2004

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century – 21st century – 22nd century
Decades:	1970s  1980s  1990s  – 2000s –  2010s  2020s  2030s
Years:	2001 2002 2003 – 2004 – 2005 2006 2007

2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

Main page: List of events in 2004

• January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, killing all 148 aboard.
• January 4 – NASA's MER-A (Spirit) lands on Mars at 04:35 UTC
• January 4 – Mikheil Saakashvili becomes President of Georgia.
• January 24 – NASA's MER-B (Opportunity) lands on Mars at 05:05 UTC
• February 1 – A hajj stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills 251 pilgrims.
• February 2 – An 11-story apartment building collapses in Konya, Turkey, killing more than 90 people.
• February 13 – Scientists in South Korea announce the cloning of 30 human embryos.
• February 29 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti.
• March 2 – NASA announces that the Mars rover MER-B (Opportunity) has confirmed that its landing area was once covered with water.
• March 11 – Islamist terrorists target trains in Madrid, Spain. The resulting bomb explosions kill more than 190 people.
• March 28 – The first ever South Atlantic hurricane makes landfall in South Brazil on the state of Santa Catarina
• March 29 – Estonia becomes a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
• May 1 – The EU undergoes its biggest ever enlargement, as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta join.
• July 1 – The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arrives at Saturn.
• July 4 – Groundbreaking for the Freedom Tower begins at Ground Zero in New York City.
• July 4 – In football, Greece wins the European Championships, after being rated as an 80-1 rank outsider.
• August 13–August 29 – The 2004 Summer Olympics are held in Athens, Greece.
• August 16 – The village of Boscastle in Cornwall is hit by a flash flood.
• September 1 – Many schoolchildren are taken hostage at a school in Beslan, southern Russia. Many of them are massacred on September 3.
• September 23 – Mount St. Helens becomes active again.
• October 29 – King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicates in favour of his son, Norodom Sihamoni.
• November 2 – George W. Bush is reelected as President of the United States.
• November 21 – The Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine.
• December 26 – One of the worst natural disasters in recorded history hits Southeast Asia when the strongest earthquake in 40 years hits the entire Indian Ocean region. The massive 9.3 magnitude earthquake created giant tsunami waves that crash into the coastal areas of a number of nations including Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Indonesia. The official death toll in the affected countries stands at 186,983 while more than 40,000 people are still missing.
• December 26 – In the wake of the Orange Revolution, Viktor Yushchenko is elected President of Ukraine.
• December 31 – The Taipei 101 tower is opened in Taipei, Taiwan.

Nobel prize winners

• Chemistry – Aaron Ciechanover
• Chemistry – Avram Hershko
• Chemistry – Irwin Rose
• Economics – Finn E. Kydland
• Economics – Edward C. Prescott
• Literature – Elfriede Jelinek
• Medicine – Richard Axel
• Medicine – Linda B. Buck
• Peace – Wangari Maathai
• Physics – David J. Gross
• Physics – H. David Politzer
• Physics – Frank Wilczek

Births

• January 21 – Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway
• February 6 – Princess Louise of Belgium, granddaughter of King Albert II of Belgium.
• March 21 – Count Claus-Casimir of Orange-Nassau, Jonkheer van Amsberg
• November 9 – Sahil Saeed, British kidnap victim

Deaths

• January 5 – Dorota Terakowska, Polish writer
• January 5 – Tug McGraw, major league pitcher, father of Tim McGraw
• January 6 – Charles Dumas, American high jumper
• January 7 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress
• January 10 – Spalding Gray, actor, screenwriter, and monologue artist (born 1941)
• January 13 – Harold Shipman, the United Kingdom's most prolific serial killer (by suicide)
• January 16 – Kalevi Sorsa, Finnish politician
• January 27 – Jack Paar, television show host
• January 29 – Janet Frame, New Zealand writer
• January 29 – Mary Margaret Kaye, British writer
• February 14 – Marco Pantani, Italian bicyclist and Giro d'Italia and Tour de France winner
• February 15 – Jan Miner, American actress
• February 26 – Boris Trajkovski, president of the Macedonia
• March 2 – Marge Schott, former owner of the Cincinnati Reds
• March 7 – Nicolae Cajal, member of the Romanian Academy, president of the Jewish Communities Federation of Romania
• March 9 – Abu Abbas, terrorist
• March 18 – Harrison McCain, Canadian billionaire
• March 20 – Juliana of the Netherlands,
• March 23 – Rupert Hamer, Australian politician
• March 28 – Robert Merle, novelist
• March 29 – Alistair Cooke, television and radio broadcaster
• March 30 – Michael King, New Zealand historian (born 1945)
• April 4 – George Bamberger, former major league manager and player, aged 80
• April 8 – Bruce Edwards, longtime caddie for golfer Tom Watson, aged 49
• April 23 – Pat Tillman, American football player (born 1976)
• April 24 – Estée Lauder, cosmetics pioneer (born 1906)
• April 30 – Kioumars Saberi Foumani, aka Gol-Agha, Iranian satirist, (born 1941)
• May 9 – Akhmad Kadyrov, Chechen president
• May 9 – Alan King, American comedian
• June 5 – Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States
• June 10 – Ray Charles, American musician
• July 1 – Marlon Brando, American actor
• July 6 – Thomas Klestil, President of Austria.
• July 28 – Francis Crick, scientist
• September 20 – Brian Clough, English football manager
• September 29 – Christer Pettersson, suspect in the murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme
• October 10 – Christopher Reeve, American actor
• October 25 – John Peel, British DJ
• November 2 – Theo van Gogh, Dutch filmmaker
• November 9 – Emlyn Hughes, English footballer
• November 9 – Stieg Larsson, Swedish author
• November 11 – Yasser Arafat, Palestinian political leader
• December 1 – Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands
• December 28 – Jerry Orbach, American actor
• December 28 – Susan Sontag, American writer
• December 30 – Artie Shaw, American musician

New books

• Eragon – Christopher Paolini

Movies released

• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
• The Manchurian Candidate
• Mean Girls
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
• Suspect Zero
• The Stepford Wives
• Team America: World Police
• Twisted

Hit Songs

• My Happy Ending – Avril Lavigne
• Cold – Crossfade
• Mexican Wine - Fountains Of Wayne
• Redneck Woman – Gretchen Wilson
• Some Beach - Blake Shelton
• Mosh – Eminem
• Game Over – Lil' Flip
• Everytime – Britney Spears
• Breakaway – Kelly Clarkson
• Angels – Jessica Simpson
• Rumors - Lindsay Lohan
• What You Waiting For? - Gwen Stefani