2001

Centuries: Year in Review 21st Century

20th century - **21st century** - 22nd century

Decades: 1990s - **2000s** - 2010s - 2020s - 2030s - 2040s - 2050s - 2060s - 2070s - 2080s - 2090s - 2100s

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 **2001** 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

**Births**

**Deaths**

* February 4 - Iannis Xenakis, 78, Greek/French composer
* February 18 - Balthus, 92, French painter
* February 18 - Dale Earnhardt - NASCAR race car driver
* February 19 - Stanley Kramer, 87, American movie director
* February 25 - Sir Donald Bradman, cricketer
* March 12 - Morton Downey, Jr. - television personality
* March 12 - Robert Ludlum, author of spy novels
* March 15 - Ann Sothern - actress
* March 21 - Norma Macmillan, voice
* March 18 - John Phillips, cofounder of Popular Music group The Mamas and the Papas
* March 22 - William Hanna, cofounder (with Joseph Barbera) of famous Hanna-Barbera animation studio
* April 10 - Willie Stargell - Baseball Hall of Famer
* April 11 - Harry Secombe, 79, actor, member of The Goon Show (prostate cancer)
* April 15 - Joey Ramone, lead singer for The Ramones
* May 5 - Cliff Hillegass, 83, creator of Cliff Notes (stroke)
* May 11 - Douglas Adams, 49, author (heart attack)
* May 12 - Perry Como, 87, singer
* June 1 - Hank Ketcham, 81, creator of Dennis the Menace
* June 1, King Birendra and Queen Aiswarya of Nepal, (shot, possibly murdererd)
* June 3 - Anthony Quinn, 86, actor
* June 11 - Timothy McVeigh, 33, terrorist (executed by U.S. government)
* June 21 - John Lee Hooker, 83, Blues musician
* June 21 - Carroll O'Connor, 76, actor
* June 28 - Jack Lemmon, 76, actor
* June 28 - Joan Sims, 71, actress
* June 30 - Chet Atkins, 77, country musician
* July 5 - Hannelore Kohl, 68, wife of ex-chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl (suicide)
* July 11 - Herman Brood, 54, Dutch rock musician, painter and publicity freak (suicide)
* July 18 - Fabio Taglioni, automotive engineer
* July 27 - Leon Wilkeson, 49, Bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd
* July 29 - Henryk Jablonski, president of Poland (1972-1985)
* August 1 - Poul Anderson - fantasy / sci-fi author
* August 6 - Jorge Amado, 88, Brazilian writer
* August 20 - Fred Hoyle, Astronomer and science fiction writer
* August 25 - Aaliyah, 22, American singer and actress
* September 2 - Christiaan Barnard, 78, South African heart surgeon, first to perform a human-to-human heart transplant
* September 3 - Pauline Kael, 82, American movie critic
* September 22 - Isaac Stern, 81, violinist

**Events:**

* September 11 - September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack on World Trade Center in New York City and Pentagon
* October 4 - First case of anthrax in what will soon be recognized as a coordinated attack is announced by federal officials.
* October 7 - 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan begins
* George W. Bush succeeds Bill Clinton as President of the United States of America in a controversial, close election. See American Political Scandals.

**Film**

* The annual Academy Awards served out gongs for Best Actor in Gladiator to Russell Crowe.
* Ridley Scotts Gladiator took the Best Picture.
* Best Supporting Actress and Actor were won by \*Marcia Gay Harden for Pollock and Benicio del Toro for \*Traffic which also won its director, Steven Soderbergh the Directing statue.

**Nobel Prizes**

* Physics - Eric A Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle, Carl E Wieman
* Chemistry - William S. Knowles, Ryoji Noyori, K. Barry Sharpless
* Medicine  Leland H. Hartwell, R. Timothy Hunt, Paul M. Nurse
* Literature - V.S. Naipaul
* Peace - United Nations, Kofi Annan
* Economics- George A. Akerlof, A. Michael Spence, Joseph E. Stiglitz