2004 in History

• Jan 2 Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that it will return to Earth two years later

• Jan 3 Flight 604, a Boeing 737 owned by Flash Airlines, an Egyptian airliner, plunges into the Red Sea, killing all 148 people on board.
• Jan 4 Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
• Jan 4 Mikheil Saakashvili is elected President of Georgia
• Jan 6 Costas Simitis announces his resignation as president of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement in Greece.

• Jan 12 The world's largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, makes its maiden voyage.
• Jan 13 Harold Shipman, a British GP who is believed to have killed more than 200 of his patients in Manchester, is found hanged in his prison cell
• Jan 14 The national flag of Georgia, the so-called "five cross flag" restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years
• Jan 21 Canada: The residence of reporter Juliet O'Neill is searched by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigating leaks concerning the deportation of Maher Arar
• Jan 21 NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies with Flash Memory management and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
• Jan 25 Opportunity rover (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars.
• Jan 26 President Hamid Karzai signs the new constitution of Afghanistan.
• Jan 26 A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.
• Jan 26 Mydoom , the most destructive computer worm (so far), first sighted on computers in North America. Goes on to cause $38 billion in damages.


• Feb 1 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

• Feb 5 Twenty-three Chinese people drown when a group of 35 cockle-pickers are trapped by rising tides in Morecambe Bay, England. Twenty-one bodies are recovered.
• Feb 5 Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion
• Feb 12 The city of San Francisco, California begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.
• Feb 13 The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics discovers the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093.
• Feb 14 In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.
• Feb 18 Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertiliser catches fire and explodes.
• Feb 19 Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal is awarded an honorary knighthood in recognition of a "lifetime of service to humanity."
• Feb 21 The first European political party organization, the European Greens, is established in Rome
• Feb 26 Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• Feb 26 The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
• Feb 27 Former BPMC general secretary Ordrick Samuel launches a new party in Barbuda, Barbudans for a Better Barbuda
• Feb 27 A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines worst terrorist attack kills 116
• Feb 28 Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (300-mile) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947
• Feb 29 Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.

• Mar 1 Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum becomes President of Iraq.
• Mar 2 Voters in the U.S. state of Georgia vote on a referendum concerning its Confederacy-derived flag.
• Mar 2 War in Iraq: Al Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500


• Mar 2 Rosetta space probe is launched by the European Space Agency to study comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko with Philae lander module aboard

• Mar 7 New Democracy wins the national elections in Greece.
• Mar 8 A new constitution is signed by Iraq's Governing Council after the invasion and occupation by American-led forces
• Mar 11 Terrorists explode simultaneous bombs on Madrid's rail network ripping through a commuter train and rocking three stations, killing 190
• Mar 12 Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea, is impeached by its national assembly for the first time in the nation's history.
• Mar 15 Announcement of the discovery of 90377 Sedna, the farthest natural object in the Solar system so far observed.
• Mar 17 Unrest in Kosovo results in more than 22 killed, 200 wounded, and the destruction of 35 Serb Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Belgrade and Nis.
• Mar 19 A truck and a bus crash head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people are killed and 13 injured.
• Mar 19 A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian MiG-15 in the 1950s is finally recovered after years of work. The remains of the crew are left in place, pending further investigations.
• Mar 19 Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.

• Mar 21 In Malaysia, the 11th Federal and State elections are held, returning the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional to power with an increased majority.
• Mar 22 Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of the Palestinian Sunni Islamist militant group Hamas, and bodyguards killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli Air Force AH-64 Apache fired Hellfire missiles
• Mar 23 Andhra Pradesh Federation of Trade Unions holds its first conference in Hyderabad, India
• Mar 27 HMS Scylla, a decommissioned Leander class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.
• Mar 29 Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members
• Mar 29 The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants
• Mar 31 In Fallujah, Iraq, 4 American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed and their bodies mutilated after being ambushed.
• Apr 1 Google introduces Gmail: the launch is met with skepticism on account of the launch date
• Apr 2 Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid. Their attack is thwarted.
• Apr 3 Islamic terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves
• Apr 6 Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from the post by impeachment.
• Apr 8 Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups

• Apr 16 The super liner Queen Mary 2 embarks on her first Transatlantic crossing, linking the golden age of ocean travel to the modern age of ocean travel.
• Apr 20 In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding 92.
• Apr 22 Two fuel trains collide in Ryongchon, North Korea, killing up to 150 people.
• Apr 24 United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years ago, as reward for cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction

• Apr 29 Oldsmobile builds its final car ending 107 years of production
• Apr 30 U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison
• May 1 Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.
• May 2 Yelwa massacre of more than 630 nomad Muslims by Christians in Nigeria
• May 9 Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed in a land mine bomb blast under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial victory parade in Grozny, Chechnya
• May 14 The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun
• May 16 Day of Mourning at Bykivnia forest, just outside of Kiev, Ukraine where during 1930s and early 1940s communist bolsheviks executed over 100,000 Ukrainian civilians
• May 17 Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage
• May 21 Sherpa Pemba Dorjie climbs Mount Everest in 8 hours 10 minutes, breaking his rival Sherpa Lakpa Gelu's record from the previous year.
• May 21 Stanislav Petrov awarded World Citizen Award for averting a potential nuclear war in 1983 after correctly guessing Russian early warning system at fault

• May 22 The U.S. town of Hallam, Nebraska, is wiped out by a powerful F4 tornado that broke a width record at an astounding 2.5 miles wide. It also kills one local resident.
• May 23 Part of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport's Terminal 2E collapses, killing four people and injuring three others.
• May 24 North Korea bans mobile phones.
• May 26 The New York Times publishes admission of journalistic failings, claims its flawed reporting and lack of skeptism during buildup to 2003 Iraq War helped promote belief that Iraq possessed large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
• May 26 The United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
• May 28 The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, to become Prime Minister of Iraq's interim government
• May 29 The World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
• May 29 The Al-Khobar massacres in Saudi Arabia kill 22

• Jun 6 Tamil is established as a Classical language by the President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in a joint sitting of the two houses of the Indian Parliament.
• Jun 6 58th Tony Awards: Avenue Q & I Am My Own Wife win
• Jun 8 Transit of Venus (between Earth & Sun) occurs
• Jun 11 Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of Phoebe

• Jun 12 A 1.3 kilogram chondrite type meteorite strikes a house in Ellerslie, New Zealand causing serious damage but no injuries
• Jun 21 SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight
• Jun 24 Capital punishment is declared unconstitutional in New York
• Jun 28 Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism
• Jun 28 The 17th NATO Summit starts in Istanbul.
• Jun 28 Sovereign power is handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the U.S.-led rule of that nation
• Jul 1 Saturn Orbit insertion of Cassini-Huygens begins at 01:12 UTC and ends at 02:48 UTC.
• Jul 2 ASEAN Regional Forum accepts Pakistan as its 24th member.

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• Jan 21 Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway
• Feb 6 Princess Louise of Belgium, born in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium
• Mar 21 Count Claus-Casimir of Orange-Nassau, Jonkheer van Amsberg
• May 10 The Gosselin Sextuplets

• Apr 24 Prince Friso of Orange (35), 2nd son of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands marries Mabel Wisse Smit (35) without formal permission of parliament.
• May 14 Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (35), eldest son of Margrethe II of Denmark and heir apparent, marries Mary Elizabeth Donaldson (32), at Copenhagen Cathedral

• Jul 31 Lady Davina Windsor (26) weds surfer and the first Maori to marry into the Royal Family Gary Lewis (33) at the chapel in Kensington Palace in London
• Aug 15 Fashion designer and socialite Nicky Hilton (21) weds businessman Todd Andrew Meister (33) at The Vegas Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada
• Sep 9 Crown Prince of Brunei Al-Muhtadee Billah (30) weds commoner Pengiran Anak Sarah (17) at Nurul Iman Palace in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

• Oct 29 "Jackass" member Chris Pontius (30) weds Claire Nolan in Malibu
• Nov 13 "The View" co-host Star Jones (42) weds banker Al Reynolds at St. Bartholomew's Church in New York City

• Nov 10 Talk show host Ricki Lake and Rob Sussman divorce after 10 years of marriage

Deaths 1 - 100 of 250

• Jan 2 Jess Collins, American artist, dies at 80
• Jan 3 Des Corcoran, Premier of South Australia (b. 1928)
• Jan 4 John Toland, American political writer (Rising Sun, Pulitzer 1971), dies at 91
• Jan 4 Joan Aiken, English writer of children's books (The Whispering Mountain), dies at 79
• Jan 4 Jeff Nuttall, English writer (b. 1933)
• Jan 6 Francesco Scavullo, American celebrity photographer, dies at 82
• Jan 6 Pierre Charles, 5th Prime Minister of Dominica, dies at 49
• Jan 7 Oswald Garrison Villard Jr., American Engineer (over-the-horizon radar), dies of pneumonia at 87
• Jan 8 John A. Gambling, American radio talk-show host (b. 1930)
• Jan 9 Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher (b. 1909)
• Jan 10 Alexandra Ripley, American author (b. 1934)
• Jan 11 Mervyn Pike [Baroness Pike], British politician (C), dies at 85
• Jan 12 Olga Aleksandrovna Ladyzhenskaya, Russian mathematician (fluid dynamics), dies at 81
• Jan 13 Arne Næss Jr., Norwegian mountain climber and businessman, dies at 66
• Jan 13 Harold Shipman, British general practitioner and prolific serial killer, commits suicide at 57
• Jan 16 Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
• Jan 19 Harry E. Claiborne, American judge (suicide) (b. 1917)
• Jan 21 Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian writer and playwright (The Tied Up Balloon), dies at 74
• Jan 22 Thomas Mead, Australian politician and journalist, dies at 85
• Jan 23 Helmut Newton, German photographer, dies at 83
• Jan 27 Salvador Laurel, Vice President of the Philippines (b. 1928)
• Jan 28 Lloyd M. Bucher, U.S. Navy officer (b. 1927)
• Jan 28 Don Cholito, Puerto Rican radio host (b. 1923)
• Jan 29 M. M. Kaye, British writer (The Far Pavilions), dies at 95
• Jan 29 Janet Frame, New Zealand novelist (Intensive Care, Owls Do Cry), dies at 79
• Feb 2 Alan Bullock, British historian and author (Hitler: A Study in Tyranny), dies at 89
• Feb 5 Harry West, Irish politician, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (1974-79), dies at 86
• Feb 8 Julius Schwartz, American comic book and sci-fi editor (b. 1915)
• Feb 9 Claude Ryan, Canadian newspaper director and politician (b. 1925)
• Feb 10 Margaret Stacey, English sociologist who helped shape the distinctively British genre of empirical sociology, dies at 81
• Feb 11 Ryszard Kukliński, Polish colonel and Cold War spy for NATO, dies at 73
• Feb 12 Robert A. Bruce, American cardiologist and pioneer (exercise cardiology), dies at 87
• Feb 13 Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, Chechen leader (b. 1952)
• Feb 15 Jens Evensen, Norwegian minister and jurist (b. 1917)
• Feb 17 José López Portillo, President of Mexico (1976-82), dies at 83
• Feb 21 Guido Molinari, Canadian painter, dies at 70
• Feb 23 Sikander Bakht, Indian politician, Governor of Kerala, dies at 85
• Feb 25 Donald Hings, Canadian inventor (b. 1907)
• Feb 26 Shankarrao Chavan, Indian politician (b. 1920)
• Feb 26 Adolf Ehrnrooth, Finnish general (b. 1905)
• Feb 26 Boris Trajkovski, 2nd President of the Republic of Macedonia, dies at 47
• Feb 27 Paul Sweezy, American Marxist economist and editor (Monthly Review), dies at 93
• Feb 27 Yoshihiko Amino, Japanese historians (b. 1928)
• Feb 28 Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian, writer, and Librarian of Congress (b. 1914)
• Feb 28 Carmen Laforet, Spanish author, dies at 82
• Feb 28 Andres Nuiamäe, Estonian soldier (b. 1982)
• Feb 29 Jerome Lawrence, American playwright (Inherit the Wind), dies at 88
• Mar 4 George Pake, American physicist (b. 1924)
• Mar 4 Stephen Sprouse, American fashion designer (b. 1953)
• Mar 8 Abu Abbas [Muhammad Zaidan], Palestinian founder of the Palestine Liberation Front, dies in American custody of allegedly natural causes at 55
• Mar 9 Dr. Gerald Deskin, Ph.D., clinical child psychologist (b. 1929)
• Mar 13 Franz König, Austrian Catholic Archbishop of Vienna (b. 1905)
• Mar 15 William "Bill" Pickering, New Zealand-born space scientist at NASA, dies at 93
• Mar 15 John Pople, English chemist (Nobel Prize 1998), dies at 78
• Mar 18 Harrison McCain, Canadian businessman (McCain Foods Limited), dies of kidney failure at 76
• Mar 19 Mitchell Sharp, Canadian politician (b. 1911)
• Mar 20 Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands (1948-80), dies at 94
• Mar 20 Pierre Sévigny, Canadian military officer and politician, dies at 86
• Mar 22 Ahmed Yassin, Palestinian co-founder of Hamas (b. ca. 1937)
• Mar 23 Rupert Hamer, Australian politician (b. 1916)
• Mar 24 Max Dendermonde [Hendrik Hazelhoff], Dutch literary, dies at 84
• Mar 28 Art James, American game show host (b. 1929)

• Mar 30 Frances Schreuder, American socialite convicted of murder, dies at 65
• Apr 1 Aaron Bank, American OSS officer and founder of the US Army Special Forces (b. 1902)
• Apr 2 John Argyris, Greek aeronautical engineer (b. 1913)
• Apr 4 Casey Sheehan, American soldier, son of Cindy Sheehan (b. 1979)
• Apr 5 Heiner Zieschang, German mathematician (b. 1936)
• Apr 5 Sławomir Rawicz, Polish soldier (b. 1915)
• Apr 6 Larisa Bogoraz, Soviet dissident (b. 1929)
• Apr 17 Edmond Pidoux, Swiss writer (L'histoire de Jonas), dies at 95
• Apr 18 Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji & President of Fiji, dies at 83
• Apr 19 Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (b. 1925)
• Apr 19 John Maynard Smith, English biologist (b. 1920)
• Apr 21 Mary McGrory, American journalist and columnist, dies at 85
• Apr 22 Jason L. Dunham, American Corporal in the United States Marine Corps and Medal of Honor recipient, dies at 22

• Apr 25 Thom Gunn, British poet (The Wound), dies at 74
• Apr 26 Hubert Selby Jr., American author (Last Exit to Brooklyn), dies at 75
• May 6 Philip Kapleau, American Zen teacher and founder (Rochester Zen Center in New Haven), dies at 91
• May 7 Waldemar Milewicz, Polish reporter (b. 1956)
• May 7 William J. Knight, American astronaut and test pilot (X-15), dies at 74
• May 8 John Peel, British politician (C), dies at 91
• May 9 Akhmad Kadyrov, 1st President of Chechnya, dies at 52
• May 16 June Taylor, American choreographer, dies at 86
• May 17 Jørgen Nash, Danish artist (b. 1920)
• May 17 Ezzedine Salim, leader of Iraqi Governing Council (b. 1943)
• May 20 Lord Murray of Epping Forest, British labour politician and union leader, dies of emphysema and pneumonia at 82
• May 23 Ramon Margalef, Spanish scientist (b. 1919)
• May 24 Henry Ries, American photographer (b. 1917)
• May 24 Milton Shulman, Canadian author and critic (b. 1913)
• May 24 Edward Wagenknecht, American literary critic (b. 1900)
• May 25 Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (b. 1917)
• May 26 Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh, Russian astronomer (b. 1931)
• May 26 Dullah Omar, South African attorney and UDF-leader, dies at 69
• May 28 Umberto Agnelli, Italian automobile executive (Fiat), dies at 69
• May 29 Archibald Cox, American lawyer and special prosecutor (Watergate), dies at 92
• May 29 Samuel Dash, American Congressional counsel (b. 1925)
• May 30 Andrew Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire, English aristocrat (Chatsworth) and politician, married Deborah Mitford, dies at 84
• Jun 1 William Manchester, American writer (b. 1922)

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