2002

This article is about the year 2002. For other uses, see 2002 (disambiguation).

Millennium:	3rd millennium
Centuries:	20th century 21st century 22nd century
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
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 and the 21st century, and the 3rd year of the 2000s decade.

2002 was designated as:

• International Year of Ecotourism
• International Year of Mountains
• Year of the Outback in Australia
• National Science Year in the United Kingdom
• Autism Awareness Year in the United Kingdom

Events

January

• January 1
  • The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially enters into force.
  • Euro notes and coins are introduced in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Finland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and the Netherlands.
• January 16 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and freezes the assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban.
• January 17 – The eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo displaces an estimated 400,000 people.
• January 18 – The Sierra Leone government - with British assistance, Guinean air support and US logistical support - defeats the Revolutionary United Front, bringing the Sierra Leone Civil War to a conclusion.
• January 23 – Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped and killed in Pakistan by militants with ties to Al-Qaeda, who accused him of being a CIA agent.
• January 27 – Several explosions at a military dump in Lagos, Nigeria kill more than 1,000 people.
• January 31 – A large section of the Antarctic Larsen Ice Shelf begins disintegrating, consuming about 3,250 km (2,020 mi) over 35 days.

February

• February 1 – Kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is murdered in Karachi, Pakistan.
• February 6 – Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Golden Jubilee, marking 50 years since her accession to the British throne.
• February 8–February 24 – The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• February 9 – Queen Elizabeth II's sister, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, dies in her sleep aged 71 after suffering a major stroke.
• February 12 – The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of Yugoslavia, begins at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
• February 15 – The funeral of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on the 50th anniversary of her father's funeral; coincidentally, this is also the final public appearance of her mother.

Artists concept of the 2001 Mars Odyssey Spacecraft

• February 19 – NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
• February 20 – A train catches fire at Reqa Al-Gharbiya in Egypt while en route to Luxor from Cairo, killing 383 people.
• February 22
  • Robert William Pickton, the most prolific serial killer in Canadian history, is arrested and charged with the first 2 (of 27) counts of first-degree murder.
  • Sri Lankan Civil War: A Spanish-facilitated ceasefire begins in Sri Lanka.
  • Angolan Civil War: Anti-communist UNITA guerilla leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a clash against government troops led by socialist Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos in Moxico Province, Angola.
• February 27 – 59 Hindu pilgrims are killed aboard the Sabarmati Express train which was burned by Muslim extremists at Godhra in the Indian state of Gujarat, starting the 2002 Gujarat riots.
• February 28
  • The ex-currencies of all euro-using nations cease to be legal tender in the European Union.
  • 2002 Gujarat riots: 97 people are burnt alive or killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre, and 69 in the Gulbarg Society massacre in Ahmedabad.

March

Hubble Space Telescope after servicing by the crew of STS-109

• March 1
  • War in Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins.
  • 2002 Gujarat riots: Violence continues in Ahmedabad, India kills 28; police shoot and kill 5 rioters.
  • The Envisat environmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit 800 km above the Earth using an Ariane 5 on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload to date at 8,500 kg.
  • STS-109: Space Shuttle Columbia flies the Hubble Space Telescope service mission, the penultimate flight before its ill-fated STS-107 mission.
• March 14 – The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament is established.
• March 17 – In Islamabad, Pakistan, the International Protestant Church attack occurs.
• March 19 – War in Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends after killing of what the United States claimed was 500 Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities.
• March 21 – In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and 3 others are charged with the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
• March 27 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 30 Israeli civilians and injures 140 others at the Park Hotel in Netanya, triggering Operation Defensive Shield, a large-scale counter-terrorist Israeli military incursion into the West Bank, 2 days later.
• March 30 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother dies at the age of 101 at Royal Lodge, Windsor.

April

• April 2 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces besiege the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, when militants took shelter there.
• April 9 – The Funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother takes place in Westminster Abbey, London.
• April 11 – April 14 – A military coup d'état against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez fails.
• April 15 – An Air China Boeing 767-200 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Busan, South Korea, killing 129.
• April 17 – War in Afghanistan: Four Canadian soldiers are killed near Kandahar, Afghanistan by friendly fire from 2 US F-16s.
• April 18 – The discovery of a new insect order, Mantophasmatodea, is announced.
• April 23–April 24 – Pope John Paul II holds an extraordinary meeting of American cardinals at the Vatican to discuss the sexual abuse of children, calling it "an appalling sin" and declaring that "there is no place in the priesthood for those who would harm the young".
• April 25 – South African Mark Shuttleworth blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Soyuz TM-34, becoming the first African space tourist.

May

May 20: Flag of East Timor

• May 6 – In the Netherlands, politician and Prime Ministerial candidate Pim Fortuyn is assassinated in Hilversum.
• May 9
  • Israeli–Palestinian conflict: A 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem ends, when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected militants among them deported to several different countries.
  • A remote-control bomb explodes during a holiday parade in Kaspiysk, Russia, killing 44 people and injuring at least 130 more.
• May 10 – Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to the Soviet Union for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
• May 20 – East Timor regains its independence after 26 years of occupation by Indonesia since 1975.
• May 21 – The US State Department releases an updated report naming seven state sponsors of terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.
• May 24 – In Moscow, United States President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin sign the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty to replace the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 and the START II Treaty of 1993.
• May 25 – China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrates near the Penghu Islands at Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 people on board.
• May 26
  • The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large water ice deposits on the planet Mars.
  • A barge collides with the Interstate 40 bridge across the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma, killing 14 people.
• May 31 – June 30 – The 2002 FIFA World Cup begins in South Korea and Japan.

June

• June 4 – The planetoid Quaoar is discovered orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper belt.
• June 6 – An object with an estimated diameter of 10 meters collides with Earth over the Mediterranean and detonates in mid-air.
• June 10
  • An annular solar eclipse occurs over the Pacific Ocean.
  • The first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans, is carried out by Kevin Warwick in the United Kingdom.
• June 11 – Antonio Meucci is recognized as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
• June 13 – The United States Senate withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972. The Russian State Duma withdraws from START II Treaty of 1993 in response.
• June 14 – In Karachi, Pakistan, a car bomb in front of the U.S. Consulate kills 12 Pakistanis and injures 50.
• June 15 – A near Earth Asteroid called 2002 MN misses the planet by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about 1/3 the distance to the moon.
• June 18 – British Telephone Company O2 is created after a BT Group rebrand.
• June 24 – A passenger train collides with a freight train in Dodoma Region, Tanzania, killing 281 people. This made it the worst rail accident in African history.
• June 30 – Brazil wins their 5th FIFA World Cup title by defeating Germany 2-0 in the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final.

July

• July 1
  • The International Criminal Court is established.
  • A Russian passenger jet and cargo plane collide over the town of Überlingen, Germany, killing 71 people.
• July 9 – The Organization of African Unity is disbanded and replaced by the African Union.
• July 15 – In Washington, D.C., "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to aiding the enemy and possession of explosives during the commission of a felony; Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each charge.
• July 21 – Telecommunications giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the largest such filing in United States history.
• July 27 – A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes at an air show near Lviv, Ukraine, killing 77 and injuring more than 100, making it the worst air show disaster in history.

August

• August 13 – Deadly floods ravage much of Central Europe, killing dozens of people.

September

Gerhard Schröder

• September 2 – The United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, successor of the Conference on the Human Environment, World Commission on Environment and Development, and the Conference on Environment and Development, opens.
• September 5 – War in Afghanistan: A car bomb kills at least 30 people in Kabul, Afghanistan, and an apparent assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai fails the same day.
• September 10 – Switzerland joins the United Nations as the 191st member state after rejecting a place in 1986.
• September 11 – The World Summit on Sustainable Development comes to a close.
• September 19 – Ivory Coast descends into civil war after army troops mutinied across the country.
• September 20 – The Kolka Glacier collapses, resulting in an avalanch on the northern slope of Mount Kazbek in North Ossetia, Russia that kills at least 125 people.
• September 25 – The Vitim event, a possible bolide impact, occurs in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.
• September 26 – The Senegalese passenger ferry Joola capsizes in a storm off the coast of the Gambia, killing 1,863 people.
• September 27 – The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste is admitted to the United Nations as the 191st member state.

October

• October 2 – A series of coordinated shootings take place across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., killing 17 people.
• October 11 – A lone bomber explodes a home-made bomb in the Myyrmanni shopping mall north of Helsinki, Finland, killing seven people including himself.
• October 12 – Terrorists detonate bombs in 2 nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and injuring over 300 in the worst terrorist act in Indonesia's history.
• October 22 – 25 – Chechen rebels take control of the Nord-Ost theatre in Moscow and hold the audience hostage. 170 people are killed following a Russian attempt to subdue the militants.

November

The Department of Homeland Security is formed in response to terrorist concerns in the United States.

• November 7
  • Iran bans the advertising of United States products.
  • A sovereignty referendum in Gibraltar is held since the Gibraltar sovereignty referendum in 1967. The people again reject Spanish sovereignty.
• November 8 – Iraq disarmament crisis: The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves UN Security Council Resolution 1441, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences".
• November 13
  • Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq agrees to the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 1441.
  • The oil tanker Prestige sinks off the Galician coast, causing an oil spill.
• November 14 – Argentina defaults on a US $805 million World Bank loan payment.
• November 18 – Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.
• November 21 – At the NATO Summit in Prague, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia are invited to join the organization in 2004.
• November 22 – In Nigeria, more than 100 are killed at an attack aimed at the Miss World contestants.
• November 25
  • U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law, establishing the Department of Homeland Security, in the largest U.S. government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947.
  • Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov survives an alleged assassination attempt on his life. The government responded by detaining thousands of alleged conspirators afterward.

December

• December 7 – As required by the recently passed U.N. resolution, Iraq files a 12,000 page weapons declaration with the U.N. Security Council.
• December 10 – The High Court of Australia hands down its judgement in the Internet defamation dispute in the case of Dow Jones & Co Inc v Gutnick.
• December 27 – A suicide truck-bomb attack destroys the headquarters of Chechnya's Moscow-backed government, killing 72.
• December 30 – An eruption on the volcanic island Stromboli off the coast of Sicily causes a flank failure and tsunami. The island is later evacuated.

Date unknown

• The Population Division of the United Nations calculate that 40 million people around the world are infected with HIV.

Births

• February 5 – Davis Cleveland, American child actor
• April 8 – Skai Jackson, American actress.
• May 6 – Emily Alyn Lind, American child actress
• July 22 – Prince Felix of Denmark, Prince of Denmark
• September 30 – Maddie Ziegler, American dancer
• October 6 – Cleopatra Stratan, Moldovan child singer
• November 19 – Gaia Cauchi, Maltese child singer

Deaths

Main article: Deaths in 2002

January

Cyrus Vance

Peggy Lee

Astrid Lindgren

• January 3 – Freddy Heineken, Dutch-born beer magnate (b. 1923)
• January 8
  • Alexander Prokhorov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
  • Dave Thomas, American fast food entrepreneur (Wendy's) (b. 1932)
• January 12
  • Stanley Unwin, South African comedian (b. 1911)
  • Cyrus Vance, American politician, 59th United States Secretary of State (b. 1917)
• January 15 – Eugène Brands, Dutch painter (b. 1913)
• January 16
  • Michael Anthony Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)
  • Bobo Olson, American boxer (b. 1928)
• January 17
  • Queenie Leonard, British singer and actress (b. 1905)
  • Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer (b. 1916)
• January 19 – Vavá, Brazilian footballer (b. 1934)
• January 22
  • Jack Shea, American double-Gold medalist in skating speedly (b. 1910)
  • Peggy Lee, American singer and actress (b. 1920)
• January 23
  • Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist (b. 1930)
  • Robert Nozick, American philosopher (b. 1938)
• January 28 – Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children's book author (b. 1907)

February

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

Chuck Jones

• February 1 – Hildegard Knef, German actress (b. 1925)
• February 6 – Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1914)
• February 8
  • Joachim Hoffmann, German historian (b. 1930)
  • Thomaz Soares da Silva, Brazilian football player (b. 1921)
• February 9 – Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (b. 1930)
• February 10 – Traudl Junge, German private secretary of Adolf Hitler (b. 1920)
• February 12 – John Eriksen, Danish football player (b. 1957)
• February 13 – Waylon Jennings, American country music singer (b. 1937)
• February 14 – Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1922)
• February 15
  • Howard K. Smith, American television journalist (ABC News) (b. 1914)
  • Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (b. 1963)
• February 16 – Walter Winterbottom, English football manager (b. 1913)
• February 19 – Virginia Hamilton, American writer (b. 1934)
• February 22
  • Chuck Jones, American animator (b. 1912)
  • Jonas Savimbi, Angolan rebel and political leader (b. 1934)
• February 24 – Leo Ornstein, American composer and pianist (b. 1893)
• February 27 – Spike Milligan, English-Irish comedian, writer, and poet (b. 1918)
• February 28 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)

March

Milton Berle

Dudley Moore

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

• March 11
  • Marion Dönhoff, German journalist (b. 1909)
  • James Tobin, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
• March 12 – Spyros Kyprianou, former President of Cyprus (b. 1932)
• March 13 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (b. 1900)
• March 20 – Ibn al-Khattab, Saudi guerrilla (b. 1969)
• March 24 – César Milstein, Argentine scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1927)
• March 27
  • Milton Berle, American comedian and actor (b. 1908)
  • Dudley Moore, English pianist, comedian, and actor (b. 1935)
  • Billy Wilder, Polish-American film screenwriter and director (b. 1906)
• March 29 – Rico Yan, Filipino actor (b. 1975)
• March 30 – The Queen Mother, consort of George VI of the United Kingdom and mother of Elizabeth II (b. 1900)

April

Layne Staley

• April 1 – Simo Häyhä, Finnish sniper (b. 1905)
• April 5 – Layne Staley, American singer (Alice in Chains) (b. 1967)
• April 8 – María Félix, Mexican actress (b. 1914)
• April 9 – Leopold Vietoris, Austrian mathematician (b. 1891)
• April 16
  • Franz Krienbühl, Swiss speed skater (b. 1929)
  • Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946)
• April 18 – Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer (b. 1914)
• April 22 – Linda Lovelace, American pornographic actress (b. 1949)
• April 25 – Lisa Lopes, American rapper; one-third of the multi-platinum girl group TLC (b. 1971)
• April 27
  • George Alec Effinger, American author (b. 1947)
  • Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Swiss industrialist and art collector (b. 1921)
  • Ruth Handler, American toy manufacturer (b. 1916)
• April 28 – Lou Thesz, American professional wrestler (b. 1916)

May

Pim Fortuyn

• May 5 – Hugo Banzer, Bolivian politician, 62nd and 75th President of Bolivia (b. 1926)
• May 6 – Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician, author and professor (b. 1948)
• May 11 – Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (b. 1905)
• May 13 – Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Ukrainian football manager (b. 1939)
• May 17 – László Kubala, Hungarian footballer (b. 1927)
• May 18 – Davey Boy Smith, British professional wrestler (b. 1962)
• May 19 – John Gorton, Australian politician, 19th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1911)
• May 20 – Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist and author (b. 1941)
• May 21 – Niki de Saint Phalle, French artist (b. 1930)
• May 23 – Sam Snead, American golfer (b. 1912)
• May 26 – Mamo Wolde, Ethiopian runner (b. 1932)
• May 28 – Jean Berger, German-American composer (b. 1909)

June

Fernando Belaúnde Terry

Dee Dee Ramone

• June 2 – Hansie Cronje, South African cricketer and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s.(b. 1969)
• June 4 – Fernando Belaúnde Terry, Peruvian politician, 85th and 88th President of Peru (b. 1912)
• June 5 – Dee Dee Ramone, American bassist (b. 1951)
• June 6 – Hans Janmaat, Dutch politician (b. 1934)
• June 7 – Lilian, Princess of Réthy, Belgian princess (b. 1916)
• June 10 – John Gotti, American gangster (b. 1940)
• June 15 - Choi Hong Hi, Korean martial artist, "Father of Taekwondo" (b. 1918)
• June 17 – Fritz Walter, German footballer (b. 1920)
• June 24 – Pierre Werner, Luxembourgian politician, 19th and 21st Prime Minister of Luxembourg (b. 1913)
• June 26 – Arnold Brown, English General of The Salvation Army (b. 1913)
• June 27 – John Entwistle, English bassist (The Who) (b. 1944)
• June 29 – Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (b. 1928)
• June 30 – Chico Xavier, Brazilian medium (b. 1910)

July

Rod Steiger

Joaquín Balaguer

Joseph Luns

• July 2 – Ray Brown, American bassist (b. 1926)
• July 5
  • Benjamin O. Davis Jr., American general (b. 1912)
  • Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (b. 1924)
  • Ted Williams, American baseball player (b. 1918)
• July 6
  • Dhirubhai Ambani, Indian businessman (b. 1932)
  • John Frankenheimer, American film director (b. 1930)
  • Abdul Qadir, Vice president of Afghanistan (b. 1951)
• July 9 – Rod Steiger, American actor (b. 1925)
• July 10 – Evangelos Florakis, Greek military officer (b. 1943)
• July 13 – Yousuf Karsh, Turkish-born photographer (b. 1908)
• July 14 – Joaquín Balaguer, Dominican politician, 41st, 45th and 49th President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1906)
• July 16 – John Cocke, American computer scientist (b. 1925)
• July 17 – Joseph Luns, Dutch politician and diplomat, 5th Secretary General of NATO (b. 1911)
• July 19 – Alan Lomax, American folklorist and musicologist (b. 1915)
• July 21 - Antti Koivumäki, Finnish poet and keyboardist (Aavikko) (b. 1976)
• July 23 – Chaim Potok, American author and rabbi (b. 1929)
• July 25 – Abdel Rahman Badawi, Egyptian philosopher (b. 1917)
• July 28 – Archer John Porter Martin, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)

August

Edsger W. Dijkstra

• August 4 – Carmen Silvera, British actress (b. 1922)
• August 5
  • Chick Hearn, American SportsCaster (b. 1916)
  • Franco Lucentini, Italian writer (b. 1920)
• August 6 – Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (b. 1930)
• August 11 – Galen Rowell, American photographer, writer, and climber (b. 1940)
• August 14 – Dave Williams, American singer (b. 1972)
• August 16 – Abu Nidal, Palestinian militant (b. 1937)
• August 31
  • Lionel Hampton, American musician (b. 1908)
  • George Porter, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)

September

File:Kim Hunter (A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951).jpg

Kim Hunter

• September 11 – Kim Hunter, American actress (b. 1922)
• September 18 – Bob Hayes, American athlete (b. 1942)
• September 19
  • Robert Guéï, Ivorian military ruler (b. 1941)
  • Duncan Hallas, prominent member of the Trotskyist movement in Great Britain (b. 1925)
• September 20 – Sergei Bodrov, Jr., Russian actor (b. 1971)
• September 21 – Robert Lull Forward, American author and physicist (b. 1932)

October

Claus van Amsberg

• October 6 – Prince Claus of the Netherlands, German-born Prince Consort of Queen Beatrix (since 1980), father of King Willem-Alexander (b. 1926)
• October 9
  • Sopubek Begaliev, Soviet-era economist and politician (b. 1931)
  • Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer(executed) (b. 1956)
• October 12 – Ray Conniff, American musician and bandleader (b. 1916)
• October 13 – Stephen Ambrose, American historian and biographer (b. 1936)
• October 18 – Nikolay Rukavishnikov, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1932)
• October 25 – Richard Harris, Irish actor (b. 1930)
• October 30 – Jam Master Jay, American Hip-Hop DJ (b. 1965)

November

James Coburn

• November 2 – Charles Sheffield, English author and physicist (b. 1935)
• November 7 – Rudolf Augstein, German journalist, founder and part-owner of German magazine Der Spiegel (b. 1923)
• November 9 – Merlin Santana, American actor (b. 1976)
• November 12 – Károly Doncsecz, Slovenian potter (b. 1918)
• November 15 – Myra Hindley, English murderer (b. 1942)
• November 17 – Abba Eban, Israeli politician and diplomat, 3rd Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1915)
• November 18 – James Coburn, American actor (b. 1928)
• November 19 – Max Reinhardt, British publisher (b. 1915)
• November 22 – Parley Baer, American actor (b. 1914)
• November 24 – John Rawls, American political theorist (b. 1921)

December

Joe Strummer

• December 1 – Edward L. Beach, Jr., American naval officer and author (b. 1918)
• December 3 – Glenn Quinn, Irish actor (b. 1970)
• December 5 – Ne Win, Burmese military commander (b. 1910)
• December 18 – Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor General of Canada (b. 1934)
• December 22
  • Desmond Hoyte, Guyanese politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Guyana and 4th President of Guyana (b. 1929)
  • Joe Strummer, British musician (The Clash) (b. 1952)
• December 30 − Mary Brian, American actress (b. 1906)

Nobel Prizes

• Peace – Jimmy Carter
• Literature – Imre Kertész
• Chemistry – John B. Fenn and Koichi Tanaka, Kurt Wüthrich
• Physics – Raymond Davis Jr. and Masatoshi Koshiba, Riccardo Giacconi
• Physiology or Medicine – Sydney Brenner, H. Robert Horvitz, and John E. Sulston
• Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – Daniel Kahneman and Vernon L. Smith

Fields medalists

• Laurent Lafforgue
• Vladimir Voevodsky

In fiction

Main article: List of works of fiction set in 2002

External links

• 2002 Year-End Google Zeitgeist – Google's Yearly List of Major Events and Top Searches for 2002
• Top Stories of 2002 - CNN
• Year in Review - Netscape