2002

Centuries: 20th century - 21st century - 22nd century

Decades: 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s - 2000s - 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s 2050s

Years: 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 - 2002 - 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

---

• International Year of Ecotourism and Mountains
• National Science Year in the United Kingdom

Events:

• January 1 - Introduction of Euro banknotes and coins in European Union.
• January 17 - Eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people
• January 20 - Inauguration of Churches Uniting in Christ
• January 24 - Enron hearings begin and terrorist suspect John Walker Lindh's hearing begins.
• February 3 - Costa Rica: elections for President and Congress
• February 8 thru February 24 - 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah
• March 3 - Sao Tome and Principe: elections for the legislature
• March 10 - Colombia: elections for the legislature; Togo: elections for the Parliament
• March 17 - Portugal: elections for the Parliament
• March 31 - Ukraine: elections for the Parliament
• April 18 - New order of insects, Mantophasmatodea, announced.
• April 30 - Pakistan: referendum on continuation of military government
• May 15 - The Netherlands: elections for the Lower House
• May 20 - restoration of East Timor independence
• May 23 - first Eurovision Song Contest in a former soviet country, Estonia
• May 31 thru June 30 - 17th Football World Cup in Japan and South Korea
• June 10 - Annular solar eclipse
• December 4 - Total solar eclipse

Births:

Deaths:

• January 3 - Freddy Heineken, former CEO of the beer brewery
• January 4 - Antonio Todde (112), oldest man in the world at the time (from Thiana, Sardinia - Italy)
• January 4 - Esquivel, musician
• January 8 - Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's International
• January 8 - Alexander Prochorow (65), Russian physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics 1964
• January 13 - Cyrus Vance (84), former US Secretary of State (1977-1980)
• January 13 - Ted Demme (37), film and television director (Blow, Beautiful Girls)
• January 17 - Camilo Jose Cela (85), Spanish author, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 1989
• January 21 - Peggy Lee, Jazz performer, most famous for song Fever ("You give me fever...")
• January 22 - Jack Shea, American speed skater (double Olympic Champion 1932)
• January 23 - Robert Nozick, (philosopher)
• January 28 - Astrid Lindgren (94), Swedish author of many best selling children's novels (Pippi Longstocking, Ronia, the Robber's Daughter, The Brothers Lionheart)
• February 1 - Hildegard Knef (76), actress, singer, writer
• February 10 - Princess Margaret (71), sister of Queen Elizabeth II
• February 10 - Harold Furth (72), American leader in plasma physics and nuclear fusion.
• February 15 - Kevin Smith (38), actor
• February 22 - Chuck Jones, animator
• February 27 - Spike Milligan, comedian, writer, poet
• March 11 - James Tobin, economist
• March 27 - Milton Berle, comedian, actor
• March 27 - Dudley Moore, comedian, actor
• March 27 - Billy Wilder (96), film screenwriter and director
• March 30 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (101), Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
• April 12 - Elisa Breton (88), surrealist
• April 18 - Thor Heyerdahl (87), Norwegian explorer on the Kon-Tiki expedition.
• April 23 - Linda Boreman, aka Linda Lovelace, porn star
• May 6 - Pim Fortuyn (54), Dutch politician
• May 17 - Dave Berg (81), cartoonist for Mad Magazine
• May 20 - Stephen Jay Gould (60), paleontologist/evolutionist
• June 10 - John Gotti (61), Mafia boss
• June 17 - Fritz Walter (81), German football player
• June 22 - Esther Lederer (83), also known as Ann Landers, advice columnist
• June 27 - John Entwistle (57), bassist for The Who
• June 29 - Ole-Johan Dahl (70), computer scientist who invented concepts in object-oriented programming
• July 5 - Ted Williams (83), member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and player for the Boston Red Sox
• July 9 - Rod Steiger, actor
• July 23 - Chaim Potok, novelist
• August 5 - Chick Hearn, pro-basketball announcer
• August 6 - Edsger Dijkstra, computer scientist
• August 31 - Lionel Hampton (94), vibraphone virtuoso
• September 21 - Robert Lull Forward (70), physicist and novelist

Sport:

• American football
  • February 3 - Super Bowl XXXVI: New England Patriots (20) defeated St. Louis Rams (17)
• Ice Hockey
  • June - Stanley Cup: Detroit Red Wings (4 games) defeated Carolina Hurricanes (1 game)
• Basketball
  • June - NBA Finals: Los Angeles Lakers (4 games) defeated New Jersey Nets (0 games)
• Soccer
  • June 30 - FIFA World Cup: Brazil (2) defeated Germany (0) in final match
  • May - Arsenal F.C. wins The Double