The year 1996 (MCMXCVI) of the Gregorian Calendar was a leap year. It began on a Monday and ended on a Tuesday. During the year, U.S. President Bill Clinton defeated Republican challenger Bob Dole to win his second term in office and Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda declared a Jihad against the United States because American military forces were in Saudi Arabia. Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic resigned after being indicted by the United Nations of war crimes in 1995. Serious fighting broke out in Chechnya between rebel fighters and Russia. The 1996 Summer Olympics were held in Atlanta, Georgia and Major League Soccer kicked off its inaugural season.
The Java programming language is introduced and Nintendo 64 is released in Japan. Dolly the Sheep becomes the first mammal to be successfully cloned and Thomas Hamilton kills 18 people (including himself) in Dunblane, Scotland, following a shotgun rampage. Francois Mitterand, ex-president of France, dies at the age of 80, Film producer Albert Broccoli dies at the age of 87. The film The English Patient wins nine Academy Awards, including best picture.
Famous Births
Famous Deaths
- Feb. 02: Gene Kelly - Singin' in the Rain
- March 9: George Burns
- May 31: Timothy Leary - Comedian
- September 13: Tupac Shakur - Rapper
- September 17: Spiro Agnew - Former VP
- December 20: Carl Sagan - Astronomer
Chart Toppers
- Jan. 06: M. Carey / Boyz II Men - One Sweet Day
- Mar. 23: Celine Dion - Because You Loved Me
- May 04: Mariah Carey - Always Be My Baby
- May 18: Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - The Crossroads
- Jul. 13: Tupac Shakur - California Love
- Jul. 27: Toni Braxton - You're Makin' Me High
- Aug. 3: Los Del Rio - Macarena
- Nov. 09: BLACKstreet - No Diggity
- Dec. 07: Toni Braxton - Un-Break My Heart Billboard: Historical Billboard Charts
Top Movies
69th Academy Awards
- Presented: March 24, 1997
- Best Picture: The English Patient
- Lead Actor: Geoffrey Rush in Shine
- Lead Acress: Frances McDormand in Fargo
- Best Director: Anthony Minghella for The English Patient
- Best Documentary:When We Were Kings directed by Leon Gast
Championship Teams
Top Athletes
- NHL MVP - Mario Lemieux, PIT
- NFL MVP - Brett Favre, GB
- NBA MVP - Michael Jordan, CHI
- MLB AL MVP - Juan Gonzalez, TEX
- MLB NL MVP - Ken Caminiti, SD
Nobel Laureates
- Peace: Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo | Jose Ramos-Horta
- Physics: David M Lee | Douglas Osheroff | Robert Richardson
- Chemistry: Robert F Curl Jr | Sir Harold Kroto | Richard E Smalley
- Medicine: Peter Doherty | Rolf Zinkernagel
- Literature: Wislawa Szymborska
- Economics: James Mirrlees | William Vickrey NobelPrize.org: 1996 Nobel Prize Winners
1996 Timeline
January 1996
- January 21: 340 die when an Indonesian ferry sinks off the coast of Sumatra.
- January 29: France announces they will no longer test Nuclear Weapons.
February 17 1996
February 17: Garry Kasparov defeats the IBM computer "Deep Blue" in a tense man vs machine tournament.
February 1996
- February 17: Garry Kasparov defeats the IBM computer "Deep Blue" in a tense man vs machine tournament.
April 28 1996
April 28: Martin Bryant opened fire in a tourist area of Tasmania Australia, killing 35 in what is known as the Port Arthur Massacre.
April 1996
July 1996
- July 27: During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics a pipe bomb exploded killing one person.
August 1996
- August 28: Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially divorce, 15 years after their highly publicized marriage on July 29, 1981
September 1996
- September 24: President Bill Clinton along with 178 other nations sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The United States went against the treaty in 2002 when they resumed testing nuclear weapons
- September 27: The Taliban overthrow Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani and capture Kabul
October 1996
- October 7: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. debuts the Conservative Fox News Channel in the United States promising Fair and Balanced coverage.
November 1996
- November 5: President Bill Clinton won a second term over former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole.
- November 29: The first international war crimes sentence from The United Nations since World War II goes to Bosnian Serb Drazen Erdemovic for his role in a massacre of over 1,200 people, he got 10 years.
December 1996
- December 13: The United Nations names Kofi Annan as the 7th Secretary General.
- December 17: Kofi Annan of Ghana is named the 7th United Nations Secretary General.
