1988

1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was .

Events

February 13 – Michael Jackson purchases a ranch in Santa Ynez, California. He calls his new home "Neverland".
March 12 – Record producer Jimmy Iovine presents the Special Olympics with a donation of $5 million, which was raised with the release of the A Very Special Christmas album.
April 19 – Former rock and roll singer Sonny Bono becomes the mayor of Palm Springs, California.
May 1 – Citing the 1st Amendment, a judge drops all charges filed against singer Billy Joel. Joel was being sued by Jack Powers for defamation following an interview with Playboy in which he called Powers a "creep".
 June 14 – A small wildfire starts in Montana near Yellowstone National Park. It joins other fires. Eventually, over  of Yellowstone burns before firefighters gain control in late September.
July 1 – Quartetto Cetra's last concert
 August 20 – The Iran–Iraq War ends
 September 16 – rapper Eazy-E releases his first album Eazy-Duz-It
 November 1 – Bad Religion releases Suffer
 Hurricane Gilbert strikes the Caribbean, Mexico and south Texas
November 24 – Mystery Science Theater 3000 premieres
December 7 – A powerful earthquake kills nearly 25,000 people in Soviet Armenia
December 21 – A Pan-Am airplane explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing more than 270 people
Ankst music label founded
Peter Ruzicka becomes director of the Hamburg State Opera and State Philharmonic Orchestra
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" experiences a surge in popularity sparked by television commercials featuring claymation raisin figures dancing to the song. The California Raisins version of the song peaks at No. 84 on Billboard's Hot 100.

Births

January 12 – Chris Casement, Northern Irish footballer
February 20 – Rihanna, Barbadian singer
February 29 – Lena Gercke, German model
March 27 – Brenda Song, American actress and singer
April 27 – Lizzo, American musician
April 29 – Jonathan Toews, Canadian Professional ice hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks
May 5 – Adele, British singer
June 6 – Ajinkya Rahane, Indian cricketer 
June 7 – Michael Cera, Canadian actor
July 14 – Conor McGregor, Irish boxer
July 16 – Sergio Busquets, Spanish footballer
August 25 – Alexandra Burke, British singer
October 15 – Mesut Özil, German footballer
November 5 – Virat Kohli, Indian cricketer
November 6 – Emma Stone, American actress
November 8 - Chris McNally, Canadian actor 
November 19 – Patrick Kane, American professional ice hockey for the Chicago Blackhawks
November 25 – Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgian luger (d. 2010)
December 14 – Vanessa Hudgens, American actress

Deaths

January 

 January 3 – Rose Auslander, German poet (b. 1901)
 January 3 – Gaston Eyskens, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1905)
 January 5 – Pete Maravich, basketball player (b. 1947)
 January 7 – Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913)
 January 11 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist (b. 1898)
 January 13 – Chiang Ching-kuo, 3rd President of the Republic of China (b. 1910)
 January 14 – Georgy Malenkov, 5th Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (b. 1902)
 January 15 – Seán MacBride, Irish Republican Army leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1904)
 January 16 – Ballard Berkeley, British actor (b. 1904)

February 

February 1 – Heather O'Rourke, American actress (b. 1975)
 February 13 – John Curulewski, American guitarist (Styx) (b. 1950)
 February 15 – Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)

March 

 March 7 – Divine, American  actor and singer (b. 1945)
 March 9 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, 3rd Chancellor of Germany (b. 1904)
 March 10 – Andy Gibb, singer (b. 1958)
 March 10 – Phạm Hùng, Vietnamese prime minister (b. 1912)
 March 31 – Sir William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908)

April 

 April 12 – Alan Paton, South African author (b. 1903)
 April 17 - Louise Nevelson, American sculptor
 April 25 - Valerie Solanas, American author (b. 1936)

May 

 May 8 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer (b. 1907)
 May 11 – Kim Philby, British agent and spy (b. 1912)
 May 14 – Willem Drees, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1886)
 May 25 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)

June 

 June 7 - Vernon Washington, American actor (b. 1927)
 June 11 – Giuseppe Saragat, 5th President of Italy (b. 1898)
 June 25 – Hillel Slovak, American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers) (b. 1962)

July 

 July 25 – Judith Barsi, American child actress (b. 1978)

August 

 

 August 2 – Raymond Carver, American writer (b. 1938)
 August 10 – Arnulfo Arias, President of Panama (b. 1901)
 August 14 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian car maker (b. 1898)
 August 17 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (b. 1924)
 August 20 – Lazarus Salii, President of Palau (b. 1937)
 August 30 – Jack Marshall, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1912)

September 

 September 1 – Luis Walter Alvarez, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
 September 5 - Gert Fröbe, German actor (b. 1913)
 September 11 - Roger Hargreaves, English writer (b. 1934)
 September 30 – Trường Chinh, former President of Vietnam (b. 1907)

October 

 October 3 – Franz Josef Strauß, German politician (b. 1915)

November 

 November 4 – Kleanthis Vikelidis, Greek footballer (b. 1916)
 November 14 – Takeo Miki, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1907)
 November 27 – Angela Aames, American actress (b. 1956)
 November 27 – John Carradine, American actor (b. 1906)

December 

 December 3 – Thawan Thamrongnawasawat, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1901)
 December 4 – Osman Achmatowicz, Polish chemist (b. 1899)
 December 6 – Roy Orbison, American singer (b. 1936)

Nobel Prizes
 Nobel Prize in Physics shared by Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, and Jack Steinberger for their research on neutrinos
 Nobel Prize in Chemistry shared by Johann Deisenhofer, Robert Huber, and Hartmut Michel
 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine shared by Sir James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion, and George H. Hitchings
 Nobel Prize in Literature won by Naguib Mahfouz, an Egyptian writer
 Nobel Peace Prize won by The United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces
 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences won by Maurice Allais, French economist