1989

This article is about the year. For other uses, see 1989 (disambiguation).

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century 20th century 21st century
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Years:	1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992

1989 by topic
Subject
Archaeology Architecture Art Aviation Awards Comics Film Home video Literature Poetry Meteorology Music Country Heavy metal Rail transport Radio Science Spaceflight Sports Television Video gaming
By country
Australia Bangladesh Brazil Canada People's Republic of China France Germany Greece India Ireland Iran Israel Italy Japan Kuwait Luxembourg Malaysia Mexico New Zealand Norway Pakistan Philippines Singapore South Africa South Korea Sweden Thailand Turkey United Kingdom United States Zimbabwe
Lists of leaders
Sovereign states Sovereign state leaders Territorial governors Religious leaders Law
Birth and death categories
Births Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments Disestablishments
Works category
Works Introductions

1989 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1989 MCMLXXXIX
Ab urbe condita	2742
Armenian calendar	1438 ԹՎ ՌՆԼԸ
Assyrian calendar	6739
Bahá'í calendar	145–146
Balinese saka calendar	1910–1911
Bengali calendar	1396
Berber calendar	2939
British Regnal year	37 Eliz. 2 – 38 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2533
Burmese calendar	1351
Byzantine calendar	7497–7498
Chinese calendar	戊辰年 (Earth Dragon) 4685 or 4625     — to — 己巳年 (Earth Snake) 4686 or 4626
Coptic calendar	1705–1706
Discordian calendar	3155
Ethiopian calendar	1981–1982
Hebrew calendar	5749–5750
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2045–2046
- Shaka Samvat	1910–1911
- Kali Yuga	5089–5090
Holocene calendar	11989
Igbo calendar	989–990
Iranian calendar	1367–1368
Islamic calendar	1409–1410
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 64 / Heisei 1 (平成元年)
Javanese calendar	1921–1922
Juche calendar	78
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4322
Minguo calendar	ROC 78 民國78年
Nanakshahi calendar	521
Thai solar calendar	2532
Tibetan calendar	阳土龙年 (male Earth-Dragon) 2115 or 1734 or 962     — to — 阴土蛇年 (female Earth-Snake) 2116 or 1735 or 963
Unix time	599616000 – 631151999

1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1989th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 989th year of the 2nd millennium, the 89th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1980s decade.

1989 was a turning point in political history because a wave of revolutions swept the Eastern Bloc in Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power sharing, coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin Wall in November, and the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, embracing the overthrow of the communist dictatorship in Romania in December, and ending in December 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. These are collectively known as the Revolutions of 1989.

It was the year of the first Brazilian presidential elections in 29 years, since the end of the military government in 1985 which ruled the country for more than twenty years, and marked the redemocratization process's final point.

F. W. de Klerk was elected as State President of South Africa, and his regime gradually dismantled the apartheid system over the next five years, culminating with the 1994 election that brought jailed African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela to power.

In contrast, the year saw the violent suppression of mass political protest in China, in June. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 ended with a military crackdown resulting in the deaths of a number of protesters.

The first commercial Internet service providers surfaced in this year, as well as the first written proposal for the World Wide Web and New Zealand, Japan and Australia's first Internet connections. The first babies born after preimplantation genetic diagnosis were conceived in late 1989, starting the era of designer babies.

1989 marked the beginning of the Heisei period in Japan, which lasted until 2019. It is also the latest year, when written in Roman numerals, to have an L.

Events

January

January 20: George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States

• January 2 – Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa takes office as the third President of Sri Lanka.
• January 4 – Gulf of Sidra incident (1989): Two Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are engaged and shot down by 2 US Navy F-14 Tomcats.
• January 7 – Hirohito dies, and Akihito is enthroned as the 125th Emperor of Japan immediately, followed by the change in the era name from Showa to Heisei on the following day.
• January 8 – Kegworth air disaster: A British Midland Boeing 737 crashes on approach to East Midlands Airport, leaving 47 dead.
• January 10 – In accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 626 and the New York Accords, Cuban troops begin withdrawing from Angola.
• January 11 – The Lexus and Infiniti luxury car brands are launched at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit with the unveiling of the 1990 Lexus LS and Infiniti Q45 sedans.
• January 15
  • Thirty-five European nations, meeting in Vienna, agree to strengthen human rights and improve East-West trade.
  • "Palach Week": A pro-democracy demonstration in Prague is attacked by the police.
• January 17 – Stockton schoolyard shooting: Patrick Edward Purdy kills five children, wounds thirty and then shoots himself in Stockton, California.
• January 18
  • The Polish United Workers' Party votes to legalise Solidarity.
  • Ante Marković succeeds Branko Mikulić as Prime Minister of Yugoslavia.
• January 20 – George H. W. Bush is sworn in as the 41st President of the United States.
• January 23 – A powerful earthquake in the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic kills around 275 people.
• January 23–24 – Armed civilian leftists briefly attack and occupy an Argentinian army base near Buenos Aires.
• January 24 – Florida executes Ted Bundy by electric chair for the murders of young women.
• January 30 – Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney shuffles his cabinet, appointing six new ministers and reassigning the responsibilities of nineteen others.

February

• February 1 – Joan Kirner becomes Victoria's first female Deputy Premier, after the resignation of Robert Fordham over the VEDC (Victorian Economic Development Co-operation) Crisis.
• February 2
  • Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet Union armoured column leaves Kabul, ending nine years of military occupation since 1979.
  • Carlos Andrés Pérez takes office as President of Venezuela.
  • Satellite television service Sky Television plc is launched in Europe.
• February 3
  • A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
  • After a stroke, State President of South Africa P. W. Botha resigns as Leader of the National Party.
• February 5 – Eurosport, a multiple-language sports broadcasting station in Europe, a first broadcasts service to start in Issy-les-Moulineaux, Ile de France, France.
• February 6 – The Government of the People's Republic of Poland holds formal talks with representatives of Solidarity movement for the first time since 1981.
• February 7
  • The People's National Party, led by Michael Manley, wins the 1989 Jamaican general election.
• February 10
  • Ron Brown is elected as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first African American to lead a major United States political party.
  • U.S. President Bush meets Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in Ottawa, laying the groundwork for the Acid Rain Treaty of 1991.
• February 11 – Barbara Harris is the first woman consecrated as a bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (and also the first woman to become a bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion).
• February 14
  • Union Carbide agrees to pay $470,000,000 to the Indian government for damages in the 1984 Bhopal disaster.
  • The Satanic Verses controversy: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of Iran (d. June 3), issues a fatwa calling for the death of Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie and his publishers for issuing the novel The Satanic Verses (1988).
  • The first of 24 Global Positioning System satellites is placed into orbit.
• February 15
  • Soviet–Afghan War: The Soviet Union announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.
  • Following a campaign that saw over 1,000 people killed in massive campaign-related violence, the United National Party wins the Sri Lankan parliamentary election.
• February 16 – Pan Am Flight 103: Investigators announce that the cause of the crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.
• February 17
  • The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) is formed.
  • South African police raid the home of Winnie Mandela and arrest four of her bodyguards.
• February 20 – In Canada's Yukon Territory, the ruling New Democrats narrowly maintain control of the Yukon Legislative Assembly, winning 9 seats vs. the Progressive Conservative Party's 7.
• February 23 – After protracted testimony, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee rejects, 11–9, President Bush's nomination of John Tower for Secretary of Defense.
• February 23–27 – U.S. President Bush visits Japan, China, and South Korea, attending the funeral of Hirohito and then meeting with China's Deng Xiaoping and South Korea's Roh Tae-woo.
• February 24
  • The funeral of Hirohito is attended by representatives of 160 nations.
  • The Satanic Verses controversy: Iran places a $3,000,000 bounty on the head of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.
  • Singing Revolution: After 44 years, the Estonian flag is raised at the Pikk Hermann tower in Tallinn.
  • United Airlines Flight 811, a Boeing 747, suffers uncontrolled decompression after leaving Honolulu International Airport; nine passengers are sucked out of the cabin to their deaths.
• February 27 – Venezuela is rocked by the Caracazo, a wave of protests and looting.

March

Mass demonstration at State TV HQ

The Exxon Valdez

• March – Poland begins to liberalise its currency exchange in a move towards capitalism.
• March 1
  • The Berne Convention, an international treaty on copyrights, is ratified by the United States.
  • A curfew is imposed in Kosovo, where protests continue over the alleged intimidation of the Serb minority.
  • The Politieke Partij Radicalen, Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij, Communistische Partij Nederland and the Evangelical People's Party amalgamate to form the Dutch political party GroenLinks (GL, GreenLeft).
  • After 74 years, Iceland ends its prohibition on beer; celebrated since as bjórdagur or beer day.
• March 2 – Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.
• March 3 – Jammu Siltavuori abducts and murders two eight-year-old girls in the Myllypuro suburb of Helsinki, Finland.
• March 4
  • Time Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger, forming Time Warner. (Now WarnerMedia)
  • The Purley station rail crash in London leaves five people dead and 94 injured.
  • The first ACT (Australian Capital Territory) elections are held.
• March 7 – Iran breaks off diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom over Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.
• March 9 – Revolutions of 1989: The Soviet Union submits to the jurisdiction of the World Court.
• March 13
  • A geomagnetic storm causes the collapse of the Hydro-Québec power grid. 6,000,000 people are left without power for nine hours. Some areas in the northeastern U.S. and in Sweden also lose power, and aurorae are seen as far as Texas.
  • Tim Berners-Lee produces the proposal document that will become the blueprint for the World Wide Web.
• March 14
  • Gun control: U.S. President George H. W. Bush bans the importation of certain guns deemed to be classed as assault weapons into the United States.
  • Christian General Michel Aoun declares a "War of Liberation" to rid Lebanon of Syrian forces and their allies.
• March 15
  • Israel hands over Taba to Egypt, ending a seven-year territorial dispute.
  • Mass demonstrations in Hungary, demanding democracy.
• March 16 – The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union approves agricultural reforms allowing farmers the right to lease state-owned farms for life.
• March 17
  • The Civic Tower of Pavia, built in the eleventh century, collapses.
  • Alfredo Cristiani is elected as President of El Salvador.
• March 20 – Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke weeps on national television as he admits marital infidelity.
• March 22
  • Clint Malarchuk of the NHL Buffalo Sabres suffers an almost fatal injury when another player accidentally slits his throat.
  • Asteroid 4581 Asclepius approaches the Earth at a distance of 700,000 kilometres (430,000 mi).
• March 23 – Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce that they have achieved cold fusion at the University of Utah.
• March 23–28 – The Socialist Republic of Serbia passes constitutional changes revoking the autonomy of the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, triggering six days of rioting by the Albanian majority, during which at least 29 people are killed.
• March 24 – Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Alaska's Prince William Sound, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m³) of oil after running aground.
• March 26 – The first contested elections for the Soviet parliament, Congress of People's Deputies, result in losses for the Communist Party.
• March 29 – The 61st Academy Awards are held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with Rain Man winning Best Picture.

April

• April 1 – Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax, the Poll tax, is introduced in Scotland. It would be introduced in England & Wales the following year.
• April 2
  • In South-West Africa, fighting erupts between SWAPO insurgents and the South West African Police on the day that a ceasefire was supposed to end the South African Border War according to United Nations Security Council Resolution 435. By April 6, nearly 300 people are killed.
• April 4 – A failed coup attempt against Prosper Avril, President of Haiti, leads to a standoff between mutinous troops and the government which ends on April 10, with the government regaining control of the country.
• April 5 – The Polish Government and the Solidarity trade union sign an agreement restoring Solidarity to legal status, and agreeing to hold democratic elections on June 1.
• April 6 – National Safety Council of Australia chief executive John Friedrich is arrested after defrauding investors to the tune of $235,000,000.
• April 7 – The Soviet submarine K-278 Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea, killing 41.
• April 9
  • Tbilisi massacre: Georgian demonstrators are massacred by Red Army soldiers in Tbilisi's central square during a peaceful rally; 20 citizens are killed, many injured.
  • A dispute over grazing rights leads to the beginning of the Mauritania–Senegal Border War.
• April 14 – The U.S. government seizes the Irvine, California, Lincoln Savings and Loan Association; Charles Keating (for whom the Keating Five were named) eventually goes to jail, as part of the massive 1980s savings and loan crisis which cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $200,000,000 in bailouts, and many people their life savings.
• April 15
  • The death of Hu Yaobang sparks the beginning of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
  • The Hillsborough disaster, one of the biggest tragedies in European football, claims the life of 96 Liverpool F.C. supporters.
• April 17 – Poland, Solidarity is once again legalised and allowed to participate in semi-free elections on June 4.
• April 19
  • Trisha Meili is attacked whilst jogging in New York City's Central Park; as her identity remains secret for years, she is referred to as the "Central Park Jogger."
  • A gun turret explodes on the U.S. battleship Iowa, killing 47 crew members.
• April 20 – NATO debates modernising short range missiles; although the US and UK are in favour, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl obtains a concession deferring a decision.
• April 21 – Students from Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, and Nanjing begin protesting in Tiananmen Square.
• April 23
  • Zaid al-Rifai resigns as Prime Minister of Jordan in the wake of riots over government-imposed price hikes that began on April 18.
• April 25
  • Noboru Takeshita resigns as Prime Minister of Japan in the wake of a stock-trading scandal.
  • Motorola introduces the Motorola MicroTAC Personal Cellular Telephone, then the world's smallest mobile phone.
• April 26
  • Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Yusuff Izzudin Shah Ghafarullahu-lahu, Sultan of Perak, becomes the 9th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, succeeding Baginda Almutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail.
  • Zaid ibn Shaker succeeds Zaid al-Rifai as Prime Minister of Jordan.
  • The Daulatpur–Saturia tornado, the deadliest tornado ever recorded, kills an estimated 1,300 people in the Dhaka Division of Bangladesh.
• April 27 – A major demonstration occurs in Beijing, as part of the Tiananmen Square protests.

May

• May
  • Transhumanism – Genetic modification of adult human beings is tried for the first time, a gene tagging trial.
  • The Soviet Union issues its first Visa card in a step to digitalise their banking system.
• May 1 – Andrés Rodríguez, who had seized power and declared himself President of Paraguay during a military coup in February, wins a landslide victory at a general election marked by charges of fraud.
• May 2
  • The first crack in the Iron Curtain: Hungary dismantles 240 kilometres (150 mi) of barbed wire fencing along the border with Austria.
  • The coalition government of Prime Minister of the Netherlands Ruud Lubbers collapses in a dispute about a pollution cleanup plan.
• May 3 – Cold War – Perestroika – The first McDonald's restaurant in the USSR begins construction in Moscow. It will open on 31 January 1990.
• May 4 – Oliver North convicted on charges related to the Iran–Contra affair. His conviction was thrown out on appeal in 1991 because of his immunised testimony.
• May 9 – Andrew Peacock deposes John Howard as Federal Opposition Leader of Australia.
• May 10 – The government of President of Panama Manuel Noriega declares void the result of the May 7 presidential election, which Noriega had lost to Guillermo Endara.
• May 11
  • President Bush orders 1,900 U.S. troops to Panama to protect Americans there.
  • The ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Legislative Assembly meets for the first time.
• May 12–25 – San Bernardino train disaster: Southern Pacific freight locomotive SP 7551 East derails in a residential area of San Bernardino, California, killing four and destroying seven houses. On May 25, 1989, as a direct result of the derailment, the Calnev Pipeline exploded, killing an additional two people and destroying eleven more houses and 21 cars.
• May 14
  • Mikhail Gorbachev visits China, the first Soviet leader to do so since Nikita Khrushchev in the 1960s.
  • Carlos Menem wins the Argentine presidential election.
• May 15 – Australia's first private tertiary institution, Bond University, opens on the Gold Coast.
• May 16 – Ethiopia Coup Attempt: Senior military officers stage a coup attempt in Ethiopia hours after President Mengistu Haile Mariam leaves on a visit to East Germany.
• May 17 – More than 1,000,000 Chinese protestors march through Beijing demanding greater democracy.
• May 19
  • 1989 Ürümqi unrest: Uyghur and Hui Muslim protesters riot in front of the government building in Ürümqi, China.
  • Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: Zhao Ziyang meets the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square.
  • Ciriaco De Mita resigns as Prime Minister of Italy.
• May 20 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The Chinese government declares martial law in Beijing.
• May 22 – The Nordland Days in Leningrad region (Leningrad Oblast) open.
• May 24 – A terrorist organization, Zarate Willka Armed Forces of Liberation, assassinates two missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they return to their apartment, in La Paz, Bolivia.
• May 25 – The Calgary Flames defeat the Montreal Canadiens four games to two to win the franchise's first Stanley Cup.
• May 29
  • Amid food riots and looting set off by inflation, the Government of Argentina declares a nationwide state of siege.
  • Boris Yeltsin gains a seat on the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.
  • Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 10 metres (33 ft) high Goddess of Democracy statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
  • NATO agrees to talks with the Soviet Union on reducing the number of short-range nuclear weapons in Europe.
  • An attempted assassination of Miguel Maza Marquez, director of the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) in Bogotá, Colombia is committed by members of the Medellín Cartel, who kill four and injure 37.
• May 31 – Six members of the guerrilla group Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru (MRTA) of Peru, shoot dead eight transsexuals, in the city of Tarapoto.

June

People's Liberation Army were to drive away students in Tiananmen Square.

• June 1–10 – Pope John Paul II visits Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden.
• June 2 – Sōsuke Uno succeeds Noboru Takeshita as Prime Minister of Japan.
• June 3 – June 4
  • Fighting breaks out in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic between ethnic Uzbeks and the Turkish minority; more than 100 people are killed by June 15.
  • The world's first HDTV broadcasts commence in Japan, in analogue.
  • The Tiananmen Square crackdown takes place in Beijing on the army's approach to the square, and the final stand-off in the square is covered live on television.
  • Solidarity's victory in Polish elections is the first of many anti-communist revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989.
  • Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia kills 645 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
• June 5 – An unknown Chinese protestor, "Tank Man", stands in front of a column of military tanks on Chang'an Avenue in Beijing, temporarily halting them, an incident which achieves iconic status internationally through images taken by Western photographers.
• June 6 – The Ayatollah Khomeini's first funeral is aborted by officials after a large crowd storms the funeral procession, nearly destroying Khomeini's wooden casket in order to get a last glimpse of his body. At one point, Khomeini's body almost falls to the ground, as the crowd attempt to grab pieces of the death shroud.
• June 7 – Surinam Airways Flight 764 crashes in Paramaribo, Suriname; killing 176.
• June 12 – The Corcoran Gallery of Art removes Robert Mapplethorpe's gay photography exhibition.
• June 13 – The wreck of the German battleship Bismarck, which was sunk in 1941, is located 960 kilometres (600 mi) west of Brest, France.
• June 15 – At the 1989 Irish general election, Fianna Fáil, led by Taoiseach Charles Haughey, fails to win a majority.
• June 16 – A crowd of 250,000 gathers at Heroes Square in Budapest for the historic reburial of Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian Prime Minister who had been executed in 1958.
• June 18 – In the first Greek legislative election of the year, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, led by Prime Minister of Greece Andreas Papandreou, loses control of the Hellenic Parliament.
• June 21 – British police arrest 250 people for celebrating the summer solstice at Stonehenge.
• June 22 – Ireland's first universities established since independence in 1922, Dublin City University and the University of Limerick, open.
• June 24 – Jiang Zemin becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.
• June 30 – A military coup led by Omar al-Bashir ousts the civilian government of Prime Minister of Sudan Sadiq al-Mahdi.

July

• July 2 – Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece resigns; a new government is formed under Tzannis Tzannetakis.
• July 5
  • State President of South Africa P. W. Botha meets the imprisoned 70-year-old Nelson Mandela face-to-face for the first time.
  • The television sitcom Seinfeld premieres.
• July 6 – The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack, the first Palestinian suicide attack on Israel, takes place.
• July 9–12 – U.S. President George H. W. Bush travels to Poland and Hungary, pushing for U.S. economic aid and investment.
• July 10 – Approximately 300,000 Siberian coal miners go on strike, demanding better living conditions and less bureaucracy; it is the largest Soviet labour strike since the 1920s.
• July 12 – In the Republic of Ireland, the Taoiseach Charles Haughey returns to power after Fianna Fáil forms a coalition with the Progressive Democrats.
• July 14–16 – At the 15th G7 summit, leaders call for restrictions on gas emissions.
• July 17
  • The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber makes its first flight.
  • Poland and the Vatican re-establish diplomatic relations after approximately fifty years.
• July 18 – Actress Rebecca Schaeffer is murdered by an obsessed fan, leading to stricter stalking laws in California.
• July 19
  • The National Assembly of the Republic of Poland elects Wojciech Jaruzelski to the new and powerful post of President of Poland.
  • United Airlines Flight 232 (Douglas DC-10) crashes in Sioux City, Iowa, killing 112; 184 on board survive.
• July 20 – Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest. She is released in 2010.
• July 21 – A total blockade of Armenia and NKAO by Azerbaijan begins.
• July 23
  • Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party loses control of the House of Councillors, the LDP's worst electoral showing in 34 years, leading to Prime Minister Uno announcing he will resign to take responsibility for the result.
  • Giulio Andreotti takes office as Prime Minister of Italy.
• July 26 – A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert Tappan Morris for releasing a computer virus, making him the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
• July 27 – In what was the largest prison sentence to date, Thai financial scammer Mae Chamoy Thipyaso and her accomplices are each sentenced to 141,078 years in prison.
• July 28 – At the Iranian presidential election, electors overwhelmingly elect Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as President of Iran and endorse changes to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, increasing the powers of the president.
• July 31
  • In Lebanon, Hezbollah announces that it has hanged U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins in retaliation for Israel's July 28 kidnapping of Hezbollah leader Abdel Karim Obeid. The same day, the United Nations Security Council passes United Nations Security Council Resolution 638, condemning the taking of hostages by both sides in the conflict.
  • Nintendo releases the Game Boy portable video game system in North America.

August

Voyager 2 at Neptune

• August 2 – Pakistan is readmitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after leaving it in 1972.
• August 5 – Jaime Paz Zamora is elected President of Bolivia, taking office the next day.
• August 7
  • U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and fifteen others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.
  • The presidents of five Central American countries agree that the U.S.-backed contras fighting the government of Nicaragua should be disbanded and evicted from their bases in Honduras by December 5.
• August 8
  • Prime Minister of New Zealand David Lange resigns for health reasons and is replaced by Geoffrey Palmer.
  • STS-28: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.
• August 9
  • Toshiki Kaifu becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
  • The asteroid 4769 Castalia is the first asteroid directly imaged by radar from Arecibo Observatory.
  • A measure to rescue the savings and loan industry is signed into law by President Bush, launching the largest federal rescue to date.
• August 10 – Army General Colin Powell became the first Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after being nominated by President Bush.
• August 13 – A hot air balloon accident near Alice Springs, Australia kills thirteen people.
• August 15
  • P.W. Botha resigns as State President of South Africa.
  • F. W. de Klerk becomes the seventh and final State President of South Africa.
• August 18 – Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá, Colombia.
• August 19
  • Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be Prime Minister, the first non-Communist in power in 42 years.
  • The Pan-European Picnic, a peace demonstration, is held at the Austro-Hungarian border.
• August 19–21 – In response to the murder of a judge, a provincial police chief, and presidential candidate Galán, the authorities of Colombia arrest 11,000 suspected Colombian drug traffickers.
• August 20
  • In Beverly Hills, California, Lyle and Erik Menendez shoot their wealthy parents to death in the family's den.
  • Fifty-one people die when the Marchioness pleasure boat collides with a dredger on the River Thames adjacent to Southwark Bridge.
• August 21 – The 21st anniversary of the crushing of the Prague Spring is commemorated by a demonstration in the city.
• August 23
  • Singing Revolution: Two million indigenous people of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian SSRs join hands to demand freedom and independence from Soviet occupation, forming an uninterrupted 600 km human chain called the Baltic Way.
  • Hungary removes border restrictions with Austria.
  • All of Australia's 1,645 domestic airline pilots resign over an airline's move to sack and sue them over a dispute.
• August 23 – Yusef Hawkins is shot in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York, sparking racial tensions between African Americans and Italian Americans.
• August 24
  • Colombia's cocaine traffickers declare "total and absolute war" against the government and begin a series of bombings and arson attacks.
  • Voyager 2 makes its closest approach to Neptune.
  • Tadeusz Mazowiecki of Solidarity is elected Prime Minister of Poland.
• August 25 – Voyager 2 passes the planet Neptune and its moon Triton.
• August 31 – In the aftermath of the Chadian–Libyan conflict of 1978–87, representatives of Libya and Chad agree to let the International Court of Justice determine ownership of the Aouzou Strip, which had been occupied by Libya since 1973.

September

• September 6
  • South African general election, 1989, the last held under the apartheid system, returns the National Party to power with a much-reduced majority.
  • At the 1989 Dutch general election, the Christian Democratic Appeal, led by Ruud Lubbers wins 54 seats, and is ultimately able to form a government on November 7 after entering into coalition with the Labour Party.
• September 7 – Representatives of the government of Ethiopia and Eritrean separatists meet in Atlanta, with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter attempting to broker a peace settlement.
• September 8 – Partnair Flight 394 flies past an F-16 Fighting Falcon on its way home, then the Convair 580 rolls upside down and falls in the North Sea.
• September 10 – The Hungarian government opens the country's western borders to refugees from East Germany.
• September 10–11 – Norway's ruling Labour Party loses eight seats in the parliamentary elections, its worst showing since 1945.
• September 14
  • An agreement of co-operation between Leningrad Oblast (Russia) and Nordland County (Norway) is signed in Leningrad, by Chairmen Lev Kojkolainen and Sigbjørn Eriksen.
  • Standard Gravure shooting: Joseph T. Wesbecker, a pressman on disability for mental illness, entered his former workplace and killed eight people and injured twelve before committing suicide after a history of suicidal ideation.
• September 17–22 – Hurricane Hugo devastates the Caribbean and the southeastern United States, causing at least 71 deaths and $8,000,000,000 in damages.
• September 18 – Alleged coup attempt in Burkina Faso foiled.
• September 19
  • The Catholic Church calls for removal of the Carmelite convent located near the former Auschwitz concentration camp, whose presence had offended some Jewish leaders.
  • UTA Flight 772 explodes over Niger, killing all 171 people on board (the Islamic Jihad Organization claims responsibility).
  • Burkinabé ministers Jean-Baptiste Boukary Lingani and Henri Zongo executed following their arrest the previous day.
• September 20 – F. W. de Klerk is sworn in as the seventh and last State President of South Africa.
• September 22
  • 1989 Deal barracks bombing: An IRA bomb explodes at the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal, Kent, United Kingdom, leaving 11 people dead and 22 injured.
  • Doe v. University of Michigan: A Michigan court rules against the hate speech law at the University of Michigan, claiming it unconstitutional.
• September 23
  • A cease-fire in the Lebanese Civil War stops the violence that had killed 900 people since March.
  • Nintendo Company Ltd. celebrates its 100th anniversary.
• September 26 – Vietnam announces that it has withdrawn the last of its troops from the State of Cambodia, ending an eleven-year occupation.
• September 30
  • Nearly 7,000 East Germans who had come to Prague on special refugee trains are allowed to leave for the West.
  • The Senegambia Confederation is dissolved over border disagreements.

October

The Phillips Disaster

• October – Cold War – Perestroika – Nathan's Famous opens a hot dog stand in Moscow.
• October 1 – Civil union between partners in a same-sex relationship becomes legal in Denmark under a law enacted on June 7, the world's first such legislation.
• October 3
  • A coup attempt is foiled by Manuel Noriega, military leader of Panama.
  • The government of East Germany closes the country's border with Czechoslovakia to prevent further emigration to the West.
• October 5 – The Dalai Lama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
• October 7
  • The communist Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party votes to reorganise itself as a socialist party, to be named the Hungarian Socialist Party.
  • The first mass demonstration against the Communist regime in the GDR began in Plauen, East Germany, at 7 October 1989 and it was the beginning of a series of mass demonstrations in the whole GDR which ultimately led to the reunification of Germany in 1990.
• October 9
  • An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh.
  • In Leipzig, East Germany, protesters demand the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms.
• October 13
  • Friday the 13th mini-crash: The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 190.58 points, or 6.91 percent, to close at 2,569.26, most likely after the junk bond market collapses.
  • Gro Harlem Brundtland, leader of the Labour Party, resigns as Prime Minister of Norway. She is succeeded by Jan P. Syse, Leader of the Conservative Party, on October 16.
• October 15 – Walter Sisulu is released from prison in South Africa.
• October 17 – The 6.9 M_w Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Sixty-three people were killed and the 1989 World Series is postponed for ten days as a result of the earthquake.
• October 18
  • The Communist leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, is forced to step down as leader of the country after a series of health problems, and is succeeded by Egon Krenz.
  • The National Assembly of Hungary votes to restore multi-party democracy.
  • NASA launches the unmanned Galileo orbiter on a mission to study the planet Jupiter, via Atlantis mission STS-34.
• October 19 – The Guildford Four are freed after fourteen years.
• October 21 – The Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations issue the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment, making environmental sustainability one of the Commonwealth's main priorities.
• October 23
  • The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by President Mátyás Szűrös (replacing the Hungarian People's Republic), exactly 33 years after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
  • The Phillips Disaster in Pasadena, Texas kills 23 and injures 314 others.
• October 28 – United States Flag Protection Act takes effect. Mass protests in Seattle and New York City
• October 30 – Shawn Eichman, Dave Blalock, Dread Scott, and Joey Johnson burn American flags on steps of U.S. Capitol Building to protest Flag Protection Act
• October 31
  • The Grand National Assembly of Turkey elects Prime Minister Turgut Özal as the eighth President of Turkey.
  • Half a million people demonstrate in the East German city of Leipzig.

November

Germans standing on top of the Berlin Wall

A peaceful demonstration in Prague during the Velvet Revolution.

• November – First commercial dial-up Internet connection in North America is made, by The World STD.
• November 1
  • The President of Nicaragua ends a ceasefire with U.S.-backed contras that had been in effect since April 1988.
  • The border between East Germany and Czechoslovakia is reopened.
• November 3 – East German refugees arrive at the West German town of Hof after being allowed through Czechoslovakia.
• November 4 – Typhoon Gay devastates Thailand's Chumphon Province.
• November 6 – The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is founded.
• November 7
  • Douglas Wilder wins the Virginia gubernatorial race, becoming the first elected African-American Governor in the United States.
  • David Dinkins becomes the first African-American mayor of New York City.
  • Cold War: The Communist government of East Germany resigns, although SED leader Egon Krenz remains as head of state.
• November 9
  • Cold War and Fall of the Berlin Wall: Günter Schabowski accidentally states in a live broadcast press conference that new rules for traveling from East Germany to West Germany will be put in effect "immediately". East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to travel freely to West Germany for the first time in decades (November 17 celebrates Germans tearing the wall down).
  • Yıldırım Akbulut of ANAP forms the new government of Turkey (47th government).
• November 10
  • After 45 years of Communist rule in Bulgaria, Bulgarian Communist Party leader Todor Zhivkov is replaced by Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov, who changes the party's name to the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
  • Gaby Kennard becomes the first Australian woman to fly solo around the world.
• November 12 – Brazil holds its first free presidential election since 1960. This marks the first time that all Ibero-American nations, except Cuba, have elected constitutional governments simultaneously.
• November 13 – Hans-Adam II becomes Prince of Liechtenstein on the death of his father, Prince Franz Joseph II.
• November 14 – Elections are held in Namibia, leading to a victory for the South West Africa People's Organisation.
• November 15
  • Lech Wałęsa, leader of Poland's Solidarity movement, addresses a Joint session of the United States Congress.
  • Brazil holds the first round of its first free election in 29 years; Fernando Collor de Mello and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva advance to the second round, to be held the following month.
• November 16
  • Six Jesuit priests are murdered by U.S. trained Salvadoran soldiers.
  • The first American cosmetics shop, an Estée Lauder outlet, opens in Moscow.
  • South African President F. W. de Klerk announces the scrapping of the Separate Amenities Act.
  • UNESCO adopts the Seville Statement on Violence at the 25th session of its General Conference.
• November 17 – Cold War – Velvet Revolution: A peaceful student demonstration in Prague, Czechoslovakia, is severely beaten back by riot police. This sparks a revolution aimed at overthrowing the Communist government (it succeeds on December 29).
• November 20 – Cold War – Velvet Revolution: The number of peaceful protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia, swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
• November 21 – The Members of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia begin to draft the Constitution of Namibia, which will be the constitution of the newly independent Namibia.
• November 22 – In West Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President René Moawad, killing him.
• November 24 – Following a week of demonstrations demanding free elections and other reforms, General Secretary Miloš Jakeš and other leaders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia resign. Jakeš is replaced by Karel Urbánek.
• November 26 – Uruguayan general election, 1989: Luis Alberto Lacalle is elected President of Uruguay.
• November 27 – Colombian domestic passenger flight Avianca Flight 203 is bombed by the Medellín drug cartel in an (unsuccessful) attempt to kill presidential candidate for the 1990 elections César Gaviria Trujillo.
• November 28 – Cold War – Velvet Revolution: The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces they will give up their monopoly on political power (elections held in December bring the first non-Communist government to Czechoslovakia in more than forty years).
• November 29 – Rajiv Gandhi resigns as Prime Minister of India after his party, the Indian National Congress, loses about half of its seats at the 1989 Indian general election.
• November 30 – Deutsche Bank board member Alfred Herrhausen is killed by a bomb (the Red Army Faction claims responsibility for the murder).

December

Flames engulf a building following the United States invasion of Panama.

• December 1
  • In a meeting with Pope John Paul II, General Secretary of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev pledges greater religious freedom for citizens of the Soviet Union.
  • Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist-dominated SED its monopoly on power. Egon Krenz, the Politburo and the Central Committee resign two days later.
  • A military coup attempt begins in the Philippines against the government of Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino. It is crushed by United States intervention ending by December 9.
• December 2
  • The Solar Maximum Mission scientific research satellite, launched in 1980, crashes back to earth.
  • V. P. Singh takes office as Prime Minister of India.
  • In the Republic of China legislative election, the Kuomintang suffers its worst election setback in forty years, winning only 53% of the popular vote.
  • The Second Malayan Emergency concludes with a peace agreement. The Malayan Communist Party disbands and Chin Peng remains in exile in Thailand until his death in 2013.
• December 3
  • The entire leadership of the ruling Socialist Unity Party in East Germany, including Egon Krenz, resigns.
  • Cold War: Malta Summit – In a meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between their nations may be coming to an end.
• December 4 – Prime Minister of Jordan Zaid ibn Shaker resigns and is replaced by Mudar Badran.
• December 6
  • The DAS Building bombing occurs in Bogotá, killing 52 people and injuring about 1,000.
  • Egon Krenz resigns as Chairman of the State Council of the German Democratic Republic, and is replaced by Manfred Gerlach, the first non-Communist to hold that post.
  • École Polytechnique massacre (or Montreal Massacre): Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders fourteen young women at the École Polytechnique de Montréal.
• December 7
  • Ladislav Adamec resigns as Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia. He is succeeded by Marián Čalfa on December 10.
  • Singing Revolution: The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic becomes the first of the republics of the Soviet Union to abolish the Communist Party's monopoly on power.
• December 9 – The Socialist Unity Party of Germany elects the reformist Gregor Gysi as party leader.
• December 10
  • President of Czechoslovakia Gustáv Husák swears in a new cabinet with a non-Communist and then immediately resigns as president.
  • Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announces the establishment of Mongolia's democratic movement, that peacefully changes the second-oldest Communist country into a democracy.
• December 11 – The International Trans-Antarctica Expedition, a group of six explorers from six nations, reaches the South Pole.
• December 13 – Taylor Swift is born.
• December 14 – Chile holds its first free election in sixteen years, electing Patricio Aylwin as president.
• December 15 – Drug baron José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha is killed by Colombian police.
• December 17
  • The Romanian Revolution begins in Timișoara when rioters break into the building housing the District Committee of the Romanian Communist Party and cause extensive damage. Their attempts to set the buildings on fire are foiled by military units.
  • Brazil holds the second round of its first free election in 29 years; Fernando Collor de Mello is elected to serve as President from 1990.
• December 19 – Workers in Romanian cities go on strike in protest against the Communist regime.
• December 20 – The United States invasion of Panama ("Operation Just Cause") is launched in an attempt to overthrow Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.
• December 21 – Nicolae Ceaușescu addresses an assembly of some 110,000 people outside the Romanian Communist Party headquarters in Bucharest. The crowd begin to protest against Ceaușescu and he addresses protesters to calm down.
• December 22
  • After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as President of Romania, ending the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu, who flees his palace in a helicopter after the palace is invaded by rioters.
  • Two tourist coaches collide on the Pacific highway north of Kempsey, Australia, killing 35 people.
• December 23 – Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu are captured in Târgoviște.
• December 25
  • Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena are executed.
  • Bank of Japan governors announce a major interest rate hike, eventually leading to the peak and fall of the bubble economy.
• December 28 – A M  5.6 magnitude earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people.
• December 29
  • Czech writer, philosopher and dissident Václav Havel is elected the first post-Communist President of Czechoslovakia.
  • Riots break out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
  • Nikkei 225 for Tokyo Stock Exchange hits its all-time intra-day high of 38,957.44 and closing high at 38,915.87.
• December 31 – Poland's president signs the Balcerowicz Plan, ending the Communist system in Poland in favor of a capitalist system and Polish involvement in the Warsaw Pact.

Date unknown

• The first Al-Qaeda-related cell in the United States begins operation in New York City.
• Alan Bond's Bond Corporation goes into receivership with the largest debt in Australian history.
• The United States leaves its embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, it does not return until late 2001.
• Homosexual acts between consenting adults are decriminalised in Western Australia.
• Kamchatka opens to Russian civilian visitors.
• The Breguet Alizé propeller-driven anti-submarine planes are retired from active carrier service in the French Navy.
• The first national park in the Netherlands is established in Schiermonnikoog.
• Ebenezer Floppen Slopper's Wonderful Water slides in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois closes after an incident on one of the slides.
• Soviet submarine K-173 (Chelyabinsk) is commissioned.
• Richard C. Duncan introduces the Olduvai theory, about the collapse of industrial civilization.
• The NIOS board is established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India.
• The last golden toad is seen; the species is now classified as extinct.
• A major incident of religious violence rocks Bhagalpur, Bihar killing nearly 1,000 people.
• The global concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere reaches 350 parts per million by volume.
• Walmart posts revenues and profits triple its 1986 figures and rivals Kmart and Sears in importance in the American market.
• N.W.A are the first gangsta rap group to sell 1,000,000 copies of an album with their controversial 1988 debut album Straight Outta Compton.
• The South African military dismantles its last nuclear weapons.

Births

January

Kōhei Uchimura

James Durbin

Nina Dobrev

Emily Meade

Beau Mirchoff

Kim Bùi

Hannah Arterton

• January 1
  • Adèle Haenel, French actress
  • Edita Vilkevičiūtė, Lithuanian model
• January 2 – Kaitlin Howell, Canadian actress
• January 3
  • Alex D. Linz, American actor
  • Anya Kop, American fashion model
  • Kōhei Uchimura, Japanese gymnast
• January 4
  • Kariem Hussein, Swiss 400 metres hurdler
  • Labrinth, British urban and hip-hop musician
  • Sessilee Lopez, American model
  • Julius Yego, Kenian javelin thrower
• January 6
  • Andy Carroll, English footballer
  • James Durbin, American singer
  • Nicky Romero, Dutch DJ
• January 7
  • Emiliano Insúa, Argentine footballer
  • Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, Malaysian footballer
• January 8 – Steven Christopher Parker, American actor
• January 9
  • Michael Beasley, American basketball player
  • Nina Dobrev, Bulgarian-born Canadian actress
• January 10
  • Conor Dwyer, American Olympic swimmer
  • Emily Meade, American actress
  • Heo Sol-ji, South Korean singer
• January 11
  • Chris Perry-Metcalf, British actor
  • Naif Hazazi, Saudi footballer
• January 12 – Arci Muñoz, Filipina actress and model
• January 13 – Beau Mirchoff, American-Canadian actress
• January 15
  • Alexei Cherepanov, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2008)
  • Ryan Corr, Australian actor
  • Keiffer Hubbell, American ice dancer
  • Tasha Reign, American pornographic actress, nude model, stripper, producer. and sex columnist
  • Ronny Vencatachellum, Mauritian swimmer
• January 16 – Yvonne Zima, American actress
• January 19
  • Yani Tseng, Taiwanese golfer
  • Kelly Marie Tran, American actress
• January 20
  • Kim Bùi, German artistic gymnast
  • Nadia Di Cello, Argentine actress
• January 21
  • Murilo de Almeida, Brazilian-East Timorese footballer
  • Katie Griffiths, British actress
  • Doğuş Balbay, American basketball player
  • Sergey Fesikov, Russian swimmer
  • Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Armenian footballer
• January 24
  • Calvin Goldspink, British actor
  • Gong Lijiao, Chinese shot putter
• January 25 – Mikako Tabe, Japanese actress
• January 26
  • Hannah Arterton, English actress
  • Emily Hughes, American figure skater
• January 27
  • Daisy Lowe, British fashion model
  • Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Dutch footballer
• January 28 – Bruno Massot, French-born German pair skater
• January 30
  • Jahvid Best, American football player
  • Lee Gun-woo, South Korean singer
  • Khleo Thomas, American actor and rapper

February

Jeremy Sumpter

Jesse Rath

Carly McKillip

Corbin Bleu

Trace Cyrus

• February 3 – Ryne Sanborn, American actor
• February 4 – Larissa Ramos, Brazilian beauty pageant winner
• February 5
  • Cristine Reyes, Filipina actress
  • Jeremy Sumpter, American actor
• February 7
  • Louisa Lytton, British actress
  • Neil Taylor, Welsh footballer
  • Isaiah Thomas, American basketball player
• February 8 – Dani Harmer, British actress
• February 9
  • Maxime Dufour-Lapointe, Canadian freestyle skier
  • Wu Chia-ching, Taiwanese pool player
• February 11
  • Jesse Rath, Canadian actor
  • Lovi Poe, Filipina actress
• February 13
  • Carly McKillip, Canadian actress
  • Rodrigo Possebon, Brazilian footballer
  • Katie Volding, American actress
• February 15
  • Sinethemba Jantjie, South African footballer (d. 2019)
  • Bonnie Dennison, American actress
• February 16
  • Elizabeth Olsen, American actress
  • Zivanna Letisha Siregar, Indonesian model
• February 17
  • Rebecca Adlington, British swimmer
  • Chord Overstreet, American actor, singer, and musician
• February 20
  • Jack Falahee, American actor
  • Mayu Kuroda, Japanese artistic gymnast
• February 21
  • Corbin Bleu, American actor and singer
  • Kristin Herrera, American actress
  • Scout Taylor-Compton, American actress
• February 23 – Chris Conte, American football player
• February 24
  • Trace Cyrus, American musician
  • Daniel Kaluuya, English actor
  • Kosta Koufos, Greek-born American basketball player
• February 25
  • Kana Hanazawa, Japanese voice actress and singer
  • Lee Sang-hwa, South Korean speed skater
• February 26 – Anastassiya Bannova, Kazakh archer
• February 27
  • Kelly Breeding, American singer
  • Stephen Kiprotich, Ugandan marathoner
  • Stefano Langone, American singer
  • Lloyd Rigby, English footballer
• February 28 – Zhang Liyin, Chinese singer

March

Jake Lloyd

Anton Yelchin

Tyler Clary

Pierre Niney

Aly Michalka

• March 1
  • Emma, Australian professional wrestler
  • Daniella Monet, American actress
  • Carlos Vela, Mexican footballer
• March 2
  • Jean-Frédéric Chapuis, French Olympic freestyle skier
  • Nathalie Emmanuel, English actress
• March 3 – Andrea Brooks, Canadian actress
• March 4 – Erin Heatherton, American fashion model
• March 5
  • Sterling Knight, American actor
  • Jake Lloyd, American actor
• March 6 – Agnieszka Radwańska, Polish tennis player
• March 7 – Gerald Anderson, Filipino actor
• March 9 – Kim Tae-yeon, South Korean singer
• March 10 – Đỗ Thị Ngân Thương, Vietnamese artistic gymnast
• March 11
  • Daniella Kertesz, Israeli actress
  • Anton Yelchin, Russian-born American actor (d. 2016)
• March 12 – Tyler Clary, American Olympic swimmer
• March 13
  • Peaches Geldof, British performer (d. 2014)
  • Pierre Niney, French actor
• March 14 – Colby O'Donis, American singer
• March 15 – Caitlin Wachs, American actress
• March 16
  • Blake Griffin, American basketball player
  • Theo Walcott, English footballer
• March 17
  • Shinji Kagawa, Japanese football player
  • Mason Musso, American singer
• March 18
  • Francesco Checcucci, Italian footballer
  • Lily Collins, British-born American actress
  • Kana Nishino, Japanese singer-songwriter
• March 19 – Craig Lamar Traylor, American actor
• March 20 – Fei Fei Sun, Chinese model
• March 21
  • Jordi Alba, Spanish professional footballer
  • Takeru Satoh, Japanese actor
  • Rochelle Wiseman, British singer
• March 22
  • Eva Pereira, Cape Verdean middle distance runner
  • Karen Rodriguez, American singer
  • J. J. Watt, American football player
  • Aline Weber, Brazilian model
• March 24 – Aziz Shavershian, Australian bodybuilder (d. 2011)
• March 25
  • Aly Michalka, American actress and singer
  • Scott Sinclair, English footballer
• March 27 – Stuart Edge, American YouTube personality
• March 29 – Arnold Peralta, Honduran footballer (d. 2015)
• March 31 – Liu Zige, Chinese swimmer

April

Lily James

Aysel Teymurzadeh

Luke Bracey

• April 2 – Liis Lass, Estonian actress
• April 3 – Ankit Narang, Indian actor
• April 4 – Chris Herd, Australian footballer
• April 5 – Lily James, British actress
• April 6 – Gabrielle Scollay, Australian actress
• April 8
  • Nicholas Megalis, American singer-songwriter
  • Hitomi Takahashi, Japanese singer
  • Gabriella Wilde, English actress and model
• April 9 – Danielle Kahle, American figure skater
• April 11 – Eka Darville, Australian actor
• April 12 – Lim Heem Wei, Singaporean artistic gymnast
• April 13 – Vladislav Yegin, Russian ice hockey player
• April 17
  • Beau Knapp, American actor
  • Javed Mohammed, Trinidadian footballer
• April 18
  • Jessica Jung, American-born Korean singer
  • Alia Shawkat, American actress
• April 20
  • Alex Black, American actor
  • Carlos Valdes, Colombian actor and singer
• April 22
  • Catherine Banner, British author
  • Louis Smith, British gymnast
• April 23
  • Anastasia Baranova, Russian-born American actress
  • Nicole Vaidišová, Czech tennis player
• April 24 – Ian Matos, Brazilian diver
• April 25
  • Emanuela de Paula, Brazilian model
  • Michael van Gerwen, Dutch darts player
  • Aysel Teymurzadeh, Azerbaijani pop singer
• April 26
  • Luke Bracey, Australian actor
  • Daesung, South Korean singer
• April 27
  • Lars Bender, German footballer
  • Sven Bender, German footballer
  • Martha Hunt, American model
• April 28 – Kim Sung-kyu, South Korean singer and dancer
• April 29 – Foxes, British singer-songwriter

May

Katinka Hosszú

Dániel Gyurta

Nyle DiMarco

Shane van Gisbergen

Prince Royce

Alexandra Park

Alexey Negodaylo

• May 3 – Katinka Hosszú, Hungarian swimmer
• May 4
  • Dániel Gyurta, Hungarian swimmer
  • Rory McIlroy, Northern Irish golfer
  • James van Riemsdyk, American ice hockey player
• May 5 – Chris Brown, American singer and actor
• May 6
  • Dominika Cibulková, Slovak tennis player
  • Otto Knows, Swedish DJ and producer
• May 7
  • Arlenis Sosa, Dominican model
  • Earl Thomas, American football player
• May 8
  • Nora Arnezeder, French actress
  • Katy B, British singer
  • Nyle DiMarco, American model and activist
• May 9 – Shane van Gisbergen, New Zealander race car driver
• May 10 – Lindsey Shaw, American actress
• May 11
  • Cam Newton, American football player
  • Prince Royce, American singer and songwriter
  • Giovani dos Santos, Mexican footballer
• May 12 – Eleftheria Eleftheriou, Greek-Cypriot singer and actress
• May 14
  • Melinda Bam, South African beauty pageant contestant and model
  • Rob Gronkowski, American football player
  • Alexandra Park, Australian actress
  • Alina Talay, Belarusian 100 metres hurdler
• May 15 – Sunny Lee, American-born Korean singer
• May 16
  • Pääru Oja, Estonian actor
  • Behati Prinsloo, Namibian fashion model
• May 17
  • Olivia Luccardi, American actress and producer
  • Tessa Virtue, Canadian ice dancer
• May 18
  • Fatima Ali, Pakistani-born American chef (d. 2019)
  • Shreevats Goswami, Indian cricketer
• May 19 – Gaelan Connell, American actor and musician
• May 21
  • Emily Robins, New Zealand actress and singer
  • Hal Robson-Kanu, Welsh footballer
• May 23
  • Patrick Hougaard, Danish motorcycle speedway rider
  • Ezequiel Schelotto, Italian football player
  • Jeffery Taylor, Swedish basketball player
• May 24
  • G-Eazy, American hip-hop rapper and producer
  • Tara Correa-McMullen, American actress (d. 2005)
• May 25
  • Guillaume Boivin, Canadian racing cyclist
  • Aliona Moon, Moldovan pop singer
• May 26 – Park Yeeun, Korean Singer
• May 27 – Afgan Syahreza, Indonesian pop singer and actor
• May 28 – Alexey Negodaylo, Russian Olympic bobsledder
• May 29
  • Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson, Icelandic singer
  • Riley Keough, American model
  • Brandon Mychal Smith, American actor
• May 30
  • Ailee, Korean-American singer and songwriter
  • Park Hyomin, South Korean singer
• May 31
  • Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer
  • Bas Dost, Dutch football player
  • Sean Johnson, American soccer player
  • Daul Kim, South Korean model (d. 2009)
  • Marco Reus, German football player
  • Chase Stanley, Australian rugby player
  • Sean Thornley, British tennis player

June

Steve Smith

Lisa Tucker

Lucy Hale

Renee Olstead

Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Matthew Lewis

• June 2
  • Freddy Adu, American soccer player
  • Austin Davis, American football player
  • Cooper Helfet, American football player
  • Steve Smith, Australian cricketer
  • Shane Yarran, Australian rules footballer (d. 2018)
• June 3
  • Jillette Johnson, American singer
  • Imogen Poots, British actress
• June 4
  • Pawel Fajdek, Polish hammer thrower
  • Eldar Gasimov, Azerbaijani singer
• June 5
  • Cam Atkinson, American ice hockey player
  • Monica Castaño, Colombian beauty queen and model
• June 6 – Bryn McAuley, Canadian actress
• June 8
  • Richard Fleeshman, British actor
  • Minami Tsuda, Japanese voice actress
  • Amaury Vassili, French operatic tenor
• June 9 – Chloë Agnew, Irish singer
• June 10
  • David Miller, South African cricketer
  • Alexandra Stan, Romanian singer
• June 12 – Krista Kleiner, Filipina-American beauty queen, singer, model, actress, and martial artist
• June 13
  • Lisa Tucker, American singer, musical theater, and television actress
  • Tommy Searle, British motocross racer
• June 14
  • Lucy Hale, American actress and singer
  • Jubin Nautiyal, Indian playback singer
• June 17 – Simone Battle, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
• June 18
  • Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, French-born Gabonese footballer
  • Anna Fenninger, Austrian alpine ski racer
  • Renee Olstead, American actress and singer
• June 19 – Giacomo Gianniotti, Italian-Canadian actor
• June 20 – Christopher Mintz-Plasse, American actor
• June 22
  • Jeffrey Earnhardt, American race car driver
  • Jung Yong Hwa, South Korean musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor
• June 23 – Lauren Bennett, British singer, dancer, painter, photographer, and model
• June 25 – Chris Brochu, American actor and singer-songwriter
• June 27
  • Matthew Lewis, British actor
  • Bruna Tenório, Brazilian supermodel
• June 28
  • Andrew Fifita, Tongan rugby league footballer
  • David Fifita, Tongan rugby league footballer
  • Mark Fischbach, American YouTube personality
  • Joe Kovacs, American shot putter
• June 29 – Maciej Cieśla, Polish graphics designer
• June 30
  • Asbel Kiprop, Kenyan middle-distance runner
  • Ginta Lapiņa, Latvian model

July

David Henrie

Phoebe Tonkin

Gareth Bale

Rory Culkin

Daniel Radcliffe

Zelda Williams

• July 1 – Daniel Ricciardo, Formula 1 driver
• July 2 – Dev, American singer
• July 3 – Elle King, American singer, songwriter, and actress
• July 4 – Yoon Doo-joon, Korean singer
• July 7
  • Jamie Johnston, Canadian actor and singer-songwriter
  • Kim Bum, South Korean actor
• July 8
  • Dmitry Abakumov, Russian football player
  • Yarden Gerbi, Israeli world champion judoka
  • Ahmad Fakri Saarani, Malaysian footballer
• July 10 – Fazrul Hazli, Malaysian footballer
• July 11
  • Shareeka Epps, American actress
  • David Henrie, American actor
• July 12
  • Phoebe Tonkin, Australian actress
  • Xian Lim, American-born Filipino actor, model, and singer
  • Rakep Patel, Kenyan cricketer
• July 13 – Sayumi Michishige, Japanese singer
• July 14 – Cyril Rioli, Australian rules footballer
• July 15 – Tristan Wilds, American actor and singer
• July 16
  • Gareth Bale, Welsh footballer
  • Kim Woo-bin, South Korean model and actor
  • Carlito Olivero, American singer
• July 18
  • Jamie Benn, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Yohan Mollo, French footballer
• July 20 – Rayver Cruz, Filipino actor
• July 21
  • Jasmine Cephas Jones, American actress
  • Rory Culkin, American actor
  • Chris Gunter, Welsh footballer
  • Juno Temple, British actress
  • Jamie Waylett, British actor
  • Narcissa Wright, American speedrunner
• July 22
  • Keegan Allen, American actor
  • Trent Boult, New Zealand cricketer
  • Kamal G, Indian film director, film editor, and film producer
  • Baltasar Breki Samper, Icelandic actor
• July 23
  • Daniel Radcliffe, British actor
  • KJ Wright, American football player
  • Zhong An Qi, Taiwanese singer
• July 25
  • Andrew Caldwell, American actor
  • Noel Callahan, Canadian actor
• July 27 – Charlotte Arnold, Canadian actress
• July 28
  • Felipe Kitadai, Brazilian Olympic medalist judoka
  • Amy Yang, South Korean golfer
• July 29
  • Hona Costello, American singer
  • Jake Smollett, American actor
• July 30 – Aleix Espargaró, Spanish Grand prix motorcycle racer
• July 31
  • Victoria Azarenka, Belarusian tennis player
  • Alexis Knapp, American actress and singer
  • Marshall Williams, Canadian actor
  • Jessica Williams, American actress
  • Zelda Williams, American actress

August

Jessica Mauboy

Brenton Thwaites

Joe Jonas

Carlos Pena Jr.

Hayden Panettiere

Bebe Rexha

• August 1
  • Madison Bumgarner, American baseball player
  • Tiffany Hwang, American-born Korean singer
  • Tomoka Kurokawa, Japanese actress
  • Sean T. Krishnan, Canadian-American actor
• August 2
  • Nacer Chadli, Belgian footballer
  • Vanes-Mari Du Toit, South African netball player
• August 3
  • Jules Bianchi, French Formula One driver (d. 2015)
  • Sam Hutchinson, English footballer
• August 4
  • Jessica Mauboy, Australian actress and singer-songwriter (Young Divas)
  • Wang Hao, Chinese chess player
• August 5
  • Shanshan Feng, Chinese golfer
  • Mathieu Manset, French footballer
  • Jessica Nigri, American model and actress
  • Nina Radojčić, Serbian singer
• August 7 – DeMar DeRozan, American basketball player
• August 8
  • Ken Baumann, American actor and author
  • Sesil Karatantcheva, Bulgarian tennis player
  • Anthony Rizzo, American baseball player
  • Hannah Miley, British swimmer
• August 9
  • Meredith Deane, American actress
  • Lucy Dixon, British actress
  • Jason Heyward, American baseball player
  • Stefano Okaka, Italian footballer
• August 10
  • Sam Gagner, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Ben Sahar, Israeli footballer
  • Brenton Thwaites, Australian actor
• August 11
  • Junior Heffernan, Irish cyclist and triathlete (d. 2013)
  • Sebastian Huke, German footballer
  • Emma Wu, Taiwanese singer and actress
• August 14
  • Ander Herrera, Spanish professional footballer
  • Kyle Turris, Canadian ice hockey player
• August 15
  • Belinda, Mexican singer and actress
  • Joe Jonas, American musician, actor, and singer
  • Denise Oliver, Canadian voice actress
  • Carlos Pena Jr., American actor, dance,r and singer
• August 19 – Romeo Miller, American rapper and actor
• August 20 – Kirko Bangz, American rapper
• August 21
  • Rob Knox, English actor (d. 2008)
  • Hayden Panettiere, American actress and singer
• August 23 – Breanna Conrad, American reality television star
• August 24 – Andrés Mercado, Colombian actor and singer
• August 26 – James Harden, American basketball player
• August 27
  • Juliana Cannarozzo, American figure skater
  • Daniel Tovar, Mexican actor
• August 28
  • Valtteri Bottas, Finnish Formula One driver
  • Cassadee Pope, American singer-songwriter
• August 30 – Bebe Rexha, American singer-songwriter

September

Avicii

Logan Henderson

Steliana Nistor

Jason Derulo

Pia Wurtzbach

Emma Watkins

• September 1
  • Bill Kaulitz, German singer
  • Jefferson Montero, Ecuadorian footballer
  • Daniel Sturridge, English footballer
• September 2
  • Alexandre Pato, Brazilian footballer
  • Zedd, record producer, DJ, musician, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter
• September 5 – Kat Graham, Swiss-born American actress, model, singer, and dancer
• September 7 – Hugh Mitchell, British actor
• September 8
  • Avicii, Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer (d. 2018)
  • Sebastián Francini, Argentine actor
• September 9 – Sean Malto, American professional skateboarder
• September 12
  • Freddie Freeman, American baseball player
  • Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, Canadian artistic gymnast
  • Andrew Luck, American football player
• September 13
  • Jon Mannah, Australian rugby league player (d. 2013)
  • Thomas Müller, German football player
• September 14
  • Kazumi Evans, Canadian voice actress and singer
  • Tony Finau, American golfer
  • Logan Henderson, American actor, dancer, and singer
  • Jonathon Simmons, American basketball player
• September 15 – Steliana Nistor, Romanian artistic gymnast
• September 19 – Tyreke Evans, American basketball player, 2010 NBA Rookie of the Year
• September 21
  • Jason Derulo, American urban singer and actor
  • Emma Watkins, Australian entertainer, singer and actress
• September 22
  • Hyoyeon Kim, Korean singer
  • Sabine Lisicki, German tennis player
• September 23
  • A.J. Applegate, American pornographic actress
  • Dani Daniels, American pornographic actress
  • Sui He, Chinese model
  • Brandon Jennings, American basketball player
  • Kevin Norwood, American football player
  • Mara Scherzinger, German actress
• September 24 – Pia Wurtzbach, German-Filipina actress and model
• September 25 – Jordan Gavaris, Canadian actor
• September 26
  • Kieran Gibbs, English footballer
  • Emma Rigby, British actress
• September 27
  • Robi Domingo, Filipino actor
  • Rumi Ōkubo, Japanese voice actress
  • Park Tae-hwan, South Korean swimmer
• September 29 – Theo Adams, British performance artist

October

Brie Larson

Dakota Johnson

Kimmie Meissner

Mia Wasikowska

• October 1 – Brie Larson, American actress
• October 2
  • Janine Gutierrez, Filipino actress
  • Brad Peltz, American professional ice hockey player
• October 4
  • Dakota Johnson, American actress
  • Lil Mama, American rapper
  • Kimmie Meissner, American figure skater
  • Viktoria Rebensburg, German alpine skier
  • Rich Homie Quan, American rapper
• October 10 – Aimee Teegarden, American actress
• October 11
  • Tomoyuki Sugano, Japanese baseball pitcher
  • Michelle Wie, American golf player
• October 12 – Paulo Henrique Ganso, Brazilian football player
• October 13
  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, American politician and activist
  • Skyler Page, American animator and voice actor
• October 14 – Mia Wasikowska, Australian actress
• October 16
  • Dan Biggar, Welsh rugby union player
  • Jack Salvatore Jr., American actor
• October 17 – Sophie Luck, Australian actress
• October 19
  • Nikolija Jovanović, Serbian singer and dancer
  • Janine Tugonon, Filipina beauty queen
• October 20 – Jess Glynne, British singer
• October 22 – JPEGMAFIA, American rapper
• October 23 – Jonita Gandhi, Indo-Canadian singer
• October 24
  • Armin Bačinović, Slovenian football midfielder
  • T'erea Brown, American track and field athlete
  • Jack Colback, English footballer
  • B. J. Daniels, American football quarterback
  • Cristian Gamboa, Costa Rican footballer
  • Shenae Grimes, Canadian actress
  • Eric Hosmer, American professional baseball player
  • PewDiePie, Swedish YouTube celebrity
  • Igor Pisanjuk, Norwegian footballer
  • Eliza Taylor, Australian actress
• October 25 – Marina Keegan, American author and journalist
• October 28 – Camille Muffat, French swimmer (d. 2015)
• October 30 – Nastia Liukin, American artistic gymnast and Olympic gold medalist

November

Adam Rippon

Taron Egerton

Cody Linley

Candice Glover

• November 2 – Katelyn Tarver, American singer, songwriter, and actress
• November 3
  • Paula DeAnda, Mexican-born American singer
  • Joyce Jonathan, French singer
  • Kim Taek-yong, South Korean professional gamer
  • Elliott Tittensor, British actor
  • Luke Tittensor, British actor
• November 5 – Andrew Boyce, English footballer
• November 6
  • Jozy Altidore, American soccer player
  • Aaron Hernandez, American football player (d. 2017)
• November 8 – Giancarlo Stanton, American baseball player.
• November 9 – Gianluca Bezzina, Maltese doctor and singer
• November 10
  • Taron Egerton, British actor
  • Adeele Sepp, Estonian actress
• November 11
  • Adam Rippon, American figure skater
  • Reina Tanaka, Japanese rock singer
• November 14
  • Emis Killa, Italian rapper
  • Jake Livermore, English footballer
• November 15 – Jona Viray, Filipina singer
• November 19
  • Caitlynne Medrek, Canadian actress and voice actress
  • Tyga, American rapper
• November 20
  • Cody Linley, American actor
  • Sergei Polunin, Ukrainian ballet dancer
• November 21 – Fabian Delph, English footballer
• November 22
  • Alden Ehrenreich, American actor
  • Candice Glover, American singer
• November 24 – Jordan Witzigreuter, American singer-songwriter
• November 25 – Tom Dice, Belgian singer-songwriter
• November 26 – Angeline Quinto, Filipina singer and actress
• November 27
  • Loveli, Japanese model
  • Freddie Sears, English footballer
• November 28
  • Claire Brookin, British darts player
  • Ayesha Gwilt, British actress
  • Martin Hare, British handball player

December

Nicholas Hoult

Taylor Swift

Onew

Ashley Benson

• December 2
  • Cassie Steele, Canadian actress and singer
  • Robert Turbin, American football player
• December 3 – Bette Franke, Dutch model
• December 4
  • Garron DuPree, American musician
  • Nafessa Williams, American actress
• December 5
  • Gregory Tyree Boyce, American actor
  • Katy Kung, Hong Kong actress
  • Kwon Yuri, Korean singer
• December 7 – Nicholas Hoult, British actor
• December 9 – Eric Bledsoe, American basketball player
• December 10 – Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, French politician
• December 12 – Janelle Arthur, American singer
• December 13 – Taylor Swift, American pop and country singer-songwriter and record producer
• December 14 – Onew, Korean singer
• December 15
  • Nichole Bloom, American actress and model
  • Lady Leshurr, English rapper, singer and producer
• December 18 – Ashley Benson, American actress
• December 19
  • Valdimar Bergstað, Icelandic horse rider
  • Yong Jun-hyung, Korean singer
• December 21 – Tamannaah, Indian model and actress
• December 22
  • Logan Huffman, American actor
  • Jordin Sparks, American singer
• December 26
  • Yohan Blake, Jamaican athlete
  • Sora Tokui, Japanese voice actress, singer, and manga artist
• December 27 – Kateryna Lagno, Ukrainian chess player
• December 28
  • Jessie Buckley, Irish actress and singer
  • Mackenzie Rosman, American actress
  • Salvador Sobral, Portuguese singer
• December 29
  • Left Brain, American rapper and music producer
  • Jane Levy, American actress
  • Kei Nishikori, Japanese tennis player
• December 30 – Ryan Sheckler, American skateboarder

Deaths

January

Emperor Hirohito

José Bustamante y Rivero

Józef Cyrankiewicz

Muharrem Bajraktari

Salvador Dalí

• January 3 – Robert Banks, American chemist (b. 1921)
• January 4
  • D. R. Nanayakkara, Sri Lanka actor (b. 1915)
  • Dvora Netzer, Israeli politician (b. 1897)
• January 6
  • Jim Hurtubise, American race car driver (b. 1932)
  • Sir Edmund Leach, British anthropologist (b. 1910)
• January 7
  • Frank Adams, British mathematician (b. 1930)
  • Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1901)
• January 8 – Kenneth McMillan, American actor (b. 1932)
• January 9 – Bill Terry, American baseball player (b. 1898)
• January 10
  • Hai Deng, Chinese abbot of Shaolin Temple (b. 1902)
  • Herbert Morrison, American radio reporter (b. 1905)
  • Donald Voorhees, American composer and musician (b. 1903)
• January 11
  • Einar Andersson, Swedish opera singer (b. 1909)
  • José Bustamante y Rivero, Peruvian politician, diplomat, and jurist, 33rd President of Peru (b. 1894)
  • August Koern, Estonian statesman and diplomat (b. 1900)
• January 13 – Joe Spinell, American actor (b. 1936)
• January 14
  • Robert B. Anderson, American administrator and businessman (b. 1910)
  • Robert Lembke, German television presenter and game show host (b. 1913)
• January 16
  • Prem Nazir, Indian actor (b. 1926)
  • Trey Wilson, American actor (b. 1948)
• January 17 – Óscar Vargas Prieto, Peruvian soldier and politician, 111th Prime Minister of Peru (b. 1917)
• January 18 – Bruce Chatwin, British author (b. 1940)
• January 19 – Norma Varden, English actress (b. 1898)
• January 20
  • Józef Cyrankiewicz, Polish communist politician, 2-time Prime Minister of Poland and 15th President of Poland (b. 1911)
  • Beatrice Lillie, Canadian actress (b. 1894)
• January 21
  • Muharrem Bajraktari, Albanian Muslim tribal leader, political and military figure (b. 1896)
  • Carl Furillo, American baseball player (b. 1922)
  • Billy Tipton, American musician (b. 1914)
• January 23 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (b. 1904)
• January 24 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer (b. 1946)
• January 27
  • Bayani Casimiro, Filipino dancer and actor (b. 1918)
  • Sir Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer and yachtsman (b. 1888)
• January 28
  • Mikhail Chulaki, Soviet composer (b. 1908)
  • Halina Konopacka, Polish Olympic athlete (b. 1900)
• January 30 – Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz (b. 1936)
• January 31 – Fernando Gonçalves Namora, Portuguese writer and doctor (b. 1919)

February

Ondrej Nepela

Osamu Tezuka

Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan

Roy Eldridge

• February 1 – Elaine de Kooning, American artist (b. 1919)
• February 2
  • Yuri Bogatyryov, Soviet actor (b. 1947)
  • Ondrej Nepela, Slovakian figure skater (b. 1951)
• February 3
  • John Cassavetes, American actor and author (b. 1929)
  • Glenna Collett-Vare, American golfer (b. 1903)
  • Betty Farrington, American actress (b. 1898)
• February 6
  • Ron Field, American choreographer (b. 1934)
  • Netty Herawaty, Indonesian actress (b. 1930)
  • Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian (b. 1912)
• February 7 – Prince Wilhelm Victor of Prussia (b. 1919)
• February 8 – Lael Rodrigues, Brazilian filmmaker (b. 1951)
• February 9 – Osamu Tezuka, Japanese artist (b. 1928)
• February 11
  • Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Sheikh ruler of Abu Dhabi (b. 1905)
  • T. E. B. Clarke, British screenwriter (b. 1907)
  • George O'Hanlon, American actor and director (b. 1912)
• February 13
  • Claude Dupuy, French priest and bishop (b. 1901)
  • Princess Eugénie of Greece and Denmark (b. 1910)
• February 14
  • James Bond, American ornithologist (b. 1900)
  • Vincent Crane, British musician (b. 1943)
• February 16 – Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg (b. 1899)
• February 17
  • Lefty Gomez, American baseball player (b. 1908)
  • Joe Raposo, American musician, composer (b. 1937)
• February 18 – John Bailey, British actor (b. 1912)
• February 20 – Robert Dorning, British actor (b. 1913)
• February 21
  • Sándor Márai, Hungarian writer and journalist (b. 1900)
  • Moshe Unna, Israeli politician (b. 1902)
• February 22 – Moisés da Costa Amaral, East Timor politician (b. 1938)
• February 23 – José Romão Martenetz, Soviet monk (b. 1903)
• February 24 – Sparky Adams, American baseball player (b. 1894)
• February 26 – Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
• February 27
  • Paul Oswald Ahnert, German astronomer (b. 1897)
  • Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)

March

Salvatore Dell'Isola

Maurice Evans

Sa`id Al-Mufti

• March 2 – Liviu Cornel Babeș, Romanian electrician and painter (b. 1943)
• March 3 – Kenneth Hegan, English amateur footballer, professional soldier (b. 1901)
• March 4 – Salvatore Dell'Isola, Italian conductor (b. 1901)
• March 6 – Harry Andrews, British actor (b. 1911)
• March 8
  • Carl Stuart Hamblen, American musician (b. 1908)
  • Robert Lacoste, French politician (b. 1898)
• March 9 – Robert Mapplethorpe, American activist, artist, and photographer (b. 1946)
• March 10 – Maurizio Merli, Italian actor (b. 1940)
• March 11 – James Kee, American politician (b. 1917)
• March 12
  • Maurice Evans, British actor (b. 1901)
  • Thaddeus B. Hurd, American architect and historian (b. 1903)
• March 14
  • Edward Abbey, American author and environmentalist (b. 1927)
  • Stephen D. Bechtel, Sr., American businessman (b. 1900)
  • Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Queen consort of Hungary and Empress consort of Austria (b. 1892)
• March 16
  • Jesús María de Leizaola, Spanish politician (b. 1896)
  • George Lynn, American composer and conductor (b. 1915)
• March 17 – Merritt Butrick, American actor (b. 1959)
• March 19
  • Abe Akira, Japanese author (b. 1934)
  • Alan Civil, English-born French horn player (b. 1929)
• March 20 – Dina Sfat, Brazilian actress (b. 1938)
• March 21 – Milton Frome, American actor (b. 1909)
• March 25 – Sa`id Al-Mufti, Jordanian political figure, 9th Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1898)
• March 27
  • May Allison, American actress (b. 1890)
  • Malcolm Cowley, American author (b. 1898)
  • Jack Starrett, American actor and director (b. 1936)
• March 29
  • Bernard Blier, French actor (b. 1916)
  • Aleksandr Prokopenko, Soviet footballer (b. 1953)
• March 31 – Piotr Belousov, Soviet painter (b. 1912)

April

Sugar Ray Robinson

Sergio Leone

Emilio Segrè

Hamani Diori

Lucille Ball

• April 1
  • Richard Austin, American conductor (b. 1903)
  • George Robledo, Chilean soccer player (b. 1926)
• April 3
  • Mustafa Çağatay, Turkish-Cypriot politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus (b. 1937)
  • Vishnu Sahay, Indian politician and civil servant (b. 1901)
• April 6 – Zofia Batycka, Polish actress and model (b. 1907)
• April 7 – Cheng Nan-jung, supporter of Taiwan independence movement (b. 1947)
• April 8 – Maria Prilezhayeva, Russian author (b. 1903)
• April 9
  • Gerald Flood, British actor (b. 1927)
  • Sugar Ray Robinson, American professional boxer (b. 1921)
  • Moshe Ziffer, Israeli sculptor (b. 1902)
• April 12
  • Abbie Hoffman, American political activist (b. 1936)
  • Charles Joy, British engineer and designer (b. 1911)
• April 13
  • Patriarch Paul II Cheikho (b. 1906)
  • António Ferreira Gomes, Portuguese bishop (b. 1906)
• April 15
  • Carol Graham, British Anglican missionary (b. 1898)
  • Hu Yaobang, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1915)
  • Bernard-Marie Koltès, French playwright (b. 1948)
• April 16 – Jocko Conlan, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1899)
• April 19
  • Harold Isherwood, British Anglican bishop (b. 1907)
  • Dame Daphne du Maurier, British writer (b. 1907)
• April 21
  • Princess Deokhye of Korea (b. 1912)
  • James Kirkwood, Jr., American playwright (b. 1924)
• April 22 – Emilio Segrè, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
• April 23
  • Hamani Diori, Nigerien politician, 1st President of Niger (b. 1916)
  • Hu Die, Chinese actress (b. 1907)
• April 24
  • Charles Grant, British prelate (b. 1906)
  • Edgar Sanabria, Venezuelan lawyer, diplomat, and politician, Interim President of Venezuela (b. 1911)
• April 25 – George Coulouris, British actor (b. 1903)
• April 26 – Lucille Ball, American actress, comedian, and entertainer (b. 1911)
• April 27
  • Konosuke Matsushita, Japanese industrialist (b. 1894)
  • Eriberto Arroyo Mío, Peruvian politician (b. 1943)
• April 30
  • Sergio Leone, Italian film director (b. 1929)
  • Guy Williams, Italian-born American actor (b. 1924)

May

Edward Ochab

Zdeněk Frolík

Xiao Wangdong

• May 1
  • Francisco do Borja Pereira do Amaral, Brazilian bishop (b. 1898)
  • Edward Ochab, Polish activist and politician, 13th President of Poland (b. 1906)
• May 2 – Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (b. 1906)
• May 3
  • Zdeněk Frolík, Czechoslovak mathematician (b. 1933)
  • Christine Jorgensen, Norwegian actress, singer, and writer (b. 1926)
• May 4 – Chalam, Indian actor (b. 1929)
• May 6 – Adolfo Constanzo, Cuban-born American serial killer (b. 1962)
• May 9 – Keith Whitley, American singer (b. 1955)
• May 10 – Woody Shaw, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1944)
• May 11 – Xiao Wangdong, Chinese general and Minister of Culture (b. 1910)
• May 15 – Johnny Green, American songwriter (b. 1908)
• May 16 – Leila Kasra, Iranian-born American poet (b. 1939)
• May 17 – Walter Gross, German actor (b. 1904)
• May 19
  • Anton Diffring, German actor (b. 1916)
  • Abel Herzberg, Dutch-born Israeli lawyer and writer (b. 1893)
  • Robert Webber, American actor (b. 1924)
• May 20
  • Peter Evans, American actor (b. 1950)
  • John Hicks, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
  • Gilda Radner, American comedian and actress (b. 1946)
• May 26
  • Eugene James Keogh, American politician (b. 1907)
  • Don Revie, English footballer and manager (b. 1927)
• May 29
  • John Cipollina, American musician (b. 1943)
  • Giuseppe Patanè, Italian conductor (b. 1932)
• May 30 – James Harry Lacey, British fighter pilot (b. 1917)
• May 31
  • Prince Friedrich Ferdinand of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (b. 1913)
  • Edward Hubbard, British architectural historian (b. 1937)
  • C. L. R. James, Trinidadian journalist and writer (b. 1901)

June

Ruhollah Khomeini

Victor French

Prince Vasili Alexandrovich of Russia

Hilmar Baunsgaard

• June 3
  • Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian philosopher, politician, revolutionary and Shia Muslim religious leader, 1st Supreme Leader of Iran (b. 1902)
  • Sir John McCauley, RAAF Senior Commander (b. 1899)
• June 4
  • Dik Browne, American cartoonist (b. 1917)
  • Václav Kašlík, Czech composer (b. 1917)
• June 7
  • Don the Beachcomber, American restaurateur (b. 1907)
  • Nara Leão, Brazilian singer (b. 1942)
• June 8 – Albert Spaggiari, French criminal (b. 1932)
• June 9
  • George Beadle, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
  • Rashid Behbudov, Azerbaijani singer and actor (b. 1915)
  • José López Rega, Argentine politician (b. 1916)
  • Karl Skytte, Danish politician (b. 1908)
• June 10 – Richard Quine, American actor (b. 1920)
• June 12 – Princess Niloufer of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1916)
• June 13 – Fran Allison, Australian actress (b. 1907)
• June 14 – Joseph Malula, Congolese archbishop and cardinal (b. 1917)
• June 15
  • Victor French, American actor and director (b. 1934)
  • Judy Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1899)
  • Ray McAnally, Irish actor (b. 1926)
  • Lưu Hữu Phước, Vietnamese composer (b. 1921)
• June 17 – John Matuszak, American football player and actor (b. 1950)
• June 20 – Dieter Aderhold, German politician (b. 1939)
• June 22
  • Lee Calhoun, American Olympic athlete (b. 1933)
  • Menahem Stern, Israeli historian (b. 1925)
• June 23
  • Werner Best, German Nazi official (b. 1903)
  • Prince Vasili Alexandrovich of Russia (b. 1907)
• June 24
  • Albennie Jones, American urban and jazz musician (b. 1914)
  • Hibari Misora, Japanese singer (b. 1937)
• June 26
  • Howard Charles Green, Canadian politician (b. 1895)
  • Walter Ralston Martin, American minister (b. 1928)
• June 27
  • Sir Alfred Ayer, British philosopher (b. 1910)
  • Jack Buetel, American actor (b. 1915)
  • Michele Lupo, Italian film director (b. 1932)
• June 28 – Joris Ivens, Dutch filmmaker (b. 1898)
• June 30 – Hilmar Baunsgaard, Danish politician and 34th Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1920)

July

Win Maung

János Kádár

Herbert von Karajan

Kazimierz Sabbat

• July 2
  • Andrei Gromyko, Soviet politician and diplomat (b. 1909)
  • Franklin Schaffner, American film director (b. 1920)
  • Ben Wright, British actor in radio, film, and television (b. 1915)
• July 3 – Jim Backus, American actor (b. 1913)
• July 4
  • Jack Haig, British actor (b. 1913)
  • Vic Perrin, American voice actor (b. 1916)
  • Win Maung, 3rd President of Myanmar (b. 1916)
  • Nelson Sullivan American videographer (b. 1948)
• July 5 – Berthold Wolpe, German-born British calligrapher, typographer, and illustrator (b. 1905)
• July 6 – János Kádár, Hungarian politician and communist leader, 46th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1912)
• July 9 – Andrex, French actor (b. 1907)
• July 10 – Mel Blanc, American voice actor (b. 1908)
• July 11 – Laurence Olivier, English stage and screen actor and director (b. 1907)
• July 12
  • Princess Franziska of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (b. 1897)
  • Prince Wolfgang of Hesse (b. 1896)
• July 14 – José María García Lahiguera, Spanish archbishop (b. 1903)
• July 15 – Laurie Cunningham, English footballer (b. 1956)
• July 16 – Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (b. 1908)
• July 17 – Itubwa Amram, Nauruan pastor and politician (b. 1922)
• July 18
  • Donnie Moore, American baseball player (b. 1954)
  • Rebecca Schaeffer, American actress (b. 1967)
• July 19 – Kazimierz Sabbat, 2-time Prime Minister of Poland and 15th President of Poland (b. 1913)
• July 20
  • Juan Carlos Altavista, Argentine actor (b. 1929)
  • Forrest H. Anderson, American politician (b. 1913)
  • Mary Treen, American film actress (b. 1907)
• July 22 – Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (b. 1935)
• July 23
  • Donald Barthelme, American writer (b. 1931)
  • Archduchess Charlotte of Austria (b. 1921)
  • Michael Sundin, English television presenter (b. 1961)
• July 24 – Ernie Morrison, American actor (b. 1912)
• July 29 – Nancy Andrews, American actress (b. 1920)
• July 30 – Lane Frost, American bull rider (b. 1963)

August

George Andreasen

William Shockley

Pua Kealoha

• August 1 – John Ogdon, British pianist (b. 1937)
• August 4
  • Maurice Colbourne, British actor (b. 1939)
  • Franziska Liebing, Swedish actress (b. 1901)
• August 7
  • Mickey Leland, American politician (b. 1944)
  • Gunnar Mattsson, Swedish-born Finnish writer and journalist (b. 1937)
• August 8 – Bobby Oxspring, British flying ace (b. 1919)
• August 9
  • Richard Alexander, American actor (b. 1902)
  • Karl Kvaran, Icelandic painter (b. 1924)
• August 11 – George Andreasen, American orthodonist and inventor (b. 1934)
• August 12 – William Shockley, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
• August 13
  • Hugo del Carril, Argentine film actor, film director, and tango singer (b. 1912)
  • Tim Richmond, American race car driver (b. 1955)
• August 14 – Robert Bernard Anderson, American political figure (b. 1910)
• August 15
  • Minoru Genda, Japanese aviator, naval officer, and politician (b. 1904)
  • Dorothea Leighton, American social psychiatrist, founded the field of medical anthropology (b. 1908)
• August 16
  • Jean-Hilaire Aubame, French-born Gabonese politician (b. 1912)
  • Amanda Blake, American actress (b. 1929)
• August 17 – Lin Tie, Chinese politician (b. 1904)
• August 18 – Luis Carlos Galan, Colombian politician (b. 1943)
• August 20
  • George Adamson, Indian-born American conservationist (b. 1906)
  • Joseph LaShelle, American cinematographer (b. 1900)
• August 21 – Raul Seixas, Brazilian rock singer (b. 1945)
• August 22
  • John Clyne, Canadian jurist (b. 1902)
  • Huey P. Newton, African-American political activist (b. 1942)
  • Diana Vreeland, American fashion editor (b. 1929)
• August 23 – R. D. Laing, British psychiatrist (b. 1927)
• August 26 – Irving Stone, American writer (b. 1903)
• August 27 – Luiz Luz, Brazilian footballer (b. 1909)
• August 29
  • Pua Kealoha, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1902)
  • Sir Peter Scott, British naturalist, artist, and explorer (b. 1909)
• August 30
  • Joe Collins, American baseball player (b. 1922)
  • Joe De Santis, American actor and sculptor (b. 1909)

September

Irving Berlin

Ferdinand Marcos

• September 1 – A. Bartlett Giamatti, American educator and baseball Commissioner (b. 1938)
• September 4
  • Edmund Peiris, Sri Lankan bishop (b. 1897)
  • Georges Simenon, Belgian writer (b. 1903)
  • Ronald Syme, New Zealand-born classicist and historian (b. 1903)
• September 5
  • Les Allen, Australian footballer (b. 1911)
  • William Mann, British music critic (b. 1924)
• September 8
  • John Joseph Cassata, American bishop (b. 1908)
  • Ann George, British actress (b. 1903)
  • Paul Alfred Weiss, Austrian biologist (b. 1898)
• September 13 – Charles H. Russell, American politician, 20th Governor of Nevada (b. 1903)
• September 14 – Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban musician (b. 1916)
• September 15 – Robert Penn Warren, American writer (b. 1905)
• September 17
  • Hugh Quincy Alexander, American politician (b. 1911)
  • Sir Richard Hull, British field marshal (b. 1907)
  • Steven Stayner, American kidnapping victim (b. 1965)
• September 22 – Irving Berlin, American composer (b. 1888)
• September 23 – Bradley Kincaid, American singer (b. 1894)
• September 28 – Ferdinand Marcos, Filipino dictator, politician, and statesman, 10th President of the Philippines (b. 1917)
• September 30
  • Horace Alexander, British writer, pacifist, and ornithologist (b. 1889)
  • Virgil Thomson, American composer (b. 1896)
  • Huỳnh Tấn Phát, Vietnamese politician, 16th Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam (b. 1913)

October

Paola Barbara

Bette Davis

Anthony Quayle

• October 2
  • Paola Barbara, Italian actress (b. 1912)
  • Vittorio Caprioli, Italian actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
  • Jesús Emilio Jaramillo Monsalve, Colombian prelate (b. 1916)
• October 4 – Graham Chapman, British comedian (b. 1941)
• October 6 – Bette Davis, American actress (b. 1908)
• October 9 – Penny Lernoux, American journalist and author (b. 1940)
• October 11
  • M. King Hubbert, American geophysicist (b. 1903)
  • Paul Shenar, American actor (b. 1936)
• October 12 – Jay Ward, American animator (b. 1920)
• October 16
  • Scott O'Dell, American children's writer (b. 1898)
  • Cornel Wilde, American actor (b. 1915)
• October 20
  • Manuel Gregorio Acosta, Mexican-born American painter (b. 1921)
  • Dahn Ben-Amotz, Israeli journalist and author (b. 1924)
  • Sir Anthony Quayle, British actor (b. 1913)
• October 22
  • Ewan MacColl, British actor, musician, and political activist (b. 1915)
  • Roland Winters, American actor (b. 1904)
• October 24 – Gopal Gurunath Bewoor, Indian military officer (b. 1916)
• October 25 – Mary McCarthy, American writer (b. 1912)
• October 26 – Charles J. Pedersen, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
• October 28
  • Henry Hall, British bandleader (b. 1898)
  • Yuliya Solntseva, Soviet actress (b. 1901)
• October 30 – Pedro Vargas, Mexican singer and actor (b. 1904)
• October 31
  • Georgi Partsalev, Bulgarian theatre and film actor (b. 1925)
  • Roger Scott, British radio disk jockey (b. 1943)

November

Franz Joseph II

René Moawad

Carlos Arias Navarro

Ahmadou Ahidjo

• November 1 – Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, American civil rights activist (b. 1898)
• November 2 – Andrée Brabant, French actress (b. 1901)
• November 3 – Timoci Bavadra, Fijian physician and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Fiji (b. 1934)
• November 5
  • Vladimir Horowitz, Russian pianist (b. 1903)
  • Barry Sadler, American soldier and singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
• November 6 – Little Sister Magdeleine of Jesus, French religious sister and missionary (b. 1898)
• November 11 – Kenneth MacLean Glazier Sr., Canadian minister and librarian (b. 1912)
• November 12 – Édouard Candeveau, Swiss Olympic rower (b. 1898)
• November 13
  • Victor Davis, Canadian Olympic swimmer (b. 1964)
  • Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein (b. 1906)
• November 16
  • Jean-Claude Malepart, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1938)
  • Murder of Three Salvadorian Jesuit priests:
    • Ignacio Ellacuría, Jesuit priest and theologian (b. 1930)
    • Ignacio Martín-Baró, Jesuit priest and theologian (b. 1942)
    • Segundo Montes, Jesuit priest and theologian (b. 1933)
• November 19
  • Grant Adcox, American race car driver (b. 1950)
  • Nancy Drexel, American actress (b. 1910)
• November 20
  • Lynn Bari, American actress (b. 1913)
  • Leonardo Sciascia, Italian writer (b. 1921)
• November 22
  • C. C. Beck, American cartoonist (b. 1910)
  • René Moawad, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 13th President of Lebanon (assassinated) (b. 1925)
• November 23 – Mariko Shiga, Japanese voice actress (b. 1969)
• November 24 – Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, Palestinian Sunni Islamic scholar and theologian (b. 1941)
• November 25 – George Cakobau, Governor-General of Fiji (b. 1912)
• November 26 – Ahmed Abdallah, Comorian politician, 1st President of Comoros (b. 1919)
• November 27 – Carlos Arias Navarro, Spanish politician, 71st Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1908)
• November 28 – Ernesto Civardi, Italian cardinal (b. 1906)
• November 29
  • Gubby Allen, English cricketer (b. 1902)
  • Giuseppe Antonini, Italian football player (b. 1914)
  • Mario Colli, Italian actor (b. 1915)
  • A. Maruthakasi, Indian poet and lyricist (b. 1920)
• November 30
  • Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroonian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cameroon and President of Cameroon (b. 1924)
  • Hassan Fathy, Egyptian architect (b. 1900)

December

Andrei Sakharov

José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha

Samuel Beckett

Nicolae Ceaușescu

Hermann Oberth

• December 1 – Alvin Ailey, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1931)
• December 2 – Ray Morehart, American baseball player (b. 1899)
• December 3
  • Sourou-Migan Apithy, Beninese political figure, 2nd President of Dahomey (b. 1913)
  • Boris Stepanovich Lukoshkov, Soviet painter (b. 1922)
  • Fernando Martín, Spanish basketball player (b. 1962)
• December 4 – Frederick Elwyn Jones, British barrister and Labour politician (b. 1909)
• December 5 – John Pritchard, British conductor (b. 1921)
• December 6
  • Frances Bavier, American actress (b. 1902)
  • Sammy Fain, American composer (b. 1902)
  • Marc Lépine, Canadian mass murderer (b. 1964)
  • John Payne, American actor (b. 1912)
• December 7 – Haystacks Calhoun, American professional wrestler (b. 1934)
• December 8 – Hans Hartung, German-born French painter (b. 1904)
• December 11
  • Carlos Almaraz, Mexican-born American artist (b. 1941)
  • Lindsay Crosby, American singer and actor (b. 1938)
• December 14
  • Jock Mahoney, American actor (b. 1919)
  • Andrei Sakharov, Soviet physicist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1921)
• December 15
  • José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, Colombian drug lord and criminal (b. 1947)
  • Edward Underdown, British stage and film veteran (b. 1908)
• December 16
  • Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (b. 1930)
  • Aileen Pringle, American actress (b. 1895)
• December 16 – Lee Van Cleef, American actor (b. 1925)
• December 17 – Albert C. Wedemeyer, American general (b. 1897)
• December 19
  • María Teresa Babín Cortés, Puerto Rican educator, critic, and essayist (b. 1910)
  • Herbert Blaize, Grenadian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1918)
  • Kirill Mazurov, Soviet politician (b. 1914)
• December 20 – Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
• December 21
  • Ján Cikker, Slovak composer (b. 1911)
  • Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Nigerian-born British photographer (b. 1955)
• December 22
  • Samuel Beckett, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
  • Vasile Milea, Romanian military officer and politician, minister of Defense (b. 1927)
• December 23 – Peter Bennett, British actor (b. 1917)
• December 25
  • Elena Ceaușescu, Romanian politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1919)
  • Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian politician, dictator, and Communist Party head, 1st President of Romania(b. 1918)
  • Billy Martin, American baseball player and manager (b. 1928)
• December 26 – Lennox Berkeley, English composer (b. 1903)
• December 28
  • Brian Coburn, British actor (b. 1936)
  • Hermann Oberth, Austro-Hungarian-born German engineer, physicist and scientist (b. 1894)
• December 30
  • Yasuji Miyazaki, Japanese Olympic swimmer (b. 1916)
  • Madoline Thomas, Welsh actress (b. 1890)
• December 31
  • Gerhard Schröder, German politician (b. 1910)
  • Sir Ignatius Kilage, 4th Governor-General of Papua New Guinea (b. 1941)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Norman F. Ramsey, Hans G. Dehmelt, Wolfgang Paul
• Chemistry – Sidney Altman, Thomas R. Cech
• Medicine – J. Michael Bishop, Harold E. Varmus
• Literature – Camilo José Cela
• Peace – Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
• Cage of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – Trygve Haavelmo

Further reading

• Ash, Timothy Garton. The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague (1999) excerpt
• Kenney, Padraic, ed. 1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End: A Brief History with Documents (2009)
• Sebestyen, Victor. Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire (2010) excerpt

External links

• After the fall – Europe after 1989
• Mikhail Gorbachev on 1989 – 2009 interview by The Nation
• Freedom Without Walls: German Missions in the United States Looking Back at the Fall of the Berlin Wall – official homepage in English