1990
- Also see: 1990 (disambiguation). For the Enigma album, see: MCMXC a.D..
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
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| Centuries: | |
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Template:C20YearInTopicX Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). Template:C20YearTOCawards
From January 27, it was the year of the Horse in the Chinese Zodiac.
It is often considered the final year of the Cold War era; although others consider 1991 to be the last year.
Events of 1990
January
- January 3 - Manuel Noriega, the former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.
- January 4 - Over 300 people are killed in a train accident in Ghotki, Pakistan.
- January 7 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns.
- January 9 - Ugandan Lt. Gen. Bazilio Olara-Okello, who led a coup against Dr. Apolo Milton Obote's government, dies in Ormduruman Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan.
- January 10 - Time Warner is formed from the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc.
- January 11 - In Lithuania, 300,000 demonstrate for independence.
- January 13 - Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office in Richmond, Virginia.
- January 15 - Thousands storm the Stasi headquarters in Berlin in an attempt to view their government records.
- January 18 - Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
- January 22 - Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. is convicted of releasing the Morris worm.
- January 25 - Avianca Flight 52 crashes into Cove Neck, Long Island, after a miscommunication between the flight crew and JFK Airport officials.
- January 25-January 26 - The Burns' Day storm kills 97 in northwestern Europe.
- January 27 - The city of Tiraspol in the Moldavian SSR briefly declares independence.
- January 28 - The San Francisco 49ers defend their NFL Championship, winning their 4th Super Bowl overall with a 55-10 thrashing of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- January 29 - The trial of Joseph Hazelwood, former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, begins in Anchorage, Alaska. He is accused of negligence that resulted in America's worst oil spill to date.
- January 31 - The first McDonald's in Moscow, USSR opens.
-
-
Jan. 29: Captain is on trial for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. -
Jan. 7 - The Pisa tower closed.
February
- February 2 - Apartheid: In South Africa, President F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to free Nelson Mandela.
- February 5 - Manuel Fraga becomes the president of Galicia.
- February 7 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly of power.
- February 10 - South African President F.W. de Klerk announces that Nelson Mandela will be released the next day.
- February 11
- James "Buster" Douglas knocks out Mike Tyson to win the World Heavyweight Boxing crown.
- Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison, near Cape Town, South Africa, after 26 years behind bars.
- February 12
- Super Mario Bros. 3, the best selling game for NES, is released in United States
- February 13 - German reunification: An agreement is reached for a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.
- February 15 - The United Kingdom and Argentina restore diplomatic relations after 8 years. The UK had severed ties in response to Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands, a British Dependent Territory, in 1982.
- February 26
- The Sandinistas are defeated in the Nicaraguan elections.
- The USSR agrees to withdraw all 73,500 troops from Czechoslovakia by July, 1991.
- February 27 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: Exxon and its shipping company are indicted on 5 criminal counts.
March
- March 1
- A fire at the Sheraton Hotel in Cairo, Egypt kills 16 people.
- Steve Jackson Games is raided by the U.S. Secret Service, prompting the later formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
- The Royal New Zealand Navy discontinues its daily rum ration.
- March 6 - An SR-71 sets a U.S. transcontinental speed record of 1 hour 8 minutes 17 seconds, on what is publicized as its last official flight.
- March 9
- Police seal off Brixton in South London after another night of protests against the poll tax.
- Antonia Novello is sworn in as Surgeon General of the United States, becoming the first female and Hispanic American to serve in that position.
- Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Clyde Wells confirms he will rescind Newfoundland's approval of the Meech Lake Accord.
- March 10 - Eighteen months after seizing power in a coup, Prosper Avril is ousted in Haiti.
- March 11 - Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union.
- March 11 - Patricio Aylwin is sworn-in as the first democratically-elected Chilean president since 1970.
- March 15
- Iraq hangs British journalist Farzad Bazoft for spying. Daphne Parish, a British nurse, is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment as an accomplice.
- Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first executive president of the Soviet Union.
- The Soviet Union announces that Lithuania's declaration of independence is invalid.
- March 18
- Twelve paintings, collectively worth from $100 to $300 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts by 2 thieves posing as police officers. This is the largest art theft in US history, and the paintings (as of 2007) have not been recovered.
- East Germany holds its first free elections.
- March 20 - Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.
- March 21 - After 75 years of South African rule, Namibia becomes independent.
- March 23 - Gerald Bull, a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery, is assassinated in Brussels.
- March 24 - Australian legislative election, 1990: The government of Australian prime minister Bob Hawke is re-elected for a 4th term.
- March 25
- In New York City, a fire due to arson at an illegal social club called "Happy Land" kills 87.
- Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie announced his intention to retire at the end of the year.
- March 27 - Propaganda: The United States begins broadcasting TV Martí to Cuba.
- March 28 - U.S. President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.
- March 31 - "The Second Battle of Trafalgar": A massive anti-poll tax demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, turns into a riot; 471 people are injured, and 341 arrested.
April
- April 1 - The largest prison riot in Britain's history begins at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, and will continue for nearly four weeks, until April 25
- April 6 - Robert Mapplethorpe's "The Perfect Moment" show of nude and homosexual photographs opens at the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center, in spite of accusations of indecency by Citizens for Community Values.
- April 7 - Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of 5 charges for his part in the scandal; the convictions are later reversed on appeal.
- April 8
- Ryan White dies from AIDS
- Scandinavian Star, a Bahamas-registered ferry, catches fire en route from Norway to Denmark, leaving 158 dead.
- April 13 - The Soviet Union apologizes for the Katyn Massacre.
- April 15 - Food poisoning kills 450 guests at an engagement party in Uttar Pradesh.
- April 20 - STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.
- April 24
- The Space Shuttle Discovery places the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit.
- West Germany and East Germany agree to merge currency and economies on July 1.
- April 25
- Violeta Chamorro was elected President of Nicaragua making her the 1st woman President in Latin America.
May
- May 2 - In London, England, a man brandishing a knife robs courier Nicholas Lane of bearer bonds worth £292 million (the largest mugging to date).
- May 4 - Latvia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
- May 5 - The 35th Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Zagreb, Yugoslavia.
- May 15 - Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million.
- May 17 - The World Health Organization removes homosexuality from its list of diseases.
- May 20 - The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
- May 22 - The leaders of the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen announce the unification of their countries as the Republic of Yemen.
- May 24 - The Edmonton Oilers defeat the Boston Bruins in the 1990 Stanley Cup Finals for their fifth Stanley Cup.
- May 29 - Rhode Island celebrates its bicentennial statehood.
June
- June 1
- U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production and begin destroying their respective stocks.
- Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army shoot and kill Major Michael Dillon-Lee and Private William Robert Davies of the British Army. Dillon-Lee is killed outside his home in Dortmund, Germany and Davies is killed at a railway station in Lichfield, England.
- June 2 - The Lower Ohio Valley Tornado Outbreak spawns 88 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 9. 37 tornadoes occurred in Indiana, eclipsing the previous record of 21 during the Super Outbreak of April 1974.
- June 7 - Universal Studios Florida opens to the public
- June 8 - The 1990 FIFA World Cup begins in Italy.
- June 12 - The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty.
- A huge earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter Scale kills thousands in the Iranian city of Manjil
- June 14 - The Detroit Pistons defeat the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1990 NBA Finals.
- June 22 - Underwater volcano Mount Didicas erupts in the Philippines.
- June 24 - Kathleen Young and Irene Templeton are ordained as priests in St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, becoming the first Anglican women priests in the United Kingdom.
- June 26
- U.S. President Bush breaks his 1988 'no new taxes' campaign pledge, accepting tax revenue increases as a necessity to reduce the budget deficit.
- In Phoenix, Arizona, the temperature reaches an all-time record high of 122 degrees for the city.
July
- July 2 - A stampede in a pedestrian tunnel leading to Mecca kills 1,426.
- July 8 - West Germany defeats Argentina 1-0 to win the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
- July 15 - Tamil Tigers kill 168 Muslims in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
- July 16 - An earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter Scale kills over 1600 in the Philippines.
- July 25
- George Carey, Bishop of Bath and Wells, is named as the new Archbishop of Canterbury.
- The Serbian Democratic Party declares the sovereignty of the Serbs in Croatia.
- July 26 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act, designed to protect disabled Americans from discrimination.
- July 27
- The parliament building and a government television house in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago are stormed by the Jamaat al Muslimeen in a coup d'état attempt which lasts 5 days. Approximately 26 to 30 people are killed and several wounded (including then Prime Minister, A.N.R. Robinson, who is shot in the leg).
- Belarus declares its sovereignty, a key step toward independence from the USSR.
- July 28 - Alberto Fujimori becomes president of Peru.
- July 30 - A Provisional Irish Republican Army car bomb kills British M.P. Ian Gow, a staunch unionist.
August
- August 2 - Gulf War: Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.
- August 6 - Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to its invasion of Kuwait.
- August 7 - At 12:34:56 (both a.m. and p.m.) the time and date by British reckoning is 12:34:56 7/8/90.
- August 19 - Leonard Bernstein conducts his final concert, ending with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
- August 24 - Northern Ireland writer Brian Keenan is released from Lebanon after being held hostage for nearly 5 years.
- August 27 - Blues musician Stevie Ray Vaughan dies in a helicopter crash along with 4 others following a concert near East Troy, Wisconsin.
September
- September - The sculpture Good Defeats Evil by sculptor Zurab Tsereteli is erected outside the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
- September 2 - Transnistria declares its independence from the Moldavian SSR; however, the declaration is not recognized by any government.
- September 9 - Liberian Civil War: Liberian president Samuel Doe is captured by rebel leader Prince Johnson and killed in a filmed execution.
- September 11 - Gulf War: President George H. W. Bush delivers a nationally televised speech in which he threatens the use of force to remove Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait.
- September 12 - The two German states and the Four Powers sign the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany in Moscow, paving the way for German re-unification.
- September 18 - In Tokyo, Japan, the IOC chooses Atlanta to host the 1996 Summer Olympics.
- September 19 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army tries to assassinate Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Terry at his home near Stafford, England. Hit by at least 9 bullets, the former Governor of Gibraltar survives.
- September 29 - Washington National Cathedral finished.
October
- October 3 - East Germany and West Germany reunify into a single Germany.
- October 5 - After 150 years, 10 months and 2 days (Friday, January 3, 1840 - Friday, October 5, 1990), The Herald broadsheet newspaper in Melbourne, Australia is published for the last time as a separate newspaper.
- October 8 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: In Jerusalem, Israeli police kill 17 Palestinians and wound over 100 near the Dome of the Rock mosque on the Temple Mount
- October 9 - Leonard Bernstein announces his retirement from conducting. Unbeknownst to anyone other than himself and his doctors, he is fatally ill.
- October 13 - Lebanese Civil War: Syrian military forces invade and occupy Mount Lebanon, ousting General Michel Aoun's government. This effectively consolidates Syria's 14 year occupation of Lebanese soil.
- October 14 - Leonard Bernstein dies of a heart attack at his home in New York City. He is 72 years old.
- October 15 - Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and reform his nation.
- October 20 - The Cincinnati Reds defeat the Oakland Athletics to win the 1990 World Series.
- October 21 - First Apple Day set up by Common Ground in London
- October 25 - Evander Holyfield defeats James 'Buster' Douglas for the Heavyweight Boxing crown.
- October 27
- The Supreme Soviet of Kyrgyzstan chooses Askar Akayev as the republic's first president.
- The New Zealand general election 1990 returns the New Zealand National Party with record number of 67 seats.
November
- November 1 - Mary Robinson defeats odds-on favourite Brian Lenihan to become the first female President of Ireland.
- November 5 - Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel.
- November 12 - Akihito is enthroned as the 125th emperor of Japan.
- November 12 - Tim Berners-Lee publishes a more formal proposal for the World Wide Web. [1]
- November 13 - The first known World Wide Web page is written.
- November 14 - Germany and Poland sign a treaty confirming the border at the Oder-Neisse line.
- November 15 - STS-38: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on a classified military mission.
- November 21 - The Super Famicom (aka Super Nintendo) is released in Japan.
- November 22 - Margaret Thatcher announces she will not contest the second ballot of the leadership election for the Conservative Party.
- November 25 - Lech Wałęsa and Stanisław Tymiński win the first round of the first presidential elections in Poland.
- November 27 - John Major wins the second ballot of the Conservative Party leadership election and his two rivals, Michael Heseltine and Douglas Hurd, concede defeat.
- November 28 - Margaret Thatcher resigns as Prime Minister of the UK; John Major succeeds her as Party Leader and is appointed Prime Minister by Queen Elizabeth II.
- November 29 - Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council passes UN Security Council Resolution 678, authorizing military intervention in Iraq if that nation does not withdraw its forces from Kuwait and free all foreign hostages by Tuesday, January 15, 1991.
December
- December 1 - Establishing the first ground connection between the United Kingdom and the mainland of Europe since the last Ice Age, Channel Tunnel workers from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 meters beneath the English Channel seabed.
- December 2 - A coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl wins the first free all-German elections since 1932.
- December 3
- At Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 (a McDonnell Douglas DC-9) collides with Northwest Airlines Flight 299 (a Boeing 727) on the runway, killing 8 passengers and 4 crewmembers on Flight 1482.
- Mary Robinson is elected the first female president of the Republic of Ireland.
- December 6
- Saddam Hussein releases the Western hostages.
- President Hossain Mohammad Ershad of Bangladesh is forced to resign following massive protests.
- December 9
- Slobodan Milošević becomes President of Serbia.
- Lech Wałęsa wins the 2nd round of Poland's first presidential election.
- December 11 - John Gotti is arrested.
- December 16 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide is elected president of Haiti, ending 3 decades of military rule.
- December 19 - Footballer Tony Adams, the captain of Arsenal and an England international defender, is sentenced to 4 months in prison and banned from driving for 2 years after being found guilty of drunk driving in connection with an accident in Southend-on-Sea on 6 May this year.
- December 31 - Russian Garry Kasparov holds his title by winning the World Chess Championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov.
Undated
- For a brief while in early 1990, Romania had a civil war in the aftermath of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the opposition was for Nicolae Ceauşescu and the Communist regime, and those for the new regime.
- New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is published in the United States.
- Metropolitan Aleksy of Leningrad elected Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia.
- Channel 7 + 10 networks go into receivership (Australia).
- Homosexual acts between consenting adults are decriminalized in Queensland.
Fictional
The following are references to year 1990 in fiction: (unknown).
World population
| World population | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 1985 | 1995 | ||||
 World
|
5,263,593,000 | 4,830,979,000 |  432,614,000
|
5,674,380,000 | 410,787,000
| |
 Africa
|
622,443,000 | 541,814,000 | 80,629,000
|
707,462,000 | 85,019,000
| |
 Asia
|
3,167,807,000 | 2,887,552,000 | 280,255,000
|
3,430,052,000 | 262,245,000
| |
 Europe
|
721,582,000 | 706,009,000 | 15,573,000
|
727,405,000 | 5,823,000
| |
 Latin-America
|
441,525,000 | 401,469,000 | 40,056,000
|
481,099,000 | 39,574,000
| |
 Northern America
|
283,549,000 | 269,456,000 | 14,093,000
|
299,438,000 | 15,889,000
| |
 Oceania
|
26,687,000 | 24,678,000 | 2,009,000
|
28,924,000 | 2,237,000
| |
Births
January-February
- January 7 - Liam Aiken, American actor
- January 7 - Camryn Grimes, American actress
- January 12 - Sergey Karjakin, Ukrainian chess player
- January 26 - Christopher Massey, American actor
- January 30 - Jake Thomas, American actor
- February 3 - Sean Kingston, American rapper
- February 5 - Chris Chamberlin, Australian singer
- February 11 - Q'Orianka Kilcher, German-born actress
- February 13 - Erdini Qoigyijabu, eleventh Panchen Lama
- February 14 - Emily Mae Young, American child actress
- February 22 - Carol Burns, Australian actress
- February 23 - Christian Copelin, American actor
- February 28 - Anna Muzychuk, Ukrainian chess player
March-April
- March 1 - James Lomas, British stage actor
- March 4 - Andrea Bowen, American actress
- March 8 - Abigail and Brittany Hensel, American conjoined twins
- March 16 - James Bulger, British murder victim (d. 1993)
- March 23 - Princess Eugenie of York
- March 24 - Keisha Castle-Hughes, Australian-born actress
- April 9 - Kristen Stewart, American actress
- April 15 - Emma Watson, English actress
- April 16 - Lorraine Nicholson, American actress
May-June
- May 1 - Caitlin Stasey, Australian actress
- May 2 - Kay Panabaker, American actress
- May 15 - Gerald Santos, Filipino actor and singer
- May 16 - Thomas Sangster, English actor
- May 30 - Matías Nocedal, Argentine basketball player
- May 30 - Dean Collins, American actor
- June 2 - Brittany Curran, American actress
- June 6 - Ashleigh Chisholm, Australian actress
- June 21 - Bridget Hall, Canadian actress
- June 26 - Ryan Ward, American actor
- June 28 - Jasmine Richards, Canadian actress
July-August
- July 24 - Daveigh Chase, American actress
- July 27 - Cheyenne Kimball, American singer
- July 27 - Nick Hogan, son of Hulk Hogan
- July 27 - Indiana Evans, Australian actress
- July 28 - Shana Swash, British actress
- August 6 - JonBenét Ramsey, American beauty queen and murder victim (d. 1996)
- August 9 - Adelaide Kane, Australian actress
- August 17 - Rachel Hurd-Wood, British actress
- August 26 - Lil Chris, English singer
- August 28 - Bojan Krkic, Spanish footballer (FC Barcelona)
September-October
- September 9 - Melody Klaver, Dutch actress
- September 17 - Pixie Geldof, Daughter of Bob Geldof
- September 20 - John Tavares, Canadian ice hockey player
- September 21 - Christian Serratos, American actress
- September 21 - Allison Scagliotti-Smith, American actress
- October 18 - Carly Schroeder, American actress
- October 21 - Ricky Rubio, Spanish basketball player
- October 22 - Jonathan Lipnicki, American actor
- October 23 - Stevie Brock, American singer
- October 25 - Austin Peralta, American jazz musician and composer
November-December
- November 4 - Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Canadian actor
- November 7 - Marisa Siketa, Australian actress
- November 13 - Jibbs, American rapper
- November 27 - Shane Haboucha, American actor
- November 29 - Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit, twin American actors
- November 30 - Hannah Richings, British singer
- November 30 - Magnus Carlsen, Norwegian chess player
- December 10 - Giulia Boverio, Italian actress
- December 17 - Ashley Edner, American actress
- December 20 - JoJo, American singer/actress
- December 22 - Jean-Baptiste Maunier, French actor
- December 23 - Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, American actress
Unknown
- Evan Savoie, American murderer
Deaths
January
- January 2 - Alan Hale Jr., American actor (b. 1921)
- January 4 - Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineering (b. 1903)
- January 6 - Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
- January 9 - Spud Chandler, baseball player (b. 1907)
- January 20 - Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (b. 1907)
- January 22 - Roman Vishniac, Russian-American photographer (b. 1897)
- January 23 - Allen Collins, one of the founding members of Lynyrd Skynyrd (b. 1952)
- January 25 - Ava Gardner, American actress (b. 1922)
- January 26 - Lewis Mumford, American historian of science (b. 1895)
February
- February 2 - Joe Erskine, Former British heavyweight boxing champion (b. 1934)
- February 7 - Jimmy Van Heusen, American composer (b. 1913)
- February 8 - Del Shannon, American musician and singer (b. 1934)
- February 19 - Michael Powell, British director (b. 1905)
- February 16 - Keith Haring, American pop artist (b. 1954)
- February 24 - Malcolm Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine (b. 1919)
- February 27 - Nahum Norbert Glatzer, Jewish-American scholar (b. 1903)
March
- March 13 - Karl Münchinger, German conductor (b. 1915)
- March 13 - Bruno Bettelheim, American child psychologist (b. 1903)
- March 17 - Ric Grech, British rock bassist (Family, Blind Faith, Traffic) (b. 1946)
- March 17 - Capucine (born Germaine Lefebvre), French actress (b. 1933)
- March 19 - Andrew Wood, American musician (b. 1966)
- March 20 - Lev Yashin, Russian footballer (b. 1929)
April
- April 3 - Sarah Vaughan, American jazz vocalist (b. 1924)
- April 8 - Ryan White, AIDS activist (b. 1971)
- April 15 - Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (b. 1905)
- April 17 - Ralph Abernathy, American civil rights leader (b. 1926)
- April 18 - Gory Guerrero, Hispanic wrestler and father of Eddie Guerrero (b. 1921)
- April 21 - Romain de Tirtoff (pseudonym Erté), French Art Deco artist (b. 1892)
- April 23 - Paulette Goddard, American actress (b. 1910)
May
- May 8 - Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich, Northern Irish clergyman (b. 1923)
- May 16 - Sammy Davis Jr., American actor, dancer, and singer (b. 1925)
- May 16 - Jim Henson, American puppeteer and filmmaker (b. 1936)
- May 18 - Jill Ireland, English actress (b. 1936)
- May 25 - Vic Tayback, American actor (b. 1930)
June
- June 2 - Rex Harrison, English actor (b. 1908)
- June 3 - Stiv Bators, American singer (The Dead Boys) (b. 1949)
- June 16 - Dame Eva Turner, British soprano (b. 1892)
- June 22 - Ilya Frank, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
July
- July 7 - Bill Cullen, American game show host (b. 1920)
- July 7 - Cazuza, Brazilian poet, singer and composer (b. 1958)
- July 15 - Margaret Lockwood, English actress (b. 1916)
- July 18 - Yun Po Sun, President of South Korea (b. 1897)
- July 18 - Johnny Wayne, Canadian comedian Wayne and Shuster (b. 1918)
- July 18 - Yves Chaland, French cartoonist (b. 1957)
- July 22 - Manuel Puig, Argentinian writer (b. 1932)
- July 26 - Brent Mydland, American keyboard player (Grateful Dead) (b. 1952)
August
- August 9 - Joe Mercer, English footballer (b. 1914)
- August 12 - Dorothy Mackaill, British-born American actress (b. 1903)
- August 15 - Victor Tsoi, underground Soviet singer (b. 1962)
- August 17 - Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (b. 1918)
- August 18 - B. F. Skinner, American psychologist (b. 1904)
- August 27 - Stevie Ray Vaughan, American guitarist (b. 1954)
September
- September 4 - Irene Dunne, American actress (b. 1898)
- September 7 - A. J. P. Taylor, English historian (b. 1906)
- September 16 - Len Hutton, English cricketer (b. 1916)
- September 26 - Alberto Moravia, Italian novelist (b. 1907)
- September 30 - Patrick White, Australian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
October
- October 5 - Peter Taylor, English footballer and manager (b. 1928)
- October 13 - Le Duc Tho, Vietnamese general and politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1911)
- October 14 - Leonard Bernstein, American composer and conductor (b. 1918)
November
- November 5 - Meir Kahane, American rabbi and founder of the Kach movement (b. 1932)
- November 17 - Robert Hofstadter, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
- November 23 - Roald Dahl, English writer (b. 1916)
- November 26 - David White, American actor (b. 1916)
December
- December 2 - Aaron Copland, American composer (b. 1900)
- December 6 - Pavlos Sidiropoulos, Greek singer and songwriter (b. 1948)
- December 7 - Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban writer (b. 1943)
- December 7 - Joan Bennett, American actress (b. 1910)
- December 14 - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (b. 1921)
- December 16 - Douglas Campbell, American World War I pilot (b. 1896)
- December 16 - Jackie Mittoo, Jamaican musician (b. 1948)
Unknown dates
- (none)
Ship events
Nobel prizes
- Physics - Jerome Isaac Friedman, Henry Way Kendall, and Richard Edward Taylor
- Chemistry - Elias James Corey
- Physiology or Medicine - Joseph E. Murray, E. Donnall Thomas
- Literature - Octavio Paz
- Peace - Mikhail Gorbachev
- Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel - Harry Markowitz, Merton Miller, William Sharpe
Templeton Prize
- Baba Amte (Joint Award)
- L. Charles Birch (Joint Award)
Fields Medal
Right Livelihood Award
- Alice Tepper Marlin, Bernard Lédéa Ouedraogo, Felicia Langer and ATCC (Asociación de Trabajadores Campesinos del Carare)
See also
Notes
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