2001

January

• January 1 – Strictly speaking, it was the first day of the 3rd millennium and 21st century in the Gregorian calendar, but according to Popular Culture, the first day of these two distinctions was January 1, 2000. A nine foot tall rock was placed by an artist in Seattle's Magnuson Park, like the one in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• January 13 – A strong earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 800 (See also February 13).
• January 15 – Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia, goes online.
• January 20 – Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo becomes the 14th President of the Philippines, replacing Joseph Estrada.
• January 20 – George W. Bush replaces Bill Clinton and becomes the 43rd President of the United States.
• January 22 – Four of the "Texas 7" are caught at a store in Woodland Park, Colorado and a fifth kills himself.
• January 24 – The last two of the "Texas 7" are caught by police in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
• January 26 – A 50-year-old DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela and kills 24 people.
• January 26 – An earthquake happens in Gujarat, India; more than 20,000 die.
• January 29 – Thousands of students in Indonesia tell President Abdurrahman Wahid that he should give up his job because he was caught doing something bad.
• January 31 – A court finds one Libyan guilty and another innocent in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

February

• February 5 – Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman announced that they are not together anymore.
• February 6 – Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon wins election as Prime Minister of Israel.
• February 9 – American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally hits and sinks Japanese fishing ship Ehime-Maru.
• February 12 – NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft lands on 433 Eros becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
• February 13 – An earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 400.
• February 16 – Iraq disarmament crisis: British and U.S. forces carry out bombing raids attempting to destroy Iraq's air defense network.
• February 16 – Baghdad suburb bombed by US and UK war planes, killing 3 people.
• February 18 – During the Daytona 500 race, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt is killed in a car crash.
• February 18 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for being a spy.
• February 19 – An Oklahoma City bombing museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
• February 26 – Treaty of Nice was signed.

March

• March 24 – Apple Computer's Mac OS X version 10.0 is released.

April

• April 1 – An American EP-3E spyplane collides with a Chinese F-8 fighter jet and is forced to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China. The U.S. crew was jailed for 10 days and the Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, went missing and thought to be dead.
• April 1 – Former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on charges of war crimes.
• April 16 — Bangladesh launches a short invasion of Pyrdiwah, India.^[1]
• April 26 – Junichiro Koizumi becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
• April 28 – American Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist.

May

• May 1 – The Japanese cities of Urawa, Omiya, and Yono become one to form the city of Saitama.
• May 10 – In Ghana, a sudden rush at a soccer game kills over 120.
• May 24 – Mountain climbing: Sherpa Temba Tsheri, 16, becomes the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.
• May 25 – Mountain climbing: Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the top of Mount Everest. A 64-year old Sherman Bull, of New Canaan, Connecticut, becomes the oldest person to reach the top.

June

• June 5-9 – Houston, Texas is devastated by flooding when Tropical Storm Allison hits the city. Texas Medical Center lost years of research and data and thousands of lab animals. Twenty-two people die; damage exceeds five billion American dollars.
• June 7 – Tony Blair's Labour Party were selected for second term in UK General Election
• June 11 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for the Oklahoma City bombing.
• June 19 – An American missile hits a soccer field in northern Iraq, killing 23 people and wounding 11.
• June 20 – Andrea Yates drowns her children in a bathtub and confesses to her crime. She would get life in prison for it.
• June 21 – Total solar eclipse.
• June 23 – An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, hits the south of Peru.

July

• July 2 – The world's first self-contained artificial heart is implanted in Robert Tools.
• July 16 – The FBI arrests Dmitry Sklyarov at a meeting in Las Vegas for violating a condition of the DMCA.
• July 18 – In Baltimore, Maryland a 60-car train derails in a tunnel, causing a fire that last for days and virtually shuts down downtown Baltimore.
• July 19 – UK politician and novelist Jeffrey Archer is sentenced to four years in prison for perjury and perverting the course of justice.
• July 23 – Megawati Sukarnoputri becomes the new President of Indonesia, replacing Abdurrahman Wahid.

August

• August 9 – US President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.
• August 9 – In the Comoros, the military seizes power in the island of Anjouan that had declared independence. They plan to rejoin the Comoros.
• August 31 – PBS airs the final episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood with host Fred Rogers retiring

September

• September 5 – Peru's attorney general files homicide charges against ex-President Alberto Fujimori.
• September 6 – United States v. Microsoft: The United States Justice Department announces that it was no longer seeking to break-up software maker Microsoft and will instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty.
• September 9 – Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, is assassinated in Afghanistan.
• September 11 – Almost 3,000 people are killed in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and rural Pennsylvania.
• September 14 – The Nintendo GameCube is released in Japan.
• September 15 – President George W. Bush says that the United States is at war against terror.

October

• October 4 – The first case of anthrax in the U.S. is announced by federal officials.
• October 7 – The 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan begins.
• October 10 – War on Terrorism: US President George W. Bush presents a list of 22 most wanted terrorists.
• October 15 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.
• October 23 – Apple Inc. releases the iPod.
• October 25 – Microsoft releases Windows XP.

November

• November – The Doha Declaration relaxes the international intellectual property law by a bit.
• November 4 – Hurricane Michelle hits Cuba, destroying crops and thousands of homes.
• November 7 – The supersonic commercial aircraft Concorde starts flying again after a 15-month break.
• November 10 – The People's Republic of China became a member of the World Trade Organization.
• November 12 – In New York City, an Airbus A300 crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board.
• November 12 – 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, as the Northern Alliance troops are coming (Northern Alliance fighters took Kabul on November 14).
• November 13 – Doha Round: The World Trade Organization ends a four-day conference in Doha, Qatar.
• November 13 – War on Terrorism: In the first such act since World War II, US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the United States.
• November 16 – The first Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, is released, earning US $975.8 million, becoming the second highest earning movie around the world of all time, behind Titanic.
• November 24 - Melanie Thornton, the German-American Pop singer, also the former member of La Bouche, dies in a plane crash going to Zürich, Switzerland, along with Maria Serreno-Serreno and Nathaly Van Het Ende of the German dance band Passion Fruit.
• November 29 - George Harrison, former lead guitarist of The Beatles, dies of lung cancer at the age of 58.

December

• December 2 – Enron scandal: Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection five days after Dynegy canceled a US$8.4 billion buyout bid (At the time this was the largest bankruptcy in the history of the United States).
• December 13 – The United States withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
• December 13 – Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, Raja of Perlis becomes the 12th King of Malaysia.
• December 14 – Annular solar eclipse.
• December 22 – 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan: Hamid Karzai became head of the interim government in Afghanistan.
• December 27 – The People's Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade status with the United States.

None at this time

January

• January 2 - Christopher Barrios Jr., American murder victim (d. 2007)

August

• August 24 - Nicoleta Gaiu, Romanian drummer (Trupa Sportului)
• August 25 - Adrian Sandu, Romanian drummer (Trupa Muzicii Rock-The Jam Hendrix Experience)

October

• October 31 - Florian Vizuroiu, Romanian drummer (The Jam Hendrix Experience)

January

• January 27 – Marie-José of Belgium, Queen of Italy (b. 1906)

February

• February 18 – Dale Earnhardt, American racing driver (b. 1951)
• February 25 – Sir Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (b. 1908)

March

• March 12 – Robert Ludlum, American writer (b. 1927)
• March 15 – Ann Sothern, American actress (b. 1909)
• March 22 – William Hanna, American animator and studio founder (b. 1910)

April

• April 15 – Joey Ramone, American musician and singer-songwriter (b. 1951)

May

• May 11 – Douglas Adams, English writer (b. 1952)

June

• June 1 – King Birendra of Nepal (b. 1945)
• June 2 – Imogene Coca, American comic 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 11 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (b. 1968)
• June 21 - John Lee Hooker, American blues musician (b. 1916)
• June 21 – Carroll O'Connor, American actor (b. 1924)
• June 27 – Jack Lemmon, American actor and movie director (b. 1925)
• June 27 – Tove Jansson, Finnish writer of the Moomin books (b. 1914)

July

• July 5 – Hannelore Kohl, wife of Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl (b. 1933)
• July 10 – Álvaro Magaña, President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
• July 29 – Edward Gierek, 4th First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party (b. 1913)
• July 31 – Poul Anderson, American science fiction writer (b. 1926)

August

• August 6 – Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer (b. 1912)
• August 24 – Jane Greer, American actress (b. 1924)
• August 25 – Aaliyah, American singer (b. 1979)

September

• September 2 – Christiaan Barnard, South African cardiac surgeon (b. 1922)
• September 11 – People killed in the September 11 attacks, including:
  • David Angell, American sitcom creator (b. 1946)
  • Berry Berenson, widow of the actor Anthony Perkins (b. 1948)
  • Daniel M. Lewin, American technician (b. 1970)
  • Mychal Judge, American priest (b. 1933)
  • Garnet Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1948)
  • Carolyn Beug, American movie maker (b. 1953)
  • Charles Burlingame, American pilot (b. 1949)
  • William M. Feeham, American firefighter (b. 1929)
  • Peter J. Ganci, American firefighter (b. 1946)
  • Timothy Maude, American military officer (b. 1947)
  • Barbara Olson, American political commentator (b. 1955)
  • Mohamed Atta, Egyptian terrorist (b. 1968)
  • Wail al-Shehri, Saudi terrorist (b. 1973)
  • Nawaf al-Hazmi, Saudi terrorist (b. 1973)
  • Majed Moqed, Saudi terrorist (b. 1977)
  • Abdulaziz al-Omari, Saudi terrorist (b. 1979)
• September 29 – Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, 2nd President of South Vietnam (b. 1923)

October

• October 13 – Olga Oleinik, Russian mathematician of Ukrainian origin (b. 1925)
• October 15 – Chang Hsueh-liang, Ruler of Manchuria (b. 1901)

November

• November 21 – King Salahuddin of Selangor, Yang di-Pertuan Agong (b. 1926)
• November 29 – George Harrison, English musician (The Beatles) (b. 1943)

December

• December 10 – Ashok Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1911)
• December 20 – Léopold Sédar Senghor, 1st President of Senegal (b. 1906)

• Chemistry – William S. Knowles, Ryoji Noyori, K. Barry Sharpless
• Economics – George A. Akerlof, A. Michael Spence^[2], Joseph E. Stiglitz
• Literature – V. S. Naipaul
• Medicine – Leland H. Hartwell, Tim Hunt, Sir Paul Nurse
• Peace – United Nations, Kofi Annan
• Physics – Eric A. Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle, Carl E. Wieman

• Arthur C. Clarke set the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey in this year, the first year of the 21st century.

• 2001 Year-End Google Zeitgeist – Google's Yearly List of Major Events and Top Searches for 2001
• Nisqually Earthquake Clearinghouse Archived 2004-04-28 at the Wayback Machine – Information on the February 28th earthquake from the University of Washington