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Microsoft
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. -
Apple
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs found Apple Computer in parents garage. -
Massive Earthquake
8.2 Tangshan earthquake kills estimated 240,000 Chinese -
Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba -
Apple
Apple Computer, Inc. incorporates -
Crowd Gathering
World's largest crowd gathering - the Hindu Kumbh Mela in India attracts a then record 15 million people -
Apple
Apple Computer ships its first Apple II computers -
Elso Barghoorn
Paleontologist Elso Barghoorn announces discovery of a 3.4-billion year old one-celled fossil, the earliest life form -
Earthquake
25,000 die in 7.7 earthquake in Tabar, Iran -
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman to be elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom -
Soviet Union
Soviet troops invade Afghanistan, President Hafizullah Amin overthrown -
Moscow Olympic Games
US Olympic Committee endorses a boycott of the Moscow Olympic games -
World Health Organization - Smallpox
World Health Organization announced smallpox had been eradicated -
Saddam Hussein
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declares holy war against Iran -
Ronald Regan
Ronald Reagan inaugurated as 40th US President -
AIDS
AIDS Epidemic officially begins when US Centers of Disease Control reports on pneumonia affecting 5 homosexual men in Los Angeles -
United States
US national debt hits $1 trillion -
China Population
China announces its population at 1 billion people plus -
Nuclear War
Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war by judging supposed missile attack from the US an error -
Worlds's Greatest Robbery
World's greatest robbery; 26 million pounds (sterling) worth of gold, diamonds and cash stolen from Brink's-Mat warehouse at Heathrow Airport, England -
Apple
Apple Computer Inc unveils its revolutionary Macintosh personal computer -
Canadian Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau announces he is stepping down after 15 years as Canadian Prime Minister -
Hepatitis
Hepatitis virus is discovered -
Nelson Mandela
South African President PW Botha offers to free Nelson Mandela if he denounces violence -
Earthquake
Mexico City 8.1 earthquake kills 12,000 and injures 40,000 -
US-Soviet Union
US President Reagan & Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for first time -
Hands Across America
Hands Across America - 6.5 million people hold hands from California to NY -
Oprah Winfrey
'The Oprah Winfrey Show' is first broadcast nationally -
Birth of a Galaxy
Astronomers at University of California see 1st sight of birth of a galaxy -
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher is 1st British Prime Minister in 160 years to win a 3rd consecutive term -
Iran-Iraq War
Iran-Iraq begin a cease-fire in their 8-year-old war (11 PM EDT) -
Iran-Iraq War
Estimated by this date 50,000 Kurdish civilians and soldiers killed by Iraq, many using chemical weapons, in aftermath of Iran-Iraq War -
Earthquake
6.9 earthquake in Spitak, Armenia kills 25,000 and leaves 5,000,000 homeless -
Political Freedom in China
Thousands of Chinese crowd into Beijing's Tiananmen Square cheering students demanding greater political freedom -
Hunger Strike
Approx. 2,000 students begin hunger strike in Tiananmen Square, China -
Berlin Wall
Germans begin demolishing the Berlin Wall -
Cold War Ends
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George H. W. Bush, declare the Cold War over -
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela released after 27 years imprisonment in South Africa -
Earthquake
7.7 Manjil-Rudbar Earthquake with hundreds of aftershocks hits Iran; killing about 50,000 -
Rodney King
LA Police severely beat motorist Rodney King, captured on amateur video -
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin sworn in as 1st elected President of the Russian Federation -
Linux Operating System
386BSD is released by Lynne Jolitz and William Jolitz, starting the open source operating system revolution. Linus Torvalds release "Linux" soon afterwards. -
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton (D) wins US presidential election over President George H. W. Bush (R) -
Holocaust Museum
Holocaust Memorial Museum dedicated in Washington D.C -
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela and South African President F. W. de Klerk awarded the Nobel Peace Prize -
The Rwanda Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down -
The Rwanda Genocide
7,000 Tutsi's slaughtered by Hutu in the stadium at Kibuye, Rwanda -
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa's 1st black president -
Oklahoma City Bombing
Oklahoma City bombing - a truck bomb at Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building kills 168 & injures 500 -
OJ Simpson
O.J. Simpson found not guilty of the murder of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman in Los Angeles, California -
First Flip Phone
First flip phone, the Motorola StarTAC, goes on sale -
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden issues message entitled "A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places" -
Princess Diana
Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in a road tunnel in Paris -
Apple
Apple Computer Inc. names co-founder Steve Jobs temporary CEO -
Bird Flu
Hong Kong begins slaughtering all its chickens to prevent bird flu -
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders. -
Bill Clinton - Monika Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony he had an "improper physical relationship" with the intern and on the same day admits before the nation he "misled people" about the relationship -
Bill Clinton
Impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton begins in the US Senate -
Columbine High School
Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School, Colorado -
Sixth Billion Person
The Day of Six Billion: the proclaimed 6 billionth living human in the world is born -
Tiger Woods
82nd PGA Championship: Tiger Woods become the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win 3 majors in a calendar year. He ties the to-par record for the PGA (-18) with Bob May, and wins in a playoff -
George W. Bush
Controversial US presidential election that was later resolved in the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court Case -
9/11
Two passenger planes hijacked by terrorists crash into New York's World Trade Towers causing the collapse of both and death of 2,752 people -
9/11
Terrorists hijack a passenger plane and crash it into the Pentagon causing the death of 125 people -
9/11
Attempt by passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 to retake control of their hijacked plane from terrorists causes plane to crash in Pennsylvania field killing all 64 people on board -
George Bush on 9/11
Attempt by passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 to retake control of their hijacked plane from terrorists causes plane to crash in Pennsylvania field killing all 64 people on board -
Homeland Security
U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security. -
US - Afghan
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, (ends March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 Western troop fatalities). -
Jimmy Carter
Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution. -
Asteriod
A near-Earth asteroid estimated at 10 metres diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya. Resulting explosion estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb. -
Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard -
Saddam Hussein
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit, during Operation Red Dawn by US forces -
Same-sex Marriage
Massachusetts becomes the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage -
Earthquake
9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and edges of the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people -
Earthquake
Earthquake strikes Java, Indonesia at 5:53:58 AM local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta, killing over 6,600 people -
Hurricae Katrina
Hurricane Katrina makes its 2nd landfall as a category 3 hurricane devastating much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida Panhandle. Kills more than 1,836, causes over $115 billion in damage. -
Nuclear Bomb
North Korea allegedly tests its first nuclear device. -
North Korea
President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea walks across the Military Demarcation Line into North Korea on his way to the second Inter-Korean Summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il -
Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years -
Barack Obama
Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be nominated by a major political party for President of the United States -
Barack Obama
Barack Obama, inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becomes the United States' first African-American president -
Earthquake
Earthquake occurs in Haiti killing 230,000 and destroying the majority of the capital Port-au-Prince -
Deepwater Horizon
The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes, killing 11 and causing the rig to sink, causing a massive oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and an environmental diaster -
Tsunami
9.0 magnitude earthquake strikes 130 km (80 miles) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people and causing the second worst nuclear accident in history -
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man is killed by United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan -
Norway
Norway is the victim of twin terror attacks, the first a bomb blast targeting government buildings in central Oslo, second a massacre at a youth camp on island of Utøya -
Kim Jong-un
Kim Jong-un is officially appointed Supreme Leader of North Korea and given the rank of Marshal in the Korean People's Army -
North Korea
North Korea confirms it has successfully tested a nuclear device that could be weaponized -
Boston Marathon
Boston Marathon bombings: 3 people are killed and 183 injured after two explosions near the finish line -
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with 239 people loses contact and disappears, prompting the most expensive search effort in history -
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shot down over Eastern Ukraine by a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board -
Barack Obama
Barack Obama and Raul Castro meet in Panama, the 1st meeting of US and Cuban heads of state since the Cuban Revolution -
Queen Elizabeth ll
Queen Elizabeth II becomes Great Britain's longest-reigning monarch at 63 years and seven months, beating the previous record set by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria -
China
China announces the end of their one-child policy after 35 years -
Barack Obama
Barack Obama becomes the first US President to visit Cuba since 1928, arriving for a 2 day tour -
Donald Trump
Republican Donald Trump is elected President of The United States of America, defeating democrat Hillary Clinton despite Clinton winning 2.9 million more votes -
Donald Trump
Donald Trump, inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America -
Solar Eclipse
Next total solar eclipse visible from North America