2001

This article is about the year 2001. For the film, see 2001: A Space Odyssey (film). For other uses, see 2001 (disambiguation).

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century 21st century 22nd century
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Years:	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

2001 by topic:

Arts

Animation (Anime) – Architecture – Comics – Film (Horror, Science fiction) – Home video – Literature (Poetry) – Music (Classical, Country, Hip hop, Jazz, Latin, Metal, Rock, UK, US, Korea) – Radio – Photo – Television (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, UK, Scotland, US) – Video games

Politics and government

Elections – International leaders – Sovereign states Sovereign state leaders – Territorial governors

Science and technology

Archaeology – Biotechnology – Computing – Palaeontology – Quantum computing and communication – Senescence research – Space/Astronomy – Spaceflight – Sustainable energy research

Environment and environmental sciences

Birding/Ornithology – Climate change – Weather

Transportation

Aviation – Rail transport – Transportation technology

Sports

American football – Association football – Athletics (sport) – Badminton – Baseball – Basketball – Chess – Combat sports – Cricket – Cycling – Golf – Ice hockey – Rugby union – Swimming – Tennis – Volleyball

By place

Afghanistan – Albania – Algeria – Andorra – Angola – Antarctica – Antigua and Barbuda – Argentina – Armenia – Australia – Austria – Azerbaijan – Bangladesh – The Bahamas – Bahrain – Barbados – Belarus – Belgium– Belize – Benin – Bhutan – Bolivia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Botswana – Brazil – Brunei – Bulgaria – Burkina Faso – Burundi – Cambodia – Cameroon – Canada – Cape Verde – Central African Republic – Chad – Chile – China – Colombia – Costa Rica – Comoros – Congo – D.R. Congo – Croatia – Cuba – Cyprus – Czech Republic – Denmark – Djibouti – Dominica – Dominican Republic – East Timor – Ecuador – Egypt – El Salvador – Eritrea – Estonia – Ethiopia – Eswatini – Equatorial Guinea – Fiji – Finland – France – Gabon – The Gambia – Georgia – Germany – Ghana – Greece – Grenada – Guatemala – Guinea – Guinea-Bissau – Guyana – Haiti – Honduras – Hong Kong – Hungary – Iceland – India – Indonesia – Iran – Iraq – Ireland – Israel – Italy – Ivory Coast – Jamaica – Japan – Jordan – Kazakhstan – Kenya – Kiribati – Kosovo – Kuwait – Kyrgyzstan – Laos – Latvia – Lebanon – Lesotho – Liberia – Liechtenstein – Libya – Lithuania – Luxembourg – Macau – Madagascar – Marshall Islands – Malawi – Malaysia – Maldives – Mali – Malta – Mauritania – Mauritius – Mexico – Micronesia – Moldova – Monaco – Mongolia – Montenegro – Morocco – Mozambique – Myanmar – Nauru – Namibia – Nepal – Netherlands – New Zealand – Nicaragua – Niger – Nigeria – North Korea – North Macedonia – Norway – Oman – Pakistan – Palau – Palestine – Panama – Papua New Guinea – Paraguay – Peru – Philippines – Poland – Portugal – Qatar – Romania – Russia – Rwanda – Saint Kitts and Nevis – Saint Lucia – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – Samoa – San Marino – São Tomé and Príncipe – Saudi Arabia – Senegal – Serbia – Seychelles – Sierra Leone – Singapore – Slovakia – Slovenia – Somalia – South Africa – Solomon Islands – South Korea – South Sudan – Spain – Sri Lanka – Sudan – Suriname – Sweden – Switzerland – Syria – Taiwan – Tajikistan – Tanzania – Thailand – Togo – Tonga – Trinidad and Tobago – Tunisia – Turkey – Turkmenistan – Tuvalu – Uganda – Ukraine – United Arab Emirates – United Kingdom – United States – Uruguay – Uzbekistan – Vanuatu – Vatican City – Venezuela – Vietnam – Yemen – Zambia – Zimbabwe

Other topics

Religious leaders

Birth and death categories

Births – Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments – Disestablishments

Works and introductions categories

Works – Introductions Works entering the public domain

2001 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	2001 MMI
Ab urbe condita	2754
Armenian calendar	1450 ԹՎ ՌՆԾ
Assyrian calendar	6751
Baháʼí calendar	157–158
Balinese saka calendar	1922–1923
Bengali calendar	1408
Berber calendar	2951
British Regnal year	49 Eliz. 2 – 50 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2545
Burmese calendar	1363
Byzantine calendar	7509–7510
Chinese calendar	庚辰年 (Metal Dragon) 4697 or 4637     — to — 辛巳年 (Metal Snake) 4698 or 4638
Coptic calendar	1717–1718
Discordian calendar	3167
Ethiopian calendar	1993–1994
Hebrew calendar	5761–5762
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2057–2058
- Shaka Samvat	1922–1923
- Kali Yuga	5101–5102
Holocene calendar	12001
Igbo calendar	1001–1002
Iranian calendar	1379–1380
Islamic calendar	1421–1422
Japanese calendar	Heisei 13 (平成１３年)
Javanese calendar	1933–1934
Juche calendar	90
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4334
Minguo calendar	ROC 90 民國90年
Nanakshahi calendar	533
Thai solar calendar	2544
Tibetan calendar	阳金龙年 (male Iron-Dragon) 2127 or 1746 or 974     — to — 阴金蛇年 (female Iron-Snake) 2128 or 1747 or 975
Unix time	978307200 – 1009843199

2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2001st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 1st year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 2nd year of the 2000s decade.

The year 2001 is notable for the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the United States. 2001 was designated as International Year of Volunteers.

Events

January

• January 9 – iTunes is launched.
• January 10 – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission approves the merger of America Online and Time Warner to form AOL Time Warner.
• January 13 – A 7.6 magnitude earthquake hits all of El Salvador, killing at least 800 people and leaving thousands homeless.
• January 15 – Wikipedia is launched.
• January 16 – Assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila: The President of the Congo is shot in his office and is rushed to Harare in Zimbabwe for medical treatment; his death will be announced two days later.
• January 20
  • George W. Bush is sworn in as the 43rd president of the United States.
  • Impeachment proceedings against Philippine President Joseph Estrada, accused of corruption, end preeminently and trigger the second EDSA People Power Revolution (or People Power II). His Vice-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo succeeds him as the 14th president of the Republic.
• January 21 – Taba Summit between Israel and its Arab opponents begins in Egypt.
• January 23 – Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident: Members of banned religious sect Falun Gong allegedly set themselves on fire; the facts are disputed.
• January 26 – The 7.7 M_w Gujarat earthquake shakes Western India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 13,805–20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured.

February

• February 9 – Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville collision: The submarine USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and sinks the Japanese training vessel Ehime-Maru near Hawaii, resulting in nine deaths, including several students and teachers.
• February 12 – The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
• February 13 – A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 400 people.
• February 16 – Iraq disarmament crisis: British and U.S. forces carry out bombing raids, attempting to disable Iraq's air defense network.
• February 18 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for committing espionage. He is currently serving a sentence of fifteen consecutive life sentences in a supermax prison.
• February 19 – The 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak begins.

March

• March 2 – The Taliban begins destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan.
• March 4 – The Hintze Ribeiro disaster in northern Portugal kills 59 people.
• March 23 – The deorbit of Russian space station Mir is carried out near Nadi, Fiji, with Mir falling into the South Pacific Ocean.

April

• April 1
  • Hainan Island incident: A Chinese fighter jet collides with a U.S. EP-3E surveillance aircraft, which is forced to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China. The U.S. crew is detained for 10 days and the F-8 Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, goes missing and is presumed dead.
  • In the Netherlands, the Act on the Opening up of Marriage goes into effect, allowing same-sex couples to marry, making this the first country in the world to legalize such unions in modern times.
• April 2 – Former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on charges of war crimes.
• April 28 – Soyuz TM-32 lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the first space tourist, American Dennis Tito.

May

• May 6 – Space tourist Dennis Tito returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-31. (Soyuz TM-32 is left docked at the International Space Station as a new lifeboat.)
• May 7 – In Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, an attempt is made to reconstruct the Ferhadija mosque. However, the ceremony results in mass riots by Serb nationalists, who beat and stone Bosnian Muslims.
• May 13 – Silvio Berlusconi wins the general election and becomes Prime Minister of Italy for the second time.
• May 22 – A large trans-Neptunian object (28978 Ixion) is found during the Deep Ecliptic Survey.
• May 24
  • Sherpa Temba Tsheri, 15, becomes the youngest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
  • Versailles wedding hall disaster in Jerusalem, Israel; a partial building collapse kills 23 people and injures 380 others.

June

• June 1
  • Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal kills his father, the king, his mother and other members of the royal family with an assault rifle and then shoots himself in the Nepalese royal massacre. Dipendra, who briefly survives, automatically becomes King of Nepal.
  • A Hamas suicide bomber kills 21, mostly teenagers, in the Dolphinarium disco in Tel Aviv, Israel.
• June 4 – Gyanendra ascends the throne of Nepal on the death of his nephew, Dipendra.
• June 5–9 – Tropical Storm Allison produces 36 inches (900 mm) of rain in Houston, killing 22, damaging the Texas Medical Center, and causing more than US$12 billion of damage overall.
• June 7 – 2001 United Kingdom general election: Tony Blair and the Labour Party win a second landslide victory.
• June 19 – A missile hits a soccer field in northern Iraq (Tel Afr County), killing 23 and wounding 11. According to U.S. officials, it is an Iraqi missile that malfunctioned.
• June 21 – The world's longest train is run by BHP Iron Ore between Newman and Port Hedland in Western Australia (a distance of 275 km (171 mi)); the train consists of 682 loaded iron ore wagons and 8 GE AC6000CW locomotives, giving a gross weight of almost 100,000 tonnes and moves 82,262 tonnes of ore; the train is 7.353 km (4.569 mi) long.
• June 23 – The 8.4 M_w southern Peru earthquake shakes coastal Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami follows, leaving at least 75 people dead, and 2,687 injured.

July

• July 2 – The world's first self-contained artificial heart is implanted in Robert Tools in the United States.
• July 4 – Vladivostok Air Flight 352 crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk Airport, Russia, killing 145.
• July 7 – 2001 Bradford riots: Race riots erupt in Bradford in the north of England after National Front members reportedly stab an Asian man outside a pub.
• July 9 – Gdańsk is flooded, 4 people die and about 200 million zł is estimated in losses.
• July 13 – The International Olympic Committee awards Beijing the right to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.
• July 16 – The People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation sign the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship ("Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation").
• July 20–22 – The 27th G8 summit takes place in Genoa, Italy. Massive demonstrations are held against the meeting by members of the anti-globalization movement. One demonstrator, Carlo Giuliani, is killed by a policeman. Several others are badly injured during a police attack on a school used by the protesters as their headquarters.
• July 24
  • Bandaranaike Airport attack: Tamil Tigers attack Bandaranaike International Airport in Sri Lanka, causing an estimated $500 million of damage.
  • Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, deposed as the last Tsar of Bulgaria when a child, is sworn in as the democratically elected 48th Prime Minister of Bulgaria.

August

• August 6 – Erwadi fire incident, 28 mentally ill persons bound by chains were burnt to death at a faith based institution at Erwadi, Tamil Nadu, India.
• August 8 – Albanian rebels ambush a convoy of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia near Tetovo, killing 10 soldiers.
• August 9 – A Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem is attacked by a Palestinian terrorist, who kills 15 civilians and injures 130.
• August 10 – In Angola, a train triggers a landmine, causing 252 deaths.
• August 21 – NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the Republic of Macedonia.
• August 24 – Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean (en route to Lisbon from Toronto) and makes an emergency landing in the Azores, all 306 people onboard survive.
• August 25 – 2001 Marsh Harbour Cessna 402 crash: Eight people, including singer Aaliyah and several members of her record company are killed as their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport, The Bahamas.
• August 31–September 1 – The 2001 Vancouver TV realignment occurs in British Columbia, Canada.
• August 31 – The World Conference against Racism 2001 begins in Durban, South Africa.

September

September 11 attacks

• September 1 – Nakai, the first captive orca to be born as a result of artificial insemination, is born at SeaWorld San Diego.
• September 3
  • In Belfast, Protestant loyalists begin a picket of Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls. For the next 11 weeks, riot police escort the schoolchildren and their parents through hundreds of protesters, amid rioting and heightened violence.
  • The United States, Canada and Israel withdraw from the U.N. Conference on Racism because they feel that the issue of Zionism is overemphasized.
• September 4 – Tokyo DisneySea opens to the public as part of the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan.
• September 6 – United States v. Microsoft Corp.: The United States Justice Department announces that it no longer seeks to break up software maker Microsoft, and will instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty.
• September 9
  • A suicide bomber kills Ahmad Shah Massoud, military commander of the Afghan Northern Alliance.
  • 68 people die of methanol poisoning in Pärnu County, Estonia.
  • The Unix billennium is reached, marking the beginning of the use of 10-digit decimal Unix time stamps.
• September 10
  • Donald Rumsfeld gives a speech regarding $2.3 trillion in Pentagon spending that cannot be accounted for. He identifies the Pentagon bureaucracy as the biggest threat to America.
  • Antônio da Costa Santos, mayor of Campinas, Brazil is assassinated.
  • Charles Ingram apparently wins £1 million on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, but the prize is cancelled after he is accused of cheating.
• September 11 – Approximately 2,977 victims are killed or fatally injured in the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City, The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, and in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania after American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 are hijacked and crash into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, American Airlines Flight 77 is hijacked and crashes into the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93 is hijacked and crashes into grassland in Shanksville, as a result of passengers fighting to regain control of the airplane. The World Trade Center towers collapse as a result of the crashes.
• September 13
  • Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the United States after the September 11 attacks.
  • British politician William Hague resigns as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party
• September 14 – Historic National Prayer Service held at Washington National Cathedral for victims of the September 11 attacks. A similar service is held in Canada on Parliament Hill, the largest vigil ever held in the nation's capital.
• September 17 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression.
• September 18 – The 2001 anthrax attacks commence as letters containing anthrax spores are mailed from Princeton, New Jersey, to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the New York Post, and the National Enquirer. Twenty-two people in total are exposed, with five resulting fatalities.
• September 20 – In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "War on Terror".
• September 21
  • In Toulouse, France, the AZote Fertilisant chemical factory explodes, killing 29 and seriously wounding over 2,500.
  • Increased racial tensions in Peterborough, England, following the September 11 attacks result in the murder of Ross Parker by a gang of ten Muslims in a racially motivated attack.
  • Deep Space 1 flies within 2,200 km of Comet Borrelly.
• September 27 – Zug massacre: In Zug, Switzerland, Friedrich Leibacher shoots 18 citizens, killing 14 and then himself.

October

• October 1 – Militants attack the state legislature building in Srinagar, Kashmir, killing 38.
• October 2 – Swissair seeks for bankruptcy protection and grounds its entire fleet, resulting in over 230 flights cancelled and stranding 18,000 people worldwide.
• October 4 – Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 was shot down over the Black Sea en route from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Novosibirsk, Russia; all 78 people on board are killed.
• October 7 – War in Afghanistan: In response to the September 11 attacks, the United States invades Afghanistan, with participation from other nations, thus officially beginning the War on Terror.
• October 8
  • Linate Airport disaster: A twin-engine Cessna and Scandinavian Airlines jetliner collide in heavy fog during takeoff from Milan, Italy, killing 118 people.
  • U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.
• October 9 – Second mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
• October 15 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 180 kilometres (110 mi) of Jupiter's moon Io.
• October 17 – Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi becomes the first Israeli minister to be assassinated in a terrorist attack.
• October 19 – An Indonesian fishing boat, the SIEV X, sinks on route to Christmas Island, killing 353 people, mostly asylum seekers.
• October 23
  • The Provisional Irish Republican Army commences disarmament after peace talks.
  • The iPod is first introduced by Apple.
• October 25 – Citing connotations with the Rwandan genocide, the government of Rwanda adopts a new national flag for the country.

November

Soldiers board a Chinook helicopter

• November – VAG, the public transport operator in Nuremberg, Germany, begins testing a hybrid capabus which uses a diesel-electric drive system with electric double-layer capacitors.
• November 2 – The Glocal Forum, leading international organization in the field of city-to-city cooperation, is established by Israeli politician Uri Savir.
• November 4
  • Hurricane Michelle hits Cuba, destroying crops and thousands of homes.
  • The Police Service of Northern Ireland is established, as successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
• November 7 – Sabena, the national airline of Belgium, goes bankrupt.
• November 10
  • 2001 Australian federal election: John Howard's Liberal/National Coalition Government is re-elected with a slightly increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by Kim Beazley.
  • Heavy rains and mudslides in Algeria kill more than 900.
• November 11 – Two French journalists Pierre Billaud and Johanne Sutton, and a German colleague Volker Handloik, are killed in Afghanistan during an attack on the convoy they are traveling in.
• November 12
  • American Airlines Flight 587 crashes in Queens minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board.
  • War in Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, ahead of advancing Northern Alliance troops.
• November 13 – In the first such act since World War II, U.S. President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts against the United States.
• November 14 – War in Afghanistan: Northern Alliance fighters take over the capital Kabul.
• November 15 – Microsoft releases the Xbox in the United States and enters the video game market.
• November 23 – The Convention on Cybercrime is signed in Budapest, Hungary.
• November 27 – A hydrogen atmosphere is discovered on the extrasolar planet Osiris by the Hubble Space Telescope, the first atmosphere detected on an extrasolar planet.

December

• December – The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty produces a report on Responsibility to protect.
• December 1 – The last Trans World Airlines flight lands at St. Louis International Airport, following TWA's purchase by American Airlines.
• December 2
  • Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection 5 days after Dynegy cancels a US$8.4 billion buyout bid (to this point, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history).
  • 1998–2002 Argentine great depression: Corralito – The government effectively freezes all bank accounts for twelve months leading to December 2001 riots in Argentina.
• December 11
  • The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
  • The United States government indicts Zacarias Moussaoui for involvement in the September 11 attacks.
  • The United States Customs Service raids members of international software piracy group DrinkOrDie in Operation Buccaneer.
• December 13
  • 2001 Indian Parliament attack: Nine people and five terrorists are killed in a terrorist attack in New Delhi, leading to the 2001–02 India–Pakistan standoff.
  • U.S. President George W. Bush announces the US withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
• December 15 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.
• December 19
  • A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, Zavkhan, Mongolia.
  • Argentine economic crisis: December riots: Riots erupt in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• December 22
  • Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Northern Alliance, hands over power in Afghanistan to the interim government headed by President Hamid Karzai.
  • British Islamic terrorist Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.
• December 27
  • The People's Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade status with the United States.
  • Tropical Storm Vamei forms within 1.5 degrees of the equator. No other tropical cyclone in recorded history has come as close to the equator.
• December 29 – A fire at the Mesa Redonda shopping center in Lima, Peru, kills at least 291 people.

Births

January–April

Deni Avdija

Rodrygo

• January 1 – Angourie Rice, Australian actress
• January 3 – Deni Avdija, Israeli basketball player
• January 9 – Rodrygo, Brazilian footballer
• January 9 – Eric García, Spanish footballer
• January 15 – Alexandra Agiurgiuculese, Romanian-Italian rhythmic gymnast
• February 13 – Kaapo Kakko, Finnish ice hockey player
• February 19 – David Mazouz, American actor
• February 24 – Ramona Marquez, British actress
• March 4 – Freya Anderson, English freestyle swimmer
• March 10 – Alyssa Carson, American space enthusiast and undergraduate student

May–August

• May 8 – Jordyn Huitema, Canadian soccer player
• May 22 – Emma Chamberlain, American YouTuber
• May 31 – Iga Świątek, Polish tennis player
• June 1 – Ed Oxenbould, Australian actor
• June 4 – Takefusa Kubo, Japanese footballer
• June 12 – Théo Maledon, French basketball player
• July 10 – Isabela Moner, American actress and singer
• August 22 – LaMelo Ball, American basketball player

September–December

Bukayo Saka

Billie Eilish

• September 3 – Kaia Gerber, American model and actress
• September 5 – Bukayo Saka, English footballer
• October 1 – Mason Greenwood, English footballer
• October 13 – Caleb McLaughlin, American actor
• October 14 – Rowan Blanchard, American actress
• October 25 – Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, daughter and Heiress Apparent of Philippe, King of the Belgians
• December 1 – Aiko, Princess Toshi of Japan
• December 18 – Billie Eilish, American singer

Deaths

Further information: Category:2001 deaths

January

Main article: Deaths in January 2001

Marie-José of Belgium

• January 1 – Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
• January 2 – William P. Rogers, American diplomat (b. 1913)
• January 7 – Charles Helou, 9th president of Lebanon (b. 1913)
• January 9 – Paul Vanden Boeynants, 2-time prime minister of Belgium (b. 1919)
• January 12
  • Bill Hewlett, American businessman (b. 1913)
  • Adhemar da Silva, Brazilian athlete (b. 1927)
• January 18 – Laurent-Désiré Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)
• January 27 – Marie-José of Belgium, last Queen of Italy (b. 1906)
• January 30 – Michel Marcel Navratil, last French citizen and male survivor of the Titanic disaster (b. 1908)
• January 31 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian writer (b. 1923)

February

Main article: Deaths in February 2001

Dale Earnhardt

Sir Donald Bradman

• February 4
  • J. J. Johnson, American jazz trombonist (b. 1924)
  • Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer (b. 1922)
• February 6 – Trần Văn Lắm, South Vietnamese diplomat and politician (b. 1913)
• February 7
  • Dale Evans, American actress, singer, and songwriter (b. 1912)
  • King Moody, American actor (b. 1929)
• February 9 – Herbert A. Simon, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
• February 10 – Lewis Arquette, American film actor, writer and producer (b. 1935)
• February 13 – Ugo Fano, Italian-born American physicist (b. 1912)
• February 18
  • Balthus, French painter (b. 1908)
  • Dale Earnhardt, American auto racing driver (b. 1951)
• February 19
  • Stanley Kramer, American film director (b. 1913)
  • Charles Trenet French singer and songwriter (b. 1913)
• February 20 – Rosemary DeCamp, American actress (b. 1910)
• February 24 – Claude Shannon, American mathematician (b. 1916)
• February 25 – Sir Don Bradman, Australian cricketer (b. 1908)

March

Main article: Deaths in March 2001

Ann Sothern

• March 4
  • Jean René Bazaine, French painter (b. 1904)
  • Harold Stassen, American politician, 25th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1907)
• March 10 – Michael Woodruff, British surgeon and organ transplantation pioneer (b. 1911)
• March 12 – Robert Ludlum, American author (b. 1927)
• March 15 – Ann Sothern, American actress and singer (b. 1909)
• March 18 – John Phillips, American singer-songwriter (b. 1935)
• March 20 – Ilie Verdeț, 51st prime minister of Romania (b. 1925)
• March 22 – William Hanna, American animator and businessman (b. 1910)
• March 29 – John Lewis, American jazz pianist and composer (b. 1920)
• March 31 – Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)

April

Main article: Deaths in April 2001

Joey Ramone

• April 7
  • David Graf, American actor (b. 1950)
  • Beatrice Straight, American actress (b. 1914)
• April 11 – Sir Harry Secombe, Welsh entertainer (b. 1921)
• April 14 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director (b. 1927)
• April 15 – Joey Ramone, American musician and singer (b. 1951)
• April 20
  • Va'ai Kolone, Prime Minister of Samoa (b. 1911)
  • Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1946)
• April 25 – Michele Alboreto, Italian racing driver (b. 1956)
• April 29 – Barend Biesheuvel, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1971–1973) (b. 1920)

May

Main article: Deaths in May 2001

Douglas Adams

• May 11 – Douglas Adams, English author (b. 1952)
• May 12 – Perry Como, American singer (b. 1912)
• May 13
  • Jason Miller, American actor and playwright (b. 1939)
  • R. K. Narayan, Indian novelist (b. 1906)
• May 17 – Jacques-Louis Lions, French mathematician (b. 1928)
• May 21 – Mahmoud Zuabi, 61st prime minister of Syria (b. 1935)
• May 22 – Jenő Fock, 49th prime minister of Hungary (b. 1916)
• May 24 – Javier Urruticoechea, Spanish footballer (b. 1952)
• May 26 – Anne Haney, American actress (b. 1934)
• May 31 – Arlene Francis, American actress and game show panelist (b. 1907)

June

Main article: Deaths in June 2001

King Birendra of Nepal

Anthony Quinn

Amalia Mendoza

Tove Jansson

• June 1
  • Nepalese royal massacre:
    • King Birendra of Nepal (b. 1944)
    • Queen Aishwarya of Nepal (b. 1949)
    • Prince Nirajan of Nepal (b. 1978)
    • Princess Shruti of Nepal (b. 1976)
  • Nkosi Johnson, South African AIDS awareness campaigner (b. 1989)
• June 2 – Imogene Coca, American actress (b. 1908)
• June 3 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor (b. 1915)
• June 4 – King Dipendra of Nepal (b. 1971)
• June 7 – Víctor Paz Estenssoro, 45th President of Bolivia (b. 1907)
• June 10 – Leila Pahlavi, Iranian princess (b. 1970)
• June 11
  • Amalia Mendoza, Mexican singer and actress (b. 1923)
  • Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (b. 1968)
• June 15 – Henri Alekan, French cinematographer (b. 1909)
• June 17 – Donald J. Cram, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1919)
• June 21
  • John Lee Hooker, American musician (b. 1917)
  • Soad Hosny, Egyptian actress (b. 1942)
  • Carroll O'Connor, American actor (b. 1924)
• June 22 – Luis Carniglia, Argentine footballer and manager (b. 1917)
• June 23 – Corinne Calvet, French actress (b. 1925)
• June 27
  • Tove Jansson, Finnish author and illustrator (b. 1914)
  • Jack Lemmon, American actor and director (b. 1925)
  • Joan Sims, English actress (b. 1930)
• June 28 – Mortimer J. Adler, American philosopher (b. 1902)
• June 29 – Maximos V Hakim, Egyptian patriarch (b. 1908)
• June 30
  • Chet Atkins, American guitarist and record producer (b. 1924)
  • Joe Fagan, English footballer and manager (b. 1921)
  • Joe Henderson, American jazz tenor saxophonist (b. 1937)

July

Main article: Deaths in July 2001

Edward Gierek

• July 1 – Nikolay Basov, Soviet physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
• July 10 – Álvaro Magaña, 38th President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
• July 11 – Herman Brood, Dutch musician (b. 1946)
• July 17 – Katharine Graham, American publisher (b. 1917)
• July 21 – Sivaji Ganesan, Indian actor (b. 1928)
• July 22 – Maria Gorokhovskaya, Soviet gymnast (b. 1921)
• July 26 – Josef Klaus, 16th Chancellor of Austria (b. 1910)
• July 28 – Ahmed Sofa, Bengali writer (b. 1943)
• July 29 – Edward Gierek, Polish politician (b. 1913)
• July 31
  • Poul Anderson, American author (b. 1926)
  • Francisco da Costa Gomes, 15th President of Portugal (b. 1914)

August

Main article: Deaths in August 2001

Jane Greer

Aaliyah

• August 4 – Lorenzo Music, American actor, writer, producer, and musician (b. 1937)
• August 5 – Vyacheslav Adamczyk, Belarusian journalist, writer, playwright and screenwriter. (b. 1933)
• August 6
  • Larry Adler, American musician (b. 1914)
  • Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer (b. 1912)
  • Dương Văn Minh, 4th and final President of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) (b. 1916)
  • Wilhelm Mohnke, German general (b. 1911)
• August 15 – Richard Chelimo, Kenyan athlete (b. 1972)
• August 19 – Donald Woods, South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist (b. 1933)
• August 20
  • Fred Hoyle, British astronomer and writer (b. 1915)
  • Kim Stanley, American actress (b. 1925)
• August 22 – Bernard Heuvelmans, Belgian-French cryptozoologist (b. 1916)
• August 23 – Kathleen Freeman, American actress (b. 1919)
• August 24 – Jane Greer, American actress (b. 1924)
• August 25 – Aaliyah, American singer and actress (b. 1979)
• August 26 – Marita Petersen, 8th prime minister of Faroe Islands (b. 1940)
• August 30 – A. F. M. Ahsanuddin Chowdhury, 9th president of Bangladesh (b. 1915)

September

Main article: Deaths in September 2001

Christiaan Barnard

• September 2
  • Christiaan Barnard, South African cardiac surgeon (b. 1922)
  • Troy Donahue, American actor (b. 1936)
• September 3
  • Pauline Kael, American film critic (b. 1919)
  • Thuy Trang, Vietnamese American actress (b. 1973)
• September 9 – Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghan military commander (b. 1953)
• September 11 – 2,996 people (2,977 victims and 19 hijackers) who died in the September 11 attacks (see Casualties of the September 11 attacks)
• September 12 – Victor Wong, Chinese-American actor (b. 1927)
• September 13 – Charles Régnier, German actor, director, radio actor, and translator (b. 1914)
• September 14 – Dorothy McGuire, American actress (b. 1916)
• September 20 – Marcos Pérez Jiménez, 51st President of Venezuela (b. 1914)
• September 22 – Isaac Stern, Ukrainian violinist (b. 1920)
• September 29 – Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, 2nd President of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) (b. 1923)

October

Main article: Deaths in October 2001

Zhang Xueliang

• October 5 – Mike Mansfield, American politician and diplomat (b. 1903)
• October 9 – Herbert Ross, American actor, choreographer, director, and producer (b. 1927)
• October 15 – Zhang Xueliang, Chinese military figure (b. 1901)
• October 17
  • Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete (b. 1922)
  • Rehavam Ze'evi, Israeli general and politician (b. 1926)
• October 22
  • Bertie Mee, English football player and coach (b. 1918)
  • Georgy Vitsin, Soviet and Russian actor (b. 1917)
• October 24 – Jaromil Jireš, Czechoslovak filmmaker (b. 1935)
• October 26 – Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary, Queen consort of Iran (b. 1932)

November

Main article: Deaths in November 2001

George Harrison

• November – Justin Rakotoniaina, 3rd prime minister of Madagascar (b. 1933)
• November 1 – Juan Bosch, President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1909)
• November 3 – Sir Ernst Gombrich, Austrian-born art historian (b. 1909)
• November 5 – Gholam Reza Azhari, 73rd prime minister of Iran (b. 1912)
• November 6 – Anthony Shaffer, English novelist and playwright (b. 1926)
• November 9 – Giovanni Leone, 37th Prime Minister of Italy and 6th President of Italy (b. 1908)
• November 10 – Ken Kesey, American author (b. 1935)
• November 12 – Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, American-born Hindu guru (b. 1927)
• November 14 – Juan Carlos Lorenzo, Argentine footballer and coach (b. 1922)
• November 24 – Melanie Thornton, American singer (b. 1967)
• November 25 – Gohar Shahi, Pakistani spiritual leader (b. 1941)
• November 29 – George Harrison, English musician (b. 1943)

December

Main article: Deaths in December 2001

Ashok Kumar

Léopold Sédar Senghor

• December 5 – Sir Peter Blake, New Zealand yachtsman (b. 1948)
• December 8 – Betty Holberton, American computer scientist (b. 1917)
• December 10 – Ashok Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1911)
• December 12 – Josef Bican, Czech–Austrian footballer (b. 1913)
• December 13 – Rufus Thomas, American singer (b. 1917)
• December 18
  • Gilbert Bécaud, French singer-songwriter (b. 1927)
  • Kira Ivanova, Soviet–Russian figure skater (b. 1963)
• December 20 – Léopold Sédar Senghor, first president of Senegal (b. 1906)
• December 23 – Jelle Zijlstra, Dutch politician and economist, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1918)
• December 26 – Sir Nigel Hawthorne, British actor (b. 1929)
• December 31 – Eileen Heckart, American actress (b. 1919)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Eric Allin Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle, and Carl Wieman
• Chemistry – William Standish Knowles, Ryōji Noyori, and Karl Barry Sharpless
• Medicine – Leland H. Hartwell, Tim Hunt, and Paul Nurse
• Literature – V. S. Naipaul
• Peace – United Nations, Kofi Annan
• Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – George Akerlof, Michael Spence, and Joseph Stiglitz

Further reading

• McGuinness, Phillipa (2018). The Year Everything Changed: 2001. Vintage Books. ISBN 9780143782421.
  • "Review: The Year Everything Changed: 2001 by Phillipa McGuinness by Miriam Cosic, The Australian, June 9, 2018

External links

• 2001 – The Year in Review, Financial Times