October 2004 in History

Events in History

Event of Interest

Oct 7 King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicates

Nobel Prize

Oct 8 Kenyan Wangari Maathai is the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace"

Oct 19 Care International aid worker Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Iraq
Oct 19 Myanmar prime minister Khin Nyunt is ousted and placed under house arrest by the SPDC on charges of corruption
Oct 22 Discovery and isolation of new wonder material Graphene announced in paper by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov (Nobel Prize 2010). Incredibly they used scotch tape to peal layers off Graphite. [1]
Oct 23 A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata prefecture, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.

Event of Interest

Oct 25 Fidel Castro, Cuba's President, announces that transactions using the American Dollar will be banned by November 8

Event of Interest

Oct 29 Arabic news network, Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a video of Osama bin Laden in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election

Oct 29 In Rome, 25 European heads of state sign a Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe

Weddings in History

Joseph Stiglitz

Oct 28 Economist Joseph Stiglitz (61) weds professor Anya Schiffrin (41) at the Municipal Building in New York

Oct 29 "Jackass" member Chris Pontius (30) weds Claire Nolan in Malibu

Deaths in History

Oct 1 Richard Avedon, American photographer (b. 1923)
Oct 4 Gordon Cooper, American astronaut (b. 1927)
Oct 5 Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born English physicist (Nobel 1962-X-ray diffraction studies of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) proved crucial to the determination of DNA’s molecular structure by James D. Watson and Francis Crick), dies at 87 [1] [2]
Oct 5 William H. Dobelle, American biomedical engineer (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013 nominee), dies at 62
Oct 7 Ken Bigley, British civil engineer, kidnapped and murdered in Iraq (b. 1942)
Oct 8 Jacques Derrida, French philosopher (b. 1930)
Oct 8 James Chace, American historian (b. 1931)
Oct 10 Arthur H. Robinson, American cartographer (b. 1915)
Oct 10 Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand writer (Season of the Jew), dies at 72
Oct 13 Enrique Fernando, Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court, dies at 89
Oct 14 Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell, British historian, dies at 67
Oct 18 Veerappan, Indian bandit and smuggler (b. 1945)
Oct 20 Anthony Hecht, American poet, dies at 81
Oct 22 Alastair Down, CEO (Burmah Oil), dies at 90
Oct 22 Samuel Lee Gravely Jr., American naval officer, First African American fleet commander, dies at 82
Oct 24 James Cardinal Hickey, American Catholic archbishop (b. 1920)
Oct 29 Alice, British Princess and Duchess of Gloucester, aunt of Elizabeth II, dies at 102
Oct 29 Edward Oliver LeBlanc, Dominican politician, dies at 81
Oct 29 Peter Twinn, English mathematician (b. 1916)