September 9 – Larry Hovis, American actor (b. 1936)
- September 9 – Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist (b. 1908)
- September 11 – Anna Lindh, Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1957)
- September 11 – John Ritter, American actor (b. 1948)
- September 12 – Johnny Cash, American singer and guitarist (b. 1932)
- September 13 – Frank O'Bannon, American politician (b. 1930)
- September 14 – John Serry, Sr., American musician (b. 1915)
- September 17 – Sheb Wooley, American actor and singer (b. 1921)
- September 22 – Gordon Jump, American actor (b. 1932)
- September 23 – Yuri Senkevich, Russian TV anchorman (b. 1937)
- September 24 – Edward Said, Palestinian-born literary critic (b. 1935)
- September 25 – Franco Modigliani, Italian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- September 25 – George Plimpton, American writer and actor (b. 1927)
- September 26 – Robert Palmer, English singer (b. 1949)
- September 26 – Shawn Lane, American musician (b. 1963)
- September 27 – Donald O'Connor, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1925)
- September 28 – Althea Gibson, American tennis player (b. 1927)
- September 28 – Elia Kazan, Hungarian-born director (b. 1909)
October
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- October 3 – William Steig, American cartoonist (b. 1907)
- October 3 – Timothy Treadwell, American environmentalist and filmmaker (b. 1957)
- October 5 – Denis Quilley, British actor (b. 1927)
- October 5 – Dan Snyder, Canadian hockey player (b. 1978)
- October 5 – Neil Postman, American educator, media theorist, and cultural critic (b. 1931)
- October 6 – Timothy Treadwell, bear enthusiast, conservationist, and naturalist (b. 1957)
- October 10 – Eugene Istomin, American pianist (b. 1925)
- October 12 – Jim Cairns, Australian politician (b. 1914)
- October 12 – Bill Shoemaker, American jockey (b. 1931)
- October 13 – Bertram Brockhouse, Canadian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- October 16 – László Papp, Hungarian boxer (b. 1926)
- October 16 – Stu Hart, Canadian wrestling promoter (b. 1915)
- October 19 – Alija Izetbegović, Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (b. 1925)
- October 19 – Michael Hegstrand American wrestler (b. 1957)
- October 20 – Jack Elam, American actor (b. 1918)
- October 21 – Elliott Smith, American musician (b. 1969)
- October 23 – Soong May-ling, Chinese wife of Chiang Kai-shek (b. 1898)
- October 24 – Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish cross-country skier (b. 1925)
- October 25 – Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian philosopher and social reformer (b. 1920)
- October 25 – Robert Strassburg, American composer (b. 1915)
- October 29 – Hal Clement, American writer (b. 1922)
- October 29 – Franco Corelli, Italian opera tenor (b. 1921)
- October 31 – Richard Neustadt, American political historian (b. 1919)
November
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- November 3 – Spider Jorgensen, American baseball player and coach (b. 1919)
- November 4 – Richard Wollheim, British philosopher (b. 1923)
- November 5 – Dorothy Fay, American actress (b. 1915)
- November 6 – Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer (b. 1919)
- November 6 – Mike Lockwood American wrestler (b. 1971)
- November 9 – Art Carney, American actor (b. 1918)
- November 10 – Canaan Banana, first President of Zimbabwe (b. 1936)
- November 10 – Irv Kupcinet, American columnist and television personality (b. 1912)
- November 12 – Jonathan Brandis, American actor (b. 1976)
- November 12 – Penny Singleton, American actress (b. 1908)
- November 15 – Ray Lewis, Canadian runner (b. 1910)
- November 15 – T. Y. Lin, Chinese-born civil engineer (b. 1912)
- November 15 – Dorothy Loudon, American actress (b. 1933)
- November 18 – Michael Kamen, American composer (b. 1948)
- November 20 – Robert Addie, British actor (b. 1960)
- November 20 – David Dacko, first President of the Central African Republic (b. 1930)
- November 20 – Jim Siedow, American actor (b. 1920)
- November 24 – Hugh Kenner, Canadian literary critic (b. 1922)
- November 24 – Warren Spahn, American baseball player (b. 1921)
- November 26 – Abed Hamed Mowhoush, Iraqi general
- November 26 – Stefan Wul, French writer (b. 1922)
- November 28 – Mihkel Mathiesen, Estonian statesman (b. 1918)
- November 30 – Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (b. 1906)
December
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- December 3 – David Hemmings, English actor (b. 1941)
- December 4 – Iggy Katona, American race car driver (b. 1916)
- December 6 – Hans Hotter, German opera and Lieder bass-baritone singer (b. 1909)
- December 6 – Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, President of Guatemala (b. 1918)
- December 7 – Carl F. H. Henry, American theologian and publisher (b. 1913)
- December 7 – Azie Taylor Morton, U.S. Treasurer (b. 1936)
- December 8 – Rubén González, Cuban pianist (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1919)
- December 9 – Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois (b. 1928)
- December 11 – Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (b. 1927)
- December 12 – Heydar Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan from June 1993 to October 2003 (b. 1923)
- December 12 – Keiko, Orca whale from Free Willy movies
- December 13 – William Roth, American politician (b. 1921)
- December 14 – Jeanne Crain, American actress (b. 1925)
- December 14 – Blas Ople, Filipino politician (b. 1927)
- December 15 – George Fisher, American political cartoonist (b. 1923)
- December 16 – Robert Stanfield, Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1914)
- December 16 – Gary Stewart, American singer (b. 1945)
- December 17 – Ed Devereaux, Australian actor (b. 1925)
- December 17 – Otto Graham, American football player (b. 1921)
- December 19 – Hope Lange, American actress (b.1941)
- December 19 – Roger Conant, American herpetologist (b.1909)
- December 22 – Dave Dudley, American singer (b. 1928)
- December 27 – Alan Bates, English actor (b. 1934)
- December 29 – Earl Hindman, American actor (b. 1942)
- December 29 – Dinsdale Landen, English actor (b. 1932)
- December 29 – Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (b. 1928)
- December 30 – David Bale, South African–born activist (b. 1941)
- December 30 – John Gregory Dunne, American writer (b. 1932)
- December 30 – Anita Mui, Hong Kong singer (b. 1963)
- December 31 – Arthur R. von Hippel, German-born physicist (b. 1898)
- Chemistry – Peter Agre, Roderick MacKinnon
- Economics – Robert F. Engle, Clive W. J. Granger
- Literature – John Maxwell Coetzee
- Peace – Shirin Ebadi
- Physics – Alexei Alexeevich Abrikosov, Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, Anthony James Leggett
- Physiology or Medicine – Paul Lauterbur, Peter Mansfield
- In the video game Freedom Fighters, the game is set in an alternate timeline from 1945 on where world power shifted towards the Soviet Union, the Soviets invades and conquers the United States, causing a rebel resistance.
- In the TV series Stargate SG-1 the second alpha site is attacked by kull warriors.
- In The Simpsons timeline, the events of take place between October 25 and October 31, with all seven levels taking place on one week.
- The events of take place, before the last chapters of .
- In the last chapters of , Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield are sent to an Umbrella Fortress in February 2003.
- The Galactic Federation in the Metroid Backstory was formed in 2003.
- The main character in Osamu Tezuka's manga Tetsuwan Atom (1951) or Astro Boy was "born" on 7 April 2003.
- The 1981 arcade game Omega Race takes place in the year 2003.
- »2003 Year in Review – comprehensive listing of 2003 reviews and lists
- »2003 Year-End Google Zeitgeist – Google's Yearly List of Major Events and Top Searches for 2003