2002

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century – 21st century – 22nd century
Decades:	1970s  1980s  1990s  – 2000s –  2010s  2020s  2030s
Years:	1999 2000 2001 – 2002 – 2003 2004 2005

2002 (MMII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2002nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 2nd year of the 3rd millennium, the 2nd year of the 21st century, and the 3rd year of the 2000s decade.

Events

• January 1 – The Treaty on Open Skies, initially signed in 1992, officially enters into force.
• January 1 – Euro notes and coins started to be used in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Finland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, the Republic of Ireland, and the Netherlands.
• January 5 – A light aircraft crashes into a Tampa, Florida building, bringing fear of a repeat September 11, 2001 attacks.
• January 10 – Enrique Bolaños became the President of the Republic of Nicaragua.
• January 16 – The UN Security Council agreed to forbid selling arms to Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the Taliban and freezes their assets.
• January 17 – Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo erupts, leaving about 400,000 people without a home.
• January 23 – Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Pakistan, accused of being a CIA agent.
• January 31 – A large section of the Antarctic Larsen Ice Shelf begins breaking up, eventually consuming about 3,250 km² (1,254 miles²) after 35 days.
• February 8-24 – The 19th Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• April 28 – Green Party of Pakistan is formed
• May 20 – Independence of East Timor.

Nobel prize winners

• Chemistry – John B. Fenn
• Chemistry – Koichi Tanaka
• Chemistry – Kurt Wüthrich
• Economics – Daniel Kahneman
• Economics – Vernon L. Smith
• Literature – Imre Kertész
• Medicine – Sydney Brenner
• Medicine – H. Robert Horvitz
• Medicine – John E. Sulston
• Peace – Jimmy Carter
• Physics – Raymond Davis Jr.
• Physics – Riccardo Giacconi
• Physics – Masatoshi Koshiba

Deaths

• January 8 – Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's fast food chain (b. 1932)
• February 13 – Waylon Jennings, American country music singer (b. 1937)
• April 5 – Layne Staley, American singer (Alice in Chains) (b. 1967)
• May 18 – Davey Boy Smith, British professional wrestler (b. 1962)
• June 27 - John Entwistle, English bass guitarist (The Who) (b. 1944)
• October 13 – Stephen E. Ambrose, American historian and biographer (b. 1936)
• December 22 – Joe Strummer, British musician (The Clash) (b. 1952)