2005

Millennium: | 3rd millennium |
---|---|
Centuries: | |
Decades: | |
Years: |
2005 by topic: |
Arts |
Animation (Anime) – Architecture – Comics – Film (Horror, Science fiction) – Literature (Poetry) – Music (Classical, Country, Hip hop, Jazz, Latin, Metal, Rock, UK, US, Korea) – Radio – Photo – Television – 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 – Somaliland – 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 |

2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2005th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 5th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 6th year of the 2000s decade.
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995–2005).
Events
January
- January 1 – Jeanna Giese from Wisconsin, United States, comes home from hospital, and officially becomes the first person to ever survive rabies without a vaccination.
- January 5 – Eris, the most massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System, is discovered by a team led by Michael E. Brown using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.
- January 12 – Deep Impact is launched from Cape Canaveral with the purpose of studying the comet Tempel 1.
- January 13 — Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex photographed wearing Nazi German Afrika Korps uniform at costume party
- January 14 – The Huygens spacecraft lands on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.
- January 20
- George W. Bush is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States.
- The most intense solar particle event in recorded history is observed.
February
- February 10 – North Korea announces that it possesses nuclear weapons as a protection against the hostility it says it perceives from the United States.
- February 14
- Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri is assassinated, along with 21 others, by a suicide bomber in Beirut.
- YouTube, an American online video sharing and social media platform was launched by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim headquartered in San Bruno, California.
- February 16 – The Kyoto Protocol officially goes into effect.
- February 21 – Avatar: The Last Airbender premiers on Nickelodeon.
- February 22 — blink-182 announces "indefinite hiatus"
March
- March 14 – China ratifies an anti-secession law, aimed at preventing Taiwan from declaring independence.
- March 24 – The President of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, is deposed following mass anti-government demonstrations and flees the country.
- March 28 – The 8.6 Mw Nias–Simeulue earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong), leaving 915–1,314 people dead and 340–1,146 injured.
April
- April 2 – Pope John Paul II dies; over four million people travel to the Vatican to mourn him. Pope Benedict XVI succeeds him on April 19, becoming the 265th pope.
- April 8 – The first solar eclipse of the year was a rare hybrid event, occurring at ascending node in Aries. This was 4.4 days after the Moon reached perigee. Gamma had a value of -0.34733. A hybrid solar eclipse was visible from south Pacific, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela, and was the 51st solar eclipse of Solar Saros 129.
- April 9 – Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor's Guildhall. Camilla receives the title Duchess of Cornwall.
- April 23 – The first ever YouTube video is uploaded, titled Me at the zoo.
- April 24 – The first lunar eclipse of the year was a penumbral event, occurring at descending node in Virgo. This was 5 days before the Moon reached perigee. Gamma had a value of -1.08851. A penumbral lunar eclipse was visible in eastern Asia, Australia, Pacific and Americas, and was the 23rd lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 141.
- April 26 – Syria withdraws the last of its military garrison from Lebanon, ending its 29-year military occupation of the country.
- April 27 – The Superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 makes its first flight from Toulouse.
May
- May 13 – Uzbek Interior Ministry and National Security Service troops massacre at least 200 protesters in the city of Andijan.
- May 15 – Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith premiers in Cinemas.
- May 19–21 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 takes place in Kyiv, Ukraine, and is won by Greek entrant Helena Paparizou with the song "My Number One".
- May 21 – Kingda Ka is opened for the first time to the public at Six Flags: Great Adventure, becoming the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster at the time.
June
- June 4 – The Civic Forum of the Romanians of Covasna, Harghita and Mureș is founded.
July
- July 2 – Live 8, a set of 10 simultaneous concerts, takes place throughout the world, raising interest in the Make Poverty History campaign.
- July 6
- The European Parliament rejects the proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions in its second reading.
- The International Olympic Committee awards London the right to host the 2012 Summer Olympics.
- July 7 – Four coordinated suicide bombings hit central London, killing 52 people and injuring over 700.
- July 23 – A series of bombings hit the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing over 80 people.
- July 28 – As a result of the Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998, the Provisional Irish Republican Army ends its armed campaign and decommissions their weapons, by ordering all its units to drop their arms under the supervision of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.
August
- August 12 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched from Cape Canaveral, designed to explore Mars.
- August 14 – Helios Airways Flight 522, en route from Larnaca, Cyprus to Prague, Czech Republic via Athens, crashes in the hills near Grammatiko, Greece, killing 121 passengers and crew.
- August 16 – West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes into a mountain in Venezuela, killing 160 passengers and crew.
- August 18 – Peace Mission 2005, the first joint China–Russia military exercise, begins its eight-day training on the Shandong Peninsula.
- August 26 – The Constitution of Chile is heavily amended, eliminating senators for life, reducing the presidential terms from six to four years, giving the president exclusive rights to summon the National Security Council, and removes legal obstacles for the creation of new regions.
- August 29 – Hurricane Katrina makes landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast, causing severe damage, killing over a thousand people and dealing an estimated $108 billion in damage.
- August 31 – A stampede at the Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad, Iraq, kills 953 Shia Muslim pilgrims who were celebrating a religious festival.
September
- September 7 – Egypt holds its first ever multi-party presidential election, which is marred with allegations of fraud.
- September 12 – Israel demolishes multiple settlements and withdraws its army from the Gaza Strip.
- September 19 – North Korea agrees to stop building nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and cooperation.
- September 30 – Controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, sparking outrage and violent riots by Muslims around the world.
October
- October 3 – The second solar eclipse of 2005 was an annular event, occurring at descending node in Virgo. This was 4.8 days after the Moon reached apogee. Gamma had a value of 0.33058. An annular solar eclipse was visible in Portugal, Spain, Libya, Sudan and Kenya, and was the 43rd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 134.
- October 8 – The 7.6 Mw Kashmir earthquake strikes Azad Kashmir, Pakistan and nearby areas with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing more than 86,000 people and displacing several million more.
- October 12 – The second crewed Chinese spacecraft, Shenzhou 6, is launched.
- October 17 – The final eclipse of 2005 was a partial lunar eclipse event, occurring at ascending node in Aries. This was 2.9 days after the Moon reached perigee. Gamma had a value of 0.97960. A partial lunar eclipse was visible in Asia, Australia, Pacific and North America, and was the 10th lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 146.
- October 19 – The trial of Saddam Hussein begins.
- October 24 – Hurricane Wilma makes landfall near Cape Romano.
November
- November 9 – At least 60 people are killed and 115 more are wounded in a series of coordinated suicide bombings in Amman, Jordan.
- November 11 – In Kazakhstan, Zamanbek Nurkadilov, former mayor of Almaty, government minister and a political opponent of Nursultan Nazarbayev is found dead at his family compound.
- November 13 – Andrew Stimpson, a 25-year-old Scottish man, is reported as the first person proven to have been 'cured' of HIV.
- November 22
- Angela Merkel assumes office as the first female Chancellor of Germany.
- Microsoft releases the Xbox 360.
- November 23 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wins the Liberian general election, making her the first democratically elected female head of state in Africa.
- November 28 – The United Nations Climate Change conference is held in Montreal.
- November 30 – Surgeons in France carry out the first human face transplant with Isabelle Dinoire becoming the first person to undergo it.
December
- December 12 – Scientists announce that they have created mice with small numbers of human neurons in an effort to make realistic models of neurological disorders.
- December 16 – Find-a-drug medical distributed computing project is concluded.
- December 18 – Chad descends into civil war after various rebel forces, with support from Sudan, attack the capital, N'Djamena.
- December 25 – An express train bound for the city of Niigata, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, is derailed by strong winds in Shonai, Yamagata Prefecture. Five people are killed and at least 33 injured.
- December 31 – Another second is added, 23:59:60, to end the year 2005, the first time since 1998.
Births
- January 4 – Dafne Keen, British and Spanish actress
- January 11 – Roksana Węgiel, Polish singer, winner of Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018
- January 13 - Eva Brezalieva, Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast
- April 29 – Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti of Thailand, grandson of Bhumibol Adulyadej, son of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, Rama X of Thailand and his wife Srirasmi Suwadee
- June 17 – Funa Nakayama, Japanese skateboarder
- June 26 – Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, daughter of Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his wife Queen Maxima of the Netherlands
- July 25 – Pierce Gagnon, American actor
- October 4 — Prince Emmanuel of Belgium, younger son and third child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium
- October 15 – Prince Christian of Denmark, son of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark and his wife Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark
- October 31 – Leonor, Princess of Asturias, daughter of Felipe VI of Spain and his wife Queen Letizia of Spain
- November 16 – Mariam Mamadashvili, Georgian singer, winner of Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016
- December 3 – Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway, son of Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway and his wife Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway, grandson of King Harald V of Norway
- December 27 — Kristina Pimenova, Russian model
Deaths
Deaths |
---|
January · February · March · April · May · June · July · August · September · October · November · December |
January–February
- January 1 – Shirley Chisholm, American politician, educator, and author (b. 1924)
- January 2
- Arnold Denker, American chess player (b. 1914)
- Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist (b. 1911)
- January 3 – Will Eisner, American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur (b. 1917)
- January 7 – Rosemary Kennedy, American socialite (b. 1918)
- January 10 – Princess Joséphine Charlotte of Belgium, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (b. 1927)
- January 11 – Jerzy Pawłowski, Polish fencer and spy (b. 1932)
- January 12 – Amrish Puri, Indian actor (b. 1932)
- January 15 – Victoria de los Ángeles, Spanish Catalan soprano (b. 1923)
- January 17
- Virginia Mayo, American actress (b. 1920)
- Zhao Ziyang, 3rd Premier of China (b. 1919)
- January 19 – Anita Kulcsár, Hungarian handball player (b. 1976)
- January 20
- Parveen Babi, Indian actress and model (b. 1954; probable death date)
- Per Borten, 14th Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1913)
- January 23 – Johnny Carson, American television host (b. 1925)
- January 25 – Philip Johnson, American architect (b. 1906)
- January 28 – Jacques Villeret, French actor (b. 1951)
- January 29 – Ephraim Kishon, Israeli author, dramatist, screenwriter, and film director (b. 1924)
- February 2 – Max Schmeling, German boxer (b. 1905)
- February 3
- Ernst Mayr, German-American biologist (b. 1904)
- Zurab Zhvania, 4th Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1963)
- February 4 – Ossie Davis, American actor, poet, playwright, author and civil rights activist (b. 1917)
- February 5 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma, 3rd President of Togo (b. 1935)
- February 7 – Atli Dam, 3-Time Prime Minister of Faroe Islands (b. 1932)
- February 10
- Ben Jones, 7th Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1924)
- Arthur Miller, American playwright (b. 1915)
- February 11 – Mary Jackson, American mathematician and engineer (b. 1921
- February 13 – Lúcia Santos, Portuguese nun, visionary (b. 1907)
- February 14 – Rafic Hariri, 2-Time Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1944)
- February 16 – Narriman Sadek, last Queen of Egypt (b. 1933)
- February 17 – Dan O'Herlihy, Irish actor (b. 1919)
- February 20
- Sandra Dee, American actress (b. 1942)
- Josef Holeček, Czechoslovakian canoeist (b. 1921)
- Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist (b. 1937)
- February 21
- Zdzisław Beksiński, Polish painter, photographer and sculptor (b. 1929)
- Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Cuban novelist, essayist, translator, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
- February 22 – Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)
- February 25
- Peter Benenson, British lawyer and founder of Amnesty International (b. 1921)
- Atef Sedky, 45th Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1930)
March–April
- March 3 – Rinus Michels, Dutch football player and national coach (b. 1928)
- March 6
- Hans Bethe, German-American physicist (b. 1906)
- Teresa Wright, American actress (b. 1918)
- March 8 – Aslan Maskhadov, Chechen separatist leader, 3rd President of Ichkeria (b. 1951)
- March 14 – Akira Yoshizawa, Japanese artist (b. 1911)
- March 15 – Otar Korkia, Georgian professional basketball player and coach (b. 1923)
- March 17 – George F. Kennan, American diplomat and political advisor (b. 1904)
- March 19 – John DeLorean, American engineer, inventor, and executive (b. 1925)
- March 21 – Gemini Ganesan, Indian actor (b. 1919)
- March 22
- Clemente Domínguez y Gómez, Spanish spiritual leader (b. 1946)
- Kenzō Tange, Japanese architect (b. 1913)
- March 26 – James Callaghan, 70th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1912)
- March 29 – Mitch Hedberg, American stand-up comedian (b. 1968)
- April 2 – Pope John Paul II (b. 1920)
- April 5 – Saul Bellow, Canadian-American writer (b. 1915)
- April 6 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (b. 1923)
- April 9 – Andrea Dworkin, American writer (b. 1946)
- April 11 – Lucien Laurent, French footballer (b. 1907)
- April 13 – Nikola Ljubičić, Serbian general and politician, 10th President of Serbia (b. 1916)[citation needed]
- April 19 – Ruth Hussey, American actress (b. 1911)
- April 21 – Zhang Chunqiao, Chinese political theorist, writer, and politician (b. 1917)
- April 22 – Eduardo Paolozzi, Scottish sculptor and artist (b. 1924)
- April 23 – John Mills, English actor (b. 1908)
- April 24 – Ezer Weizman, 7th President of Israel (b. 1924)
- April 25 – Andre Gunder Frank, German-American sociologist and historian (b. 1929)
- April 26
- Augusto Roa Bastos, Paraguayan novelist (b. 1917)
- Maria Schell, Austrian actress (b. 1926)
May–June
- May 2 – Wee Kim Wee, 4th President of Singapore (b. 1915)
- May 12 – Monica Zetterlund, Swedish singer and actress (b. 1937)
- May 13 – George Dantzig, American mathematician (b. 1914)
- May 17 – Frank Gorshin, American actor, impressionist, and comedian (b. 1933)
- May 20 – Paul Ricœur, French philosopher (b. 1913)
- May 21 – Howard Morris, American actor (b. 1919)
- May 25
- Sunil Dutt, Indian actor, producer, director and politician (b. 1929)
- Ismail Merchant, Indian film producer (b. 1936)
- May 26
- Eddie Albert, American actor and activist (b. 1906)
- Sangoulé Lamizana, 2nd President and 2nd Prime Minister of Burkina Faso (b. 1916)
- June 1 – George Mikan, American basketball player (b. 1924)
- June 6
- Anne Bancroft, American actress (b. 1931)
- Bolívar Urrutia Parrilla, 21st President of Panama (b. 1918)[citation needed]
- June 11 – Vasco Gonçalves, 103rd Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1921)
- June 13 – Álvaro Cunhal, Portuguese politician (b. 1913)
- June 13 – Carlo Maria Giulini, Italian conductor (b. 1914)
- June 20 – Jack Kilby, American engineer and Nobel laureate (b. 1923)
- June 21 – Jaime Sin, 30th Archbishop of Manila (b. 1928)
July–August

- July 1 – Luther Vandross, American singer (b. 1951)
- July 4 – June Haver, American actress and singer (b. 1926)
- July 6
- Ed McBain, American writer (b. 1926)
- Claude Simon, Malagasy-French novelist and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
- July 11 – Frances Langford, American actress and singer (b. 1913)
- July 17
- Edward Heath, 68th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1916)
- Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish actress (b. 1913)
- July 18 – William Westmoreland, American army general (b. 1914)
- July 20 – James Doohan, Canadian actor, voice actor, author and soldier (b. 1920)
- July 21 – Long John Baldry, English-Canadian musician and voice actor (b. 1941)
- July 31 – Wim Duisenberg, Dutch politician (b. 1935)
- August 1 – King Fahd of Saudi Arabia (b. 1921)
- August 6 – Vizma Belševica, Latvian poet, writer and translator (b. 1931)
- August 7 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-American news anchor (b. 1938)
- August 8 – Barbara Bel Geddes, American actress, artist, and children's author (b. 1922)
- August 9 – Colette Besson, French Olympic athlete (b. 1946)
- August 13 – David Lange, 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1942)
- August 16 – Brother Roger (Roger Schütz), Swiss monastic brother and founder of the Taizé Community (b. 1915)
- August 19
- Faimalaga Luka, 6th Prime Minister of Tuvalu (b. 1940)
- Mo Mowlam, British politician and peace campaigner (b. 1949)
- August 31 – Joseph Rotblat, Polish-born physicist (b. 1908)
September–October
- September 6 – Eugenia Charles, 3rd Prime Minister of Dominica (b. 1919)
- September 13 – Hermann Bondi, Austrian mathematician and cosmologist (b. 1919)
- September 13 – Julio César Turbay Ayala, 25th President of Colombia (b. 1916)
- September 14 – Robert Wise, American film director (b. 1914)
- September 20 – Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter (b. 1908)
- September 25 – Don Adams, American actor, comedian and director (b. 1923)
- September 29 – Gennady Sarafanov, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1942)
- October 2
- Nipsey Russell, American comedian, poet, and dancer (b. 1918)
- August Wilson, American playwright (b. 1945)
- October 3 – Ronnie Barker, English actor, comedian and writer (b. 1929)
- October 4 – Mike Gibbins, Welsh drummer (b. 1949)
- October 7 – Charles Rocket, American actor and comedian (b. 1949)
- October 10
- Attilâ İlhan, Turkish poet (b. 1925)
- Milton Obote, 2nd President of Uganda (b. 1925)
- October 17 – Ba Jin, Chinese writer (b. 1904)
- October 22 – Arman, French-American artist (b. 1928)
- October 25 – Nirmal Verma, Indian Hindi novelist, activist and translator (b. 1929)
- October 24
- José Azcona del Hoyo, 61st President of Honduras (b. 1926)
- Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (b. 1913)
- October 28 – Richard Smalley, American chemist and physicist and Nobel laureate (b. 1943)
- October 31 – Amrita Pritam, Indian novelist, essayist and poet (b. 1919)
November–December
- November 5
- John Fowles, English novelist (b. 1926)
- Link Wray, American rock and roll guitarist (b. 1929)
- November 7 – Nobuhiko Hasegawa, Japanese table tennis player (b. 1947)
- November 9 – K. R. Narayanan, 10th President of India (b. 1921)
- November 11 – Moustapha Akkad, Syrian-American film producer (b. 1930)
- November 13 – Eddie Guerrero, Mexican-American professional wrestler (b. 1967)
- November 16 – Henry Taube, Canadian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
- November 24 – Pat Morita, American actor (b. 1932)
- November 25 – George Best, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1946)
- December 2 – Mohammed Hamza Zubeidi, 59th Prime Minister of Iraq (b. 1938)
- December 6
- Devan Nair, 3rd President of Singapore (b. 1923)
- Paul Halla, Austrian footballer (b. 1931)
- December 10
- Eugene McCarthy, American politician and writer (b. 1916)
- Richard Pryor, American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer (b. 1940)
- December 13 – Stanley Williams, American gang leader (b. 1953)
- December 15 – Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, Italian playwright, screenwriter, director, and author (b. 1921)
- December 16 – John Spencer, American actor (b. 1946)
- December 17 – Sverre Stenersen, Norwegian Olympic skier (b. 1926)
- December 22 – Aurora Miranda, Brazilian singer and actress (b. 1915)
- December 23 – Yao Wenyuan, Chinese politician, member of the Gang of Four (b. 1931)
- December 25 – Birgit Nilsson, Swedish soprano (b. 1918)
Nobel Prizes
- Chemistry – Robert Grubbs, Richard Schrock, and Yves Chauvin
- Economics – Robert J. Aumann, and Thomas Schelling
- Literature – Harold Pinter
- Peace – Mohamed ElBaradei
- Physics – Roy J. Glauber, John L. Hall, and Theodor W. Hänsch
- Physiology or Medicine – Robin Warren, and Barry Marshall
New English words and terms
- didymo
- functional calculus
- glamping
- locavore
- microblogging
- pre-exposure prophylaxis
- ransomware
- rock snot
- sexting
- truther
- vodcast