1990
1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. From January 27, it was the year of the Horse in the Chinese Zodiac.
It is often considered the final year of the Cold War era; others consider 1991 to be the last year.
Events
January
- January 3 - The former leader of Panama, Manuel Noriega, surrenders to American forces.
- January 4 - Over 300 people are killed in a train accident in Ghotki, Pakistan.
- January 7 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns.
- January 9 - Ugandan Lt. Gen. Bazilio Olara-Okello, who led a coup against Dr. Apolo Milton Obote's government, dies in Ormduruman Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan.
- January 10 - Time Warner is formed from the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc.
- January 11 - In Lithuania, 300,000 demonstrate for independence.
- January 13 - Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office in Richmond, Virginia.
- January 15 - Thousands storm the Stasi headquarters in Berlin in an attempt to view their government records.
- January 18 - Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
- January 22 - Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. is convicted of releasing the Morris worm.
- January 25 - Avianca Flight 52 crashes into Cove Neck, Long Island, after a miscommunication between the flight crew and JFK Airport officials.
- January 25-January 26 - The Burns' Day storm kills 97 in northwestern Europe.
- January 27 - The city of Tiraspol in the Moldavian SSR briefly declares independence.
- January 28 - The San Francisco 49ers trounce the Denver Broncos, 55-10, in Super Bowl XXIV.
- January 29 - The trial of Joseph Hazelwood, former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, begins in Anchorage, Alaska. He is accused of negligence that resulted in America's worst oil spill to date.
- January 31 - The first McDonald's in Moscow, USSR opens.
February
March
- March 1
- March 6 - An SR-71 sets a U.S. transcontinental speed record of 1 hour 8 minutes 17 seconds, on what is publicized as its last official flight.
- March 9
- March 10 - Eighteen months after seizing power in a coup, Prosper Avril is ousted in Haiti.
- March 11 - Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union.
- March 11 - Patricio Aylwin is sworn-in as the first democratically-elected Chilean president since 1970.
- March 15
- Iraq hangs British journalist Farzad Bazoft for spying. Daphne Parish, a British nurse, is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment as an accomplice.
- Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first executive president of the Soviet Union.
- The Soviet Union announces that Lithuania's declaration of independence is invalid.
- March 18
- Twelve paintings, collectively worth from $100 to $300 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts by 2 thieves posing as police officers. This is the largest art theft in US history, and the paintings (as of 2007) have not been recovered.
- East Germany holds its first free elections.
- March 20 - Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.
- March 21 - After 75 years of South African rule, Namibia becomes independent.
- March 23 - Gerald Bull, a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery, is assassinated in Brussels.
- March 24 - Australian legislative election, 1990: The government of Australian prime minister Bob Hawke is re-elected for a 4th term.
- March 25
- March 27 - Propaganda: The United States begins broadcasting TV Martí to Cuba.
- March 28 - U.S. President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.
- March 31 - "The Second Battle of Trafalgar": A massive anti-poll tax demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, turns into a riot; 471 people are injured, and 341 arrested.
April
- April 1 - The largest prison riot in Britain's history begins at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, and will continue for nearly four weeks, until April 25
- April 6 - Robert Mapplethorpe's "The Perfect Moment" show of nude and homosexual photographs opens at the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center, in spite of accusations of indecency by Citizens for Community Values.
- April 7
- Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of 5 charges for his part in the scandal; the convictions are later reversed on appeal.
- April 8
- April 10
Holly Jones Was born
- April 13 - The Soviet Union apologizes for the Katyn Massacre.
- April 15 - Food poisoning kills 450 guests at an engagement party in Uttar Pradesh.
- April 20 - STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.
- April 24
- April 25
May
June
- June 1
- June 7 - Universal Studios Florida opens to the public
- June 8 - The 1990 FIFA World Cup begins in Italy.
- June 12 - The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty.
- A huge earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter Scale kills thousands in the Iranian city of Manjil
- June 14 - The Detroit Pistons defeat the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1990 NBA Finals.
- June 22 - Underwater volcano Mount Didicas erupts in the Philippines.
- June 24 - Kathleen Young and Irene Templeton are ordained as priests in St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, becoming the first Anglican women priests in the United Kingdom.
- June 26
- U.S. President Bush breaks his 1988 'no new taxes' campaign pledge, accepting tax revenue increases as a necessity to reduce the budget deficit.
- In Phoenix, Arizona, the temperature reaches an all-time record high of 122 degrees for the city.
July
August
September
October
November
December
- December 1 - Establishing the first ground connection between the United Kingdom and the mainland of Europe since the last Ice Age, Channel Tunnel workers from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 meters beneath the English Channel seabed.
- December 2 - A coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl wins the first free all-German elections since 1932.
- December 3
- December 6
- Saddam Hussein releases the Western hostages.
- President Hossain Mohammad Ershad of Bangladesh is forced to resign following massive protests.
- December 9
- December 11 - John Gotti is arrested.
- December 16 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide is elected president of Haiti, ending 3 decades of military rule.
- December 19 - Footballer Tony Adams, the captain of Arsenal and an England international defender, is sentenced to 4 months in prison and banned from driving for 2 years after being found guilty of drunk driving in connection with an accident in Southend-on-Sea on 6 May this year.
- December 31 - Russian Garry Kasparov holds his title by winning the World Chess Championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov.
Births
January
February
March
April
May
June
- June 6 - Ashleigh Chisholm, Australian actress
- June 26 - Ryan Ward, American actor
- June 28 - Jasmine Richards, Canadian actress
July
August
September
October
November
December
Deaths
January
- January 2 - Alan Hale Jr., American actor (b. 1921)
- January 4 - Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineering (b. 1903)
- January 6 - Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
- January 9 - Spud Chandler, baseball player (b. 1907)
- January 20 - Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (b. 1907)
- January 22 - Roman Vishniac, Russian-American photographer (b. 1897)
- January 23 - Allen Collins, one of the founding members of Lynyrd Skynyrd (b. 1952)
- January 25 - Ava Gardner, American actress (b. 1922)
- January 26 - Lewis Mumford, American historian of science (b. 1895)
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Nobel prize
Fields Medalists
Templeton Prize
- Baba Amte (Joint Award)
- L. Charles Birch (Joint Award)
Right Livelihood Award
- Alice Tepper Marlin, Bernard Lédéa Ouedraogo, Felicia Langer and ATCC (Asociación de Trabajadores Campesinos del Carare)
Ship events
Uncertain dates
- For a brief while in early 1990, Romania had a civil war in the aftermath of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the opposition was for Nicolae Ceauşescu and the Communist regime, and those for the new regime.
- New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is published in the United States.
- Metropolitan Aleksy of Leningrad elected Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia.
- Channel 7 + 10 networks go into receivership (Australia)
- Homosexual acts between consenting adults are decriminalized in Queensland
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