Rahul Sharma (Editor)

2004

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2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday (dominical letter DC) of the Gregorian calendar, the 2004th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 4th year of the 3rd millennium, the 4th year of the 21st century, and the 5th year of the 2000s decade.

Contents

2004 was designated as:

  • International Year of Rice (by the United Nations)
  • International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO)
  • 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization)

    • January

  • January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, killing all 148 aboard.

    • February

  • February 26 – Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  • February 29 – Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is overthrown in a coup d'état.

    • March

  • March 2 – A series of bombings occur in Karbala, Iraq, killing over 140 Shia Muslims commemorating the Day of Ashura.
  • March 11 – Coordinated bombs explode at a Cercanías Madrid train station, killing at least 191 people.
  • March 28 – Hurricane Catarina, the first ever recorded South Atlantic tropical cyclone, makes landfall in Santa Catarina, Brazil.
  • March 29 – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia are admitted to NATO, the largest expansion of the organization.

    • April

  • April 8 – The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups, in order to put a pause on the War in Darfur.
  • April 17 – Israeli helicopters fire missiles at a convoy of vehicles in the Gaza Strip, killing Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi.
  • April 24 – Referendums on the Annan Plan for Cyprus, which proposes to reunite the island, take place in both the Greek-controlled and the Turkish-controlled parts. Although the Turkish Cypriots vote in favour, the Greek Cypriots reject the proposal.

    • May

  • May 1 – The largest expansion to date of the European Union takes place, extending the Union by 10 member states: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Malta and Cyprus.

    • June

  • June 21 – In Mojave, California, SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
  • June 28 – The U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq transfers sovereignty to the Iraqi Interim Government.
  • June 30 – Preliminary hearings begin in Iraq in the trial of former president Saddam Hussein, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    • July

  • July 1 – The Cassini–Huygens spacecraft arrives at Saturn.

    • August

  • August 3 – NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft is launched, with its primary mission being the study of Mercury.
  • August 13–29 – The 2004 Summer Olympics are held in Athens, Greece.
  • August 22 – Armed robbers steal Edvard Munch's The Scream, Madonna, and other paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway.

    • September

  • September 1 – Chechen rebels take 1,128 people hostage, mostly children, at a school in Beslan, Russia. The crisis ends when Russian security forces storm the building, resulting in more than 330 people being killed.
  • September 2 – The United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 1559, calling for the removal of all foreign troops from Lebanon and for all militias to disarm.

    • October

  • October 8 – Suicide bombers detonate two bombs at the Red Sea resort of Taba, Egypt, killing over 30 people, mostly Israeli tourists.
  • October 19 – A team of explorers reach the bottom of Krubera Cave, the world's deepest cave, with a depth of 2,080 meters (6,824 feet).
  • October 29 – European heads of state sign in Rome the Treaty and Final Act, establishing the first European Constitution.

    • November

  • November 13 – The European Space Agency probe SMART-1 arrives at the Moon, becoming the first European satellite to travel to and orbit it.
  • November 16 – NASA's hypersonic Scramjet breaks a record by reaching a velocity of about 7,000 mph in an unmanned experimental flight. It obtains a speed of Mach 9.6, almost 10 times the speed of sound.
  • November 22 – The Orange Revolution begins following a disputed presidential election in Ukraine where Viktor Yanukovych won against Viktor Yushchenko amid accusations of electoral fraud. A revote results in Yushchenko being declared the winner.

    • December

  • December 14 – The world's tallest bridge, the Millau Viaduct over the River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains, France, is officially opened.
  • December 21 – Iraqi insurgents attack a U.S. military base in the city of Mosul, killing at least 22 people.
  • December 26 – The 9.1–9.3 Mw Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). One of the largest observed tsunamis follows, affecting coastal areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, killing over 200,000 people.
  • December 27 – Astrophysicists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching near Munich measure the strongest burst from a magnetar. At 21:30:26 UT Earth is hit by a huge wave front of gamma and X-rays. It is the strongest flux of high-energetic gamma radiation measured so far.
  • December 31 – Taipei 101, at the time the tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of 1,670 feet (509 metres), officially opens.

    • Date unknown

  • The Russian Federation stops recognizing Soviet Union passports as legal identification.

    • Births

  • January 21 – Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway
  • June 8 – Francesca Capaldi, American child actress

    • January

  • January 7 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (b. 1926)
  • January 9 – Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher (b. 1909)
  • January 13 – Harold Shipman, British serial killer (b. 1946)
  • January 14 – Terje Bakken, Norwegian musician (b. 1978)
  • January 22 – Ann Miller, American dancer and actress (b. 1923)
  • January 25
  • Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (b. 1918)
  • Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (b. 1979)

    • February

  • February 14 – Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (b. 1970)
  • February 17 – José López Portillo, 51st President of Mexico (b. 1920)
  • February 21 – John Charles, Welsh footballer (b. 1931)
  • February 26
  • Boris Trajkovski, 2nd President of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1956)
  • Adolf Ehrnrooth, Finnish general (b. 1905)
  • February 27 – Paul Sweezy, American economist and editor (b. 1910)
  • February 28 – Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian and Librarian of Congress (b. 1914)

    • March

  • March 2 – Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (b. 1916)
  • March 4 – Claude Nougaro, French singer (b. 1929)
  • March 7 – Paul Winfield, American actor (b. 1941)
  • March 8 – Muhammad Zaidan, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (b. 1948)
  • March 15 – John Pople, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1925)
  • March 20 – Juliana, Queen regnant of the Netherlands (1948-1980) (b. 1909)
  • March 22 – Ahmed Yassin, Palestinian co-founder of Hamas (b. 1937)
  • March 28 – Peter Ustinov, English actor and director (b. 1921)

    • April

  • April 18 – Kamisese Mara, 1st Prime Minister and 2nd President of Fiji (b. 1920)
  • April 19 – John Maynard Smith, English biologist (b. 1920)
  • April 24 – Estée Lauder, American cosmetics entrepreneur (b. 1906)
  • April 26 – Hubert Selby, Jr., American writer (b. 1928)

    • May

  • May 7 – Nicholas Berg, American businessman (b. 1978)
  • May 17 – Tony Randall, American actor (b. 1920)

    • June

  • June 5 – Ronald Reagan, American politician and actor, 40th President of the United States (b. 1911)
  • June 7 – Quorthon, Swedish musician (b. 1966)
  • June 10 – Ray Charles, American singer and musician (b. 1930)
  • June 11 – Xenophon Zolotas, Greek economist, interim 177th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1904)
  • June 16 – Thanom Kittikachorn, Thai military general, 10th Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1912)
  • June 26 – Naomi Shemer, Israeli songwriter (b. 1931)

    • July

  • July 1 – Marlon Brando, American actor (b. 1924)
  • July 5
  • Hugh Shearer, Jamaican politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1923)
  • Rodger Ward, American race car driver (b. 1921)
  • July 6 – Thomas Klestil, Austrian politician and diplomat, 10th President of Austria (b. 1932)
  • July 13 – Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (b. 1930)
  • July 19 – Zenkō Suzuki, Japanese politician, 70th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1911)
  • July 21
  • Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
  • Jerry Goldsmith, American composer (b. 1929)
  • July 22 – Sacha Distel, French singer (b. 1933)
  • July 28 – Francis Crick, English molecular biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)

    • August

  • August 1 – Philip Abelson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
  • August 3 – Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer (b. 1908)
  • August 6 – Rick James, American musician (b. 1948)
  • August 8 – Fay Wray, Canadian actress (b. 1907)
  • August 12 – Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer and inventor, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1919)
  • August 13 – Julia Child, American chef (b. 1912)
  • August 14 – Czesław Miłosz, Polish-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
  • August 15 – Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
  • August 18 – Elmer Bernstein, American composer (b. 1922)
  • August 24 – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (b. 1926)
  • August 26 – Laura Branigan, American singer (b. 1952)
  • August 30 – Fred Lawrence Whipple, American astronomer (b. 1906)

    • September

  • September 11 – Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria (b. 1949)
  • September 13 – Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist (b. 1925)
  • September 15 – Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (Ramones) (b. 1948)
  • September 18 – Russ Meyer, American director and photographer (b. 1922)
  • September 20 – Brian Clough, British football manager of Nottingham Forest and Derby County (b. 1935)
  • September 22 – Ray Traylor Jr., American professional wrestler (b. 1962)
  • September 24 – Françoise Sagan, French writer (b. 1935)

    • October

  • October 1 – Richard Avedon, American photographer (b. 1923)
  • October 3 – Janet Leigh, American actress (b. 1927)
  • October 4 – Gordon Cooper, American astronaut (b. 1927)
  • October 5
  • Rodney Dangerfield, American comedian and actor (b. 1921)
  • Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
  • October 8 – Jacques Derrida, Algerian-born French literary critic (b. 1930)
  • October 10 – Christopher Reeve, American actor and activist (b. 1952)
  • October 25 – John Peel, British radio disc jockey (b. 1939)
  • October 29 – Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (b. 1901)

    • November

  • November 2
  • Theo van Gogh, Dutch film director (b. 1957)
  • Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates (b. 1918)
  • November 3 – Sergei Zholtok, Latvian hockey player (b. 1972)
  • November 7 – Howard Keel, American singer and actor (b. 1919)
  • November 9
  • Iris Chang, American journalist (b. 1968)
  • Emlyn Hughes, English footballer (b. 1947)
  • Stieg Larsson, Swedish writer (b. 1954)
  • November 11 – Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1929)
  • November 13 – Russel Jones, American rapper (b. 1968)
  • November 19 – John Robert Vane, British pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
  • November 23 – Rafael Eitan, Israeli politician (b. 1929)

    • December

  • December 1 – Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, German born Prince Consort of the Netherlands (1948-1980) (b. 1911)
  • December 8 – Dimebag Darrell, American guitarist (Pantera and Damageplan) (b. 1966)
  • December 19
  • Herbert C. Brown, English-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
  • Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano (b. 1922)
  • December 23 – P. V. Narasimha Rao, Indian politician, 10th Prime Minister of India (b. 1921)
  • December 28
  • Jerry Orbach, American actor (b. 1935)
  • Susan Sontag, American writer and activist (b. 1933)
  • December 30 – Artie Shaw, American musician (b. 1910)
  • December 31 – Gérard Debreu, French-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1921)

    • Nobel Prizes

  • Chemistry – Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Irwin Rose
  • Economics – Finn E. Kydland, Edward C. Prescott
  • Literature – Elfriede Jelinek
  • Peace – Wangari Maathai
  • Physics – David J. Gross, H. David Politzer, Frank Wilczek
  • Physiology or Medicine – Linda B. Buck, Richard Axel

    • References

    2004 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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