1994

Events

January

• January 1
• * The North American Free Trade Agreement is established.
• * The Zapatista Army of National Liberation begins their war in Chiapas, Mexico.
• January 6 - American figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked and injured by an assailant hired by her rival, Tonya Harding's ex-husband during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships that they were both taking part in.
• January 8 – Soyuz TM-18: Valeri Polyakov begins his 437.7 day orbit, eventually setting the world record for days spent in orbit.
• January 11 – The Irish government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the Provisional Irish Republican Army and its political arm Sinn Féin.
• January 14 – U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin accords, which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles toward each country's targets, and also provide for the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in Ukraine.
• January 17 – The 6.7 Northridge earthquake strikes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX, leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.
• January 19 – Record cold temperatures hit the eastern United States. The coldest temperature ever measured in Indiana state history, −36 °F, is recorded in New Whiteland, Indiana.
• January 25 – U.S. President Bill Clinton delivers his first State of the Union address, calling for health care reform, a ban on assault weapons, and welfare reform.
• January 26 – Student David Kang fires two blank shots from a starting pistol at Prince Charles in Sydney, Australia.

  February

• February 3 – In the aftermath of the Chadian–Libyan conflict, the International Court of Justice rules that the Aouzou Strip belongs to the Republic of Chad.
• February 5 – Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
• February 6 – Markale massacres: a Bosnian Serb Army mortar shell kills 68 civilians and wounds about 200 in a Sarajevo marketplace.
• February 9 – The Vance–Owen peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina is announced.
• February 12
• * Edvard Munch's painting The Scream is stolen in Oslo.
• * The 1994 Winter Olympics begin in Lillehammer.
• February 24 – In Gloucester, local police begin excavations at 25 Cromwell Street, the home of Fred West, a suspect in multiple murders. On February 28, he and his wife are arrested.
• February 25 – Israeli Kahanist Baruch Goldstein opens fire inside the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank; he kills 29 Muslims before worshippers beat him to death.
• February 28
• * Four United States F-16s shoot down four Serbian J-21s over Bosnia and Herzegovina for violation of the Operation Deny Flight and its no-fly zone.

  March

• March – The People's Republic of China gets its first connection to the Internet.
• March 1 - Walvis Bay is handed over to Namibia by South Africa.
• March 6 – A referendum in Moldova results in the electorate voting against possible reunification with Romania.
• March 12
• * A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell, previously touted as "proof" of the Loch Ness Monster, is confirmed to be a hoax.
• * The Church of England ordains its first female priests.
• March 14
• * Apple Computer, Inc. releases the Power Macintosh, the first Macintosh computers to use the new PowerPC microprocessors.
• * The Linux kernel version 1.0.0 is released after over two years of development.
• March 15 – U.S. troops are withdrawn from Somalia.
• March 20 – Italian journalist Ilaria Alpi and TV cameraman Miran Hrovatin are assassinated in Somalia.
• March 21 – The 66th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama, Schindler's List, wins seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director.
• March 23
• * Green Ramp disaster: two military aircraft collide over Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina causing 24 fatalities.
• * Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated at a campaign rally in Tijuana.
• March 27
• * TV tycoon Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing coalition wins the Italian general election.
• * The biggest tornado outbreak in 1994 occurs in the southeastern United States; one tornado kills 22 people at the Goshen United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Alabama.
• March 28 – Shell House massacre: Inkatha Freedom Party and ANC supporters battle in central Johannesburg, South Africa.
• March 31 – The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull.

  April

• April 2 – The National Convention of New Sudan of the SPLA/M opens in Chukudum.
• April 6 – Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira die when a missile shoots down their jet near Kigali, Rwanda. This is taken as a pretext to begin the Rwandan genocide.
• April 7 – The Rwandan genocide begins in Kigali, Rwanda.
• April 16 – Voters in Finland decide to join the European Union in a referendum.
• April 20 – South Africa adopts a new national flag, replacing the "Oranje, Blanje, Blou" flag that was used during apartheid.
• April 21 – The Red Cross estimates that hundreds of thousands of Tutsi have been killed in Rwanda.
• April 25 – Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuff Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lahu ends his term as the 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
• April 26
• * Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, becomes the 10th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
• * China Airlines Flight 140, an Airbus A300, crashes while landing at Nagoya, Japan, killing 264 people.
• April 27 – South Africa holds its first fully multiracial elections, marking the final end of the last vestiges of apartheid. Nelson Mandela wins the elections and is sworn in as the first democratically-elected president the following month.

  May

• May 1 – Three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy.
• May 5 – The Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan is signed in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; effectively freezing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
• May 6 – The Channel Tunnel, which took 15,000 workers more than seven years to complete, opens between England and France, enabling passengers to travel between the two countries in 35 minutes.
• May 10
• * Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.
• May 17 – Malawi holds its first multiparty elections.
• May 20 – After a funeral in Cluny Parish Church, Edinburgh attended by 900 people and after which 3,000 people lined the streets, John Smith is buried in a private family funeral on the island of Iona, at the sacred burial ground of Reilig Odhráin, which contains the graves of several Scottish kings as well as monarchs of Ireland, Norway and France.
• May 22 – Pope John Paul II issues the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis from the Vatican, expounding the Catholic Church's position requiring "the reservation of priestly ordination to men alone".

  June

• June 1 – The Republic of South Africa rejoins the Commonwealth after the first democratic election. South Africa left the then British Commonwealth in 1961.
• June 6–8 – Ceasefire negotiations for the Yugoslav War begin in Geneva; they agree to a one-month cessation of hostilities.
• June 12 – Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman are murdered outside the Simpson home in Los Angeles. O. J. Simpson is later acquitted of the killings, but is held liable in a civil suit.
• June 15 – Israel and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations.
• June 17
• * NFL star O. J. Simpson and his friend Al Cowlings flee from police in his white Ford Bronco. The low-speed chase ends at Simpson's Brentwood, Los Angeles mansion, where he surrenders.
• * The 1994 FIFA World Cup starts in the United States.
• June 23 — NASA's Space Station Processing Facility, a new state-of-the-art manufacturing building for the International Space Station, officially opens at Kennedy Space Center.
• June 25 – Cold War: the last Russian troops leave Germany.
• June 26 – Microsoft announces it will no longer sell or support the MS-DOS operating system separately from Microsoft Windows. This had been its mainstay since 1980.
• June 28 – Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult execute the first sarin gas attack at Matsumoto, Japan, killing eight and injuring 200.
• June 30 – An Airbus A330 crashes during a test flight near Toulouse, France, where Airbus is based, killing the seven-person crew. The test was meant to simulate an engine failure at low speed with maximum angle of climb.
• June 30
• * The Liberal Democratic Party in Japan regained power after spent 11 months of opposition, with the coalition with Japanese Socialist Party.
• * Tropical Storm Alberto forms, hitting parts of Florida causing $1.03 billion in damage and 32 deaths.

  July

• July 2 – Colombian footballer Andrés Escobar, 27, is shot dead in Medellín. His murder is commonly attributed as retaliation for the own goal Escobar scored in the 1994 FIFA World Cup against the United States soccer team.
• July 4 – Rwandan Patriotic Front troops capture Kigali, a major breakthrough in the Rwandan Civil War.
• July 5 – Jeff Bezos founds Amazon.
• July 7 – 1994 civil war in Yemen: Aden is occupied by troops from North Yemen.
• July 8 – North Korean President Kim Il-sung dies, but officially continues to hold office.
• July 12 – The Allied occupation of Berlin ends with a casing of the colors ceremony attended by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
• July 16–22 – Fragments of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 impact the planet Jupiter.
• July 17 – Brazil wins the 1994 FIFA World Cup, defeating Italy 3–2 in a penalty shootout in the final.
• July 18
• * AMIA bombing: In Buenos Aires, a terrorist attack destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations, killing 85 and injuring many more.
• * Rwandan Patriotic Front troops capture Gisenyi, forcing the interim government into Zaire and ending the Rwandan genocide.
• July 25 – Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration as a preliminary to signature on October 25 of the Israel–Jordan peace treaty, which formally ends the state of war that has existed between the nations since 1948.

  August

• August 5 – Groups of protesters spread from Havana, Cuba's Castillo de la Punta, creating the first protests against Fidel Castro's government since 1959.
• August 12
• * Woodstock '94 begins in Saugerties, New York. It is the 25-year anniversary of Woodstock in 1969.
• * All Major League Baseball players go on strike, beginning the longest work stoppage in the sport's history.
• August 31
• * The Provisional Irish Republican Army announces a "complete cessation of military operations".
• * The Russian army leaves Estonia and Latvia, ending the last traces of Eastern Europe's Soviet occupation.

  September

• September 3 – Cold War: Russia and the People's Republic of China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other.
• September 5 – New South Wales State MP for Cabramatta John Newman is shot outside his home, in Australia's first political assassination since 1977.
• September 8 – USAir Flight 427, a Boeing 737 with 132 people on board, crashes on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport killing all on board.
• September 13 – President Bill Clinton signs the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which bans the manufacture of new firearms with certain features for a period of 10 years.
• September 14 – The 1994 World Series is officially cancelled due to the ongoing work stoppage. It is the first time a World Series will not be played since 1904.
• September 16
• * Danish tour guide Louise Jensen is abducted, raped and murdered by three British soldiers in Cyprus.
• * Britain lifts the broadcasting ban imposed on Sinn Féin and paramilitary groups from Northern Ireland.
• September 19 – U.S. troops stage a bloodless invasion of Haiti to restore the legitimately-elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power.
• September 28
• * The car ferry MS Estonia sinks in the Baltic Sea, killing 852 people.
• * José Francisco Ruiz Massieu, Mexican politician, is assassinated on orders of Raúl Salinas de Gortari.
• September–October – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq threatens to stop cooperating with UNSCOM inspectors and begins to once again deploy troops near its border with Kuwait. In response, the U.S. begins to deploy troops to Kuwait.

  October

• October 1
• * In Slovakia, populist leader Vladimír Mečiar wins the general election.
• * Palau gains independence from the United Nations Trusteeship Council.
• October 4 – In Switzerland, 23 members of the Order of the Solar Temple cult are found dead, a day after 25 of their fellow cultists are similarly discovered in Morin-Heights, Quebec.
• October 8 – Iraq disarmament crisis: The President of the United Nations Security Council says that Iraq must withdraw its troops from the Kuwait border, and immediately cooperate with weapons inspectors.
• October 12 – NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus.
• October 15
• * After three years of U.S. exile, Haiti's president Aristide returns to his country.
• * Iraq disarmament crisis: following threats by the U.N. Security Council and the U.S., Iraq withdraws troops from its border with Kuwait.

  November

• November 5
• * A letter by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, announcing that he has Alzheimer's disease, is released.
• * George Foreman wins the WBA and IBF World Heavyweight Championships by KO'ing Michael Moorer becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
• * Influential Afrikaner theologian and critic of apartheid Johan Heyns is assassinated; the killers are never apprehended or identified.
• November 6
• * A flood in Piedmont, Italy, kills dozens of people.
• * Bražuolė bridge bombing in Lithuania damages a railway bridge but trains are stopped in time to avoid casualties.
• November 7 – WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provides the world's first internet radio broadcast.
• November 8
• * Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich leads the United States Republican Party in taking control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in midterm congressional elections, the first time in 40 years the Republicans secure control of both houses of Congress. George W. Bush is elected Governor of Texas.
• * Hurricane Gordon hits Central America, Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, Haiti and the Southeastern United States, causing $594 million in damages and 1,152 fatalities.
• November 13
• * Voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union in a referendum.
• * The first passengers travel through the Channel Tunnel.
• November 16 – A federal judge issues a temporary restraining order, prohibiting the State of California from implementing Proposition 187, that would have denied most public services to illegal aliens.
• November 20 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol.
• November 28 – Voters in Norway decide not to join the European Union in a referendum.

  December

• December 1 – Ernesto Zedillo takes office as President of Mexico.
• December 2 – The Australian government agrees to pay reparations to indigenous Australians who were displaced during the nuclear tests at Maralinga in the 1950s and 1960s.
• December 3
• *Sony releases the PlayStation video game system in Japan; it would sell over 100 million units worldwide by the time it was discontinued in 2006.
• *Taiwan held the first full local elections; James Soong elected as the first and only direct elected Governor of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian became the first direct elected Mayor of Taipei, Wu Den-yih became the first directed Mayor of Kaohsiung.
• December 11 – Russian president Boris Yeltsin orders troops into Chechnya.
• December 13
• * The trial of former President Mengistu begins in Ethiopia.
• * Fred West, 53, a builder living in Gloucester, is remanded in custody, charged with murdering 12 people whose bodies are mostly found buried at his house in Cromwell Street. His wife Rosemary West, 41, is charged with 10 murders.
• December 14 – Construction commences on the Three Gorges Dam, at Sandouping, China.
• December 19
• * A planned exchange rate correction of the Mexican peso to the US dollar, becomes a massive financial meltdown in Mexico, unleashing the 'Tequila' effect on global financial markets. This prompts a US$50 billion "bailout" by the Clinton Administration.
• * Civil unions between same-sex couples are legalized in Sweden.
• December 31 is skipped by the Phoenix Islands to switch from the UTC−11 time zone to UTC+13, and by the Line Islands to switch from UTC−10 to UTC+14. The latter becomes the earliest time zone in the world, one full day ahead of Hawaii.

  Date unknown

• Pyroclastic flows – clouds of scalding gas, pumice, and ash – rapidly descend an erupting Mount Merapi volcano in central Java, causing sixty deaths.
• Online service America Online offers gateway to World Wide Web for the first time. This marked the beginning of easy accessibility of the Web to the average person in the U.S.
• The population of Nigeria exceeds 100 million, making it the first African state to have a population above 100 million.

  Births

January

• January 3 – Isaquias Queiroz, Brazilian sprint canoeist
• January 5 – Zemgus Girgensons, Latvian ice hockey player
• January 6
• * Catriona Gray, Filipino-Australian model and singer
• * Denis Suárez, Spanish footballer
• * Jameis Winston, American football player
• January 10 – Faith Kipyegon, Kenyan middle-distance runner
• January 12 – Emre Can, German footballer
• January 14
• * Muktar Edris, Ethiopian long-distance runner
• * Kai, South Korean singer
• January 15 – Eric Dier, English footballer
• January 18 – Minzy, South Korean singer, rapper, and dancer
• January 19 – Matthias Ginter, German footballer
• January 21 – Booboo Stewart, American actor
• January 24 – Juanpi, Venezuelan footballer
• January 28 – Maluma, Colombian singer

  February

• February 1
• * Julia Garner, American actress
• * Harry Styles, English singer
• February 5 – Saki Nakajima, Japanese singer
• February 6 – Charlie Heaton, English actor
• February 8
• * Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Turkish footballer
• * Nikki Yanofsky, Canadian singer
• February 10 – Seulgi, South Korean singer
• February 12 – Arman Hall, American sprinter
• February 13 – Memphis Depay, Dutch footballer
• February 16
• * Federico Bernardeschi, Italian footballer
• * Ava Max, American singer
• February 18 – J-Hope, South Korean rapper and songwriter
• February 21 – Hayley Orrantia, American actress
• February 23 – Dakota Fanning, American actress and fashion model
• February 24 – Earl Sweatshirt, American rapper
• February 25 – Eugenie Bouchard, Canadian tennis player
• February 27 – Hou Yifan, Chinese chess player
• February 28 – Arkadiusz Milik, Polish footballer

  March

• March 1 – Justin Bieber, Canadian singer
• March 5 – Daria Gavrilova, Russian-Australian tennis player
• March 7
• * Chase Kalisz, American swimmer
• * Jordan Pickford, English footballer
• March 10 – Bad Bunny, Puerto Rican singer
• March 11 − Andrew Robertson, Scottish footballer
• March 12 – Christina Grimmie, American singer
• March 13 – Gerard Deulofeu, Spanish footballer
• March 14 – Ansel Elgort, American actor, singer, and DJ
• March 16 – Joel Embiid, Cameroonian basketball player
• March 26 – Mayu Watanabe, Japanese singer
• March 28 – Jackson Wang, Hong Kong rapper
• March 29 – Sulli, South Korean singer, songwriter, actress and model
• March 30 – Jetro Willems, Dutch footballer

  April

• April 4 – Risako Sugaya, Japanese singer
• April 11
• * Duncan Laurence, Dutch singer
• * Dakota Blue Richards, English actress
• April 12
• * Eric Bailly, Ivorian footballer
• * Oh Sehun, South Korean singer
• * Saoirse Ronan, United States-born Irish actress
• April 13 – Kahraba, Egyptian footballer
• April 14 – Skyler Samuels, American actress
• April 15 – Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Bahamian track and field sprinter
• April 16 – Liliana Mumy, American voice actress
• April 18
• * Moisés Arias, American actor
• * Aminé, American rapper
• April 19 – Freya Ridings, English singer
• April 25
• * Omar McLeod, Jamaican hurdler
• * Maggie Rogers, American singer-songwriter and record producer

  May

• May 4 – Alexander Gould, American actor
• May 6 – Mateo Kovačić, Croatian footballer
• May 14 – Marquinhos, Brazilian footballer
• May 20 – Piotr Zieliński, Polish footballer
• May 21 – Tom Daley, British diver
• May 24
• * Dimash Kudaibergen, Kazakh singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist
• * Emma McKeon, Australian swimmer
• * Daiya Seto, Japanese swimmer
• May 25 – Aly Raisman, American gymnast and model
• May 27
• * Maximilian Arnold, German footballer
• * João Cancelo, Portuguese footballer
• May 28
• * Son Yeon-jae South Korean rhythmic gymnast
• * John Stones, English footballer

  June

• June 2 – Shroud, Canadian streamer
• June 9 – Viktor Fischer, Danish footballer
• June 11
• * Ivana Baquero, Spanish actress
• * Jessica Fox, Australian canoeist
• June 15 – Vincent Janssen, Dutch footballer
• June 24 – Erin Moriarty, American actress
• June 28 – Hussein, Crown Prince of Jordan, heir apparent of Jordan
• June 29
• * Camila Mendes, American actress
• * Leandro Paredes, Argentinian footballer

  July

• July 2 – Baba Rahman, Ghanaian footballer
• July 4 – Era Istrefi, Kosovar Albanian singer and songwriter
• July 9 – Akiane Kramarik, American poet
• July 17
• * Victor Lindelöf, Swedish footballer
• * Benjamin Mendy, French footballer
• July 24 – Boyan Slat, Dutch Ceo of The Ocean Cleanup
• July 25 – Jordan Lukaku, Belgian footballer
• July 27 – Winnie Harlow, Canadian model
• July 29 – Daniele Rugani, Italian footballer
• July 31 – Lil Uzi Vert, American rapper

  August

• August 3 – Corentin Tolisso, French footballer
• August 4 – Mayuko Fukuda, Japanese actress
• August 8 − Lauv, American singer-songwriter
• August 9 - Kelli Hubly, American soccer player
• August 10 – Bernardo Silva, Portuguese footballer
• August 13 – Filip Forsberg, Swedish ice hockey player
• August 15 – Kosuke Hagino, Japanese swimmer
• August 17
• * Phoebe Bridgers, American singer
• * Taissa Farmiga, American actress
• August 18 – Madelaine Petsch, American actress
• August 19 – Nafissatou Thiam, Belgian athlete
• August 28 – Ons Jabeur, Tunisian tennis player
• August 30 – Kwon So-hyun, South Korean actress and singer
• August 31 — Can Aktav, Turkish football player

  September

• September 1 – Bianca Ryan, American singer-songwriter
• September 5 – Gregorio Paltrinieri, Italian swimmer
• September 8 – Bruno Fernandes, Portuguese footballer
• September 10 – Mehdi Torabi, Iranian footballer.
• September 11 – Jordi El Niño Polla, Spanish adult film actor
• September 12
• * Mhairi Black, Scottish politician
• * RM, South Korean rapper and songwriter
• * Elina Svitolina, Ukrainian tennis player
• September 22 – Carlos Correa, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
• September 23 – Yerry Mina, Colombian footballer
• September 29 – Halsey, American singer
• September 30 – Aliya Mustafina, Russian artistic gymnast

  October

• October 1 – Trézéguet, Egyptian footballer
• October 2 – Shekhinah, South African singer-songwriter
• October 3
• * Kepa Arrizabalaga, Spanish footballer
• * Seth Jones, American ice hockey player
• October 8 – Luca Hänni, Swiss singer-songwriter
• October 9 – Jodelle Ferland, Canadian actress
• October 10
• * Ilhoon, South Korean rapper, songwriter, and actor
• * Suzy, South Korean singer and actress
• October 12
• * Sean Monahan, Canadian ice hockey player
• * Olivia Smoliga, American swimmer
• October 14 – Jared Goff, American football player
• October 15 – Sebastián Yatra, Colombian singer
• October 24
• * Bruma, Portuguese footballer
• * Krystal Jung, South Korean singer
• October 25 – Manzoor Pashteen, Pakistani human rights activist
• October 30 – Miyū Tsuzurahara, Japanese actress

  November

• November 3 − Ella Mai, British singer
• November 8 – Lauren Alaina, American singer, songwriter
• November 9 - MNEK, British singer
• November 10
• * Takuma Asano, Japanese footballer
• * Zoey Deutch, American actress
• * Andre De Grasse, Canadian sprinter
• * Óliver Torres, Spanish footballer
• November 15 – Emma Dumont, American actress, model, and dancer
• November 21 – Saúl Ñíguez, Spanish footballer
• November 22 – Dacre Montgomery, Australian actor
• November 24 – Nabil Bentaleb, Algerian footballer
• November 29 – Julius Randle, American basketball player

  December

• December 3
• * Jake T. Austin, American actor
• * Lil Baby, American rapper
• December 6 – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Greek basketball player
• December 7 – Yuzuru Hanyu, Japanese figure skater
• December 8
• * Conseslus Kipruto, Kenyan middle-distance runner
• * Raheem Sterling, English footballer
• December 10 – Matti Klinga, Finnish footballer
• December 17 – Nat Wolff, American actor
• December 19
• * Michele Bravi, Italian singer
• * M'Baye Niang, French-Senegalese footballer
• December 21 – Daniel Amartey, Ghanaian footballer
• December 28 – Adam Peaty, English swimmer
• December 29
• * Varvara Filiou, Greek rhythmic gymnast
• * Louis Schaub, Austrian footballer

  Deaths

January

• January 1
• * Arthur Espie Porritt, New Zealand politician and athlete
• * Cesar Romero, Cuban-American actor
• January 2 – Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, French director of the IMF
• January 3 – Frank Belknap Long, American writer
• January 4 – R. D. Burman, Indian music composer
• January 5 – Tip O'Neill, American politician
• January 7 – Phoumi Vongvichit, President of Laos
• January 8 – Pat Buttram, American actor
• January 9 – Madge Ryan, Australian actress
• January 11 – John Bradley, American Navy sailor
• January 12 – Samuel Bronston, American film producer and director
• January 13 – Johan Jørgen Holst, Norwegian politician and diplomat
• January 14
• * Esther Ralston, American actress
• * Zino Davidoff, Ukrainian businessman
• * Federica Montseny, Spanish politician
• January 15
• * György Cziffra, Hungarian pianist and composer
• * Harry Nilsson, American musician
• January 17
• * Helen Stephens, American runner
• * Chung Il-kwon, South Korean politician
• January 20
• * Matt Busby, Scottish football manager
• * Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenyan politician
• January 22
• * Jean-Louis Barrault, French actor and director
• * Frances Gifford, American actress
• * Telly Savalas, American actor
• January 23 – Nikolai Ogarkov, Soviet marshal
• January 25 – Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician
• January 27 – Claude Akins, American actor
• January 28 – Hal Smith, American actor
• January 29
• * Ulrike Maier, Austrian alpine skier
• * Nick Cravat, American actor and acrobat
• January 30
• * Pierre Boulle, French author
• * Rudolf Schwarz, Austrian-born British conductor
• * Bahjat Talhouni, Jordanian politician

  February

• February 1 – Olan Soule, American actor
• February 2 – Marija Gimbutas, Lithuanian-American archeologist
• February 6
• * Joseph Cotten, American actor
• * Jack Kirby, American comic book writer and illustrator
• February 7 – Witold Lutosławski, Polish composer
• February 9
• * Sabelo Phama, South African revolutionary
• * Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist
• February 11
• * Neil Bonnett, American race car driver
• * Sorrell Booke, American actor
• * William Conrad, American actor
• * Paul Feyerabend, Austrian philosopher
• *Antonio Martín, Spanish cyclist
• February 12 – Donald Judd, American artist
• February 14
• * Christopher Lasch, American historian, moralist, and social critic
• * Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer
• February 19 – Derek Jarman, English film director
• February 24 – Dinah Shore, American actress and singer
• February 25
• * Baruch Goldstein, American-Israeli physician, religious extremist, and mass murderer
• * Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer
• February 26 – Bill Hicks, American comedian

  March

• March 2 – Anita Morris, American actress and singer
• March 3 – Karel Kryl, Czech folk singer
• March 4 – John Candy, Canadian comedian and actor
• March 5 – Abdullah al-Sallal, 1st President of the Yemen Arab Republic
• March 6 – Melina Mercouri, Greek actress and politician
• March 9
• * Charles Bukowski, American writer
• * Fernando Rey, Spanish actor
• March 10 – D. J. M. Mackenzie, New Zealand-born British medical officer
• March 13 – Danny Barker, American musician
• March 17
• * Ellsworth Vines, American tennis player
• * Mai Zetterling, Swedish actor and director
• March 20
• * Trijntje Hemminga, Dutch speed skater
• March 21
• * Macdonald Carey, American actor
• * Lili Damita, French-American actress and singer
• * Aleksandrs Laime, Latvian-born explorer
• * Dack Rambo, American actor
• March 22
• * Dan Hartman, American musician
• * Walter Lantz, American cartoonist
• March 23
• * Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican politician
• * Giulietta Masina, Italian actress
• * Álvaro del Portillo, Spanish Roman Catholic prelate
• March 25 – Max Petitpierre, Swiss politician
• March 26 – Whina Cooper, New Zealand schoolteacher, historian, and activist
• March 28
• * Eugène Ionesco, Romanian-born playwright
• * Ira Murchison, American athlete
• March 29 – Bill Travers, English actor

  April

• April 1
• * Léon Degrelle, Belgian politician and Nazi collaborator
• * Robert Doisneau, French photographer
• April 2 – Betty Furness, American actress, author, and consumer advocate
• April 3 – Jérôme Lejeune, French pediatrician and geneticist
• April 5 – Kurt Cobain, American singer and songwriter
• April 6
• * Juvénal Habyarimana, 3rd President of Rwanda
• * Cyprien Ntaryamira, 5th President of Burundi
• April 7
• * Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Prime Minister of Rwanda
• * Albert Guðmundsson, Icelandic footballer and politician
• * Golo Mann, German historian
• April 9 – Marcel Ichac, French alpinist, explorer, photographer and film director
• April 13 – Nikolai Kryuchkov, Russian actor
• April 14
• * Manuel Andújar, Spanish writer
• * Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani chemist
• April 15 – John Curry, British figure skater
• April 16 – Ralph Ellison, American writer
• April 17 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist
• April 18 – Ken Oosterbroek, South African photojournalist
• April 22 – Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States
• April 24 – Masutatsu Ōyama, Korean-Japanese Karate master
• April 27 – Lynne Frederick, English actress
• April 29
• * Russell Kirk, American political philosopher
• * Marcel Bernard, French tennis champion
• April 30
• * Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian Formula One driver
• * Richard Scarry, American author
• * Sorie Ibrahim Koroma, Prime Minister of Sierra Leone

  May

• May 1 – Ayrton Senna, Brazilian Formula One driver
• May 5 – Joe Layton, American director and choreographer
• May 7 – Clement Greenberg, American art critic
• May 8 – George Peppard, American actor
• May 9 – Elias Motsoaledi, South African political activist
• May 10 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer
• May 12
• * Erik Erikson, Danish-American developmental psychologist
• * Roy J. Plunkett, American chemist
• * John Smith, Scottish politician
• May 13 – Duncan Hamilton, English racing driver
• May 14 – W. Graham Claytor, Jr., American businessman and naval officer
• May 15
• * Royal Dano, American actor
• * Gilbert Roland, American actor
• May 16 – Alain Cuny, French actor
• May 17 – Étienne Hirsch, French engineer and administrator
• May 19
• * Henry Morgan, American comedian
• * Luis Ocaña, Spanish bicycle racer
• * Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American socialite, conservationist, and First Lady of the United States
• May 21
• * Giovanni Goria, Italian Prime Minister
• * Masayoshi Ito, Japanese politician
• * Ralph Miliband, Polish-born British academic
• May 26
• * Hezi Leskali, Israeli poet and artist
• * Sonny Sharrock, American jazz musician
• May 28 – Julius Boros, American golfer
• May 29 – Erich Honecker, East German politician
• May 30
• * Ezra Taft Benson, American religious leader
• * Marcel Bich, French businessman
• * Juan Carlos Onetti, Uruguayan novelist
• May 31 – Sidney Gilliat, British film director

  June

• June 4
• * Roberto Burle Marx, Brazilian landscape architect
• * Stephen McNally, American actor
• * Massimo Troisi, Italian actor, screenwriter, and film director
• June 6 – Barry Sullivan, American actor
• June 7 – Dennis Potter, English dramatist
• June 9 – Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist
• June 10
• * Mary Maxwell Gates, American businesswoman
• * Edward Kienholz, American artist and sculptor
• June 12
• * Ron Goldman, American model, waiter
• * Menachem Mendel Schneerson, American Hasidic rabbinical leader
• * Nicole Brown Simpson, German-American actress, waitress
• June 13 – K. T. Stevens, American actress
• June 14 – Henry Mancini, American composer and arranger
• June 15 – Manos Hatzidakis, Greek composer
• June 16 – Kristen Pfaff, American bassist
• June 20 – Jay Miner, American computer pioneer
• June 21 – William Wilson Morgan, American astronomer and astrophysicist
• June 26 – A. den Doolaard, Dutch writer and journalist

  July

• July 2
• * Roberto Balado, Cuban boxer
• * Maung Maung, President of Myanmar
• July 3 – Lew Hoad, Australian tennis player
• July 7
• * Anita Garvin, American actress
• * Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, German Luftwaffe officer
• * Cameron Mitchell, American actor
• July 8
• * Christian-Jaque, French film director
• * Kim Il-sung, President of North Korea
• * Dick Sargent, American actor
• July 11 – Gary Kildall, American computer inventor
• July 16
• * Patricio Carvajal, Chilean admiral, minister, and diplomat
• * Julian Schwinger, American physicist
• July 17 – Jean Borotra, French tennis player
• July 20 – Paul Delvaux, Belgian painter
• July 21 – Pere Calders, Spanish writer and cartoonist
• July 27 – Kevin Carter, South African photojournalist
• July 29 – Dorothy Hodgkin, British chemist

  August

• August 3 – Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Russian actor
• August 4 – Giovanni Spadolini, Italian Prime Minister
• August 6 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer-songwriter and actor turned politician
• August 11 – Peter Cushing, English actor
• August 13 – Manfred Wörner, German politician and diplomat
• August 14 – Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-born writer
• August 16 – John Doucette, American actor
• August 17 – Jack Sharkey, American boxer
• August 18 – Richard Laurence Millington Synge, English chemist
• August 19
• * Linus Pauling, American chemist
• * Robert Rozhdestvensky, Soviet poet
• August 20 – Aleksandar Petrović, French film director
• August 21 – Anita Lizana, Chilean tennis champion
• August 23 – Zoltán Fábri, Hungarian film director
• August 27 – Roberto Goyeneche, Argentine tango singer
• August 30 – Lindsay Anderson, British film director

  September

• September 3 – Billy Wright, English footballer
• September 5 – Shimshon Amitsur, Israeli mathematician
• September 6
• * Nicky Hopkins, British musician
• * Duccio Tessari, Italian director and screenwriter
• * Paul Xuereb, Maltese politician
• September 7
• * James Clavell, British writer
• * Dennis Morgan, American actor and singer
• * Terence Young, British film director
• September 8 – János Szentágothai, Hungarian anatomist
• September 9 – Patrick O'Neal, American actor
• September 11 – Jessica Tandy, English-born American actress
• September 12
• * Tom Ewell, American actor
• * Boris Yegorov, Russian cosmonaut
• September 15 – Mark Stevens, American actor
• September 16 – Jack Dodson, American actor
• September 17
• * Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player
• * Karl Popper, Austrian-British philosopher
• September 18 – Franco Moschino, Italian fashion designer
• September 19 – Joseph Iléo, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• September 20 – Jule Styne, English-born American songwriter
• September 22 – Bud Sagendorf, American cartoonist
• September 23 – Robert Bloch, American writer
• September 26 – Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia
• September 27 – Carlos Lleras Restrepo, President of Colombia
• September 28 – José Francisco Ruiz Massieu, Mexican politician
• September 30
• * André Michel Lwoff, French microbiologist
• * Roberto Eduardo Viola, military president of Argentina

  October

• October 2 – Harriet Nelson, American actress
• October 3 – Dub Taylor, American actor
• October 7
• * Niels Kaj Jerne, English immunologist
• * James Hill, British film and television director
• October 9 – Raich Carter, English sportsman
• October 15 – Sarah Kofman, French philosopher
• October 19 – Martha Raye, American actress and comedian
• October 18 – Conchita Montes, Spanish actress
• October 19 – Oldřich Černík, Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia
• October 20
• * Sergei Bondarchuk, Russian film director
• * Burt Lancaster, American actor
• October 21 – Benoît Régent, French actor
• *George H. Gay Jr., American Douglas TBD Devastator pilot in United States Navy Torpedo Squadron 8
• October 23 – Robert Lansing, American actor
• October 24
• * Gamini Dissanayake, Sri Lankan politician
• * Raúl Juliá, Puerto Rican-American actor and singer
• October 25 – Mildred Natwick, American actress
• October 28 – Calvin S. Fuller, American physical chemist
• October 29 – Shlomo Goren, Israeli rabbi

  November

• November 1 – Noah Beery Jr., American actor
• November 2 – Grisha Filipov, 38th Prime Minister of Bulgaria
• November 4 – Sam Francis, American painter
• November 10 – Carmen McRae, American jazz singer
• November 11 – Dame Elizabeth Maconchy, British composer
• November 12
• * Wilma Rudolph, American athlete
• * J. I. M. Stewart, Scottish novelist
• November 13
• * Vladimir Ivashko, Ukrainian Soviet Communist politician
• * Motoo Kimura, Japanese geneticist
• November 14 – Tom Villard, American actor
• November 155 – Oscar Mpetha, South African political activist
• November 18 – Cab Calloway, American jazz singer and bandleader
• November 19 – Julian Symons, British crime writer and poet
• November 21 – Willem Jacob Luyten, Dutch-American astronomer
• November 23 – Alberto Natusch, Bolivian general, 66th President of Bolivia
• November 28
• * Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer
• * Vicente Enrique y Tarancón, Spanish cardinal
• November 30
• * Guy Debord, French theorist, writer, and filmmaker
• * Lionel Stander, American actor

  December

• December 4 – Julio Ramón Ribeyro, Peruvian writer
• December 6 – Gian Maria Volonté, Italian actor
• December 8
• * Antônio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian composer
• * Enrique Líster, Spanish communist politician and military officer
• December 9 – Max Bill, Swiss architect and artist
• December 10 – Alex Wilson, Canadian athlete
• December 11
• *Stanisław Maczek, Polish general
• *Yao Yilin, Chinese politician
• December 12 – Stuart Roosa, American astronaut
• December 13 – Antoine Pinay, French politician, former Prime Minister
• December 18 – Lilia Skala, Austrian-born American actress
• December 20 – Dean Rusk, American diplomat, 54th Secretary of State
• December 23 – Sebastian Shaw, English actor
• December 24
• * John Boswell, American historian
• * Rossano Brazzi, Italian actor
• * John Osborne, English playwright
• December 25 – Zail Singh, 7th President of India
• December 26
• * Karl Schiller, German economist and politician, former Minister of Economy of the Federal Republic of Germany
• * Sylva Koscina, Italian-Croatian actress
• December 31 – Woody Strode, American athlete and actor

  Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Bertram N. Brockhouse, Clifford Glenwood Shull
• Chemistry – George Andrew Olah
• Medicine – Alfred G. Gilman, Martin Rodbell
• Literature – Kenzaburō Ōe
• Peace – Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin
• Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences – Reinhard Selten, John Forbes Nash, John Harsanyi

  Templeton Prize

• Michael Novak

  Fields Medal

• Efim Isakovich Zelmanov, Pierre-Louis Lions, Jean Bourgain, Jean-Christophe Yoccoz

  Right Livelihood Award

• Astrid Lindgren, SERVOL, H. Sudarshan / VGKK, Ken Saro-Wiwa / MOSOP