Top News Stories from 1994
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade Nobel Peace Prize: Yasir Arafat (Palestine), Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin (both Israel)
More World Statistics... - Serbs' heavy weapons pound Sarajevo (Jan. 5-6).
- Thousands dead in Rwanda massacre (April 6).
- South Africa holds first interracial national election (April 29); Nelson Mandela elected President.
- Israel signs accord with Palestinians (May 4), peace treaty with Jordan (Oct. 17).
- IRA declares cease-fire in Northern Ireland (Aug. 31). Ulster Protestants declare cease-fire (Oct. 13).
- Aristide returns to Haiti (Oct. 4), forms Government with Prime Minister and full Cabinet (Nov. 9).
- US sends forces to Persian Gulf (Oct. 7).
- Russians attack secessionist Republic of Chechnya (Dec. 11 et seq.).
U.S. Events
U.S. Statistics
President: William J. Clinton
Vice President: Albert Gore, Jr.
Population: 260,289,237
Life expectancy: 75.7 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 53.7
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000) 46.6
More U.S. Statistics... - Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan attacked (Jan. 6); three arrested in attack (Jan. 13).
- Aldrich Ames, high C.I.A. official, charged with spying for Soviets (Feb. 22).
- Four convicted in World Trade Center bombing (March 4).
- Clinton accused of sexual harassment while Governor of Arkansas (May 6).
- O. J. Simpson arrested in killings of wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and friend, Ronald Goldman (June 18).
- US Supreme Court approves limit on abortion protests (June 30).
- Senate confirms Stephen G. Breyer for Supreme Court (July 29).
- Major league baseball players strike (Aug. 13).
- Newt Gingrich named House Speaker (Dec. 5).
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $6,947.00 billion
Federal spending: $1460.84 billion
Federal debt $4643.7 billion
Consumer Price Index: $148.2
Unemployment: 6.1%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.29
Sports
Super Bowl
Dallas d. BuffaloWorld Series
Not HeldNBA Championship
Houston d. New YorkStanley Cup
NY Rangers d. VancouverWimbledon
Women: Conchita Martinez d. M. Navratilova (6-4 3-6 6-3)Men: Pete Sampras d. G. Ivanisevic (7-6 7-6 6-0)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Go For GinNCAA Basketball Championship
Arkansas d. DukeNCAA Football Champions
Nebraska (13-0-0)World Cup
Brazil d. ItalyEntertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes Fiction:
The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx
Music: Of Reminiscences and Reflections, Gunther Schuller
Drama: Three Tall Women, Edward Albee
Academy Award, Best Picture: Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen and Branko Lustig, producers (Universal)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Kenzaburo Oe (Japan)
Record of the Year: "I Will Always Love You," Whitney Houston
Album of the Year: The Bodyguard—Original Soundtrack Album, Whitney Houston (Arista)
Song of the Year: "A Whole New World" (Theme From Aladdin), Alan Menken and Tim Rice, songwriters
Miss America: Kimberly Clarice Aiken (SC)
More Entertainment Awards... Events
- Kurt Cobain kills himself. He was 27.
- Ninety-five million viewers watch O. J. Simpson and Al Cowlings drive along Los Angeles freeways in history's most exciting low-speed chase.
- Steven Spielberg wins his first directing Oscar for Schindler's List.
- For the first time in history, chain bookstores outsell independent stores, signaling what many fear to be the death of smaller booksellers at the hands of superstores.
- Tom Hanks wins his second consecutive Best Actor Oscar. He won in 1993 for his role in Philadelphia and in 1994 for Forrest Gump.
- ER and Friends debut on NBC, establishing NBC's dominance of the Thursday-night lineup.
- Woodstock '94 commemorates the original weekend-long concert. Green Day and Nine Inch Nails join Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers.
Movies
- Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, Quiz Show, Nobody's Fool
Books
- James Kelman, How Late It Was, How Late
- Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: George A. Olah (US), University of Southern California in Los Angeles, for research that opened new ways to break apart and rebuild compounds of carbon and hydrogen
Physics: Clifford G. Shull (US) and Bertram N. Brockhouse (Canada), for adapting beams of neutrons as probes to explore the atomic structure of matter
Physiology or Medicine: Alfred G. Gilman and Martin Rodbell (both US), for discovery of G-proteins that help cells respond to outside signals
More Nobel Prizes in 1998... - White House launches Web page. Initial commerce sites are established and mass marketing campaigns are launched via email, introducing the term "spamming" to the Internet vocabulary. Background: Computers and Internet
- Dr. Ned First (US) clones calves from cells of early embryos. Background: Cloning Milestones
- The FDA approves the Flavr Savr tomato, the first genetically-engineered food product.
Death
- Richard Milhous Nixon 4/22/1994
- Cab Calloway
- Burt Lancaster
- John Candy
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
- Tip O'Neill
- Jessica Tandy
