1994
This article is about the year 1994. For the number (and other uses), see
1994 (number).
1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year that started on a Saturday. In the Gregorian calendar, it was the 1994th year of the Common Era, or of Anno Domini; the 994th year of the 2nd millennium; the 94th year of the 20th century; and the 5th of the 1990s. The year 1994 was designated as the "International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.
Events
January
- January 1
- January 6 – In Detroit, Michigan, Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right leg by an assailant, under orders from figure skating rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband.
- 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
- 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 15 – The SS American Star breaks tow in the Atlantic Ocean and is beached at Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands a few days later.
- January 17 – The 1994 Northridge earthquake, magnitude 6.7, hits the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles at 4:31 a.m., killing 72 and leaving 26,029 homeless.
- January 19 – Record cold temperatures hit the eastern United States. The coldest temperature ever measured in Indiana state history, −36°F (−38°C), is recorded in New Whiteland, Indiana.
- January 20 – In South Carolina, Shannon Faulkner becomes the first female cadet to attend The Citadel, but soon drops out.
- January 21 – Lorena Bobbitt is found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of mutilating her husband John.
- 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 – A man fires 2 blank shots at Charles, Prince of Wales in Sydney, Australia.
February
March
- March 1
- March 6 – A referendum in Moldova results in the electorate voting against possible reunification with Romania.
- March 7 – Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that parodies of an original work are generally covered by the doctrine of fair use.
- March 12
- March 14 – Apple Computer, Inc. releases the first Macintosh computers to use the new PowerPC Microprocessors. This is considered to be a major leap in personal computer, as well as Macintosh history.
- March 15 – U.S. troops are withdrawn from Somalia.
- March 16 – In Portland, Oregon, Tonya Harding pleads guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for trying to cover-up an attack on figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. She is fined $100,000 and banned from the sport.
- 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, California. Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama, Schindler's List, wins 7 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director (Spielberg).
- March 23 – Green Ramp disaster: Two military aircraft collide over Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina causing 24 fatalities.
- March 27
- 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 (see Human evolution).
April
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 3 – Japan signs the 200th treaty between itself and the African nation of Chad, making this day known as JapaTreaty 200.
- May 5 – The Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan was signed, effectively freezing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
- May 6 – The Channel Tunnel, which took 15,000 workers over 7 years to complete, opens between England and France, enabling passengers to travel between the 2 countries in 35 minutes.
- May 10
- May 12 – Ice hockey becomes Canada's official winter sport.
- 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.[1]
- May 21 – Italian former minister and Christian Democrat leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of Mafia allegiance by the court of Palermo.
- 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 6–June 8 – Ceasefire negotiations for the Yugoslav War begin in Geneva; they agree to a 1-month cessation of hostilities (which does not last more than a few days).
- June 12 – Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are murdered outside the Simpson home in Los Angeles, California. O.J. Simpson is later acquitted of the killings, but is held liable in a civil suit.
- June 14 – Hacker Kevin Poulsen pleads guilty to 7 counts of mail fraud, wire and computer fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice.
- June 14 – The New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup, in 7 Games over the Vancouver Canucks. It was New York's first Stanley Cup since 1940.
- 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, California mansion, where he surrenders.
- June 23 – The International Olympic Committee celebrates their first centennial.
- June 24 – U.S. Air Force pilot Bud Holland crashes a B-52 in Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington as a result of pilot error.
- June 28 – Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult release a sarin gas attack at Matsumoto, Japan, killing 7 and injuring 660.
- 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.
July
August
September
- September 3 – Cold War: Russia and the People's Republic of China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other.
- September 4 – Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan opens. All international services are transferred from Itami to Kansai.
- 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; there are no survivors.
- September 10 – Wollemia nobilis (the 'Wollemi Pine'), previously known only from fossils, is discovered living in remote rainforest gorges in the Wollemi National Park of New South Wales by canyoner David Noble, 150 km from Australia's largest city.[2]
- September 13 – President Bill Clinton signs the Assault Weapons Ban, which bans the manufacture of new weapons with certain features for a period of 10 years.
- September 16 – Danish tour guide Louise Jensen is abducted, raped and murdered by three British soldiers in Cyprus.[3]
- September 17 – Heather Whitestone becomes the first hearing impaired contestant to win the Miss America entitlement. Whitestone becomes Miss America 1995.
- September 19 – American troops stage a bloodless invasion of Haiti in order to restore the legitimate elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power.
- September 28 – The car ferry MS Estonia sinks in the Baltic Sea, killing 852 people.
- September 28 – Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, Mexican politician, is assassinated on orders of Raul 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
November
- November 3
- A French magazine publishes photo of President François Mitterrand's secret daughter.
- The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 is enacted in the UK. The whole of Part V, which covers collective trespass and nuisance on land, includes sections against raves, including the "succession of repetitive beats" definition.
- November 4
- San Francisco: The first conference devoted entirely to the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web opens. Featured speakers include Marc Andreessen of Netscape, Mark Graham of Pandora Systems, and Ken McCarthy of E-Media.
- Sydney's third runway opens, ensuring protests about noise levels.
- November 5
- November 6 – A flood in Piedmont, Italy, kills dozens of people.
- 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.
- November 13
- 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 19 – Malawi recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
- 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.
- November 30 – The National Football League announces that the Jacksonville Jaguars will become the league's 30th franchise.
December
Date unknown
Births
January–June
- February 8 – Nikki Yanofsky, Canadian singer
- February 14 – Allie Grant, American actress
- February 23
- February 27 – Hou Yifan, Chinese chess player
- March 1 – Justin Bieber, Canadian pop/R&B singer
- March 5 – Aislinn Paul, Canadian actress
- April 4 – Risako Sugaya, Japanese singer
- April 11 – Dakota Blue Richards, English actress
- April 12
- April 14 – Skyler Samuels, American actress
- April 18 – Moisés Arias, American actor
- May 4 – Alexander Gould, American actor and voice artist
- May 21 – Tom Daley, British diver
- June 11 – Ivana Baquero, Spanish actress
July–December
Deaths
January
- January 1
- January 5
- January 9
- January 14 – Esther Ralston, American actress (b. 1902)
- January 15 – Harry Nilsson, American musician (b. 1941)
- January 16 – Frances Gifford, American actress (b. 1920)
- January 17 – Helen Stephens, American runner (b. 1918)
- January 20 – Matt Busby, Scottish football manager (b. 1909)
- January 22
- January 23 – Brian Redhead, British journalist and broadcaster (b. 1929)
- January 25 – Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician (b. 1909)
- January 27 – Claude Akins, American actor (b. 1914)
- January 28 – Hal Smith, American character actor and voice-over artist (b. 1916)
- January 29
- January 30 – Pierre Boulle, French author (b. 1912)
February
- February 1 – Olan Soule, Character actor (b. 1909)
- February 3 – Walter Havighurst, American critic, novelist, literary and social historian (b. 1901)
- February 4 – Jane Arbor, British writer (b. 1903)
- February 6
- February 7 – Witold Lutosławski, Polish composer (b. 1913)
- February 9 – Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1934)
- February 11
- February 14 – Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (executed) (b. 1936)
- February 17 – Randy Shilts, American author and activist (b. 1951)
- February 19 – Derek Jarman, English film director (b. 1942)
- February 22 – Papa John Creech, American fiddler (b. 1917)
- February 24
- February 25
- February 26 – Bill Hicks, American comedian (b. 1961)
March
April
- April 1
- April 2 – Betty Furness, American actress, author, and consumer advocate (b. 1916)
- April 5 – Kurt Cobain, American singer and songwriter (b. 1967)
- April 6
- April 7
- April 10 – Sam B. Hall, American politician (b. 1924)
- April 15 – John Curry, British figure skater (b. 1949)
- April 16 – Ralph Ellison, American writer (b. 1914)
- April 17 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1913)
- April 22 – Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (b. 1913)
- April 24 – Masutatsu Ōyama, Korean-Japanese Karate master (b. 1923)
- April 27 – Lynne Frederick, English actress (b. 1954)
- April 28 – Berton Roueché, American writer (b. 1910)
- April 29 – Russell Kirk, American political philosopher (b. 1918)
- April 30
May
June
- June 2 – David Stove, Australian philosopher (b. 1927)
- June 4
- June 6 – Barry Sullivan, American actor (b. 1912)
- June 7 – Dennis Potter, English dramatist (b. 1935)
- June 9 – Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- June 12 – Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (b. 1902)
- June 13 – K. T. Stevens, American actress (b. 1919)
- June 14 – Henry Mancini, American composer and arranger (b. 1924)
- June 15 – Kristen Pfaff, American bassist (b. 1967)
- June 20 – Jay Miner, American computer pioneer (b. 1932)
- June 29 – Kurt Eichhorn, German conductor (b. 1908)
July
August
- August 6 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer, songwriter, actor and politician (b. 1928)
- August 7 – Larry Martyn, comedy actor (b. 1934)
- August 11 – Peter Cushing, English actor (b. 1913)
- August 13 – Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
- August 17 – Jack Sharkey, American boxer (b. 1902)
- August 18 – Richard Laurence Millington Synge, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
- August 19 – Linus Pauling, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Peace (b. 1901)
- August 21
- August 30 – Lindsay Anderson, British film director (b. 1923)
September
October
- October 2 – Harriet Nelson, American actress (b. 1909)
- October 3
- Tim Asch, Anthropologist, photographer and ethnographic filmmaker (b. 1932)
- Dub Taylor, American actor (b. 1907)
- October 7 – Niels Kaj Jerne, English immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911)
- October 14 – Emil Gilels, Russian pianist (b. 1916)
- October 19 – Martha Raye, American actress (b. 1916)
- October 20
- October 21 – Benoît Régent, French actor (b. 1953)
- October 24 – Raul Julia, Puerto Rican actor (b. 1940)
- October 25 – Mildred Natwick, American actress (b. 1905)
- October 29 – Shlomo Goren, Israeli Chief Rabbi (b. 1918)
November
- November 1 – Noah Beery, Jr., American actor (b. 1913)
- November 4 – Fred "Sonic" Smith, American guitarist (b. 1949)
- November 5 – Johan Heyns, Afrikaner theologian and critic of Apartheid (b. 1928)
- November 9 – Priscilla Morrill, American actress (b. 1927)
- November 10 – Carmen McRae, American jazz singer (b. 1920)
- November 11 – Pedro Zamora, Cuban-born AIDS activist (b. 1972)
- November 12 – Wilma Rudolph, American athlete (b. 1940)
- November 13 – Motoo Kimura, Japanese geneticist (b. 1924)
- November 14 – Tom Villard, American actor (b. 1953)
- November 16
- November 18
- November 20 – John Lucarotti, British born television writer (b. 1926)
- November 22 – Charles Upham, New Zealand soldier, double Victoria Cross winner (b. 1908)
- November 23 – Art Barr, American professional wrestler (b. 1966)
- November 28
- November 30
December
- December 6 – Gian Maria Volonté, Italian actor (b. 1933)
- December 8 – Antonio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian composer (b. 1927)
- December 10 – Alex Wilson, Canadian and Notre Dame athlete (b. 1905)
- December 11
- Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (b. 1900)
- Carl Marzani, American political documentary filmmaker, author, editor and publisher (b. 1912)
- December 12 – Stuart Roosa, American astronaut (b. 1933)
- December 18 – Lilia Skala, Austrian-born actress (b. 1896)
- December 20
- December 23 – Sebastian Shaw, English actor (b. 1905)
- December 24
- December 27
Nobel Prizes
Templeton Prize
Fields Medal
Right Livelihood Award
References