Centuries: 20th century - 21st century - 22nd century
Decades: 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s - 2000s - 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s 2050s
Years: 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 - 2003 - 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Months: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August
This is a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar)
See also:
- The International Year of Freshwater
Events
- January 1 - Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of the Federative Republic of Brazil for the period (2003-2007)
- January 1 - Pascal Couchepin becomes President of Switzerland
- January 10 Angolan Christian rebel leader and founder of UNITA, Dr. Jonas Malheiro Savimbi is assassinated by government forces.
- January 21 - Convicted hacker Kevin Mitnick is finally allowed to use a computer again.
- January 24 - The new United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
- January - Iraq disarmament crisis: Facing worldwide criticism, a statement is released by the leaders of Britain, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Denmark and the Czech Republic showing support for the U.S.'s position on Iraq, saying that Saddam Hussein should not be allowed to violate U.N. resolutions.
- February 1 - Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry killing all seven astronauts onboard.
- February 5 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addresses the U.N. Security Council on Iraq.
- February 15 - Global protests against war on Iraq - more than six million people protest in over 600 cities worldwide, one of the largest protests in history.
- February 23 - New York City is the site of the Grammy Awards of 2003 with Nickelback, No Doubt, Foo Fighters, Britney Spears and some other bands and performers.
- February 26 - An American businessman was admitted to the Vietnam France Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. WHO doctor Carlo Urbani report the unusual highly contagious disease to WHO. Both the businessman and Carlo Urbani die of SARS in March.
- February 26 - Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush talks publicly about his vision of a post-invasion democracy in Iraq. Bush says it will be "an example" to other nations in Arabia.
- March 1 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The United Arab Emirates calls for Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to step down to avoid war. The sentiment is later echoed by Kuwait.
- March 2 - War on Terrorism: Authorities in Pakistan capture Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks along with money man Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi.
- March 2 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Bahrain becomes the third Arab country to call for Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to step down.
- March 5 - The U.S. Supreme Court by a 5-4 margin upholds California's "three strikes and you're out" law.
- March 6 - U.S. President George W. Bush holds a live, televised press conference on the latest developments in the War on Terrorism, the situation with North Korea and the disarmament standoff with Iraq.
- March 11 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi fighters threaten two U.S. U-2 surveillance planes, flying missions for U.N. weapons inspectors, forcing them to abort their mission and return to base. Iraqi officials described the incident as a "technical mistake" by the U.N. inspectors. Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for UNMOVIC, said that Iraqi officials had been notified about the flight beforehand.
- March 11 - Iraq disarmament crisis: According to Arab media, Saddam Hussein opens terrorist training camps in Iraq for Arab volunteers willing to carry out suicide bombings against U.S. forces, if a U.S. led attack takes place.
- March 12 - WHO issues a global alert on SARS.
- March 12 - Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated.
- March 12 - Iraq disarmament crisis: British prime minister Tony Blair proposes an amendment to the possible 18th U.N. resolution, which would call for Iraq to meet certain benchmarks to prove that it was disarming. The amendment is immediately rejected by France, who promises to veto any new resolution.
- March 13 - Human evolution: The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old upright-walking human footprints had been found in Italy.
- March 14 - U.S. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. stepped down as a regional Whip for the House Democrats for making what he called "insensitive" remarks about Jews pushing the nation into war with Iraq. At a March 3 anti-war rally in Reston, Virginia, Moran said, "If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this."
- March 15 - Hu Jintao is elected president of the People's Republic of China, replacing Jiang Zemin.
- March 16 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The leaders of the United States, Britain, Portugal and Spain meet at a summit in the Azores Islands. U.S. President Bush calls Monday, March 17th, the "moment of Truth", meaning that the "coalition of the willing" would make its final effort to extract a resolution from the U.N. Security Council that would give Iraq an ultimatum to disarm immediately or to be disarmed by force.
- March 16 - Largest co-ordinated worldwide vigil, as part of the global protests against war on Iraq.
- March 17 - U.S. President George W. Bush gives ultimatum to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his sons to either leave Iraq or face military action.
- March 19 - Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.) gives a speech in the Senate, saying "I weep for my country" as he attests that America is discarding its image of a strong, benevolent peacekeeper.
- March 20 - 2003 Iraq war: Land troops from United States and 3 other countries invade Iraq, preceded by a surgical air strike on the suspected bunker of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.
- March 22 - The United States begins its shock and awe campaign with a massive air strike on military targets in Baghdad.
- March 29 - WHO doctor Carlo Urbani, who first identified SARS, died of the disease.
- April 9 - US forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein.
- April 21 - Retired US General Jay Garner becomes Interim Civil Administrator of Iraq.
- May 24 - Eurovision song contest in Riga, Latvia. Winner was Turkey and Sertab Erener performed the song.
- May 26 - A draft of the proposed European constitution is unveiled.
- May 27 - Three hundreth anniversary celebration of Saint Petersburg Russia begins.
- May 31 - Annular solar eclipse (Northern Scotland, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland with partial eclipse covering much of Europe and Russia)
- June 20 to June 29 - 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games, Dublin, Ireland
- July 1 - 500,000 Hongkongers match to protest the Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23.
- July 2 - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is declared the Host City for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010.
- July 5 - SARS is declared to be contained by WHO.
- July 18 - Convention on the Future of Europe finished its work and propose the first European constitution.
- July 30 - The last old-style Volkswagen Beetle rolled of its production line in Pueblo, Mexico.
- August 2 - The United Nations authorizes an international peacekeeping force for Liberia.
- August 2 - Scientists announce that the ozone layer may be showing signs of recovery due to an international ban on chlorofluorocarbons. [1]
- August 14 - Widespread power outage affects northeast United States and Canada.
- August 27 - Perigee of Mars
Anticipated Events
- November 23 - Total solar eclipse (Antarctica)
- December 17 - Wright brothers first flight Centennial
Years in topic
- 2003 in film
- Expected blockbuster movies predicted for the year include the second and third Matrix movies: The Matrix Reloaded in summer and The Matrix Revolutions in the fall. Matrix Reloaded performed well, but as one of many contenders for summer movie dominance it failed to reach the heights of Spider-Man or The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is scheduled to be released in December. Finding Nemo was one of the year's top grossing pictures, as of early August.
- 2003 in literature
- 2003 in music
- 2003 in politics
- 2003 in sports
- 2003 in television
Births
Deaths
- January 5 - Roy Jenkins, British politician
- January 12 - Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine dictator
- January 12 - Maurice Gibb, musician
- January 18 - Richard Crenna, actor
- January 24 - Gianni Agnelli, Fiat president
- January 26 - Valeriy Brumel, Soviet athlete
- February 1 - The crew of STS-107; Michael P. Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, Rick D. Husband, Willie McCool, Ilan Ramon
- February 14 - Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal
- February 16 - Aleksandar Tisma, 79, Serbian author
- February 24 - Christopher Hill, 92, historian
- February 27 - Fred McFeely Rogers, 74, "Mister Rogers" of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
- February 28 - Roger Michael Needham, 68, professor of cryptography at Cambridge University
- March 8 - Adam Faith, English singer and actor
- March 9 - Stan Brakhage, filmmaker
- March 12 - Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia
- March 12 - Ronnie Burk, 47, surrealist and AIDS activist
- March 16 - Rachel Corrie, American activist, member of theInternational Solidarity Movement.
- March 26 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, United States Senator
- March 29 - Carlo Urbani, WHO doctor who discovered SARS.
- April 1 - Leslie Cheung, 46, Hong Kong singer/actor
- April 1 - Hyosuke Kujiraoka, 87, a former vice speaker of the House of Representatives
- April 16 - Sarah Marple-Cantrell, American student and suicide victim.
- April 17 - Dr. Robert Atkins, 72, developed the Atkins Nutritional Approach
- April 25 - Samson Kitur, Kenyan athlete
- May 5 - Walter Sisulu, anti-apartheid activist
- May 14 - Dave DeBusschere, NBA basketball player
- May 15 - Benedict Jablonski, co-creator of The Hugo Award trophy
- May 28 - Ilya Prigogine, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1977
- June 2 - Fred Blassie, former professional wrestler
- June 5 - Jürgen Möllemann, German politician
- June 10 - Donald Regan, Chief of Staff and Treasury Secretary during the Reagan administration
- June 11 - David Brinkley, broadcast journalist
- June 12 - Gregory Peck, actor
- June 15 - Hume Cronyn, stage and film actor
- June 26 - Denis Thatcher, husband of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, former UK Prime Minister
- June 26 - Strom Thurmond, United States Senator
- June 26 - Marc-Vivien Foe, Cameroon football player
- June 29 - Katharine Hepburn, United States actress
- July 1 - N!xau, Namibian actor
- July 6 - Buddy Ebsen, United States actor
- July 22 - Uday Hussein, Iraqi military leader; eldest son of Saddam Hussein
- July 22 - Qusay Hussein, Iraqi military leader, younger son of Saddam Hussein
- July 25 - John Schlesinger, film director
- July 27 - Bob Hope, comedian, actor
- August 8 - Gregory Hines, tapdancer, actor
- August 15 - Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator
- August 25 - Mal Colston, Australian politician
- August 19 - Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat and statesman
- August 30 - Charles Bronson, actor
- September 4 - Tibor Varga, violinist, conductor and pedagogue (*1921)
- September 7 - Warren Zevon, American musician-songwriter
- September 9 - Edward Teller, American physicist, "Father of the H-Bomb"