The year 2002 was designated the:

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

See also: the almanac of events for this year.

The year number was a palindrome (next palindrome year will be 2112).

Events of 2002

January

• January 1 - The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially enters into force.
• January 1 - Euro notes and coins are issued in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Finland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and in the Netherlands.
• January 5 - Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old student pilot, crashes a light aircraft into a Tampa, Florida building, evoking fear of a copycat 9/11 terrorist attack.
• January 8 - The No Child Left Behind Act is signed into law by U.S. president George W. Bush
• January 9 - The United States Department of Justice announces it will pursue a criminal investigation of Enron.
• January 10 - Enrique Bolaños begins his 5-year term as President of the Republic of Nicaragua.
• January 14 - The asylum case of Adelaide Abankwah is heard in New York.
• January 16 - A student shoots six at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia, killing 3.
• January 16 - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announces that American Taliban member John Walker Lindh will be tried in the United States.

• January 16 - The UN 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 - A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing 1.
• January 23 - Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Pakistan, accused of being a CIA agent by his captors.
• January 24 - Suspected terrorist John Walker Lindh's hearing begins.
• January 27 - Several explosions at a military dump in Lagos, Nigeria killing more than 1,000.
• January 31 - A large section of the Antarctic Larsen Ice Shelf begins disintegrating, consuming about 3,250 km² (1,254 miles²) over 35 days.

February

• February 1 - Kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is murdered in Karachi, Pakistan.
• February 2 - Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands marries Máxima, Princess of Orange in Amsterdam.
• February 3 - Costa Rica holds presidential and congressional elections.
• February 3 - The New England Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams 20-17, in Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans.
• February 8 – February 24 - The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• February 9 - Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, Queen Elizabeth's sister dies in hospital after suffering a stroke.
• February 12 - The trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
• February 12 - The U.S. Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository.
• February 13 - Queen Elizabeth gives former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani an honorary knighthood.
• February 19 - NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
• February 20 - In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.
• February 22 - Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.
• February 22 - A Norwegian-facilitated ceasefire begins in Sri Lanka.
• February 23 - FARC kidnaps Ingrid Betancourt in Colombia while she campaigns for the presidency.
• February 27 - A series of riots leaves hundreds dead, after 59 Hindu pilgrims die aboard a train burned by a Muslim mob in Godhra, India.
• February 28 - The ex-currencies of all euro-using nations cease to be legal tender in the European Union.

March

• March 1 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins.
• March 1 - Continuing violence in Ahmedabad kills 28; police shoot and kill 5 rioters.
• March 1 - 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 8500kg.
• March 1 - STS-109: Space Shuttle Columbia flies the Hubble Space Telescope service mission, its last before STS-107.
• March 1 - The Peseta is discontinued as the official currency of Spain and is replaced with the euro (€).
• March 3 - São Tomé and Príncipe hold legislative elections.
• March 4 - Ansett Australia, One of the oldest airlines in the world and the second largest in Australia ceases operation after collapsing financially. This day and event also marked the largest job loss in Australian history.
• March 6 - France agrees to return the remains of Saartjie Baartman to South Africa.
• March 10 - Colombia holds legislative elections.
• March 10 - Togo holds parliamentary elections.
• March 12 - In Houston, Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her 5 children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison.
• March 14 - 125 vehicles are involved in a massive pile up on Interstate 75 in Ringgold, Georgia
• March 17 - Portugal holds parliamentary elections.
• March 17 - In Islamabad, Pakistan, the International Protestant Church attack occurs.
• March 19 - US Attack on Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 1) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities.
• March 21 - In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three others are charged with the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
• March 24 - The 74th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California with the film A Beautiful Mind winning Best Picture.
• March 27 - A suicide bomber kills 28 in Netanya, Israel.
• March 30 - Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother dies in her sleep at the Royal lodge, aged 101
• March 31 - Ukraine holds parliamentary elections.

April

• April 1 - Maryland defeats Indiana 64-52 to win the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.
• April 2 - Israeli forces besiege the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, when militants take 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 the leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez fails.
• April 15 - An Air China Boeing 767-200 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Pusan, South Korea, killing 128.
• April 17 - Four Canadian infantrymen are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from 2 US F-16s.
• April 18 - The discovery of a new insect order, Mantophasmatodea, is announced.
• April 21 - French presidential election, 2002: The first round results in a runoff between Jacques Chirac and the leader of the main French far-right party, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
• April 22 - At a special session of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Director-General Jose Bustani is fired.
• April 25 - Soyuz TM-34: South African Mark Shuttleworth blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome; he had paid £15 million for the trip.
• April 26 - Robert Steinhäuser opens fire on his former teachers and other students in Erfurt, Germany and then kills himself; 16 are killed.
• April 27 - The Laughlin, Nevada River Run Riot kills three.
• April 30 - Pakistani voters approve a referendum granting a 5-year term for Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf.

May

• May 5 - In the second round of the French presidential election, Jacques Chirac is reelected.
• May 6 - In the Netherlands, politician Pim Fortuyn is killed by Volkert van der Graaf.
• May 6 - A press release announced the official name change from World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. to World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., or WWE, and the change was publicized later that day during a telecast of Monday Night Raw, which emanated from the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
• May 7 - China Northern Airlines Flight 6136 crashes into the bay near Dalian, killing all 103 passengers and 9 crew members.
• May 7 - Gay Canadian teenager Marc Hall is granted a court injunction ordering that he be allowed to attend his high school prom with his boyfriend.
• May 9 - 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.
• May 9 - In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-control bomb explodes during a holiday parade, killing 43 and injuring at least 130.
• May 10 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
• May 12 - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a 5-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first U.S. President, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
• May 12 - The Russian Shuttle Buran is destroyed when the roof of the hangar collapses, killing 8 workers.
• May 15 - The Netherlands holds elections for the Lower House.
• May 20 - East Timor regains its independence.
• May 21 - The US State Department releases a report naming 7 state sponsors of terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.
• May 22 - 16th Street Baptist Church bombing: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of 4 girls.
• May 23 - Estonia hosts the first Eurovision Song Contest in a former Soviet republic.
• 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.
• May 26 - A barge collides with the Interstate 40 bridge across the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma, killing 14.
• May 30 - The final piece of debris from The World Trade Center is removed from Ground Zero.
• May 31 - The 2002 FIFA World Cup begins, co-hosted by South Korea and Japan.

June

• June 3 - The "Party in the Palace" takes place at Buckingham Palace, London for Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee celebrations.
• June 4 - The planetoid Quaoar is discovered orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper belt.
• June 6 - Eastern Mediterranean Event: An object with an estimated diameter of 10 metres collides with Earth. The collision occurs over the Mediterranean Sea, and the object detonates in mid-air.
• June 8 - Serena Williams defeats her sister Venus Williams in straight sets to win the 2002 French Open.
• June 10 - An annular solar eclipse occurs.
• June 10 - First direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans 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 14 - In Karachi, Pakistan, a car bomb in front of the U.S. Consulate kills 12 Pakistanis and injures 50.
• June 15 - Near Earth Asteroid 2002 MN misses the planet by 75,000 miles (120,000 km) about one third the distance to the moon.
• June 18 - Arizona experiences its worst forest fire, burning 462,606 acres (1,872 km²) near the Mogollon Rim.
• June 24 - The Igandu train disaster in Dodoma Region, Tanzania, kills 281 people in the worst rail accident in African history.
• June 29 - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney serves as Acting President while President George W. Bush undergoes a colonoscopy.

July

• July 1 - The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Crimes committed on or after this date may be prosecuted by the court.
• July 1 - A Russian passenger jet and a cargo plane collide over the town of Überlingen in Southern Germany; 72 are dead (see Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937).
• July 9 - The Organization of African Unity is disbanded and replaced by the African Union.
• July 10 - At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting "The Massacre of the Innocents" is sold for £49.5million (US$76.2 million) to Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet.
• July 13 - A lighting strike sets off the Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burns 499,570 acres (2,022 km²).
• July 14 - During Bastille Day celebrations, Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt.
• July 15 - In Washington, DC, "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 19 - Hail kills 25 and injures hundreds in the Chinese province of Henan.
• July 21 - Telecommunications giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (the largest such filing in United States history).
• July 27 - Helen Clark, leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, is re-elected in a landslide victory.
• July 27 - A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes at an air show in Ukraine, killing 85 and injuring more than 100 making it the worst air show disaster in history. (See Sknyliv airshow disaster)

August

• The 2002 European floods ravage Central Europe.
• August 6 - Cambridgeshire Police make an appeal for the safe return of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, who vanished in Soham 2 days prior.
• August 7 - Tama-chan, a bearded seal native to the Arctic, is discovered in Tama River in Tokyo.
• August 10 - Turkmenistan adopts a law to rename all the months and most of the days of the week according to Ruhnama, a book written by Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov.
• August 12 - In Arlington, Virginia, US Airways declares bankruptcy.
• August 21 - Forensic experts confirm that bodies found days earlier are those of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr are charged in relation to their deaths.

September

• September 2 - The United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, successor of the 1972 Conference on the Human Environment, 1983 World Commission on Environment and Development, and the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development, opens.
• September 5 - A car bomb kills at least 30 people in Afghanistan, and an apparent assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai fails the same day.
• September 5 - The Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burned 499,570 acres (2,022 km²), is contained.
• September 8 - Typhoon Sinlaku causes huge waves on the Qiantangjiang River in Sheijang Province, China.
• September 10 - Switzerland joins the United Nations.
• September 11 - The World Summit on Sustainable Development comes to a close.
• September 12 - U.S. President George W. Bush addresses the U.N., and challenges its members to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Iraq, or stand aside as the United States and likeminded nations act.
• September 15 - The Swedish parliamentary election, 2002 leaves Prime Minister Göran Persson and the Social Democrats in power.
• September 18 - The body of missing school girl Amanda Dowler is found in Hampshire.
• September 19 - Civil war starts in Côte d'Ivoire.
• September 20 - The Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide occurs.
• September 22 - The German federal election leaves Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, his Social Democrats and the Greens in power.
• September 25 - The Vitim event, a possible bolide impact, occurs in Siberia, Russia.
• September 26 - 1863 are killed when the Senegalese passenger ferry Joola capsizes in a storm off the coast of Gambia.

October

• October 2 - The Congress of the United States passes a joint resolution, which authorizes the President to use the United States Armed Forces as he deems necessary and appropriate, against Iraq.
• October 2 - The Beltway sniper attacks begin with 5 shootings in Montgomery County, Maryland.
• October 7 - The discovery of Quaoar is announced.
• October 11 - Myyrmanni bombing: A lone bomber explodes a home-made bomb in the Myyrmanni shopping mall north of Helsinki, Finland; the casualties include himself.
• October 12 - Terrorists detonate bombs in 2 nightclubs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and injuring over 300.
• October 22 - 25 - Chechen Rebels take control over a theatre in Moscow and hold the audience hostage.
• October 24 - The Beltway snipers, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, are arrested.
• October 25 - U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his family, and his staff are killed in a plane accident at Eveleth, Minnesota.
• October 27 - The Anaheim Angels defeat the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series to win the title.
• October 27 - * Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is elected President of Brazil.

November

• November 2 - The Godless Americans March on Washington brings together 2,000 atheists, freethinkers, and humanists in a mile-long parade down the National Mall.
• November 5 - The U.S. Republican Party maintains control of the House of Representatives and gains control of the United States Senate.
• November 6 - The U.S. Federal Reserve System drops its primary discount rate by 50 basis points to 0.75%, putting the real interest rate solidly below the inflation rate.
• November 7 - Iran bans the advertising of United States products.
• 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.
• November 13 - The oil tanker Prestige sinks off the Galician coast, causing a huge oil spill.
• November 14 - Argentina defaults on a US $805 million World Bank loan payment.
• November 15 - Hu Jintao becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.
• November 16 - A Campaign against Climate Change march takes place in London from Lincoln's Inn Fields, past Esso offices to the United States Embassy.
• 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.
• 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.
• November 26 - Legislation by the European Court of Human Rights and Law Lords, ruling in favour of convicted murderer Anthony Anderson, ends the right of the Home Secretary to set minimum terms for convicted murderers.

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 9 - United Airlines, the second largest airline in the world, files for bankruptcy.
• December 10 - The High Court of Australia hands down its judgement in the Internet defamation dispute in the case of Gutnick v Dow Jones.
• December 12 - Hans Enoksen is elected prime minister of Greenland
• December 27 - A suicide truck-bomb attack destroys the headquarters of Chechnya's Moscow-backed government, killing 72.
• December 29 - The Communist New People's Army blows up a bust of Ferdinand Marcos in Benguet, Philippines.
• 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.

Undated

Ongoing

• Rebuilding of the NYC World Trade Center continues.

Fictional

• Literature:

*the events of First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde take place in an alternate-reality 2002

*The Notion Club Papers by J. R. R. Tolkien (1945): About one-quarter of the papers are found among sacks of waste paper at Oxford by a Mr. Green.

• Television:

* Star Trek ("The Changeling," 1967): The first interstellar probe, Nomad, is launched.

* The West Wing: On November 5, Democratic President Josiah Bartlet of New Hampshire defeats Republican Governor Robert Ritchie of Florida in his reelection bid following the 2002 US presidential election.

• Games:

* The events of Resident Evil: Dead Aim take place on September 23.

Births

• April 21 - Carl and Clarence Aguirre, combined twins from Philadelphia, PA
• April 30 - Miguel Urdangarín y de Borbón, grandson of Juan Carlos I of Spain.
• May 14 - Margarita Armstrong-Jones, daughter of Viscount Linley and his wife, Viscountess Linley
• June 8 - Countess Eloise of Orange-Nassau, Jonkvrouwe van Amsberg
• July 22 - Prince Felix of Denmark, Prince of Denmark
• July 30 - Young Crown Prince Hridayendra of Nepal, second in line to the Nepalese throne
• August 2 - Kara and Shelby Hoffman, American actresses

Deaths

For more, see: Deaths in 2002.

January

• January 3 - Freddy Heineken, Dutch-born beer magnate (b. 1923)
• January 7 - Jon Lee, Feeder drummer (b.1968)
• January 8 - Alexander Prochorow, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
• January 8 - Dave Thomas, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1932)
• January 12 - Stanley Unwin, South African comedian (b. 1911)
• January 12 - Cyrus Vance, United States Secretary of State (b. 1917)
• January 13 - Frank Shuster of the Canadian comic duo Wayne and Shuster (b. 1916)
• January 13 - Ted Demme, American film and television director (b. 1963)
• January 16 - Michael Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)
• January 16 - Bobo Olson, American boxer (b. 1928)
• January 16 - Ron Taylor, American actor (b. 1952)
• January 17 - Queenie Leonard, British singer and actress (b. 1905)
• January 17 - Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer (b. 1916)
• January 20 - Carrie Hamilton, American actress (b. 1963)
• January 22 - Peggy Lee, American singer and actress (b. 1920)
• January 23 - Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist (b. 1930)
• January 23 - Robert Nozick, American philosopher (b. 1938)
• January 28 - Dick "Night Train" Lane, American football player (b. 1928)
• January 28 - Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children's book author (b. 1907)
• January 29 - Harold Russell, Canadian-born actor (b. 1914)

February

• February 1 - Irish McCalla, American actress (b. 1928)
• February 2 - Danielle Van Dam, American murder victim (b. 1994)
• 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)
• February 9 - Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom (b. 1930)
• February 10 - Traudl Junge, German private secretary of Adolf Hitler (b. 1920)
• February 13 - Waylon Jennings, country music singer (b. 1937)
• February 14 - Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1922)
• February 15 - Howard K. Smith, American television journalist (b. 1914)
• February 15 - Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (b. 1963)
• February 16 - Walter Winterbottom, English football manager (b. 1913)
• February 19 - Virginia Hamilton, American writer (b. 1936)
• February 20 - Willie Thrower, American football player (b. 1930)
• February 21 - John Thaw, British actor (b. 1942)
• February 22 - Barbara Valentin, Austrian actress (b. 1940)
• February 22 - Chuck Jones, American animator (b. 1912)
• February 22 - Jonas Savimbi, Angolan rebel leader (b. 1934)
• February 24 - Leo Ornstein, American composer and pianist (b. 1892)
• February 26 - Lawrence Tierney, American actor (b. 1919)
• February 27 - Spike Milligan, British comedian, writer, and poet (b. 1918)
• February 27 - Mary Stuart, American actress (b. 1926)
• February 28 - Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (b. 1920)

March

• March 4 - Elyne Mitchell, Australian children's author (b. 1913)
• March 4 - Claire Davenport, British actress (b. 1933)
• March 4 - Eric Flynn, British actor and singer (b. 1939)
• March 11 - James Tobin, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
• March 14 - Cherry Wilder, New Zealand author (b. 1930)
• March 20 - Ibn Al-Khattab, Saudi guerilla (b. 1969)
• March 21 - Amanda Dowler, British murder victim (b. 1988)
• March 23 - Ben Hollioake, English cricketer (b. 1977)
• March 24 - César Milstein, Argentine scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1927)
• March 25 - Kenneth Wolstenholme, British football commentator (b. 1920)
• March 27 - Milton Berle, American comedian and actor (b. 1908)
• March 27 - Dudley Moore, British pianist, comedian, and actor (b. 1935)
• March 27 - Billy Wilder, Polish-American film screenwriter and director (b. 1906)
• March 29 - Rico Yan, Filipino actor (b. 1975)
• March 30 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, queen consort of George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1900)
• March 30 - Søren Nystrøm Rasted, Danish musician (b. 1969)

April

• April 5 - Layne Staley, American singer (b. 1967)
• April 8 - Maria Felix, Mexican actress (b. 1914)
• April 9 - Leopold Vietoris, Austrian mathematician (b. 1891)
• April 13 - Desmond Titterington, Northern Irish racecar driver (b. 1928)
• April 15 - Byron White, American athlete and Supreme Court Justice (b. 1917)
• April 16 - Franz Krienbühl, Swiss speed skater (b. 1929)
• April 16 - Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946)
• April 18 - Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer (b. 1914)
• April 18 - Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and wrestler (b. 1938)
• April 22 - Linda Lovelace, American pornographic actress (b. 1949)
• April 25 - Indra Devi, Livonian-Indian yoga teacher (b. 1899)
• April 25 - Lisa Lopes, American singer (b. 1971)
• April 27 - George Alec Effinger, American author (b. 1947)
• April 27 - Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Swiss industrialist and art collector (b. 1921)
• April 28 - Ruth Handler, American toy manufacturer (b. 1916)

May

• May 5 - Hugo Bánzer Suarez, President of Bolivia (b. 1926)
• May 6 - Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician (b. 1948)
• May 7 - Seattle Slew, American racehorse (b. 1974)
• May 11 - Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (b. 1905)
• May 13 - Ruth Cracknell, Australian theatre and television actor (b. 1925)
• May 13 - Valeri Lobanovsky, Ukrainian football manager (b. 1939)
• May 18 - Davey Boy Smith, British professional wrestler (b. 1962)
• May 19 - John Gorton, nineteenth 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 24 - Wallace Markfield, American writer (b. 1926)
• May 26 - Mamo Wolde, Ethiopian runner (b. 1932)
• May 28 - Jean Berger, German-born composer (b. 1909)

June

• June 1 - Hansie Cronje, South African cricketer (b. 1969)
• June 4 - Fernando Belaúnde Terry, President of Peru (b. 1912)
• June 5 - Dee Dee Ramone, American bassist (b. 1952)
• June 6 - Hans Janmaat, Dutch politician (b. 1934)
• June 7 - Mary Lilian Baels, Belgian princess (b. 1916)
• June 10 - John Gotti, American gangster (b. 1940)
• June 11 - Robbin Crosby, American guitarist (b. 1959)
• June 12 - Bill Blass, American fashion designer (b. 1922)
• June 17 - Willie Davenport, American athlete (b. 1943)
• June 17 - Fritz Walter, German footballer (b. 1920)
• June 18 - Jack Buck, American baseball announcer (b. 1924)
• June 22 - Darryl Kile, American baseball player (b. 1968)
• June 23 - Pedro 'El Rockero' Alcazar, Panamian boxer (b. 1975)
• June 24 - Pierre Werner, Prime Minister of Luxembourg (b. 1913)
• June 26 - Arnold Brown, English General of The Salvation Army (b. 1913)
• June 26 - Jay Berwanger, American football player (b. 1914)
• June 27 - John Entwistle, English bassist ((b. 1944)
• June 29 - Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (b. 1928)

July

• July 5 - Benjamin O. Davis Jr., American general (b. 1912)
• July 5 - Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (b. 1924)
• July 5 - Ted Williams, American baseball player (b. 1918)
• July 6 - Dhirubhai Ambani, Indian businessman (b. 1932)
• July 6 - John Frankenheimer, American film director (b. 1930)
• July 8 - Ward Kimball, American animator (b. 1913)
• July 9 - Laurence Janifer, American writer (b. 1933)
• July 9 - Rod Steiger, American actor (b. 1925)
• July 13 - Yousuf Karsh, Turkish-born photographer (b. 1908)
• July 14 - Joaquín Balaguer, President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1906)
• July 15 - Samantha Runnion, American murder victim (b. 1996)
• July 16 - John Cocke, American computer scientist (b. 1925)
• July 19 - Alan Lomax, American folklorist and musicologist (b. 1970)
• July 23 - Leo McKern, Australian actor (b. 1920)
• July 23 - William Luther Pierce, American physicist and Neo-Nazi leader (b. 1933)
• July 23 - Chaim Potok, American author and rabbi (b. 1929)
• July 25 - Abdur Rahman Badawi, Egyptian philosopher (b. 1917)
• July 28 - Archer John Porter Martin, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)

August

• August 4 - Carmen Silvera, British actress (b. 1922)
• August 5 - Josh Ryan Evans, American actor (b. 1982)
• August 5 - Darrell Porter, American baseball player (b. 1952)
• August 5 - Chick Hearn, American basketball announcer (b. 1916)
• August 5 - Franco Lucentini, Italian writer (b. 1920)
• August 6 - Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (b. 1930)
• August 11 - Galen Rowell, American photographer, writer, and climber (b. 1940)
• August 12 - Enos Slaughter, American baseball player (b. 1916)
• August 14 - Dave Williams, American singer (b. 1972)
• August 15 - Kyle Rote, American football player and coach (b. 1928)
• August 16 - Abu Nidal, Palestinian militant (b. 1937)
• August 18 - Dean Riesner, American screenwriter (b. 1918)
• August 23 - Hoyt Wilhelm, American baseball player (b. 1922)
• August 25 - Dorothy Hewett, Australian writer (b. 1923)
• August 29 - Alan MacNaughtan, Scottish actor (b. 1920)
• August 31 - Lionel Hampton, American musician (b. 1908)
• August 31 - George Porter, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
• August 31 - Farhad Mehrad, Iranian composer and musician (b. 1943)

September

• September 11 - Johnny Unitas, American football player (b. 1933)
• September 18 - Bob Hayes, American athlete (b. 1942)
• September 19 - Sergei Bodrov Jr., Russian actor (b. 1971)
• September 19 - Robert Guéï, Ivorian military ruler (b. 1941)
• September 21 - Robert Lull Forward, American author and physicist (b. 1932)
• September 23 - Vernon Corea, British broadcaster (b. 1927)

October

• October 6 - Claus von Amsberg, husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (b. 1926)
• October 9 - Aileen Wournos, American serial killer (b. 1956)
• October 10 - Teresa Graves, American actress (b. 1948)
• October 12 - Ray Conniff, American musician and bandleader (b. 1916)
• October 13 - Stephen Ambrose, American historian and biographer (b. 1936)
• October 17 - Derek Bell, Northern Ireland musician (b. 1935)
• October 18 - Nikolai Rukavishnikov, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1932)
• October 18 - Roman Tam, Hong Kong pop singer (b. 1950)
• October 24 - Harry Hay, American activist (b. 1912)
• October 25 - Richard Harris, Irish actor (b. 1930)
• October 25 - Paul Wellstone, American politician (b. 1944)
• October 30 - Jam Master Jay, American rapper (b. 1965)

November

• November 2 - Charles Sheffield, English author and physicist (b. 1935)
• November 3 - Lonnie Donegan, Scottish musician (b. 1931)
• November 7 - Peg Phillips, American actress (b. 1918)
• November 12 - Károly Doncsecz, Slovenian potter (b. 1918)
• November 15 - Myra Hindley, English murderer (b. 1942)
• November 17 - Abba Eban, Israeli foreign affair minister (b. 1915)
• November 20 - George Guest, Welsh choral conductor (b. 1924)
• November 21 - Hadda Brooks, American jazz singer, pianist, and composer (b. 1916)
• November 24 - John Rawls, American political theorist (b. 1921)
• November 26 - Verne Winchell, American entrepreneur (b. 1915)
• November 28 - Norm McDonald, Australian rules footballer (b. 1925)
• November 29 - George "Two Ton" Harris American professional wrestler (b. 1927)

December

• December 3 - Glenn Quinn, Irish actor (b. 1970)
• December 5 - Ne Win, Burmese military commander (b. 1911)
• December 6 - Philip Berrigan, American priest and political activist (b. 1923)
• December 6 - Charles Rosen, American pianist and pioneer in artificial intelligence (b. 1927)
• December 9 - Ian Hornak, American painter, draughtsman and sculptor (b. 1944)
• December 9 - Stan Rice, American painter and poet (b. 1942)
• December 12 - Nikolai Amosov, Ukrainian heart surgeon, inventor, and author (b. 1913)
• December 18 - Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor General of Canada (b. 1934)
• December 19 - Arthur Rowley, English footballer (b. 1926)
• December 22 - Desmond Hoyte, Prime Minister and President of Guyana (b. 1929)
• December 22 - Joe Strummer, British musician (b. 1952)

Unknown

• Laci Peterson - American murder victim (b. 1975)

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

See also

• 21st century

Notes

External links

• 2002 Year-End Google Zeitgeist - Google's Yearly List of Major Events and Top Searches for 2002