1998

Events

January

• January 2 – Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
• January 4 – Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 4 January 1998 in Algeria: over 170 are killed in 3 remote-villages.
• January 6 – The Lunar Prospector spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon's poles.
• January 8 – Ramzi Yousef is sentenced to life in prison for planning the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.
• January 11 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria.
• January 12 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.
• January 17 – The Drudge Report breaks the story about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky, which would lead to the House of Representatives' impeachment of him.
• January 22 – "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski pleads guilty in the United States, and accepts a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

February

• February 3 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying EA-6B Prowler severs the cable of a cable-car.
• February 4 – The 5.9 Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII. With up to 4,000 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.
• February 7–22 – The 1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano, Japan.
• February 16 – China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, killing 202 people.
• February 20 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein negotiates a deal with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, allowing weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad, preventing military action by the United States and Britain.
• February 22 – The Palace 2 building collapses at neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca, in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, killing 439 people.
• February 28
• * A massacre in Likoshane, FR Yugoslavia starts the Kosovo War.
• *A study led by Andrew Wakefield is published in The Lancet suggesting an alleged link between MMR vaccine and autism. Now known to be full of data manipulation, the study was instantly controversial and fueled the nascent anti-vaccination movement. Despite subsequent large epidemiological research found no link between vaccines and autism, the study contributed — in the following years and decades — to a sharp drop in vaccination rates and the resurgence of measles in several countries. The study, fully retracted in 2010, was later characterised as "perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the 20th Century".

  March

• March 1 – Titanic becomes the first film to gross US$1 billion.
• March 2 – Data sent from the Galileo probe indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
• March 5 – NASA announces that the Clementine probe orbiting the Moon has found enough water in polar craters to support a human colony and rocket fueling station.
• March 11 – 1998 Danish general election: Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is re-elected.
• March 13 – The High-Z Supernova Search Team becomes the first team to publish evidence that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.
• March 23 – The 70th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted for the 6th time by Billy Crystal, is held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Titanic wins 11 Oscars including Best Picture.
• March 26 – Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria: 52 people are killed with axes and knives; 32 of the killed are babies under the age of two.

  April

• April 5 – In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshū and costing about US$3.8 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.
• April 6 – Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of hitting India.
• April 10 – Good Friday Agreement: 1 hour after the end of the talks deadline, the Belfast Agreement is signed between the Irish and British governments and most Northern Ireland political parties, with the notable exception of the Democratic Unionist Party.
• April 20 – The alleged date the German Red Army Faction is dissolved.
• April 23 – The Yugoslav Army ambushes a group of Kosovo Liberation Army fighters attempting to smuggle weapons from Albania into Kosovo, killing 19.

  May

• May 11
• * India conducts three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, including one thermonuclear device.
• * The first euro coins are minted in Pessac, France. Because the final specifications for the coins were not finished in 1998, they will have to be melted and minted again in 1999.
• May 13–14 – Riots directed against Chinese Indonesians break out in Indonesia, killing around 1,000 people.
• May 14 – Final episode of Seinfeld airs.
• May 19
• * The Galaxy IV communications satellite fails, leaving 80–90% of the world's pagers without service.
• * The wreck of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, sunk during the Battle of Midway in 1942, is found near Midway Atoll by a team led by former US Navy officer Robert D. Ballard.
• May 21 – Suharto resigns after 32 years as President of Indonesia, effectively ending the New Order period. It is his 7th consecutive re-election by the Indonesian Parliament. Suharto's hand-picked Vice President, B. J. Habibie, becomes Indonesia's third president.
• May 24 – timeanddate.com first appeared in 1998.
• May 28 – Nuclear testing: In response to a series of Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan explodes five nuclear devices of its own in the Chaghai hills of Baluchistan, codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.
• May 30
• * A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.
• * A second nuclear test, codenamed Chagai-II, is conducted and supervised by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.

  June

• June 1 – European Central Bank established, replacing the European Monetary Institute.
• June 3 – Eschede train disaster: an Intercity-Express high-speed train derails between Hanover and Hamburg, Germany, causing 101 deaths.
• June 7
• * Former Brigadier-General Ansumane Mané seizes control over military barracks in Bissau, marking the beginning of the Guinea-Bissau Civil War.
• * James Byrd Jr. is beaten and dragged to death by 3 white men in Jasper, Texas.
• June 9–July 12 – The 1998 FIFA World Cup in France: France beats Brazil 3–0 in the FIFA World Cup Final.
• June 10 – The Organisation of African Unity passes a resolution which states that its members will no longer comply with punitive sanctions applied by the UN Security Council against Libya.
• June 27 – Kuala Lumpur International Airport officially opened, becoming the new international gateway into Malaysia.
• June 30 – Philippine Vice President Joseph Estrada is sworn in as the 13th President of the Philippines.

  July

• July 5 - Japan launches a probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as an outer space-exploring nation.
• July 6 - The new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok opens, while the old Kai Tak Airport closes.
• July 17
• * At a conference in Rome, 120 countries vote to create a permanent International Criminal Court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
• * In Saint Petersburg, Nicholas II of Russia and his family are buried in St. Catherine Chapel, 80 years after he and his family were killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
• * The 7.0 Papua New Guinea earthquake shakes the region near Aitape with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII. This submarine earthquake triggered a landslide that caused a destructive tsunami, leaving more than 2,100 dead and thousands injured.
• July 21 - September 5 - The 1998 Sydney water crisis involved the suspected contamination by the microscopic pathogens cryptosporidium and giardia of the water supply system of Greater Metropolitan Sydney.

  August

• August 4 – The Second Congo War begins; 5.4 million people die before it ends in 2003, making it the bloodiest war, to date, since World War II.
• August 7
• * Yangtze River Floods: in China the Yangtze river breaks through the main bank; before this, from August 1–5, peripheral levees collapsed consecutively in Jiayu County Baizhou Bay. The death toll exceeds 12,000, with many thousands more injured.
• * 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: the bombings of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, kill 224 people and injure over 4,500; they are linked to terrorist Osama bin Laden, an exile of Saudi Arabia.
• August 15 – The Omagh bombing is carried out in Northern Ireland by the Real Irish Republican Army.
• August 22 – An annular solar eclipse was visible in Sumatra, Borneo and Pacific. The Moon was 10.6 days past perigee and 5.2 days before apogee.
• August 26 – Clube de Regatas Vasco da Gama wins the Libertadores Cup after a 2–1 win against Barcelona S.C..

  September

• September 2
• * A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliner crashes near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, after taking off from New York City en route to Geneva; all 229 people on board are killed.
• * A United Nations court finds Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide, marking the first time that the 1948 law banning genocide is enforced.
• September 4 – Google, Inc. is founded in Menlo Park, California, by Stanford University PhD candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
• September 5 – The Government of North Korea adopts a military dictatorship on its 50th anniversary.
• September 9 – St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire hits his 62nd home run of the season, thus breaking the single season record of 61 which had been held by Roger Maris since 1961.
• September 10 – At midnight, a shooting occurs aboard an Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine of the Russian Navy docked in the northern Russian port city of Severomorsk.
• September 12 – The Cuban Five intelligence agents are arrested in Miami, and convicted of espionage. The agents claim they were not spying against the United States Government but against the Cuban exile community in Miami.
• September 24 – Iranian President Mohammad Khatami retracts a fatwa against Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie that was in force since 1989 stating that the Iranian government will "neither support nor hinder assassination operations on Rushdie".

  October

• October 1 – Europol is established when the Europol Convention signed by all of its member states comes into force.
• October 3 – 1998 Australian federal election: John Howard's Liberal/National Coalition Government is re-elected with a substantially reduced majority, defeating the Labor Party led by Kim Beazley.
• October 6 – Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, is beaten and left for dead outside of Laramie, Wyoming. The subsequent media coverage, followed by his death on October 12, opens a larger conversation on homophobia in the United States.
• October 10 – Indictment and arrest of Augusto Pinochet: General Augusto Pinochet, Chilean dictator from 1973 to 1990, is indicted for human rights violations he committed in Chile by Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzón. 6 days later British police place him under house arrest during his medical treatment in the UK. This is a leading case in the law of universal jurisdiction.
• October 17 – 1998 Jesse pipeline explosion: An oil pipeline explosion in Jesse, Nigeria results in 1,082 deaths.
• October 29 – Hurricane Mitch makes landfall in Central America, killing an estimated 11,000 people.

  November

• November 11 - Tencent, a multiplie business on worldwide, founded in Shenzhen, China.
• November 17 – Voyager 1 overtakes Pioneer 10 as the most distant man-made object from the Solar System, at a distance of.
• November 20 – A Russian Proton rocket is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying the first segment of the International Space Station, the 21-ton Zarya Module.
• November 24 – A declassified report by Swiss International Olympic Committee official Marc Hodler reveals that bribes had been used to bring the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City during bidding process in 1995. The IOC, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, the United States Olympic Committee and the United States Department of Justice immediately launch an investigation into the scandal.

  December

• December 4 - The Space Shuttle Endeavour launches the first American component to the International Space Station, the Unity module on STS-88. It docks with Zarya two days later.
• December 6 - Hugo Chávez, politician and former member of the Venezuelan military, is elected President of Venezuela.
• December 14 - The Yugoslav Army ambushes a column of 140 Kosovo Liberation Army militants attempting to smuggle arms from Albania into Kosovo, killing 36.
• December 16 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President Bill Clinton orders airstrikes on Iraq. UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq.
• December 17 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President Bill Clinton orders airstrikes on Iraq. UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq.
• December 18 - Mario Party is released in Japan.
• December 19 - The U.S. House of Representatives forwards articles of impeachment against President Clinton to the Senate, making him the second president to be impeached in the nation's history.
• December 29 - Khmer Rouge leaders apologize for the post-Vietnam War genocide in Cambodia that killed more than one million people in the 1970s.
• December 31
• * The first leap second since June 30, 1997, occurs.
• * In the Eurozone, the currency rates of this day are fixed permanently.

  Date unknown

• Ibrahim Hanna, the last native speaker of Mlahsô, dies in Qamishli, Syria, making the language effectively extinct. Also, the last native speaker of related Bijil Neo-Aramaic, Mrs. Rahel Avraham, dies in Jerusalem.

  Births

January

• January 1 - Sara Ahmed, Egyptian weightlifter
• January 2 - Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Dutch footballer
• January 3 - Patrick Cutrone, Italian footballer
• January 4 - Liza Soberano, Filipino actress and singer
• January 6 - Norman Grimes, American sprinter
• January 9 - Kerris Dorsey, American actress and singer
• January 11
• * Louisa Johnson, English singer
• * Odessa Young, Australian actress
• January 12
• * Juan Foyth, Argentine footballer
• * Nathan Gamble, American actor
• January 13 - Gabrielle Daleman, Canadian figure skater
• January 17 - Anthony Zambrano, Colombian sprinter
• January 18
• * Vashti Cunningham, American track and field athlete
• * Éder Militão, Brazilian footballer
• * Lisandro Martínez, Argentinian footballer
• January 20 - Frances Tiafoe, American tennis player
• January 23 - XXXTentacion, American rapper
• January 28 - Ariel Winter, American actress and voice actress
• January 31
• * Amadou Haidara, Malian footballer
• * Bradie Tennell, American figure skater

  February

• February 3 - Yang Hao, Chinese diver
• February 4
• * Scott Jones, English paralympic athlete
• * Malik Monk, American basketball player
• February 8 - Rui Hachimura, Japanese basketball player
• February 11 - Khalid, American singer and songwriter
• February 15 - Zachary Gordon, American actor
• February 18 - Sander Berge, Norwegian footballer
• February 24 - Mariel Pamintuan, Filipino actress
• February 27 - Elisa Balsamo, Italian cyclist

  March

• March 3 - Jayson Tatum, American basketball player
• March 9 - Kaylin Whitney, American sprinter
• March 18
• * Jamie-Lee Kriewitz, German singer and activist
• * Zane Waddell, South African swimmer
• March 19 - Sakura Miyawaki, Japanese singer
• March 21 - Miles Bridges, American basketball player
• March 22 - Paola Andino, Puerto-Rican-American actress
• March 26
• * Daria Grushina, Russian ski jumper
• * Satoko Miyahara, Japanese figure skater
• March 30 - Kalyn Ponga, Australian rugby league footballer
• March 31 - Anna Seidel, German short track speed skater

  April

• April 3 - Paris Jackson, American actress and model
• April 6
• * Peyton List, American actress and model
• * Spencer List, American actor
• April 8 - Renan Lodi, Brazilian footballer
• April 9 - Elle Fanning, American actress and model
• April 10
• * Anna Pogorilaya, Russian figure skater
• * Fedor Chalov, Russian footballer
• April 15 - Dorsa Derakhshani, Iranian chess player
• April 19 - Patrik Laine, Finnish ice hockey player
• April 21 - Jarrett Allen, American basketball player
• April 24 - Ryan Newman, American actress and model
• April 26 - Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Polish chess grandmaster
• April 29 - Kimberly Birrell, German-born Australian tennis player
• April 30 - Olivia DeJonge, Australian actress

  May

• May 2 - Jonathan Ikoné, French footballer
• May 5
• * Tijana Bogdanović, Serbian taekwondo practitioner
• * Olli Juolevi, Finnish ice hockey player
• * Aryna Sabalenka, Belarusian tennis player
• May 7
• * Jimmy Donaldson, American YouTuber
• * Dani Olmo, Spanish footballer
• * Jesse Puljujärvi, Finnish ice hockey player
• May 8 - Johannes Eggestein, German footballer
• May 12 - Mohamed Bamba, American basketball player
• May 13
• * Karen Iwata, Japanese singer and voice actress
• * Mickey Moniak, American baseball outfielder
• May 18 - Polina Edmunds, American figure skater
• May 19 - Alex Král, Czech footballer
• May 20
• * Jamie Chadwick, British racing driver
• * Nam Nguyen, Canadian figure skater
• May 23 - Salwa Eid Naser, Bahraini track and field sprinter
• May 28 - Dahyun, South Korean singer, rapper, and dancer
• May 29
• * Markelle Fultz, American basketball player
• * Lucía Gil, Spanish singer and actress

  June

• June 1 - Aleksandra Soldatova, Russian rhythmic gymnast
• June 5
• * Yulia Lipnitskaya, former Russian figure skater
• * Maxim Burov, Russian freestyle skier
• June 11 - Charlie Tahan, American actor
• June 15 - Alexander Samarin, Russian figure skater
• June 16
• * Ritsu Doan, Japanese footballer
• * Lauren Taylor, American actress and singer
• June 19
• * Viktoriya Zeynep Güneş, Turkish swimmer
• * Suzu Hirose, Japanese actress and model
• * Atticus Shaffer, American actor
• June 21
• * Gerben Thijssen, Belgian road and track cyclist
• * Isabel Atkin, British-American freestyle skier
• June 22 - Javairô Dilrosun, Dutch footballer
• June 23 - Josip Brekalo, Croatian footballer
• June 24 - Pierre-Luc Dubois, Canadian ice hockey player
• June 25 - Kyle Chalmers, Australian swimmer

  July

• July 7 - Dylan Sprayberry, American actor
• July 8
• * Maya Hawke, American actress and model
• * Jaden Smith, American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor
• * Daria Spiridonova, Russian artistic gymnast
• July 9 - Robert Capron, American actor
• July 10
• * Kimia Alizadeh, Iranian taekwondo athlete
• * Haley Pullos, American actress
• July 12 - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Canadian basketball player
• July 16 - Rina Matsuno, Japanese singer, model, and actress
• July 18 - Devin Bush Jr., American football player
• July 21 - Kim Magnus, South Korean Olympic cross-country skier
• July 22
• * Madison Pettis, American actress and model
• * Federico Valverde, Uruguayan footballer
• July 23 - Deandre Ayton, Bahamian basketball player
• July 24 - Bindi Irwin, Australian television personality and conservationist
• July 28 - Frank Ntilikina, French basketball player
• July 31 - Rico Rodriguez, American actor

  August

• August 2 - Giarnni Regini-Moran, British artistic gymnast
• August 3 - Cozi Zuehlsdorff, American actress, pianist, and singer
• August 4 - Lil Skies, American rapper
• August 5
• * Mimi Keene, English actress
• * Daniil Pakhomov, Russian swimmer
• August 8
• * Shawn Mendes, Canadian singer-songwriter
• * Ryan Garcia, American professional boxer
• August 9
• * Jorrit Croon, Dutch hockey player
• * Panagiotis Retsos, Greek footballer
• August 10
• * Diptayan Ghosh, Indian chess grandmaster
• * Eythóra Thorsdóttir, Dutch gymnast
• August 11 - Juan Miguel Echevarría, Cuban long jumper
• August 12 - Stefanos Tsitsipas, Greek tennis player
• August 13
• * Arina Averina, Russian rhythmic gymnast
• * Dina Averina, Russian rhythmic gymnast
• * Carter Hart, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
• August 14 - Amy Marren, English paralympic swimmer
• August 18
• * Tenshin Nasukawa, Japanese kickboxer and mixed martial artist
• * Clairo, American singer-songwriter
• August 25
• * Abraham Mateo, Spanish singer and actor
• * China Anne McClain, American actress and singer
• August 27 - Kevin Huerter, American basketball player

  September

• September 4 - Stefan Vuksanović, Serbian YouTuber, gamer and a live streamer on Twitch and Facebook.
• September 5 - Matteo Rizzo, Italian figure skater
• September 10 - Sheck Wes, American rapper
• September 17 - Richard Wang, Canadian chess champion
• September 18 - Christian Pulisic, American soccer player
• September 19
• * Jacob Bruun Larsen, Danish footballer
• * Trae Young, American basketball player
• September 20 - Rashid Khan, Afghan cricket player
• September 21 - Miguel Tanfelix, Filipino actor
• September 28
• * Máscara de Bronce, Mexican wrestler
• * Aleksandra Goryachkina, Russian chess Grandmaster
• September 30 - Trevi Moran, American recording artist, singer and YouTube personality

  October

• October 7 - Trent Alexander-Arnold, English footballer
• October 5 - Exequiel Palacios, Argentinian footballer
• October 9 - Tako Natsvlishvili, Georgian model
• October 10
• * Nash Aguas, Filipino actor
• * Fabio Di Giannantonio, Italian motorcycle racer
• October 17 - Erin Kellyman, British actress
• October 22
• * Ianis Hagi, Romanian footballer
• * Roddy Ricch, American rapper
• October 23 - Amandla Stenberg, American actress and singer
• October 25 - Juan Soto, Dominican baseball outfielder
• October 28
• * Nolan Gould, American actor
• * Perrine Laffont, French mogul skier
• October 29
• * Maria Kharenkova, Russian artistic gymnast
• * Lance Stroll, Canadian racing driver

  November

• November 1
• * Marie-Antoinette Katoto, French footballer
• * Arapenta Poerba, Indonesian footballer
• November 2 - Elkie, South Korean based singer and actress
• November 3 - Maddison Elliott, Australian paralympic swimmer
• November 4 - Achraf Hakimi, Moroccan footballer
• November 17
• * Devin Haney, American professional boxer
• * Kara Hayward, American actress
• November 23 - Bradley Steven Perry, American actor
• November 24 - Muhammad Rafli, Indonesian footballer
• November 29 - Ayumu Hirano, Japanese snowboarder

  December

• December 2 - Juice Wrld, American rapper and singer
• December 5 - Conan Gray, American singer
• December 4 - Si Yajie, Chinese diver
• December 6 - Joe Fraser, British artistic gymnast
• December 8
• * Anastasia Rizikov, Canadian classical pianist
• * Owen Teague, American actor
• * Matthew Wilson, Australian swimmer
• December 11 - Dante Rigo, Belgian footballer
• December 14 - Maggie Voisin, American freestyle skier
• December 16 - Zhou Jieqiong, Chinese singer
• December 17 - Martin Ødegaard, Norwegian footballer
• December 18
• * Simona Quadarella, Italian swimmer
• * Calvin Stengs, Dutch footballer
• December 19 - Frans Jeppsson Wall, Swedish singer
• December 20 - Kylian Mbappé, French football player
• December 22 - G Hannelius, American actress and singer
• December 24 - Nikita Howarth, New Zealand paralympic swimmer
• December 28 - Jared Gilman, American actor
• December 29
• * Paris Berelc, American actress and model
• * Victor Osimhen, Nigerian footballer
• December 30
• * Zachary Brault-Guillard, Canadian footballer
• * Jutta Leerdam, Dutch speed skater

  Deaths

January

• January 1
• * Åke Seyffarth, Swedish speed skater
• * Helen Wills, American tennis player
• January 4
• * Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, Italian film director
• * Mae Questel, American actress
• January 5 – Sonny Bono, American singer, actor, and politician
• January 6 – Georgy Sviridov, Soviet and Russian composer
• January 7 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist
• January 8 – Michael Tippett, English composer
• January 9 – Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist
• January 11 – Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor
• January 15
• * Duncan McNaughton, Canadian Olympic athlete
• * Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician and economist
• * Junior Wells, American harmonica player
• January 19 – Carl Perkins, American guitarist
• January 21 – Jack Lord, American actor
• January 23 – Alfredo Ormando, Italian writer
• January 26 – Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese musician and educator
• January 28 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese manga artist

  February

• February 2
• * Haroun Tazieff, French volcanologist and geologist
• * Raymond Cattell, British and American psychologist
• February 3 – Karla Faye Tucker, American convicted murderer
• February 6
• * Falco, Austrian rock musician
• * Carl Wilson, American musician, singer, and songwriter
• * Nazim al-Kudsi, 26th Prime Minister of Syria and 14th President of Syria
• February 8
• * Halldór Laxness, Icelandic writer
• * Enoch Powell, British politician
• * Julian Simon, American economist and author
• February 9 – Maurice Schumann, French Minister of Foreign Affairs
• February 12 – Zubair Mohamed Salih, First Vice President of Sudan
• February 17 – Ernst Jünger, German military hero, philosopher and entomologist
• February 23 – Philip Abbott, American actor
• February 24 – Henny Youngman, English-born comedian
• February 26 – Theodore Schultz, American economist
• February 27
• * George H. Hitchings, American scientist
• * J. T. Walsh, American actor
• February 28 – Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian

  March

• March 1 – Jean Marie Balland, French cardinal
• March 5 – Donald Woods, Canadian-American actor
• March 7
• * Josep Escolà, Spanish footballer
• * Adem Jashari, Kosovo-Albanian militant separatist
• March 10 – Lloyd Bridges, American actor
• March 12
• * Judge Dread, English musician
• * Beatrice Wood, American artist and ceramicist
• March 13
• * Bill Reid, Canadian artist
• * Hans von Ohain, German physicist
• March 15
• * Benjamin Spock, American rower, pediatrician, and author
• * Dušan Pašek, Slovak ice hockey player
• * Tim Maia, Brazilian musician, songwriter and businessman
• March 16 – Derek Barton, British chemist
• March 25 – Daniel Massey, English actor
• March 27 – Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, Austrian auto designer and businessman
• March 31 – Bella Abzug, American lawyer, feminist activist, and politician

  April

• April 1
• * Gene Evans, American actor
• * Rozz Williams, American singer
• April 3
• * Charles Lang, American cinematographer
• * Rob Pilatus, German singer and dancer
• * Wolf Vostell, German painter and sculptor
• April 5 – Cozy Powell, English rock drummer
• April 6
• * Rudy Dhaenens, Belgian road bicycle racer
• * Wendy O. Williams, American singer
• * Tammy Wynette, American singer
• April 11 – Rodney Harvey, American actor and model
• April 13 – Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and skysurfing pioneer
• April 15 – Pol Pot, 30th Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea and Cambodian Khmer Rouge leader
• April 16
• * Alberto Calderón, Argentine mathematician
• * Fred Davis, English snooker player
• * Marie-Louise Meilleur, Canadian supercentenarian
• April 17 – Linda McCartney, American photographer and musician
• April 18 – Terry Sanford, American politician
• April 19 – Octavio Paz, Mexican diplomat and writer
• April 21 – Jean-François Lyotard, French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist
• April 23
• * Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek politician
• * James Earl Ray, American assassin
• April 25 – Christian Mortensen, Danish supercentenarian
• April 27
• * Carlos Castaneda, American anthropologist and author
• * Anne Desclos, French writer
• April 30 – Nizar Qabbani, Syrian diplomat, poet and publisher

  May

• May 1 – Eldridge Cleaver, American political activist and writer
• May 2
• * Justin Fashanu, British footballer
• * Hide, Japanese musician
• * Maidie Norman, American actress
• May 3
• * Gene Raymond, American actor
• * Gojko Šušak, Croatian politician
• May 5 – Frithjof Schuon, Swiss author, poet and painter
• May 6
• * Chatichai Choonhavan, 17th Prime Minister of Thailand
• * Erich Mende, German politician
• May 7
• * Allan McLeod Cormack, South African–born physicist
• * Eddie Rabbitt, American musician
• May 8 – Johannes Kotkas, Estonian heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler
• May 9 – Alice Faye, American entertainer
• May 10 – Clara Rockmore, American musician
• May 14
• * Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer
• * Frank Sinatra, American actor and singer
• May 15 – Naim Talu, 15th Prime Minister of Turkey
• May 19 – Sōsuke Uno, 47th Prime Minister of Japan
• May 21 – Douglas Fowley, American actor
• May 22 – John Derek, American actor and film director
• May 28 – Phil Hartman, Canadian-American actor, writer, and comedian
• May 29
• * Orlando Anderson, American criminal
• * Barry Goldwater, American politician

  June

• June 2 – Junkyard Dog, American pro wrestler
• June 5 – Jeanette Nolan, American actress
• June 8 – Sani Abacha, 10th President of Nigeria
• June 9 – Lois Mailou Jones, African-American artist
• June 10 – Hammond Innes, English author
• June 11 – Dame Catherine Cookson, English author
• June 13 – Birger Ruud, Norwegian athlete
• June 20 – Conrad Schumann, East German border guard
• June 23 – Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish-American actress
• June 25 – Lounès Matoub, Algerian Berber singer

  July

• July 3 – Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer
• July 6 – Roy Rogers, American singer and actor
• July 8 – Lilí Álvarez, Spanish tennis player, author, and feminist
• July 14 – Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, South Vietnamese general
• July 17 – Joseph Maher, Irish-born American actor
• July 21
• * Alan Shepard, American astronaut
• * Robert Young, American actor
• July 22 – Hermann Prey, German bass-baritone
• July 27 – Binnie Barnes, British-born American actress
• July 29 – Jerome Robbins, American choreographer and director

  August

• August 1 – Eva Bartok, Hungarian actress
• August 2
• * Otto Bumbel, Brazilian professional football manager
• * Shari Lewis, American ventriloquist
• August 3
• * Reizo Koike, Japanese swimmer
• * Alfred Schnittke, Russian-born composer
• August 4 – Yury Artyukhin, Russian cosmonaut
• August 5
• * Otto Kretschmer, German U-boat commander
• * Todor Zhivkov, 6th President of Bulgaria
• * Yevgeny Shabayev, Russian artistic gymnast
• August 6 – André Weil, French mathematician
• August 8 – László Szabó, Hungarian chess grandmaster
• August 9 – Frankie Ruiz, American salsa singer and songwriter
• August 13
• * Nino Ferrer, French singer
• * Julien Green, French-born American writer
• August 17
• * Władysław Komar, Polish track and field athlete
• * Raquel Rastenni, Danish singer
• * Tadeusz Ślusarski, Polish track and field athlete
• August 18 – Persis Khambatta, Indian actress and model
• August 19 – Vasily Arkhipov, Soviet Navy officer
• August 24 – E. G. Marshall, American actor
• August 25 – Lewis F. Powell Jr., American Supreme Court Justice
• August 26
• * Wade Dominguez, American actor, model, singer, and dancer
• * Frederick Reines, American physicist

  September

• September 1 – Cary Middlecoff, American golfer
• September 2
• * Jackie Blanchflower, Northern Irish footballer
• * Allen Drury, American writer
• September 5
• * Willem Drees Jr., Dutch politician
• * Leo Penn, American actor and director
• September 6 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese screenwriter, producer, and director
• September 8 – Leonid Kinskey, Russian-born actor
• September 9 – Lucio Battisti, Italian singer
• September 11 – Dane Clark, American actor
• September 13 – George Wallace, American politician
• September 14
• * Yang Shangkun, 4th President of the People's Republic of China
• * Johnny Adams, American singer
• September 15 – Fred Alderman, American sprint runner
• September 17 – Gustav Nezval, Czech actor
• September 19 – Patricia Hayes, British character actress and comedian
• September 20 – Muriel Humphrey Brown, American politician
• September 21 – Florence Griffith Joyner, American runner
• September 23 – Mary Frann, American actress
• September 26 – Betty Carter, American jazz singer
• September 30
• * Bruno Munari, Italian-born industrial designer
• * Robert Lewis Taylor, American author

  October

• October 2
• * Gene Autry, American actor, singer, and sports team owner
• * Olin J. Eggen, American astronomer
• * Olivier Gendebien, Belgian race car driver
• October 3 – Roddy McDowall, British-born American actor
• October 6 – Rolan Bykov, Soviet and Russian actor, director and producer
• October 9 – Ian Johnson, Australian cricketer
• October 10 – Clark Clifford, American lawyer and politician
• October 11 – Richard Denning, American actor
• October 12 – Matthew Shepard, American murder victim
• October 16 – Jon Postel, American Internet pioneer
• October 17 – Joan Hickson, British actress
• October 21 – Scott Brower, American ice hockey goaltender
• October 22 – Eric Ambler, British writer
• October 24 – Pino Dordoni, Italian athlete
• October 26 – Kenkichi Iwasawa, Japanese mathematician
• October 27 – Reidar Kvammen, Norwegian footballer
• October 28
• * Tommy Flowers, English engineer
• * James Goldman, American writer
• October 29 – Ted Hughes, English poet
• October 30 – Apo Lazaridès, French cyclist

  November

• November 3 – Bob Kane, American comic book creator
• November 5 – Momoko Kōchi, Japanese actress
• November 6
• * Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim, 5th President of the Comoros
• * Niklas Luhmann, German sociologist
• November 8 – Jean Marais, French actor
• November 10
• * Jean Leray, French mathematician
• * Mary Millar, British actress and singer
• November 13
• * Edwige Feuillère, French actress
• * Valerie Hobson, English actress
• * Red Holzman, American basketball coach
• * Hendrik Timmer, Dutch sportsman
• November 15
• * Stokely Carmichael, Trinidadian-American civil rights activist
• * Ludvík Daněk, Czechoslovak discus thrower
• November 17
• * Efim Geller, Soviet chess player and grandmaster
• * Esther Rolle, American actress
• November 19
• * Louis Dumont, French anthropologist
• * Alan J. Pakula, American film director
• November 20
• * Roland Alphonso, Jamaican musician
• * Galina Starovoytova, Soviet dissident
• November 22 – Stu Ungar, American professional poker player
• November 25 – Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian

  December

• December 1 – Freddie Young, American cinematographer
• December 2 – Mikio Oda, Japanese athlete
• December 6 – César Baldaccini, French sculptor
• December 7 – Martin Rodbell, American scientist
• December 8 – Michael Craze, British actor
• December 9 – Archie Moore, American professional boxer
• December 12 – Lawton Chiles, American politician
• December 14 – Norman Fell, American actor
• December 16 – William Gaddis, American writer
• December 18 – Lev Dyomin, Russian cosmonaut
• December 20
• * Irene Hervey, American actress
• * Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist
• December 23
• * David Manners, Canadian-American actor
• * Michelle Thomas, American actress and comedian
• December 25
• * Richard Paul, American actor
• * John Pulman, English snooker player
• December 29 – Don Taylor, American actor and film director
• December 30 – Keisuke Kinoshita, Japanese film director

  Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Robert B. Laughlin, Horst L. Störmer, Daniel Chee Tsui
• Chemistry – Walter Kohn, John Pople
• Medicine – Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, Ferid Murad
• Literature – José Saramago
• Peace – John Hume and David Trimble
• Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – Amartya Sen

  Fields Medal

• Richard Ewen Borcherds, William Timothy Gowers, Maxim Kontsevich, Curtis T. McMullen