2003

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2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (dominical letter E) of the Gregorian calendar, the 2003rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 3rd year of the 3rd millennium, the 3rd year of the 21st century, and the 4th year of the 2000s decade.

2003 was designated the:

• International Year of fresh water.
• European Disability Year.

Events

January

• January 1 – Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is elected President of Brazil. He is the first left-wing president of Brazil since João Goulart in 1961.
• January 5 – Police in London arrest 7 suspects in connection with the 2002 Wood Green ricin plot.
• January 8 – US Airways Express Flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people aboard.
• January 16 – STS-107: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on its last flight.
• January 18 – The Canberra Bushfires in Canberra, Australia, kill 4 people.
• January 23 – The last signal is received from NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft, some 7.5 billion miles from Earth.
• January 29 – 2003 Phnom Penh riots: In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Thai embassy is burned and commercial properties of Thai businesses are vandalized.
• January 30 – Belgium legally recognizes same-sex marriage.

February

• February 1
  • At the conclusion of the STS-107 mission, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry over Texas, killing all 7 astronauts on board.
  • In Northern Ireland, Protestant Ulster Defence Association Belfast leader John Gregg is killed by a loyalist faction.
• February 5 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addresses the UN Security Council on Iraq.
• February 9 – The War in Darfur begins.
• February 15 – Global protests against the Iraq war: More than 10 million people protest in over 600 cities worldwide, the largest to take place before a war occurs.
• February 18 – An arsonist destroys a train in Daegu, South Korea, killing more than 190.
• February 20 – The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island, claims the lives of 100 people.
• February 26 – An American businessman is admitted to the Vietnam France Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam, with the first identified case of SARS. WHO doctor Carlo Urbani reports the unusual, highly contagious disease to WHO. Both the businessman and doctor later die of the disease.
• February 27 – Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavšić is sentenced by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, to 11 years in prison.

March

• March 1 – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11 Attacks, is arrested by CIA and ISI officials at a home in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
• March 8 – Malta approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
• March 12
  • Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić is assassinated in Belgrade.
  • The WHO issues a global alert on SARS.
• March 18 – FBI agents raid the corporate headquarters of HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama, on suspicion of massive corporate fraud led by the company's top executives.
• March 19 – The Iraq War begins with the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and allied forces.
• March 23 – Slovenia approves joining the European Union and NATO in a referendum.

April

• April 3
  • A passenger bus hits a remote-controlled land mine in the Chechen capital, killing at least 8.
  • U.S. forces seize control of Saddam International Airport, changing the airport's name to Baghdad International Airport.
• April 9 – U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein.
• April 12 – Hungary approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
• April 14 – The Human Genome Project is completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy.
• April 29 – The United States announces the withdrawal of troops stationed in Saudi Arabia, and the redeployment of some at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

May

• May 1 – United States President George W. Bush gives a speech announcing the end of major combat operations in the Iraq War.
• May 4 – May 10 – A major severe weather outbreak spawns more tornadoes than any week in U.S. history; 393 tornadoes are reported in 19 states.
• May 11
  • Benvenuto Cellini's Saliera is stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
  • Lithuania approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
• May 12
  • A suicide truck-bomb attack kills at least 60 at a government compound in northern Chechnya.
  • In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 26 people are killed in the Riyadh compound bombings.
• May 14 – A suicide bomber blows up explosives strapped to her waist in a crowd of thousands of Muslim pilgrims, killing at least 18 people in Chechnya.
• May 16 – In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.
• May 17 – Slovakia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
• May 19 – The Indonesian military begins an operation in Aceh province.
• May 21 – An earthquake in the Boumerdès region of northern Algeria kills 2,200.
• May 23 – Dewey, the first deer cloned by scientists at Texas A&M University, is born.
• May 28 – Prometea, the first horse cloned by Italian scientists, is born.

June

• June 5 – A female suicide bomber detonates a bomb near a bus carrying soldiers and civilians to a military airfield in Mozdok, a major staging point for Russian troops in Chechnya, killing at least 16.
• June 8 – Poland approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
• June 14 – The Czech Republic approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
• June 23 – Grutter v. Bollinger: The Supreme Court of the United States upholds affirmative action in university admissions.
• June 26 – Lawrence v. Texas: The U.S. Supreme Court declares sodomy laws unconstitutional.

July

• July 1 – 500,000 Hong Kong people march to protest Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, which controversially redefines treason.
• July 5
  • SARS is declared to be contained by the World Health Organization.
  • A double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert kills the attackers and 15 other people.
• July 6 – The 70-meter Eupatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message Cosmic Call 2 to 5 stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri, HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris, that will arrive at these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044, and 2049 respectively.
• July 8 – Sudan Airways Flight 139, with 117 people on board, crashes in Sudan; the only survivor is a 2-year-old child.
• July 14 – Plame affair: Washington Post columnist Robert Novak publishes the name of Valerie Plame, blowing her cover as a CIA operative.
• July 18
  • The Convention on the Future of Europe finishes its work and proposes the first European Constitution.
  • The Second Congo War concludes with 2–5 million deaths since 1998.
• July 21 – Eleven support towers on Kinzua Bridge collapse after being hit by an F-1 tornado.
• July 22 – Uday and Qusay Hussein, sons of Saddam Hussein, are killed by the U.S. military in Iraq, after being tipped off by an informant.
• July 23 – Operation Warrior Sweep is the first major military deployment of the Afghan National Army.
• July 24 – The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, Operation Helpem Fren, led by Australia, begins.

August

• August 1 – A suicide bomber rams a truck filled with explosives into a military hospital near Chechnya, killing 50 people, including Russian troops wounded in Chechnya.
• August 2 – The United Nations authorizes an international peacekeeping force for Liberia.
• August 11 – NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
• August 14
  • A 6.4 Richter scale earthquake occurs near the Greek Ionian island of Lefkada; 24 are injured.
  • The Northeast blackout of 2003 cuts power to an estimated 10 million people in Ontario, Canada, and 45 million people in eight U.S. states.
• August 22 – A rocket explosion kills 21 at the Brazilian rocket complex in Alcântara, Brazil, due to the premature ignition of a solid rocket booster.
• August 25 – The Spitzer Space Telescope is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, during Delta II.
• August 27 – Perihelic opposition: Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in over 50,000 years.

September

• September 3 – The Hubble Space Telescope starts Hubble Ultra-Deep Field.
• September 4 – Europe's busiest shopping centre, the Bullring in Birmingham, is officially opened by Sir Albert Bore.
• September 14 – Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
• September 15 – The ELN kidnaps 8 foreign tourists in the Ciudad Perdida in Colombia; they demand a human rights investigation and release the last hostages 3 months later.
• September 20 – Latvia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
• September 27 – Smart 1, a European Space Agency satellite, is launched from French Guiana.

October

• October 5 – Israeli warplanes strike inside Syrian territory.
• October 15 – China launches Shenzhou 5, their first manned space mission.
• October 24
  • The Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic travel to a close.
  • Apple releases Mac OS X Panther.

November

• November 9 – A lunar eclipse is seen in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Central Asia.
• November 12 – Occupation of Iraq: In Nasiriyah, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 Iraq war, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
• November 18 – With its ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court makes the state the first in the United States to legalize same-sex marriage.
• November 23
  • A total solar eclipse is seen over Antarctica.
  • President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze resigns in the bloodless Rose Revolution.

December

• December 1 – The use of hand-held cell phones while driving is outlawed in the United Kingdom.
• December 5 – A suicide bombing on a commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people.
• December 13 – Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, is captured in Tikrit by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.
• December 20 – Libya admits to building a nuclear bomb.
• December 22 – Parmalat is first accused of falsifying accounts to the tune of USD $5 billion, later admitted by founder Calisto Tanzi; observers call it "Europe's Enron".
• December 23 – The World Tourism Organization becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.
• December 26 – A massive earthquake devastates southeastern Iran; over 40,000 people are reported killed in the city of Bam.
• December 31 – British Airways Flight 223, a Boeing 747–400 flying from London Heathrow to Washington Dulles, is escorted into Dulles Airport by F-16 fighter jets, after intelligence reports of terrorists trying to board the jet and use it in a terrorist attack.

Births

• August 28 – Quvenzhané Wallis, American child actress
• November 8 – Lady Louise Windsor, daughter of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Sophie, Countess of Wessex
• December 7 – Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, daughter of Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Queen Maxima

Deaths

January

Richard Crenna

Frank Moss

• January 8 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (b. 1925)
• January 11
  • Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (b. 1925)
  • Richard Simmons, American actor (b. 1913)
• January 12
  • Dean Amadon, American ornithologist (b. 1912)
  • Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine dictator (b. 1926)
  • Maurice Gibb, British rock musician (Bee Gees) (b. 1949)
• January 15 – Doris Fisher, American singer-songwriter (b. 1915)
• January 17 – Richard Crenna, American actor (Marooned) (b. 1926)
• January 20 – Al Hirschfeld, American cartoonist (b. 1903)
• January 23 – Nell Carter, African-American singer and actress (b. 1948)
• January 24 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (b. 1921)
• January 26
  • Valeriy Brumel, Russian athlete (b. 1942)
  • Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian (b. 1914)
• January 27 – Henryk Jabłoński, former President of Poland (b. 1909)
• January 29 – Frank Moss, American politician (b. 1911)

February

Fred Rogers

Fidel Sánchez Hernández

• February 1
  • Michael P. Anderson, American astronaut (b. 1959)
  • David M. Brown, American astronaut (b. 1956)
  • Kalpana Chawla, American astronaut (b. 1962)
  • Laurel Clark, American astronaut (b. 1961)
  • Rick Husband, American astronaut (b. 1957)
  • William McCool, American astronaut (b. 1961)
  • Ilan Ramon, Israeli fighter pilot and first Israeli astronaut (b. 1954)
• February 2 – Lou Harrison, American composer (b. 1917)
• February 10
  • Edgar de Evia, American photographer (b. 1910)
  • Ron Ziegler, American White House Press Secretary (b. 1939)
  • Curt Hennig, American wrestler (b. 1958)
• February 19 – Johnny Paycheck, American singer (b. 1938)
• February 20
  • Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and writer (b. 1907)
  • Orville Freeman, American politician (b. 1918)
• February 27 – Fred Rogers, American children's television host (b. 1928)
• February 28
  • Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (b. 1917)
  • Rudolf Kingslake, British lens designer and engineer (b. 1903)

March

Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Michael Jeter

• March 2
  • Yevgeny Matveyev, Russian actor and film director (b. 1922)
  • Hank Ballard, American musician (b. 1927)
• March 9 – Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (b. 1946)
• March 12
  • Zoran Đinđić, Serbian prime minister (b. 1952)
  • Howard Fast, American novelist (b. 1914)
• March 22 – Milton G. Henschel, American Jehovah's Witnesses leader (b. 1920)
• March 26 – Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American politician (b. 1926)
• March 29 – Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (b. 1956)
• March 30 – Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952)

April

Nina Simone

Wim van Est

• April 1 – Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong singer and actor (b. 1956)
• April 2 – Edwin Starr, African-American soul singer (b. 1942)
• April 7 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (b. 1903)
• April 9
  • Jerry Bittle, American cartoonist (b. 1949)
  • Jorge Oteiza, Spanish painter (b. 1908)
• April 11 – Cecil Howard Green, British-born geophysicist and businessman (b. 1900)
• April 14 – Jyrki Otila, Finnish quiz show judge and Member of the European Parliament (b. 1941)
• April 17
  • Robert Atkins, American nutritionist (b. 1930)
  • Earl King, American musician (b. 1934)
• April 19 – Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Indian-born Muslim leader (b. 1928)
• April 20
  • Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (b. 1908)
  • Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911)
  • Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1976)
• April 21 – Nina Simone, American singer (b. 1933)
• April 26 – Peter Stone, American writer (b. 1930)
• April 30 – Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (b. 1923)

May

Rik Van Steenbergen

• May 11 – Noel Redding, English musician (b. 1946)
• May 12 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1933)
• May 14
  • Wendy Hiller, English actress (b. 1912)
  • Robert Stack, American actor (b. 1919)
• May 15
  • June Carter Cash, American singer (b. 1929)
  • Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgian cyclist (b. 1924)
• May 24 – Rachel Kempson, English actress (b. 1910)
• May 26 – Kathleen Winsor, American writer (b. 1919)
• May 27 – Luciano Berio, Italian composer (b. 1925)
• May 28
  • Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1917)
  • Martha Scott, American actress (b. 1912)

June

Gregory Peck

Strom Thurmond

Katharine Hepburn

• June 2
  • Burke Marshall, American lawyer and politician (b. 1922)
  • Freddie Blassie, American professional wrestler and manager (b. 1918)
• June 10
  • Donald Regan, American Treasury Secretary (b. 1918)
  • Bernard Williams, English philosopher (b. 1929)
• June 11 – David Brinkley, American television reporter (b. 1920)
• June 12 – Gregory Peck, American actor (b. 1916)
• June 14 – Jimmy Knepper, American musician (b. 1927)
• June 15
  • Hume Cronyn, Canadian actor (b. 1911)
  • Kaiser Matanzima, President of Transkei bantustan (b. 1915)
• June 18 – Larry Doby, American baseball player (b. 1923)
• June 21 – Leon Uris, American writer (b. 1924)
• June 25 – Lester Maddox, American politician (b. 1915)
• June 26
  • Denis Thatcher, British husband of Margaret Thatcher (b. 1915)
  • Strom Thurmond, American politician (b. 1902)
  • Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroon footballer (b. 1975)
• June 29 – Katharine Hepburn, American actress (b. 1907)
• June 30 – Buddy Hackett, American comedian and actor (b. 1924)

July

Barry White

Benny Carter

Bob Hope

• July 1
  • Herbie Mann, American jazz flautist (b. 1930)
  • N!xau, Namibian actor (b. 1944)
  • George Roper, British comedian (b. 1934)
• July 4 – Barry White, African-American singer (b. 1944)
• July 5 – Roman Lyashenko, Russian hockey player (b. 1979)
• July 6 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor (b. 1908)
• July 10
  • Winston Graham, English writer (b. 1908)
  • Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross, British chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials (b. 1902)
• July 11 – Zahra Kazemi, Iranian-Canadian freelance photographer. (b. 1949)
• July 12 – Benny Carter, American musician (b. 1907)
• July 13 – Compay Segundo, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1907)
• July 14 – Éva Janikovszky, Hungarian novelist (b. 1926)
• July 15
  • Roberto Bolaño, Chilean writer (b. 1953)
  • Tex Schramm, American football team president and general manager (b. 1920)
• July 16
  • Celia Cruz, Cuban singer (b. 1925)
  • Carol Shields, American-born writer (b. 1935)
• July 17 – Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (b. 1914)
• July 22
  • Uday Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein (b. 1964)
  • Qusay Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein (b. 1966)
• July 25
  • Ludwig Bölkow, German aeronautical engineer (b. 1912)
  • John Schlesinger, English film director (b. 1926)
• July 27 – Bob Hope, English-born American comedian and actor (b. 1903)
• July 30 – Sam Phillips, American record producer (b. 1923)

August

Armand Borel

Idi Amin

Charles Bronson

• August 1 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (b. 1962)
• August 4
  • Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
  • Brian Trueman, English musician (b. 1930)
• August 9 – Gregory Hines, African-American dancer and actor (b. 1946)
• August 11 – Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (b. 1923)
• August 14 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929)
• August 16 – Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator (b. 1924)
• August 19
  • Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (b. 1948)
  • Carlos Roberto Reina, President of Honduras (b. 1926)
• August 22 – Imperio Argentina, Argentinian singer and actress (b. 1906)
• August 23 – Jack Dyer, Australian football player, coach, and commentator (b. 1913)
• August 29 – Vladimír Vašíček, Czech painter (b. 1919)
• August 30 – Charles Bronson, American actor (b. 1921)

September

John Ritter

Johnny Cash

• September 1
  • Terry Frost, English artist (b. 1915)
  • John Gould, American humorist, essayist, and columnist (b. 1908)
• September 6 – Harry Goz, American actor (b. 1932)
• September 7 – Warren Zevon, American singer (b. 1947)
• September 8 – Leni Riefenstahl, German film director (b. 1902)
• September 9
  • Larry Hovis, American actor (b. 1936)
  • Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist (b. 1908)
• September 11
  • Anna Lindh, Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1957)
  • John Ritter, American actor (b. 1948)
• September 12 – Johnny Cash, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1932)
• September 13 – Frank O'Bannon, American politician (b. 1930)
• September 14 – John Serry, Sr., American musician (b. 1915)
• September 17 – Sheb Wooley, American actor and singer (b. 1921)
• September 22 – Gordon Jump, American actor (b. 1932)
• September 23 – Yuri Senkevich, Russian TV anchorman (b. 1937)
• September 24 – Edward Said, Palestinian-born literary critic (b. 1935)
• September 25
  • Franco Modigliani, Italian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
  • George Plimpton, American writer and actor (b. 1927)
• September 26
  • Robert Palmer, English singer (b. 1949)
  • Shawn Lane, American musician (b. 1963)
• September 27 – Donald O'Connor, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1925)
• September 28
  • Althea Gibson, American tennis player (b. 1927)
  • Elia Kazan, Greek-American director (b. 1909)
• September 30
  • Robert Kardashian, Armenian-American attorney and businessman (b. 1944)
  • Helen Van Pelt Wilson, American garden writer (b. 1901)

October

Bertram Brockhouse

Alija Izetbegović

Elliott Smith

Rod Roddy

• October 1 – Huntington Hardisty, American admiral (b. 1929)
• October 3 – William Steig, American cartoonist (b. 1907)
• October 5
  • Timothy Treadwell, American environmentalist and filmmaker (b. 1957)
  • Denis Quilley, British actor (b. 1927)
  • Dan Snyder, Canadian hockey player (b. 1978)
  • Neil Postman, American educator, media theorist, and cultural critic (b. 1931)
• October 10 – Eugene Istomin, American pianist (b. 1925)
• October 12
  • Jim Cairns, Australian politician (b. 1914)
  • Bill Shoemaker, American jockey (b. 1931)
• October 13 – Bertram Brockhouse, Canadian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
• October 16
  • László Papp, Hungarian boxer (b. 1926)
  • Stu Hart, Canadian wrestling promoter (b. 1915)
• October 19
  • Alija Izetbegović, Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (b. 1925)
  • Michael Hegstrand American wrestler (b. 1957)
• October 20 – Jack Elam, American actor (b. 1918)
• October 21 – Elliott Smith, American musician (b. 1969)
• October 23 – Soong Mei-ling, Chinese wife of Chiang Kai-shek (b. 1898)
• October 24 – Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish cross-country skier (b. 1925)
• October 25
  • Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian philosopher and social reformer (b. 1920)
  • Robert Strassburg, American composer (b. 1915)
• October 27 – Rod Roddy, American television announcer (b. 1937)
• October 29
  • Hal Clement, American writer (b. 1922)
  • Franco Corelli, Italian opera tenor (b. 1921)
• October 31 – Richard Neustadt, American political historian (b. 1919)

November

Mike Lockwood

Gertrude Ederle

• November 3 – Spider Jorgensen, American baseball player and coach (b. 1919)
• November 4 – Richard Wollheim, British philosopher (b. 1923)
• November 6
  • Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer (b. 1919)
  • Mike Lockwood, American wrestler (b. 1971)
• November 9 – Art Carney, American actor (b. 1918)
• November 10 – Canaan Banana, first President of Zimbabwe (b. 1936)
• November 12
  • Jonathan Brandis, American actor (b. 1976)
  • Penny Singleton, American actress (b. 1908)
• November 15
  • Ray Lewis, Canadian runner (b. 1910)
  • Tung-Yen Lin, Chinese-born civil engineer (b. 1912)
  • Dorothy Loudon, American actress (b. 1933)
• November 18 – Michael Kamen, American composer (b. 1948)
• November 20
  • Robert Addie, British actor (b. 1960)
  • David Dacko, first President of the Central African Republic (b. 1930)
  • Jim Siedow, American actor (b. 1920)
• November 24
  • Hugh Kenner, Canadian literary critic (b. 1922)
  • Warren Spahn, American baseball player (b. 1921)
• November 26
  • Abed Hamed Mowhoush, Iraqi general
  • Stefan Wul, French writer (b. 1922)
• November 28 – Mihkel Mathiesen, Estonian statesman (b. 1918)
• November 30 – Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (b. 1905)

December

Hans Hotter

Paul Simon

Heydar Aliyev

Jeanne Crain

• December 3 – David Hemmings, English actor (b. 1941)
• December 4 – Iggy Katona, American race car driver (b. 1916)
• December 6
  • Hans Hotter, German opera and Lieder bass-baritone singer (b. 1909)
  • Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, President of Guatemala (b. 1918)
• December 7
  • Carl F. H. Henry, American theologian and publisher (b. 1913)
  • Azie Taylor Morton, U.S. Treasurer (b. 1936)
• December 8 – Rubén González, Cuban pianist (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1919)
• December 9 – Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois (b. 1928)
• December 11 – Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (b. 1927)
• December 12 – Heydar Aliyev, former President of Azerbaijan (b. 1923)
• December 14
  • Jeanne Crain, American actress (b. 1925)
  • Blas Ople, Filipino politician (b. 1927)
• December 15 – George Fisher, American political cartoonist (b. 1923)
• December 16
  • Robert Stanfield, Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1914)
  • Gary Stewart, American singer (b. 1945)
• December 17
  • Ed Devereaux, Australian actor (b. 1925)
  • Otto Graham, American football player (b. 1921)
  • Alan Tilvern, British actor and voice artist (b. 1918)
• December 19
  • Hope Lange, American actress (b. 1933)
  • Roger Conant, American herpetologist (b.1909)
• December 22 – Dave Dudley, American singer (b. 1928)
• December 27 – Alan Bates, English actor (b. 1934)
• December 29
  • Earl Hindman, American actor (b. 1942)
  • Dinsdale Landen, English actor (b. 1932)
  • Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (b. 1928)
  • Marja Sergina, last fluent native speaker of the Akkala Sami language
• December 30
  • David Bale, South African–born activist (b. 1941)
  • John Gregory Dunne, American writer (b. 1932)
  • Anita Mui, Hong Kong singer (b. 1963)
• December 31 – Arthur R. von Hippel, German-born physicist (b. 1898)

Nobel Prize winners

• Chemistry – Peter Agre, Roderick MacKinnon
• Economics – Robert F. Engle, Clive W. J. Granger
• Literature – John Maxwell Coetzee
• Peace – Shirin Ebadi
• Physics – Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, Anthony James Leggett
• Physiology or Medicine – Paul Lauterbur, Peter Mansfield

In fiction

• In the video game Freedom Fighters, the game is set in an alternate timeline from 1945 on where world power shifted towards the Soviet Union, the Soviets invades and conquers the United States, causing a rebel resistance.
• In the TV series Stargate SG-1 the second alpha site is attacked by kull warriors.
• In The Simpsons timeline, the events of The Simpsons: Hit & Run take place between October 25 and October 31, with all seven levels taking place on one week.
• The events of Resident Evil: Extinction take place, before the last chapters of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.
• The events of 28 Days Later commence in 2003, with the initial uprising of the Rage virus and decimation of Great Britain, and then the sequel 28 Weeks Later is also set later on in 2003, with the resurgence of the virus. The third film, 28 Months Later is to be set around 2005.
• In the last chapters of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield are sent to an Umbrella Fortress in February 2003.
• The Galactic Federation in the Metroid backstory was formed in 2003.
• The main character in Osamu Tezuka's manga Tetsuwan Atom (1951) or Astro Boy was "born" on 7 April 2003.
• The 1981 arcade game Omega Race is set in the year 2003.
• The track "Queer Wars" from the 1980 comedy album Let's Make a New Dope Deal by Cheech & Chong takes place in 2003 (although stated as 2003 F.M. instead of 2003 A.D.).
• The Black Mesa incident in Half Life happened on 16 May 2003.

References

External links

• 2003 Year in Review – comprehensive listing of 2003 reviews and lists
• 2003 Year-End Google Zeitgeist – Google's Yearly List of Major Events and Top Searches for 2003