Top News Stories from 1997
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade Nobel Peace Prize: International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Jody Williams (US)
More World Statistics... - Hebron agreement signed; Israel gives up large part of West Bank city of Hebron (Jan. 16). Israeli government approves establishment of Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem, a setback in Middle East peace process (Feb. 26). Background: Middle East Peace Negotiations
- US, UK, and France agree to freeze Nazis' gold loot (Feb. 3).
- Hong Kong returns to Chinese rule (June 30).
- Khmer Rouge hold trial of longtime leader Pol Pot (July 25).
- Swiss plan first payment to Holocaust victims (Sept. 17).
- European Union plans to admit six nations (Dec. 13).
U.S. Events
U.S. Statistics
President: William J. Clinton
Vice President: Albert Gore, Jr.
Population: 267,743,595
More U.S. Statistics... - US shuttle joins Russian space station (Jan. 17).
- O. J. Simpson found liable in civil suit (Feb. 5).
- Heaven's Gate cult members commit mass suicide in California (March 27).
- US Appeals Court upholds California ban on affirmative action (April 8).
- Clinton exercises new line-item veto (Aug. 11).
- Timothy J. McVeigh sentenced to death for Oklahoma City bombing (Aug. 14).
- Two convicted in New York Trade Center bombing (Nov. 12).
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $8,110.90 billion
Federal spending: $1635.33 billion
Federal debt $5498.9 billion
Consumer Price Index: $160.5
Unemployment: 4.9%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.32
Sports
Super Bowl
Green Bay d. New EnglandWorld Series
Florida Marlins d. Cleveland (4-3)NBA Championship
Chicago d. UtahStanley Cup
Detroit d. PhiladelphiaWimbledon
Women: Martina Hingis d. J. Novotna (2-6 6-3 6-3)Men: Pete Sampras d. C. Pioline (6-4 6-2 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Silver CharmNCAA Basketball Championship
Arizona d. KentuckyNCAA Football Champions
Michigan (AP) (12-0) & Nebraska (ESPN/USA) (13-0)Entertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes Fiction:
Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer, Steven Millhauser
Music: Blood on the Field, Wynton Marsalis
Academy Award, Best Picture: The English Patient, Saul Zaentz, producer (Miramax)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Dario Fo (Italy)
Record of the Year: "Change the World," Eric Clapton
Album of the Year: Falling Into You, Celine Dion (550 Music/Epic)
Song of the Year: "Change the World," Gordon Kennedy, Wayne Kirkpatrick and Tommy Sims, songwriters
Miss America: Tara Dawn Holland (KS)
More Entertainment Awards... Events
- The controversial television ratings system debuts on cable stations and broadcast networks. The ratings, TV-Y, TV-G, TV-Y7, TV-PG, TV-14 and TV-M, appear for 15 seconds in the upper left-hand corner of the screen at the beginning of each show, except news and sports programs, which are not rated.
- Titanic crashes into theaters. It is the most expensive film of all time, costing between $250 and $300 million to produce and market.
- Ellen DeGeneres outs herself. She becomes the first openly gay woman to have her own sitcom.
- The Prince of Pop is born to Michael Jackson and wife Debbie Rowe. The child's name is Prince Michael Junior.
- J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone is published in the U.K. It comes to U.S. in 1998 as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Movies
- As Good as It Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting, The Ice Storm, L.A. Confidential, Titanic
Books
- Don DeLillo, Underworld
- Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain
- Rick Moody, Purple America
- Philip Roth, American Pastoral
- Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
- Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Paul D. Boyer (US), Jens C. Skou (Denmark), and John E. Walker (UK), for discoveries about a molecule that allows the human body to store and transfer energy between cells
Physics: Steven Chu, William D. Phillips (both US), and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (France), for developing a method to cool and trap atoms using light from lasers
Physiology or Medicine: Stanley B. Prusiner (US), for discovery of a new type of germ, called prions, that causes degenerative brain disorders
More Nobel Prizes in 1998... - A team led by Drs. Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell (UK) create the first sheep with a human gene in every cell of its body. The genetically engineered lamb is named Dolly.
- Scientists at Oregon Regional Primate Research Center (US) create the first primates —two rhesus monkeys named Neti and Ditto— from DNA taken from cells of developing monkey embryos. Background: Cloning Milestones
- Comet Hale-Bopp is the closest it will be to Earth until 4397 (March 22). Background: comets
- US spacecraft begins exploration of Mars (July 4). Background: US Unstaffed Planetary and Lunar Programs
- US company launches first commercial spy satellite (Dec. 24).
