2008

history

,

2008 (MMVIII) was a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini).

2008 was designated as:

Events

January

assembly at Astrotech.]]

February

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  • February 2 - Rebels attack the capital of Chad, N'Djamena.
  • February 4 - Iran opens its first space center and launches a rocket into space."Iran Opens Space Center, Launches Rocket", Associated Press
  • February 4 - A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 1 and wounds 13 in a Dimona, Israel shopping center."Dimona bombing: Suicide attack in Israel first in a year", Associated Press
  • February 5 - U.S. stock market indices plunge more than 3% after a report shows signs of economic recession in the service sector. The S&P 500 fall 3.2%, The Dow Jones Industrial Average 370 points.
  • February 5–6 - A tornado outbreak, the deadliest in 23 years, kills 58 in the Southern United States.
  • February 7 - STS-122: Space Shuttle Atlantis launches to deliver the European-built Columbus science laboratory to the International Space Station.
  • February 10 - The 2008 Namdaemun fire severely damages Namdaemun, the first National Treasure of South Korea.
  • February 11 - President of East Timor José Ramos-Horta is seriously wounded in an attack on his home by rebel soldiers. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed by Ramos-Horta's security guards during the attack.»Gunmen attack Timor leader Ramos-Horta, The Sydney Morning Herald, February 11, 2008.
  • February 12 - PDVSA, a state oil company in Venezuela, suspends sales of crude oil to ExxonMobil, in response to a legal challenge by them.
  • February 12 - Bridgestone, under investigation for an alleged price-fixing cartel, uncovers improper payments of at least 150 million Japanese yen to foreign governments and withdraws from the marine hose business.
  • February 13 - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia delivers a formal apology to the Stolen Generations.»"Rudd says sorry", Dylan Welch, Sydney Morning Herald, February 13, 2008
  • February 17 - Driver Ryan Newman wins the 50th Daytona 500 NASCAR race.
  • February 17 - A suicide bombing by a Taliban member kills up to 80 in Kandahar, Afghanistan
  • February 17 - Kosovo formally declares independence from Serbia, with support from some countries but opposition from others.
  • February 18 - The British government introduces emergency legislation to temporarily nationalize Northern Rock, the 5th largest mortgage bank in the UK, due to the bank's financial crisis.
  • February 18 - A general election is held in Pakistan, delayed from January 8 due to riots in the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Opposition parties, including Bhutto's, take more than half of the seats, while President Pervez Musharraf's party suffers a huge defeat.
  • February 19 - Fidel Castro announces his resignation as President of Cuba, effective February 24.
  • February 20 - The United States Navy destroys a spy satellite containing toxic fuel, by shooting it down with a missile launched from the USS Lake Erie in the Pacific Ocean.
  • February 20 - A total lunar eclipse crosses North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia.
  • February 22 - Former building society Northern Rock is the first bank in Europe to be taken into state control, due to the U.S. subprime mortgage financial crisis.
  • February 22 - No survivors are found after a rescue helicopter discovers the wreckage of Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 just northeast of Mérida, Venezuela. The commercial plane had 46 people on board, including crew.
  • February 24 - Raúl Castro is unanimously elected as President of Cuba by the National Assembly.

March

Jules Verne ATV docked the to International Space Station.]]

April

May

in Sichuan, China caused nearly 80,000 deaths.]]

June

July

heads of delegations in Tōyako, Japan.]]

August

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September

of the Large Hadron Collider.]]

October

November

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December

Deaths

January

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February

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March

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April

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May

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  • May 1 - Anthony Mamo, 1st President of Malta (b. 1909)
  • May 2 - Philipp von Boeselager, German military officer (b. 1917)
  • May 3 - Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, Spanish Prime Minister of (b. 1926)
  • May 8 - François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (b. 1982)
  • May 10 - Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano (b. 1928)
  • May 12 - Robert Rauschenberg, American pop artist (b. 1925)
  • May 12 - Irena Sendler, Polish humanitarian (b. 1910)
  • May 13 - Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1930)
  • May 13 - Bernardin Gantin, Beninese cardinal (b. 1922)
  • May 15 - Willis Lamb, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
  • May 23 - Cornell Capa, Hungarian-American photographer (b. 1918)
  • May 26 - Sydney Pollack, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1934)
  • May 28 - Sven Davidson, Swedish tennis player (b. 1928)

June

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  • June 1 - Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer (b. 1936)
  • June 1 - Tommy Lapid, Israeli television presenter, journalist, and politician (b. 1931)
  • June 2 - Bo Diddley, American musician (b. 1928)
  • June 3 - Mel Ferrer, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1917)
  • June 4 - Agata Mróz-Olszewska, Polish volleyball player (b. 1982)
  • June 7 - Dino Risi, Italian director (b. 1916)
  • June 8 - Šaban Bajramović, Serbian musician (b. 1936)
  • June 9 - Algis Budrys, Lithuanian-American science fiction writer (b. 1931)
  • June 9 - Karen Asrian, Armenian chess grandmaster (b. 1980)
  • June 10 - Chinghiz Aitmatov, Kyrgyzstani writer (b. 1928)
  • June 11 - Ove Andersson, Swedish rally driver (b. 1939)
  • June 11 - Võ Văn Kiệt, Vietnamese prime minister (b. 1922)
  • June 13 - Tim Russert, American journalist (b. 1950)
  • June 15 - Stan Winston, American special effects and makeup artist (b. 1946)
  • June 17 - Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer (b. 1922)
  • June 18 - Jean Delannoy, French film director (b. 1908)
  • June 22 - George Carlin, American author, actor, and comedian (b. 1937)
  • June 23 - Arthur Chung, President of Guyana (b. 1918)
  • June 24 - Leonid Hurwicz, American economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
  • June 28 - Ruslana Korshunova, Kazakhstani model (b. 1987)
  • June 29 - Don S. Davis, American actor (b. 1942)

July

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  • July 4 - Jesse Helms, American politician (b. 1921)
  • July 4 - Evelyn Keyes, American actress (b. 1916)
  • July 5 - René Harris, President of Nauru (b. 1947)
  • July 9 - Seamus Brennan, Irish politician (b. 1948)
  • July 11 - Michael E. DeBakey, American surgeon and inventor (b. 1908)
  • July 12 - Tony Snow, American political commentator (b. 1955)
  • July 13 - Bronisław Geremek, Polish social historian and politician (b. 1932)
  • July 15 - György Kolonics, Hungarian canoeist (b. 1972)
  • July 22 - Estelle Getty, American actress (b. 1923)
  • July 23 - Kurt Furgler, Swiss politician (b. 1924)
  • July 25 - Johnny Griffin, American saxophonist (b. 1928)
  • July 25 - Randy Pausch, American author and computer scientist (b. 1960)
  • July 27 - Youssef Chahine, Egyptian film director (b. 1926)
  • July 29 - Mate Parlov, Croatian boxer (b. 1948)

August

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  • August 1 - Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Indian politician (b. 1916)
  • August 3 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
  • August 9 - Bernie Mac, American actor and comedian (b. 1957)
  • August 9 - Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet (b. 1941)
  • August 10 - Isaac Hayes, African-American musician (b. 1942)
  • August 11 - Fred Sinowatz, Austrian politician (b. 1929)
  • August 13 - Henri Cartan, French mathematician (b. 1904)
  • August 15 - Jerry Wexler, American music producer (b. 1917)
  • August 16 - Ronnie Drew, Irish singer (b. 1934)
  • August 16 - Masanobu Fukuoka, Japanese microbiologist (b. 1913)
  • August 19 - Levy Mwanawasa, President of Zambia (b. 1948)
  • August 20 - Hua Guofeng, Chinese premier (b. 1921)
  • August 23 - Thomas Huckle Weller, American virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
  • August 28 - Phil Hill, American race car driver (b. 1927)

September

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  • September 1 - Don LaFontaine, American voice actor (b. 1940)
  • September 6 - Antonio Innocenti, Italian cardinal (b. 1915)
  • September 6 - Anita Page, American actress (b. 1910)
  • September 9 - Nouhak Phoumsavanh, President of Laos (b. 1910)
  • September 12 - David Foster Wallace, American writer (b. 1962)
  • September 15 - Richard Wright, English musician (b. 1943)
  • September 18 - Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer (b. 1931)
  • September 26 - Paul Newman, American actor (b. 1925)

October

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  • October 1 - Boris Efimov, Russian political cartoonist (b. 1900)
  • October 6 - Paavo Haavikko, Finnish poet (b. 1931)
  • October 8 - George Emil Palade, Romanian cell biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
  • October 10 - Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese businessman (b. 1947)
  • October 10 - Alexey Prokurorov, Russian cross-country skier (b. 1964)
  • October 11 - Jörg Haider, Austrian politician (b. 1950)
  • October 13 - Guillaume Depardieu, French actor (b. 1971)
  • October 13 - Antonio José González Zumárraga, Ecuadorian cardinal (b. 1925)
  • October 20 - Sœur Emmanuelle, Belgian-born French nun (b. 1908)
  • October 25 - Muslim Magomayev, Azerbaijani singer (b. 1942)
  • October 26 - Tony Hillerman, American writer (b. 1925)
  • October 31 - Studs Terkel, American author and liberal commentator (b. 1912)

November

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  • November 1 - Jacques Piccard, Swiss explorer and engineer (b. 1922)
  • November 1 - Yma Sumac, Peruvian soprano (b. 1922)
  • November 4 - Michael Crichton, American author and producer (b. 1942)
  • November 4 - Juan Camilo Mouriño, Mexican politician (b. 1971)
  • November 10 - Kiyoshi Itō, Japanese mathematician (b. 1915)
  • November 10 - Miriam Makeba, South African singer (b. 1932)
  • November 12 - Mitch Mitchell, English drummer (b. 1947)
  • November 13 - Paco Ignacio Taibo I, Mexican writer and journalist (b. 1924)
  • November 14 - Tsvetanka Khristova, Bulgarian athlete (b. 1962)
  • November 22 - Ibrahim Nasir, Maldivian President (b. 1926)
  • November 27 - Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Indian Prime Minister (b. 1931)
  • November 29 - Jørn Utzon, Danish architect (b. 1918)

December

]] ]] ]]
  • December 1 - Mikel Laboa, Basque singer and songwriter (b. 1934)
  • December 2 - Odetta, American singer (b. 1930)
  • December 5 - Alexy II, Russian Orthodox Patriarch (b. 1929)
  • December 5 - Nina Foch, Dutch-born American actress (b. 1924)
  • December 9 - Yuri Glazkov, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1939)
  • December 9 - Dražan Jerković, Croatian football player and manager (b. 1936)
  • December 11 - Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, American physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
  • December 11 - Bettie Page, American pin-up model (b. 1923)
  • December 12 - Avery Dulles, American Roman Catholic Cardinal (b. 1918)
  • December 12 - Van Johnson, American actor (b. 1916)
  • December 12 - Tassos Papadopoulos, Cypriot politician (b. 1934)
  • December 13 - Horst Tappert, German actor (b. 1923)
  • December 18 - Majel Barrett, American actress (b. 1932)
  • December 18 - W. Mark Felt, American FBI agent, "Deep Throat" from the Watergate scandal (b. 1913)
  • December 20 - Olga Lepeshinskaya, Russian ballerina (b. 1916)
  • December 20 - Robert Mulligan, American director (b. 1925)
  • December 22 - Lansana Conté, President of Guinea (b. 1934)
  • December 24 - Harold Pinter, English playwright (b. 1930)
  • December 24 - Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist (b. 1927)
  • December 25 - Eartha Kitt, American singer and actress (b. 1927)
  • December 29 - Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1938)

Awards

Nobel Prizes

Major religious holidays

2008 in fiction

Books
  • Isaac Asimov's 1955 short story Franchise takes place in 2008, the premise being that the U.S. president will be selected by a computer program looking for the "most representative citizen".
  • John Barnes, Mother of Storms (1995) begins with a 2008 UN resolution barring any nation from acquiring nuclear weapons after June 1, 2008, subject to penalty of preemptive strike.
  • Gregory Benford's books The Jupiter War and The Threads of Time are set in 2008.
  • The Galactic Milieu Series by Julian May features Earth's first contact with an alien race on June 20, 2008.
  • Ian McDonald's "Chaga Saga" (Evolution's Shore and Kirinya) begins with the March 13, 2008 impact arrival of the plant form Chaga from outer space.
  • Alan E. Nourse's 1957 book Rocket to Limbo begins with the March 3, 2008 launch of the starship Argonaut on a centuries-long trip to Alpha Centauri.
  • The Mote in God's Eye (1974) by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle postulates that faster-than-light travel is perfected in 2008.
  • The Next War, a controversial 1996 novel about the post-Soviet era, co-authored by former U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, looks at a possible 2008 nuclear confrontation between the United States and Russia.

Computer and video games

Set in 2008:

Film

Set in 2008:
  • Jason X (Friday the 13th series, 2002): Mass murderer Jason Voorhees is captured for the 2nd time and sentenced to death. However, the US government is unsure how to execute him; an electric chair, a gas chamber, a firing squad, and hanging are all tried - none of which work.
  • The Lake House (2006): The ending takes place on Valentine's Day, 2008.
  • 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007): The final act takes place in Tokyo during 2008.
  • Doomsday (2008): The start of the film is set in 2008, when a virus has infected Scotland.
  • Silent Running (1971)
  • Southland Tales (2007)
  • The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
  • Deterrence (2000)

Television

  • Dawson's Creek (2003 series finale): The characters meet once again. Dawson, now 25, is the creator of a television series, The Creek, based on his life.
  • The 2007 series of Doctor Who: Present time (such as "Smith and Jones") is primarily set in 2008.
  • The Future Boy Conan anime story begins in July 2008, when a war results in five continents sinking into the sea.
  • Doraemon: According to the original manga story, a time machine will be invented in 2008.
  • Heroes: A possible future shown in Out of Time features the Shanti virus killing about 93% of the world's population, after a release in March 2008.
  • According to the Futurama episode "Space Pilot 3000", Stop 'N Drop suicide booths are claimed to have been "America's Favorite" since 2008. Whether this is the use of an advertising hyperbole to indicate that they were introduced in 2008, or that they gained a plurality of market share in 2008 is not concluded.

References

External links

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