2007
2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year, International Polar Year, and the International Year of Languages.
Events
January
- January 1
- * Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eurozone.
- * Adam Air Flight 574 disappears from Jakarta's radar. A week later it is found that the aircraft had crashed into the Makassar Strait, killing all 102 people on board.
- January 4 - Congress elects Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.
- January 8 - Russian oil supplies to Poland, Germany, and Ukraine are cut as the Russia–Belarus energy dispute escalates; they are restored three days later.
- January 9 – Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco, beginning a new era of smartphones with this invention.
February
- February 2 - The IPCC publishes its fourth assessment report, having concluded that global climate change is "very likely" to have a predominantly human cause.
- February 3 - A truck bomb explodes in Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least 135 people and injures 339 others.
- February 13 - North Korea agrees to shut down its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon by April 14 as a first step towards complete denuclearization, receiving in return energy aid equivalent to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.
- February 19 - Microblogging social network Tumblr launched to the public.
- February 26 - The International Court of Justice finds Serbia guilty of failing to prevent genocide in the Srebrenica massacre, but clears it of direct responsibility and complicity in the case.
March
- March 1 - The fourth International Polar Year, a $1.73 billion research program to study both the North Pole and South Pole, is launched in Paris.
- March 3 - A total lunar eclipse occurred and was visible in Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia. It was the 52nd lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros series 123 occurring at the moon's descending node. The moon was just 3.2 days before apogee, making it fairly small.
- March 11 - According to the accusation by Georgia, three Russian helicopters fired on the Georgian-controlled Kodori Gorge in a break-away autonomous republic of Abkhazia in north-western Georgia.
- March 13 - April 28 - The 2007 Cricket World Cup is held in the West Indies and is won by Australia.
- March 19 - The first solar eclipse of the year 2007 was a partial solar eclipse occurring just 0.7 days before perigee, making it very large. The Moon covered 87.558% of the Sun. In this partial solar eclipse, the best visibility occurred at 61º02'55" N, 55º28'04" E. It was the 20th solar eclipse of Solar Saros series 149, at ascending node. The Sun was its zenith just 83 km south of the Equator, so the Northern Hemisphere was Winter and the Southern Hemiphere was Summer on March 19, 2007.
- March 23 - Naval forces of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps arrest Royal Navy personnel in disputed Iran-Iraq waters; they were released on April 4.
- March 27 - Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvītis and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov sign a border treaty between Latvia and Russia, officially demarcating the border between the two.
April
- April 3 - French high speed passenger train, the TGV, reaches a top speed of 574.8 km/h, breaking the record for the world's fastest conventional train.
- April 18 - A series of attacks take place across Baghdad, Iraq, killing nearly 200 people.
- April 24 - Gliese 581c, a potentially Earth-like extrasolar planet habitable for life, is discovered in the constellation Libra.
- April 26–27 - Ethnic Russian riot in Tallinn and other cities in Estonia against the moving of the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet World War II memorial.
May
- May 3 - Madeleine McCann disappeared from 5A Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva in Praia da Luz, Portugal while she was sleeping.
- May 10–12 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 takes place in Helsinki, Finland, and is won by Serbian entrant Marija Šerifović with the song "Molitva".
- May 17 - The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate re-unite after 80 years of schism.
- May 20 - Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai makes the largest single charitable donation in modern history, committing €7.41 billion to an educational foundation in the Middle East.
June
- June 5 - NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second fly-by of Venus en route to Mercury.
- June 28 - 2007 European heat wave: in the aftermath of Greece's worst heat wave in a century, at least 11 people are reported dead from heatstroke, approximately 200 wildfires break out nationwide, and the country's electricity grid nearly collapses due to record breaking demand.
- June 29 - The iPhone, the first modern smartphone, is released in the United States. It was later released in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland and Austria in November 2007.
July
- July 4 - The International Olympic Committee awards Sochi the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.
- July 7 - Live Earth Concerts are held in nine major cities around the world to raise environmental awareness.
- July 17 - TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns the runway of São Paulo–Congonhas Airport and crashes, killing all 187 and 12 others on the ground.
- July 24 - Five Bulgarian nurses were released from Libyan prison after eight and a half years spent behind bars in Benghazi and Tripoli, marking the end of the so-called "HIV trial in Libya".
August
- August 4 - The Phoenix spacecraft is launched toward Mars to study its north pole.
- August 9 - The French global bank BNP Paribas in the United Kingdom blocks withdrawals from three hedge funds heavily committed in sub-prime mortgages, signaling the financial crisis of 2007–2008.
- August 14 - Multiple suicide bombings kill 572 people in Qahtaniya, northern Iraq.
- August 15 - An 8.0 earthquake strikes Peru, killing at least 519 people, injuring more than 1,300, and causing tsunami warnings in the Pacific Ocean.
September
- September 6 - Israeli Air Force airplanes attack a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in an airstrike.
- September 13 - The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
- September 14 - The SELENE spacecraft launches, with its objective being to study the Moon.
- September 20 - The Universal Forum of Cultures opens in Monterrey, Mexico.
- September 23 - Casey Stoner Is the World Champion of the 2007 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
- September 24 - The Big Bang Theory, a sitcom about a group of physicists living in California, premieres on CBS.
- September 25 - Mount Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park in New Zealand, erupts.
October
- October 22 – Montenegro adopts a new constitution, which among other things changes the country's official name from "Republic of Montenegro" to "Montenegro".
November
- November 6 - A suicide bomber kills at least fifty people in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, including six members of the National Assembly.
- November 14 - High Speed 1 from London to the Channel Tunnel is opened to passengers.
- November 16 - Up to 15,000 people are believed to have been killed after Cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh.
December
- December 5 - Eight people are killed and four others wounded when a gunman opens fire at Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska.
- December 13 - Treaty of Lisbon is signed by members states of European Union.
- December 20 - The Pablo Picasso painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch, together with Candido Portinari's O Lavrador de Café, is stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art.
- December 21
- * At the age of, Queen Elizabeth II became the oldest ever reigning British monarch, surpassing Queen Victoria who was aged upon her death on January 22, 1901.
- * The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the Schengen border-free zone.
- December 27
- * Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated, along with 20 other people, at an election rally in Rawalpindi.
- *Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the general election, triggering a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis that killed over 1,000 people.
- December 31
- * Ninety-year-old Ettore Sottsass dies.
Unknown date
- Mauritania is the last country to criminalize slavery, making the practice illegal everywhere in the world.
Births
- February 16 - Choi Ro-woon, South Korean actor
- March 5 - Roman Griffin Davis, British actor
- March 28 - Cailey Fleming, American actress
- April 10 - Princess Ariane of the Netherlands, daughter of Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima.
- April 21 - Princess Isabella of Denmark, daughter of Crown Prince Frederick and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.
- April 29 - Infanta Sofía of Spain, daughter of Felipe, Prince of Asturias and Letizia, Princess of Asturias.
- June 6 - Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, American actress
- June 23 - Desmond Napoles, American drag performer
- July 17 - Charlie Shotwell, American child actor
- August 12 - Naomi Hansen‚ British-American-Canadian sister actress
- September 14 - Heo Jung-eun, South Korean child actress
- December 17 - James, Viscount Severn, grandson of Elizabeth II, son of The Earl and Countess of Wessex.
- December 26 - Christian J. Simon, American-Canadian Actor
Deaths
January
- January 2 – Teddy Kollek, Austrian-born mayor of Jerusalem
- January 4 – Marais Viljoen, 5th State President of South Africa
- January 5 – Momofuku Ando, Japanese inventor
- January 8
- * Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-born American actress
- * Iwao Takamoto, American animator, television producer, and film director
- January 9 – Jean-Pierre Vernant, French historian and anthropologist
- January 10 – Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer
- January 11 – Robert Anton Wilson, American author and conspiracy researcher
- January 12 – Alice Coltrane, American jazz musician
- January 13 – Michael Brecker, American jazz musician
- January 14 – Darlene Conley, American actress
- January 15
- * Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Iraqi politician
- * Bo Yibo, Chinese politician
- January 17 – Art Buchwald, American humorist
- January 19
- * Bam Bam Bigelow, American wrestler
- * Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist
- * Denny Doherty, Canadian musician
- January 21
- * Maria Cioncan, Romanian athlete
- * U;Nee, South Korean singer, rapper, dancer, and actress
- January 22 – Abbé Pierre, French priest and founder of Emmaus
- January 23
- * E. Howard Hunt, American intelligence officer
- * Ryszard Kapuściński, Polish journalist and author
- January 27 – Marcheline Bertrand, American actress and humanitarian
- January 30 – Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter
- January 31 – Kirka Babitzin, Finnish singer
February
- February 1 – Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-born composer and librettist
- February 6 – Frankie Laine, American singer
- February 7 – Alan MacDiarmid, New Zealand chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 8 – Anna Nicole Smith, American model and television personality
- February 9 – Ian Richardson, Scottish actor
- February 10 – Jeong Da-bin, South Korean actress
- February 13
- * Eliana Ramos, Uruguayan fashion model
- * Johanna Sällström, Swedish actress
- February 15 – Robert Adler, Austrian-born inventor
- February 17
- * Maurice Papon, French Vichy government official
- * Mike Awesome, American professional wrestler
- February 18 – Barbara Gittings, American activist
- February 22
- * Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author, painter, and art collector
- * Dennis Johnson, American basketball player
- * Fons Rademakers, Dutch actor, film director, producer and screenwriter
- February 23 – Pascal Yoadimnadji, Chadian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Chad
- February 24 – Bruce Bennett, American actor
- February 27 – Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, German army officer
- February 28
- * Princess Marie Adelaide of Luxembourg, Princess of Luxembourg
- * Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., American historian and political commentator
March
- March 4 – Thomas Eagleton, American politician
- March 6
- * Jean Baudrillard, French philosopher and sociologist
- * Allen Coage, American professional wrestler
- March 8 – John Inman, English actor
- March 9 – Brad Delp, American singer
- March 10
- * Ernie Ladd, American football player and professional wrestler
- * Richard Jeni, American comedian
- March 11 – Betty Hutton, American actress
- March 12 – Antonio Ortiz Mena, Mexican politician and economist
- March 14
- * Lucie Aubrac, French World War II Resistance fighter
- * Gareth Hunt, English actor
- March 18 – Bob Woolmer, English cricketer and coach
- March 19 – Calvert DeForest, American actor and comedian
- March 20 – Taha Yassin Ramadan, Vice President of Iraq
- March 25 – Andranik Margaryan, 14th Prime Minister of Armenia
- March 30 – Chrisye, Indonesian pop singer and songwriter
April
- April 1
- * Laurie Baker, English architect
- * Driss Chraïbi, Moroccan author
- * Hans Filbinger, German jurist and politician
- April 4 – Bob Clark, American film director
- April 5 – Mark St. John, American guitarist
- April 6 – Luigi Comencini, Italian film director
- April 7
- * Johnny Hart, American cartoonist
- * Barry Nelson, American actor
- April 11
- * Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor
- * Ronald Speirs, United States Army officer
- * Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist and playwright
- April 14 – Don Ho, American musician
- April 16 – Seung-Hui Cho, South Korean terrorist
- April 17 – Kitty Carlisle Hart, American singer, actress & talk show panelist
- April 23
- * David Halberstam, American journalist and historian
- * Boris Yeltsin, 1st President of the Russian Federation
- April 25 – Alan Ball, English footballer
- April 26 – Jack Valenti, American film executive, creator of MPAA film rating system
- April 27 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor
- April 28
- * Dabbs Greer, American actor
- * Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, German physicist and philosopher
- April 29 – Ivica Račan, 7th Prime Minister of Croatia
- April 30
- * Grégory Lemarchal, French singer
- * Tom Poston, American actor
- * Gordon Scott, American actor
May
- May 3 – Wally Schirra, American astronaut
- May 5 – Theodore Maiman, American physicist
- May 7 – Diego Corrales, American professional boxer
- May 11 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan head of state
- May 12 – Mullah Dadullah Akhund, Afghan Taliban military leader
- May 15
- * Jerry Falwell, American evangelist
- * Yolanda King, American actress and activist, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- May 16 – Mary Douglas, British anthropologist
- May 17 – Lloyd Alexander, American author
- May 18 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist and Nobel Prize for Physics laureate
- May 20 – Stanley Miller, American chemist and biologist
- May 21 – Bruno Mattei, Italian film director, screenwriter and editor
- May 25
- * Bill Johnston, Australian cricketer
- * Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor, comedian, and director
- May 27 – Izumi Sakai, Japanese singer
- May 28 – David Lane, American white nationalist
- May 30 – Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor and director
June
- June 2 – Huang Ju, Chinese politician
- June 4 – Craig L. Thomas, American politician
- June 8 – Aden Abdullah Osman Daar, first President of Somalia
- June 11 – Mala Powers, American actress
- June 14
- * Ruth Graham, American Christian author
- * Kurt Waldheim, Austrian politician and diplomat, former United Nations Secretary-General
- June 15 – Sherri Martel, American professional wrestler
- June 17 – Gianfranco Ferré, Italian designer
- June 18 – Vilma Espín, Cuban revolutionary, feminist, and chemical engineer
- June 19
- * Antonio Aguilar, Mexican singer and actor
- * Klausjürgen Wussow, German theatre and television actor
- June 22 – Nancy Benoit, American professional wrestling valet and model
- June 24
- * Derek Dougan, Northern Irish footballer
- * Natasja Saad, Afro Danish rapper and reggae singer
- * Chris Benoit, Canadian professional wrestler
- June 26 – Jupp Derwall, German footballer and coach
- June 28 – Kiichi Miyazawa, 78th Prime Minister of Japan
- June 30 – Gottfried von Bismarck, German aristocrat and socialite
July
- July 3
- * Claude Pompidou, French philanthropist
- * Boots Randolph, American saxophonist
- July 5 – Régine Crespin, French soprano
- July 9 – Charles Lane, American actor
- July 11
- * Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady of the United States
- * Alfonso López Michelsen, 32nd Colombian President
- July 18 – Kenji Miyamoto, Japanese politician
- July 20
- * Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist
- * Tammy Faye Messner, American televangelist
- July 22
- * László Kovács, Hungarian-American cinematographer
- * Ulrich Mühe, German actor
- * Jean Stablinski, French cyclist of Polish origin
- July 23
- * Ernst Otto Fischer, German chemist
- * Benjamin Libet, American pioneering scientist in the field of human consciousness
- * Mohammed Zahir Shah, last King of Afghanistan
- July 24 – Albert Ellis, American psychologist
- July 28 – Isidore Isou, French poet, film critic and artist
- July 30
- * Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian film director
- * Teoctist Arăpaşu, Ex-Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch
- * Ingmar Bergman, Swedish film director
August
- August 1 – Ryan Cox, South African professional road racing cyclist
- August 3 – John Gardner, British author
- August 4 – Lee Hazlewood, American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer
- August 5 – Jean-Marie Lustiger, French Cardinal Archbishop of Paris
- August 10 – Tony Wilson, English broadcaster, nightclub manager, and record label owner
- August 12 – Merv Griffin, American television personality
- August 13
- * Brooke Astor, American socialite and philanthropist
- * Phil Rizzuto, American baseball player and announcer
- August 15 – John Gofman, American Manhattan Project scientist and advocate
- August 16 – Max Roach, American percussionist, drummer, and composer
- August 17 – Eddie Griffin, American basketball player
- August 20 – Leona Helmsley, American hotel operator and real estate investor
- August 24 – Abdul Rahman Arif, 3rd President of Iraq
- August 25 – Raymond Barre, French politician and economist
- August 26 – Gaston Thorn, Luxembourger politician, 19th Prime Minister of Luxembourg
- August 28
- * Antonio Puerta, Spanish footballer
- * Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese actress
- August 29 – Pierre Messmer, French politician
- August 30 – Michael Jackson, English writer
September
- September 6 – Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor
- September 7 – John Compton, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
- September 10
- * Anita Roddick, English entrepreneur
- * Jane Wyman, American actress
- September 11
- * Ian Porterfield, Scottish footballer
- * Joe Zawinul, Austrian musician
- September 14 – Benny Vansteelant, Belgian duathlete
- September 15
- * Colin McRae, Scottish world rally champion
- * Brett Somers, American actress
- September 16 – Robert Jordan, American author
- September 21
- * Alice Ghostley, American actress
- * Petar Stambolić, Serbian politician, 5th President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia
- September 22 – Marcel Marceau, French mime artist
- September 27 – Kenji Nagai, Japanese journalist
- September 29 – Lois Maxwell, Canadian actress
October
- October 1 – Al Oerter, American athlete
- October 3 – Tony Ryan, Irish businessman
- October 7 – Norifumi Abe, Japanese motorcycle road racer
- October 11 – Sri Chinmoy, Indian philosopher
- October 12
- * Soe Win, Burmese politician, 10th Prime Minister of Myanmar
- * Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect
- October 13 – Bob Denard, French mercenary
- October 16
- * Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress
- * Toše Proeski, Macedonian singer
- * Barbara West, 2nd to last living survivor of the Titanic sinking
- October 17 – Joey Bishop, American entertainer
- October 19 – Jan Wolkers, Dutch author, sculptor and painter
- October 22 – Ève Curie, French author, daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie
- October 23 – Lim Goh Tong, Malaysian Chinese businessman
- October 26
- * Nicolae Dobrin, Romanian footballer
- * Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist
- * Khun Sa, Burmese warlord
- October 28 – Porter Wagoner, American country singer
- October 30 – Robert Goulet, American entertainer
November
- November 1 – Paul Tibbets, American general, pilot of the Enola Gay
- November 2
- * Charmaine Dragun, Australian news anchor
- * Igor Moiseyev, Russian choreographer
- * The Fabulous Moolah, American professional wrestler
- * Witold Kiełtyka, Polish musician
- November 3
- * Aleksandr Dedyushko, Russian actor
- * Ryan Shay, American runner
- November 5 – Nils Liedholm, Swedish footballer and coach
- November 6 – Hank Thompson, American country singer
- November 9 – Luis Herrera Campins, 56th President of Venezuela
- November 10
- * Laraine Day, American actress
- * Norman Mailer, American writer
- November 11 – Delbert Mann, American film and television director
- November 12 – Ira Levin, American novelist
- November 19 – Kevin DuBrow, American musician
- November 20 – Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia
- November 21
- * Fernando Fernán Gómez, Spanish actor, director, and playwright
- * Tom Johnson, Canadian sports executive and hockey player
- November 22
- * Maurice Béjart, French-born dancer, choreographer and opera director
- * Verity Lambert, English producer
- November 23 – Vladimir Kryuchkov, Russian Soviet-era bureaucrat
- November 27
- * Robert Cade, American physician and inventor of the beverage Gatorade
- * Sean Taylor, American football player
- * Bill Willis, American football player
- November 29 – Roger Bonham Smith, American businessman
- November 30 – Evel Knievel, American motorcycle daredevil
December
- December 1 – Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player
- December 4
- * Pimp C, American rapper and record producer
- * Chip Reese, American professional gambler
- December 5 – Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer
- December 12 – Ike Turner, American musician, songwriter, record producer, and bandleader
- December 16 – Dan Fogelberg, American singer and songwriter
- December 22 – Julien Gracq, French writer
- December 23
- * Michael Kidd, American choreographer
- * Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist and composer
- December 26 – Joe Dolan, Irish singer
- December 27
- * Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani politician, 11th and 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan
- * Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Polish film director and politician
- * Jaan Kross, Estonian writer
- December 31
- * Muhammad Osman Said, Former Libyan prime minister
- * Ettore Sottsass, Italian architect
Nobel Prizes
- Chemistry - Gerhard Ertl
- Economics - Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin, and Roger Myerson
- Literature - Doris Lessing
- Peace - Albert Gore Jr, and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- Physics - Albert Fert, Peter Grünberg
- Physiology or Medicine - Mario Capecchi, Oliver Smithies, and Sir Martin Evans
New English words and terms
- additive manufacturing
- colony collapse disorder
- hashtag
- listicle
- netbook
- sharing economy
- tweep