RETURN TO INDEX
Top Song(s)
• The Black Eyed Peas - Where is the Love?
• OutKast - Hey Ya!
• 50 Cent - In Da Club
• Beyonce - Crazy in Love
• Evanescence - Bring Me to Life
Top Film(s)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• Kill Bill Vol. 1
• Memories of Murder
• Finding Nemo
• Oldboy
Best Selling Book(s)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
• The da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
• The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
• The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Famous Deaths
• January 5 - Roy Jenkins, British MP and President of the European Commission (1977-81)
• February 1 - Ilan Ramon, Israeli astronaut aboard mission STS-107
• March 9 - Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru
• April 17 - John Paul Getty Jr., American-born British oil magnate and billionaire
• May 14 - Gennidy Nikonov, Russian weapons inventor, designed Nikonov machine gun
• June 10 - Donald Regan, US Secretary of the Treasury (1981-85) and White House Chief of Staff (1985-87)
• August 2 - Peter Safar, Austrian physician (pioneered cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR)
• September 9 - Edward Teller, Hungarian-American physicist, father of the Hydrogen bomb
• October 2 - John T. Dunlop, U.S. Secretary of Labor
• November 10 - Canaan Banana, 1st President of Zimbabwe (1980-87)
Medical/Science/Technology
• Opposition of Mars, closest approach to earth of Mars since 57,617 BC, at a distance of 55,758,006 kilometers.
• NASA's WMAP satellite completes the first detailed cosmic microwave background radiation map of the universe.
• The 2dF Survey of galaxy redshifts is published.
• A banteng delivered in the United States is the second successful cloning of an endangered species.
• The last native wild crested ibis in Japan dies.
• Moscovium first synthesized.
• A US businessman is diagnosed with the first known case of SARS in Hanoi, Vietnam.
• China becomes the first country to approve the commercial production of a gene therapy.
• Nihonium first identified.
• NOAA hurricane experts issue first experimental Eastern Pacific Hurricane Outlook.
Political
• January 3 - The 108th United States Congress is sworn in.
• January 15 – Eldred v. Ashcroft: The Supreme Court of the United States allows the extension of copyright terms in the U.S.
• January 24 – The newly created United States Department of Homeland Security begins operations.
• February 3 – John W. Snow is sworn in as the new Secretary of Treasury.
• March 17 – President George W. Bush gives an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq.
• April 13 - President George W. Bush accuses Syria of possessing chemical weapons.
• April 29 – Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld confirms that U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Saudi Arabia.
• May 1 – President George W. Bush lands on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, where he gives a speech.
• May 28 – President George W. Bush authorizes $350 billion worth of tax cuts over 10 years.
• September 7 – President Bush announces a request for $87 billion from Congress for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
National
• January 16 – STS-107: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on what turns out to be its last flight.
• February 20 – The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island claims the lives of 100 people.
• March 18 - FBI agents raid the corporate HQ of HealthSouth Corporation on suspicion of massive corporate fraud.
• May 3 – The Old Man of the Mountain, a rock formation in New Hampshire, crumbles after heavy rain.
• June 4 – Martha Stewart is indicted for using privileged investment information and then obstructing a federal investigation.
• June 23 – Grutter v. Bollinger: The Supreme Court of the United States upholds affirmative action in university admissions.
• August 1 - The social network Myspace launches.
• September 18 – Hurricane Isabel makes landfall as a Category 2 Hurricane on North Carolina's Outer Banks.
• October 9 – A redesigned $20 bill is first released, containing many new security features not found in older bills.
• November 18 - President George W. Bush makes a state visit to London in the midst of massive anti-war protests.
Worldwide
• January 10 – North Korea announces its withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
• February 15–16 – An Italian gang steals loose diamonds, gold and jewelry valued at more than $100 million from a Belgian vault.
• March 21 – The world's largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2 is launched.
• April 9 – U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the rule of Saddam Hussein.
• May 1 - A 6.4 earthquake strikes in Bingol, Turkey, killing 177 people.
• July–August – 2003 European heat wave: Europe experiences its hottest summer in over five centuries.
• August 19 - Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills at least 18 people in a bus bombing in Jerusalem.
• September 12 – Typhoon Maemi, makes landfall in South Korea as a category 3 typhoon with sustained winds of 125 mph.
• October 1 – The popular and controversial English-language imageboard 4chan is launched.
• December 13 – Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, is captured in the small town of Ad-Dawr by the U.S. Army.