1996 facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century – 20th century – 21st century
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s – 1990s – 2000s 2010s 2020s
Years:	1993 1994 1995 – 1996 – 1997 1998 1999

1996 was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar. It was a year filled with many important events around the world, from new technologies and popular music to major sports events and significant political changes.

Key Events of 1996
Famous People Born in 1996
Famous People Who Passed Away in 1996
Nobel Prizes in 1996
Popular Movies Released in 1996
Hit Songs of 1996
New Books Published in 1996
Images for kids
See also

Key Events of 1996

A big snowstorm hit the Eastern US in January 1996.

Bill Clinton was reelected as US President.

January 7 – A huge snowstorm, called a blizzard, hit the Eastern US. It caused many problems and sadly, over 150 people lost their lives.
January 11 – Ryutaro Hashimoto became the Prime Minister of Japan.
January 15 – King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho passed away in a car accident.
January 18 – Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce from Michael Jackson.
January 29 – Famous country singer Garth Brooks chose not to accept his American Music Award for "Favorite Overall Artist." He felt that another band, Hootie and the Blowfish, had done more for music that year.
January 29 – Jacques Chirac, the President of France, announced that France would stop testing nuclear weapons in the Pacific Ocean.
February 4 – A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7 shook southwestern China. Sadly, more than 240 people died.
February 6 – Birgenair Flight 301 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near the Dominican Republic, and 189 people lost their lives.
February 10 – A special computer named Deep Blue played a chess match against the world champion, Garry Kasparov, and won!
February 14 – The musician known as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince married his backup singer, Mayte Garcia.
March 2 – John Howard was elected as the Prime Minister of Australia. He officially started his job on March 11.
March 4 – The Beatles released their second reunion song, "Real Love." It was a finished version of a song John Lennon had started in 1980.
March 16 – The song "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men stayed at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 16 weeks. This was the longest time any song had been at No. 1 in the chart's history!
March 17 – Sri Lanka won the cricket World Cup.
March 18 – The famous punk band The Sex Pistols announced they would reunite for a tour to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
March 28 – Phil Collins announced he was leaving the band Genesis to focus on his solo music career.
April 3 – The rapper M.C. Hammer faced financial difficulties.
April 28 – A tragic event happened in Port Arthur, Tasmania, where 35 people lost their lives.
May 11 – A sudden storm on Mount Everest caused a disaster, and 8 climbers died.
May 31 – It was announced that Japan and South Korea would host the 2002 FIFA World Cup. This was the first time Asia would host the big soccer tournament.
June 1 – Deve Gowda became the Prime Minister of India.
June 15 – A bomb in Manchester caused injuries to over 200 people.
June 23 – The Nintendo 64 game system was released in Japan.
June 30 – Germany defeated the Czech Republic 2-1 to win the UEFA Euro 96 soccer championship.
July 5 – Dolly, the first cloned sheep, was born. This was a huge scientific breakthrough!
July 19 – August 4 – The 1996 Summer Olympics were held in Atlanta, Georgia.
July 27 – During the Olympics, a bomb exploded in Centennial Park in Atlanta. One person was killed and 111 were injured.
August 6 – The Ramones, a famous punk rock band, played their very last show at the Lollapalooza music festival.
August 15 – Bob Dole was chosen as the candidate for the Republican Party in the US Presidential election.
August 28 – Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales officially ended their marriage.
September 13 – Sadly, the famous rapper Tupac Shakur passed away in the hospital.
September 14 – Alija Izetbegovic was elected President of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
September 27 – The Taliban took control of Afghanistan by capturing its capital, Kabul. The former President, Mohammad Najibullah, also passed away.
November 5 – A volcano erupted under the Grimsvotn ice cap in Iceland, causing a large glacial flood.
November 5 – Bill Clinton was reelected as President of the United States, winning against Bob Dole.
November 7 – A powerful cyclone, a type of big storm, hit Andhra Pradesh, India. Sadly, over 2000 people lost their lives, and most of the crops were destroyed.
November 12 – A plane crash happened when a Saudi and a Kazak airliner collided, and 349 people died.
December 13 – Kofi Annan was chosen to become the UN Secretary-General. He started this important job on January 1, 1997.
December 30 – A train was attacked in Assam, India, and 26 people were killed.
Larry Ewing created Tux, the cute penguin mascot for the Linux computer operating system.
The medicine Sildenafil was patented.

Famous People Born in 1996

April 14 – Abigail Breslin, an American actress.
June 28 - Adam Dutschke, an Australian basketball player.
July 5 – Dolly, the first cloned sheep.
September 13 - Joseph Boyce, an American actor, director, producer, and writer.
December 11 – Hailee Steinfeld, an American actress.

Famous People Who Passed Away in 1996

January – March

Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (1938-1996)

Gene Kelly (1912-1996)

January 8 – Francois Mitterrand, former President of France.
January 15 – King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho.
January 17 – Barbara Jordan, an American politician.
January 18 – N. T. Rama Rao, an Indian actor, director, and politician.
January 28 – Joseph Brodsky, a Russian writer.
January 28 – Jerry Siegel, an American cartoonist who helped create Superman.
February 2 – Gene Kelly, a famous American actor, dancer, and singer.
February 11 – Kebby Musokotwane, former Prime Minister of Zambia.
February 14 – McLean Stevenson, an American actor.
February 16 – Pat Brown, a former Governor of California.
February 21 – Morton Gould, an American musician and composer.
February 23 – Helmut Schoen, a German football coach.
March 9 – George Burns, a beloved American actor and singer.
March 18 – Odysseas Elytis, a Greek writer.
March 26 – Edmund Muskie, an American politician.

April – June

Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)

April 6 – Greer Garson, a British actress.
April 20 – Christopher Robin Milne, a British writer and the real-life inspiration for Christopher Robin in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.
April 21 – Dzokhar Dudayov, a Chechen politician.
April 22 – Erma Bombeck, an American humorist and writer.
April 23 – P. L. Travers, an Australian writer, famous for creating Mary Poppins.
May 11 – Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first President of Nigeria.
May 20 – Jon Pertwee, an English actor, known for playing Doctor Who.
May 31 – Timothy Leary, an American writer and psychologist.
June 6 – George Davis Snell, an American geneticist.
June 15 – Ella Fitzgerald, a legendary American singer.
June 23 – Andreas Papandreou, former Prime Minister of Greece.
June 26 – Veronica Guerin, an Irish journalist.

July – September

Spiro Agnew (1918-1996)

July 1 – Margaux Hemingway, an American fashion model and actress.
July 15 – Dana Hill, an American actress.
July 30 – Claudette Colbert, a French-born American actress.
August 1 – Tadeus Reichstein, a Polish chemist.
August 2 – Obdulio Varelia, a Uruguayan footballer.
August 8 – Nevill Francis Mott, a British physicist.
August 27 – Greg Morris, an American actor.
September 13 – Tupac Shakur, a famous American rap singer and actor.
September 17 – Spiro Agnew, the 39th Vice President of the United States.
September 27 – Mohammad Najibullah, former President of Afghanistan.

October – December

Tiny Tim (1932-1996)

Lew Ayres (1908-1996)

October 4 – Silvio Piola, an Italian footballer.
October 4 – Masaki Kobayashi, a Japanese movie director.
October 12 – Rene Lacoste, a French tennis player and founder of the Lacoste clothing brand.
October 24 – Sorley MacLean, a Scottish poet.
October 27 – Morey Amsterdam, an American actor and comedian.
November 1 – Junius Richard Jayewardene, former President of Sri Lanka.
November 2 – Eva Cassidy, an American singer.
November 3 – Jean-Bedel Bokassa, former President of the Central African Republic.
November 15 – Alger Hiss, a US State Department official.
November 21 – Abdus Salam, a Pakistani physicist.
November 30 – Tiny Tim, an American musician and singer.
December 3 – Babrak Karmal, former President of Afghanistan.
December 9 – Mary Leakey, a British archaeologist.
December 19 – Marcello Mastroianni, an Italian actor.
December 20 – Carl Sagan, a famous American astronomer and science communicator.
December 30 – Lew Ayres, an American actor.

Nobel Prizes in 1996

The Nobel Prizes are awards given to people who have made amazing discoveries or contributions to humanity.

Physics: David M. Lee, Douglas Orsheroff, Robert C. Richardson for their work on super-fluidity in helium-3.
Chemistry: Robert Curl, Harold Kroto, Richard Smalley for discovering fullerenes (a new form of carbon).
Medicine: Peter C. Doherty, Rolf M. Zinkernagel for their discoveries about how the immune system recognizes virus-infected cells.
Literature: Wislawa Szymborska, a Polish poet.
Nobel Peace Prize: Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and Jose Ramos Horta for their work towards a fair and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor.
Economics: James Mirrlees, William Vickrey for their fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information.