2013

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2013 (MMXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (dominical letter F) of the Gregorian calendar, the 2013th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 13th year of the 3rd millennium, the 13th year of the 21st century, and the 4th year of the 2010s decade.

2013 was designated as:

• International Year of Water Cooperation^[1]
• International Year of Quinoa^[1]

Events

January

• January 11 – The French military begins a five-month intervention into the Northern Mali conflict, targeting the militant Islamist Ansar Dine group.^[2][3]
• January 16–20 – Thirty-nine international workers and one security guard die in a hostage crisis at a natural gas facility near In Aménas, Algeria.^[4][5][6][7]

February

• February 12 – North Korea conducts its third underground nuclear test, prompting widespread condemnation and tightened economic sanctions from the international community.^[8][9]
• February 15 – A meteor explodes over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, injuring 1,491 people and damaging over 4,300 buildings. It is the most powerful meteor to strike Earth's atmosphere in over a century.^[10] The incident, along with a coincidental flyby of a larger asteroid, prompts international concern regarding the vulnerability of the planet to meteor strikes.^[11][12]
• February 21 – American scientists use a 3D printer to create a living lab-grown ear from collagen and animal ear cell cultures. In the future, it is hoped, similar ears could be grown to order as transplants for human patients suffering from ear trauma or amputation.^[13]
• February 28 – Benedict XVI resigns as pope, becoming the first to do so since Gregory XII in 1415, and the first to do so voluntarily since Celestine V in 1294.^[14]

March

• March 13 – Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is elected the 266th pope, whereupon he takes the name Francis^[15][16][17] and becomes the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Americas, and the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere.^[18]
• March 24 – 2012–2013 Central African Republic conflict: Central African Republic President François Bozizé flees to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after rebel forces capture the nation's capital, Bangui.^[19][20][21]
• March 25 – The European Union agrees to a €10 billion economic bailout for Cyprus. The bailout loan will be equally split between the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the International Monetary Fund. The deal precipitates a banking crisis in the island nation.^[22][23]
• March 27 – Canada becomes the first country to withdraw from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.^[24]

April

April 24: Savar building collapse.

• April 2 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Arms Trade Treaty to regulate the international trade of conventional weapons.^[25]
• April 15 – Two Chechen Islamist brothers explode two bombs at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States, killing 3 and injuring 264 others.^[26][27]
• April 24 – An eight-storey commercial building collapses in Savar Upazila near the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, leaving 1,129 dead^[28] and 2,500 injured.^[29][30][31] The accident is the deadliest non-terrorist structural collapse in modern times^[32] and the third-worst industrial disaster in history.^[32]

May

• May 15 – In a study published in the scientific journal Nature, researchers from Oregon Health & Science University in the United States describe the first creation of human embryonic stem cells by cloning.^[33]

June

• June 6 – American Edward Snowden discloses operations engaged in by a U.S. government mass surveillance program to news publications and flees the country, later being granted temporary asylum in Russia.^[34][35][36]

July

• July 1 – Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union.^[37]
• July 3 – Amid mass protests across Egypt, President Mohamed Morsi is deposed in a military coup d'état, leading to widespread violence.^[38][39]

August

• August 14 – Following the military coup in Egypt, two anti-coup camps are raided by the security forces leaving 2,600 dead.^[40] The raids were described by Human Rights Watch as "one of the world’s largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history”.^[41]
• August 21 – 1,429 are killed in the Ghouta chemical attack during the Syrian Civil War.^[42]

September

• September 21 – al-Shabaab Islamic militants attack the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, killing at least 62 civilians and wounding over 170.^[43]

October

• October 10 – Delegates from some 140 countries and territories sign the Minamata Treaty, a UNEP treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.^[44]
• October 18 – Saudi Arabia rejects a seat on the United Nations Security Council, making it the first country to reject a seat on the Security Council. Jordan takes the seat on December 6.

November

November 8: Typhoon Haiyan.

• November 5 – Mangalyaan (aka Mars Orbiter Mission) is launched by India from its launchpad in Sriharikota.^[45]
• November 8 – Typhoon Haiyan ("Yolanda"), one of the strongest tropical cyclones on record, hits the Philippines and Vietnam, causing devastation with at least 6,241 dead.^[46]
• November 12 – Three Studies of Lucian Freud, a series of portraits of Lucian Freud by the British painter Francis Bacon, sells for US$142.4 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for an auctioned work of art.^[47][48]
• November 21 – Euromaidan pro-EU demonstrations begin in Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovych rejects an economic association agreement between the European Union and Ukraine in favor of closer ties to Russia.^[49]
• November 24 – Iran agrees to limit their nuclear development program in exchange for sanctions relief.^[50][51]

December

• December 7 – Ninth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization delegates sign the Bali Package agreement aimed at loosening global trade barriers.^[52]
• December 14 – Chinese spacecraft Chang'e 3, carrying the Yutu rover, becomes the first spacecraft to "soft"-land on the Moon since 1976 and the third ever robotic rover to do so.^[53]
• December 15 – Fighting between ethnic Dinka and Nuer members of the presidential guard breaks out in the capital city of South Sudan and precipitates the South Sudanese political crisis.

Births

• July 22 – Prince George of Cambridge

Deaths

January

James M. Buchanan

• January 1 – Patti Page, American singer (b. 1927)
• January 2 – Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1945)
• January 3 – Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romanian film director, actor, and politician (b. 1930)
• January 7 – David R. Ellis, American film director (b. 1952)
• January 9 – James M. Buchanan, American Nobel economist (b. 1919)
• January 11 – Nguyễn Khánh, Vietnamese general and politician (b. 1927)
• January 15 – Nagisa Oshima, Japanese film director (b. 1932)
• January 21 – Michael Winner, British film director and producer (b. 1935)
• January 23 – Józef Glemp, Polish cardinal (b. 1929)

February

Robert Coleman Richardson

Donald A. Glaser

• February 1 – Ed Koch, American lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
• February 14 – Ronald Dworkin, American philosopher and lawyer (b. 1931)
• February 17 – Tony Sheridan, British singer, songwriter, and musician (b. 1940)
• February 18
  • Kevin Ayers, British singer, songwriter, and musician (b. 1944)
  • Otfried Preußler, German children author (b. 1923)
• February 19
  • Armen Alchian, American economist (b. 1914)
  • Robert Coleman Richardson, American Nobel physicist (b. 1937)
• February 22 – Wolfgang Sawallisch, German conductor and pianist (b. 1923)
• February 23 – Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (b. 1920)
• February 26 – Stéphane Hessel, French diplomat and writer (b. 1917)
• February 27 – Van Cliburn, American pianist (b. 1934)
• February 28 – Donald A. Glaser, American Nobel physicist (b. 1926)

March

Hugo Chávez

Paul Bearer

• March 3 – Luis Cubilla, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1940)
• March 5
  • Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela (b. 1954)
  • Paul Bearer, American professional wrestling manager (b. 1954)
• March 6 – Alvin Lee, British guitarist (b. 1944)
• March 7
  • Peter Banks, British guitarist (b. 1947)
  • Damiano Damiani, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1922)
• March 10 – Princess Lilian, Duchess of Halland, (b. 1915)
• March 12 – Clive Burr, British drummer (b. 1957)
• March 14 – Ieng Sary, Vietnamese-born Cambodian politician (b. 1925)
• March 20 – Zillur Rahman, 19th President of Bangladesh (b. 1929)
• March 21
  • Chinua Achebe, Nigerian writer (b. 1930)
  • Pietro Mennea, Italian athlete (b. 1952)
• March 22 – Bebo Valdés, Cuban pianist, bandleader, and composer (b. 1918)
• March 23
  • Boris Berezovsky, Russian businessman (b. 1946)
  • Joe Weider, Canadian-born American bodybuilder and publisher (b. 1920)
• March 27 – Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian skater (b. 1923)
• March 28 – Richard Griffiths, British actor (b. 1947)

April

Roger Ebert

Margaret Thatcher

• April 2 – Jesús Franco, Spanish film director and screenwriter (b. 1930)
• April 3 – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German-born British novelist and screenwriter (b. 1927)
• April 4 – Roger Ebert, American film critic and writer (b. 1942)
• April 8
  • Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1925)
  • Sara Montiel, Spanish singer and actress (b. 1928)
• April 9 – Paolo Soleri, Italian-born American architect (b. 1919)
• April 10 – Robert Edwards, British Nobel physiologist (b. 1925)
• April 11
  • Maria Tallchief, American prima ballerina (b. 1925)
  • Jonathan Winters, American comedian and actor (b. 1925)
  • Hilary Koprowski, Polish virologist and immunologist (b. 1916)
• April 14 – Colin Davis, British conductor (b. 1927)
• April 18 – Storm Thorgerson, British graphic designer (b. 1944)
• April 19 – François Jacob, French Nobel biologist (b. 1920)
• April 22 – Richie Havens, American folk singer (b. 1941)
• April 26 – George Jones, American country music singer (b. 1931)
• April 28 – János Starker, Hungarian-born American cellist (b. 1924)
• April 30 (death announced on this date) – Deanna Durbin, Canadian-born singer and actress (b. 1921)

May

Giulio Andreotti

Jorge Rafael Videla

• May 2 – Jeff Hanneman, American guitarist (b. 1964)
• May 4 – Christian de Duve, Belgian Nobel biochemist (b. 1917)
• May 6 – Giulio Andreotti, 41st Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1919)
• May 7 – Ray Harryhausen, American filmmaker and creator of visual effects (b. 1920)
• May 13 – Kenneth Waltz, American political scientist (b. 1924)
• May 15 – Henrique Rosa, President of Guinea-Bissau (2003–2005) (b. 1946)
• May 16 – Heinrich Rohrer, Swiss Nobel physicist (b. 1933)
• May 17 – Jorge Rafael Videla, 42nd President of Argentina (b. 1925)
• May 20 – Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist (b. 1939)
• May 22 – Henri Dutilleux, French composer (b. 1916)
• May 23 – Georges Moustaki, French singer and songwriter (b. 1934)
• May 26 – Jack Vance, American novelist (b. 1916)
• May 31 – Jean Stapleton, American actress (b. 1923)

June

Esther Williams

James Gandolfini

Emilio Colombo

• June 3 – Frank Lautenberg, American politician (b. 1924)
• June 6
  • Jerome Karle, American Nobel chemist (b. 1918)
  • Esther Williams, American swimmer and actress (b. 1921)
• June 7
  • Pierre Mauroy, Prime Minister of France (1981–1984) (b. 1928)
  • Richard Ramirez, American serial killer (b. 1960)
• June 8 – Yoram Kaniuk, Israeli writer (b. 1930)
• June 9 – Iain Banks, British novelist (b. 1954)
• June 11 – Robert Fogel, American Nobel economic historian (b. 1926)
• June 15
  • Heinz Flohe, German footballer (b. 1948)
  • Kenneth G. Wilson, American Nobel physicist (b. 1936)
• June 16
  • Josip Kuže, Croatian footballer and coach (b. 1952)
  • Ottmar Walter, German footballer (b. 1924)
• June 19
  • James Gandolfini, American actor (b. 1961)
  • Gyula Horn, Prime Minister of Hungary (1994–1998) (b. 1932)
• June 23
  • Bobby Bland, American singer and songwriter (b. 1930)
  • Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (b. 1926)
• June 24 – Emilio Colombo, 40th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1920)
• June 26 – Marc Rich, Belgian-born American commodities trader and criminal (b. 1934)
• June 27 – Alain Mimoun, French track and field athlete (b. 1921)
• June 29 – Jim Kelly, American martial artist and actor (b. 1946)

July

Fawzia Fuad of Egypt

Douglas Engelbart

• July 2
  • Princess Fawzia Fuad of Egypt, Queen consort of Iran (1941–1948) (b. 1921)
  • Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist and inventor (b. 1925)
• July 3 – Radu Vasile, Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1942)
• July 12 – Amar Bose, American engineer and entrepreneur (b. 1929)
• July 13 – Cory Monteith, Canadian actor (b. 1982)
• July 19
  • Mel Smith, British comedian and actor (b. 1952)
  • Bert Trautmann, German-born British footballer (b. 1923)
• July 20 – Helen Thomas, American journalist (b. 1920)
• July 22 – Dennis Farina, American actor (b. 1944)
• July 23
  • Emile Griffith, American welterweight boxer (b. 1938)
  • Djalma Santos, Brazilian footballer (b. 1929)
• July 25
  • Walter De Maria, American sculptor and composer (b. 1935)
  • Bernadette Lafont, French actress (b. 1938)
• July 26 – JJ Cale, American singer and songwriter (b. 1938)
• July 28 – Eileen Brennan, American actress (b. 1932)
• July 29 – Christian Benítez, Ecuadorian footballer (b. 1986)
• July 30 – Antoni Ramallets, Spanish footballer (b. 1924)

August

Julie Harris

David Frost

• August 5 – George Duke, American keyboardist (b. 1946)
• August 8 – Karen Black, American actress (b. 1939)
• August 10
  • László Csatáry, Hungarian war criminal (b. 1915)
  • Eydie Gormé, American singer (b. 1928)
• August 12 – Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau, (b. 1968)
• August 18 – Dezső Gyarmati, Hungarian water polo player (b. 1927)
• August 19 – Cedar Walton, American pianist (b. 1934)
• August 20
  • Elmore Leonard, American novelist (b. 1925)
  • Marian McPartland, British-born pianist (b. 1918)
• August 21 – C. Gordon Fullerton, American astronaut (b. 1936)
• August 24 – Julie Harris, American actress (b. 1925)
• August 25 – Gylmar dos Santos Neves, Brazilian footballer (b. 1930)
• August 30 – Seamus Heaney, Irish Nobel poet (b. 1939)
• August 31 – David Frost, British journalist and broadcaster (b. 1939)

September

Ken Norton

• September 1 – Tommy Morrison, American boxer (b. 1969)
• September 2
  • Ronald Coase, British Nobel economist (b. 1910)
  • Frederik Pohl, American writer (b. 1919)
• September 5 – Rochus Misch, German bodyguard of Adolf Hitler (b. 1917)
• September 12 – Ray Dolby, American engineer and inventor (b. 1933)
• September 18
  • Ken Norton, American boxer (b. 1943)
  • Marcel Reich-Ranicki, German literary critic and member of the literary group Gruppe 47 (b. 1920)
• September 19 – Hiroshi Yamauchi, Japanese businessman (b. 1927)
• September 22 – David H. Hubel, Canadian-born American Nobel neuroscientist (b. 1926)

October

Tom Clancy

Lou Reed

• October 1 – Tom Clancy, American writer (b. 1947)
• October 3 – Sergei Belov, Russian basketball player (b. 1944)
• October 4 – Võ Nguyên Giáp, Vietnamese General (b. 1911)
• October 7
  • Patrice Chéreau, French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer (b. 1944)
  • Ovadia Yosef, Israeli religious leader (b. 1920)
• October 9 – Wilfried Martens, 60th and 62nd Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1936)
• October 10 – Scott Carpenter, American astronaut (b. 1925)
• October 11
  • María de Villota, Spanish racing driver (b. 1980)
  • Erich Priebke, German SS captain and war criminal (b. 1913)
• October 14 – Bruno Metsu, French football coach (b. 1954)
• October 16 – Ed Lauter, American actor (b. 1938)
• October 20 – Lawrence Klein, American Nobel economist (b. 1920)
• October 23 – Anthony Caro, British sculptor (b. 1924)
• October 24 – Manolo Escobar, Spanish singer (b. 1931)
• October 25
  • Bill Sharman, American basketball player and coach (b. 1926)
  • Marcia Wallace, American actress and comedienne (b. 1942)
• October 27 – Lou Reed, American singer, songwriter, and musician (b. 1942)
• October 28 – Tadeusz Mazowiecki, 1st Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1927)

November

Doris Lessing

Frederick Sanger

• November 1 – Hakimullah Mehsud, Emir of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (b. c. 1979)
• November 2 – Walt Bellamy, American basketball player (b. 1939)
• November 12 – John Tavener, British composer (b. 1944)
• November 15 – Glafcos Clerides, 4th President of Cyprus (b. 1919)
• November 17 – Doris Lessing, British Nobel writer (b. 1919)
• November 19 – Frederick Sanger, British Nobel biochemist (b. 1918)
• November 20 – Joseph Paul Franklin, American murderer (b. 1950)
• November 25
  • Bill Foulkes, British footballer (b. 1932)
  • Chico Hamilton, American drummer and bandleader (b. 1921)
• November 26 – Arik Einstein, Israeli singer, songwriter, and actor (b. 1939)
• November 27 – Nílton Santos, Brazilian footballer (b. 1925)
• November 28 – Mitja Ribičič, Slovene politician, 25th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1919)
• November 30
  • Paul Walker, American actor (b. 1973)
  • Yury Yakovlev, Soviet and Russian film actor (b. 1928)

December

Nelson Mandela

Peter O'Toole

• December 1 – Heinrich Boere, Dutch-German Nazi war criminal (b. 1921)
• December 5 – Nelson Mandela, 1st President of South Africa and Nobel laureate (b. 1918)
• December 7 – Édouard Molinaro, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1928)
• December 8 – John Cornforth, Australian–British Nobel chemist (b. 1917)
• December 9 – Eleanor Parker, American actress (b. 1922)
• December 10 – Jim Hall, American guitarist and composer (b. 1930)
• December 12 – Jang Sung-taek, North Korean politician (b. 1946)
• December 14 – Peter O'Toole, British Irish actor (b. 1932)
• December 15
  • Harold Camping, American evangelist (b. 1921)
  • Joan Fontaine, Japanese-born British American actress (b. 1917)
• December 16 – Ray Price, American singer and songwriter (b. 1926)
• December 18 – Ronnie Biggs, British criminal (b. 1929)
• December 23
  • Mikhail Kalashnikov, Russian inventor (b. 1919)
  • Yusef Lateef, American jazz musician and composer (b. 1920)
• December 26 – Marta Eggerth, Hungarian film actress (b. 1912)
• December 29 – Wojciech Kilar, Polish composer (b. 1932)
• December 30 – Eero Mäntyranta, Finnish skier (b. 1937)
• December 31 – James Avery, American actor (b. 1945)

Nobel Prizes

• Chemistry – Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt, and Arieh Warshel
• Economics – Eugene Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert J. Shiller
• Literature – Alice Munro
• Peace – Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
• Physics – François Englert and Peter Higgs
• Physiology or Medicine – James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman, and Thomas C. Südhof

In fiction

See also

• List of international years

References