2003

2003 (MMIII) was a common year that started on a Wednesday, according to the Gregorian calendar. It was the 2003rd year of the Common Era or the Anno Domini designation; the 3rd year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century; and the 4th of the 2000s decade.

2003 was designated the:
 * International Year of Freshwater.
 * European Disability Year.

January

 * January 1 – Pascal Couchepin becomes President of the Confederation in Switzerland.
 * January 5 – Police arrest seven suspects in connection with Wood Green ricin plot.
 * January 8 – US Airways Express Flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people aboard.
 * January 16 – STS-107: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on its last flight.
 * January 18 – The Canberra Bushfires in Canberra, Australia, kill 4 people.
 * January 23 – The last signal is received from NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft, some 7.5 billion miles from Earth.
 * January 25 – An international group of volunteers leaves London for Baghdad to act as voluntary human shields, hoping to avert a U.S. invasion.
 * January 29 – 2003 Phnom Penh riots: In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Thai Embassy is burned and commercial properties of Thai businesses are vandalized.

February

 * February 1
 * At the conclusion of the STS-107 mission, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry over Texas, killing all 7 astronauts onboard.
 * In Northern Ireland, Protestant Ulster Defence Association Belfast leader John Gregg is killed by a loyalist faction.
 * Morgan Spurlock begins his 30-day McDonald's diet.
 * February 5 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addresses the UN Security Council on Iraq.
 * February 9
 * The Cricket World Cup begins in South Africa.
 * BBC Choice closes for the final time at 12:30 a.m., being replaced with BBC Three at 7 p.m.
 * War in Darfur begins.
 * February 15 – Global protests against Iraq war: More than 10 million people protest in over 600 cities worldwide, the largest to take place before a war occurs.
 * February 18 – An arsonist destroys a train in Daegu, South Korea, killing more than 190.
 * February 20 – The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island claims the lives of 100 people.
 * February 26 – An American businessman is admitted to the Vietnam France Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam with the first identified case of SARS. WHO doctor Carlo Urbani reports the unusual, highly contagious disease to WHO. Both the businessman and doctor later die of the disease.

March

 * March 12
 * Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Ðindic was assassinated in Belgrade.
 * The WHO issues a global alert on SARS.
 * March 13 – Human evolution: The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old upright-walking human footprints had been found in Italy.
 * March 15 – Hu Jintao becomes President of the People's Republic of China, replacing Jiang Zemin.
 * March 18 - FBI agents raid the corporate headquarters of HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama, on suspicion of massive corporate fraud led by the company's top executives.
 * March 19 – Iraq War begins with the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and allied forces.
 * March 23 – The 2003 Cricket World Cup ends as Australia beats India by 125 runs in Johannesburg, South Africa.

April

 * April 3
 * A passenger bus hits a remote-controlled land mine in the Chechen capital, killing at least 8.
 * U.S. forces seize control of Saddam International Airport, changing the airport's name to Baghdad International Airport.
 * April 7 – Syracuse wins the college basketball National Championship.
 * April 9 – U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein.
 * April 14 – The Human Genome Project is completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy.
 * April 17 – The Stevens Report concludes that members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and British Army cooperated with the Ulster Defence Association in the killings of Catholics in Northern Ireland.
 * April 29 – The United States announces the withdrawal of troops stationed in Saudi Arabia, and the redeployment of some at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

May

 * May 1 – U. S. president George W. Bush lands on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, where he gives a speech announcing the end of major combat in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.  A banner behind him declares "Mission Accomplished".
 * May 2 – The Monkeyman superhero hoax begins in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK.
 * May 3 – The Old Man of the Mountain, a rock formation in New Hampshire, crumbles after heavy rain.
 * May 4–May 10 – A major severe weather outbreak spawns more tornadoes than any week in U.S. history; 393 tornadoes are reported in 19 states.
 * May 4 – Top Thrill Dragster opens in Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio as the world's tallest, fastest roller coaster.
 * May 11 – Benvenuto Cellini's Saliera is stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
 * May 12
 * A suicide truck-bomb attack kills at least 60 at a government compound in northern Chechnya.
 * In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 26 people are killed in the Riyadh Compound Bombings.
 * May 14 – A female suicide bomber blows up explosives strapped to her waist in a crowd of thousands of Muslim pilgrims, killing at least 18 people in Chechnya.
 * May 15 – The date predicted by Pana-Wave Laboratory, a Japanese cult, on which a close encounter with an unknown planet would result in the extinction of most of humankind.
 * May 16 – In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.
 * May 17 – Arsenal beats Southampton 1–0 to win the FA Cup.
 * May 19
 * Pen Hadow becomes the first person to walk alone, without any outside help, from Canada to the North Pole.
 * The Indonesian military begins an operation in Aceh province.
 * May 21
 * F.C. Porto defeats Celtic 3–2 (AET) in the UEFA Cup Final in Seville, Spain.
 * An earthquake in the Boumerdès region of northern Algeria kills 2,200.
 * May 22 – The Sheffield Winter Gardens are officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
 * May 23 – Dewey, the first deer cloned by scientists at Texas A&M University, is born.
 * May 24 – Sertab Erener wins the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 for Turkey with the song Every Way That I Can, in Riga, Latvia.
 * May 25 – After docking in Miami at 05:00, the SS Norway (old SS France) is severely damaged by a boiler explosion at 06:30, that kills 7, and injures 17 crew members. A few weeks later it is announced by NCL that she will never sail again as a commercial ocean liner.
 * May 26 – A draft of the proposed European Constitution is unveiled.
 * May 28 – Prometea, the first horse cloned by Italian scientists, is born.
 * May 28 – AC Milan defeats fellow Italian rival Juventus 3–2 on penalties after a scoreless tie to win the UEFA Champions League, their sixth European title.
 * May 31 – Eric Rudolph, suspected in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in 1996, is captured in Murphy, North Carolina.

June

 * June 1
 * The 29th G8 summit opens in Évian-les-Bains, France, to tight security and tens of thousands of protesters.
 * The People's Republic of China begins filling the lake behind the massive Three Gorges Dam, raising the water level near the dam over 100 metres.
 * June 4 – Martha Stewart and her broker are indicted for using privileged investment information and then obstructing a federal investigation. Stewart also resigns as chairperson and chief executive officer of Martha Stewart Living.
 * June 5 – A female suicide bomber detonates a bomb near a bus carrying soldiers and civilians to a military airfield in Mozdok, a major staging point for Russian troops in Chechnya, killing at least 16.
 * June 22 – The largest hailstone ever recorded falls in Aurora, Nebraska.
 * June 23 – Grutter v. Bollinger: The Supreme Court of the United States upholds affirmative action in university admissions.
 * June 26 – Lawrence v. Texas: The U.S. Supreme Court declares sodomy laws unconstitutional.
 * June 29 – A balcony collapse in Chicago kills 13.
 * June 30 – In Irvine, California, Joseph Hunter Parker kills 2 Albertsons employees with a sword, before being shot to death by the police.

July

 * July 1 – 500,000 Hong Kong people march to protest Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, which controversially redefines treason.
 * July 2 – At the International Olympic Committee session in Prague, Vancouver, British Columbia is declared the host city for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010.
 * July 5
 * SARS is declared to be contained by WHO.
 * A double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert kills the attackers and 15 other people.
 * July 6 – The 70-meter Eupatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message Cosmic Call 2 to 5 stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri, HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris, that will arrive at these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044, 2044 and 2049 respectively
 * July 7
 * Corsica voters reject a referendum for increased autonomy from France by a very narrow margin.
 * Canon Jeffrey John, the first would-be gay bishop in the Church of England, withdraws his acceptance of the post of The Bishop of Reading after discussions with church leaders.
 * July 8 – Sudan Airways Flight 39, with 117 people on board, crashes in Sudan; the only survivor is a 2-year-old child.
 * July 10 – A Russian security agent dies in Moscow, while trying to defuse a bomb a woman had tried to carry into a cafe on central Moscow's main street.
 * July 14 – CIA leak scandal: Washington Post columnist Robert Novak publishes the name of Valerie Plame, blowing her cover as a CIA operative.
 * July 18
 * The Convention on the Future of Europe finishes its work and proposes the first European Constitution.
 * The body of David Kelly, a scientist at the Ministry of Defence, is found a few miles from his home, leading to the Hutton inquiry.
 * July 21 – Eleven Support towers on Kinzua Bridge collapse after being hit by an F-1 tornado.
 * July 22 – Uday and Qusay Hussein, sons of Saddam Hussein, are killed by the U.S. military in Iraq, after being tipped off by an informant.
 * July 23 – Operation Warrior Sweep is the first major military deployment of the Afghan National Army.
 * July 24 – The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, Operation Helpem Fren, led by Australia, begins.
 * July 26 – The electorate of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma approves a new constitution redesignating the tribe "Cherokee Nation" without "of Oklahoma" and specifically disenfranchising the Cherokee Freedmen.
 * July 30 – The last Volkswagen Type 1 rolls off its production line in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico.

August

 * August 1 – A suicide bomber rams a truck filled with explosives into a military hospital near Chechnya, killing 50 people, including Russian troops wounded in Chechnya.
 * August 2 – The United Nations authorizes an international peacekeeping force for Liberia.
 * August 10 – The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK; 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) at Brogdale near Faversham in Kent.
 * August 11
 * NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
 * Jemaah Islamiah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
 * A heat wave in Paris causes temperatures up to 44 °C (112 °F).
 * August 14
 * A widespread power outage affects the northeastern United States and South-Central Canada.
 * A 6.4 Richter scale earthquake occurs near the Greek Ionian island of Lefkada; 24 are injured.
 * August 15 – Oil price increases since 2003: Global oil production begins a 4-year plateau (and subsequent decline) in the face of rising demand, causing new price increases.
 * August 16 – The 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire spreads quickly on the outskirts of Kelowna, British Columbia, threatening to engulf the largest town in British Columbia's interior.
 * August 22 – A rocket explosion kills 21 at the Brazilian rocket complex in Alcântara, Brazil, due to the premature ignition of a solid rocket booster.
 * August 25
 * Two bomb blasts in Mumbai, India kill 52.
 * The Spitzer Space Telescope was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, during Delta II.
 * August 27 – Perihelic Opposition: Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in over 50,000 years.
 * August 28
 * Bank robber Brian Douglas Wells is killed when a time bomb around his neck explodes, allegedly in an act of betrayal by his co-conspirators.
 * An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in southeast England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.

September

 * September 3 – The Hubble Space Telescope starts Hubble Ultra Deep Field.
 * September 4 – Europe's busiest shopping centre, the Bullring in Birmingham, is officially opened by Sir Albert Bore.
 * September 10
 * Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh is stabbed in a Stockholm department store and dies the next day.
 * Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
 * September 14 – Sweden rejects adopting the Euro in a referendum.
 * September 15 – The ELN kidnaps 8 foreign tourists in the Ciudad Perdida in Colombia; they demand a human rights investigation and release the last hostages 3 months later.
 * September 16 – Two suicide bombers drive an explosive-filled truck into a government security services building near Chechnya, killing 3 and injuring 25.
 * September 18 – Hurricane Isabel makes landfall as a Category 2 Hurricane on North Carolina's Outer Banks. It directly kills 16 people in the Mid–Atlantic area.
 * September 27 – Smart 1, a European Space Agency satellite, is launched from French Guiana.
 * September 28 – A power failure affects all of Italy except Sardinia, cutting service to more than 56 million people.
 * September 29 – Hurricane Juan lands at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada as a category 2 storm, killing 2 directly and 5 indirectly.

October

 * October 5 – Israeli warplanes strike inside Syrian territory.
 * October 7 – 2003 California recall: Voters recall Governor Gray Davis from office and elect actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to succeed him.
 * October 10 – Facing an investigation surrounding allegations of illegal drug use, American right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh publicly admits that he is addicted to prescription pain killers, and will seek treatment.
 * October 12 – Michael Schumacher wins the 2003 FIA Formula One World Championship in Suzuka, Japan, beating Kimi Räikkönen to the title.
 * October 15
 * China launches Shenzhou 5, their first manned space mission.
 * The 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash kills 11 after one of its ferries slams into a pier.
 * October 17 – Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is ousted from office, ending the bolivian gas conflict, and flees to the United States.
 * October 24 – The Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic travel to a close, at least for the time being.
 * October 25
 * The Cedar Fire begins in San Diego County, burning 280,000 acre, 2,232 homes and killing 14.
 * The Florida Marlins defeat the New York Yankees to win their second World Series title.
 * October 31 – Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia after 22 years in power.

November

 * November 5 – Gary Ridgway, The "Green River Killer", confesses to murdering 48 women.
 * November 9 – A lunar eclipse is seen in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Central Asia.
 * November 12 – Occupation of Iraq: In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 Iraq war, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
 * November 15 – Two car bombs explode simultaneously in Istanbul, Turkey, targeting 2 synagogues, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 300; Al-Qaida claims responsibility.
 * November 18
 * U.S. President George W. Bush makes a state visit to London in the midst of massive protests.
 * The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, rules anti-same-sex marriage laws unconstitutional in Massachusetts.
 * November 19 – At the end of a long public inquiry, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, John Prescott, gives planning approval to London Bridge Tower, set to become the tallest building in Europe.
 * November 20 – Several bombs explode in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC and the British consulate.
 * November 22 – 2003 Rugby World Cup: England defeats Australia 20–17 after extra time.
 * November 23
 * The Georgian Rose Revolution ends in overwhelming victory; president Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over fraudulent elections.
 * A total solar eclipse is seen over Antarctica.
 * November 24 – The High Court in Glasgow imposes a minimum sentence of 27 years for Al Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

December

 * December 1
 * The use of hand-held cell phones while driving is made illegal in the United Kingdom.
 * Boeing chairman and CEO Phil Condit resigns unexpectedly. He is replaced by Lewis Platt as non-executive chairman and Harry Stonecipher as president and CEO.
 * December 5
 * A suicide bombing on a commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people. President Vladimir Putin condemns the attack as a bid to destabilize the country 2 days before parliamentary elections.
 * The eighteenth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting opens in Abuja, Nigeria.
 * December 7
 * Parliamentary elections are held in Russia.
 * Australian schoolboy Daniel Morcombe disappears from a bus stop on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the country's highest profile mysteries.
 * December 8 – The Aso Rock Declaration is issued at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, outlining the Commonwealth's priority objectives.
 * December 9 – A female suicide bomber detonates outside Moscow's National Hotel, across from the Kremlin and Red Square, killing 5 bystanders.
 * December 12
 * Paul Martin becomes the 21st Prime Minister of Canada.
 * Olympic Airlines, Greece's new flag carrier, is launched.
 * December 13 – Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, is captured in Tikrit by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.
 * December 16 – The United Kingdom announces plans to build a new runway at Stansted Airport in Essex and a short-haul runway at Heathrow Airport, sparking anger from environmental groups.
 * December 18 – The Soham Murder Trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
 * December 20 – Libya admits to building a nuclear bomb.
 * December 22
 * An earthquake in California kills 2.
 * Parmalat is first accused of falsifying accounts to the tune of USD $5 billion, later admitted by founder Calisto Tanzi; observers call it "Europe's Enron".
 * December 23
 * A PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion in Guoqiao, Kai County, Chongqing, China kills 234.
 * WTO becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.
 * December 24
 * A BSE (mad cow disease) outbreak in Washington State is announced. Several countries including Brazil, Australia and Taiwan ban the import of beef from the United States.
 * At the request of the U.S. Embassy in Paris, the French Government orders Air France to cancel several flights between France and the U.S. in response to terrorist concerns.
 * The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. on Christmas Eve inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.
 * December 25
 * Beagle 2 is scheduled to land on Mars, but nothing is heard from the lander.
 * President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan escapes the second assassination attempt in 2 weeks.
 * December 26 – A massive earthquake devastates southeastern Iran; over 40,000 people are reported killed in the city of Bam.
 * December 31
 * David Bieber is arrested on suspicion of the Boxing Day police shootings in Leeds.
 * British Airways Flight 223, a Boeing 747-400 flying from London Heathrow to Washington Dulles, is escorted into Dulles Airport by F-16 fighter jets after intelligence reports of terrorists trying to board the jet and use it in a terrorist attack.

Births

 * November 8 – Lady Louise Windsor, daughter of Earl and Countess of Wessex
 * December 7 – Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, daughter of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange and Princess Maxima of the Netherlands

January

 * January 8 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (b. 1925)
 * January 11
 * Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (b. 1925)
 * Richard Simmons, American actor (b. 1913)
 * January 12
 * Dean Amadon, American ornithologist (b. 1912)
 * Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine dictator (b. 1926)
 * Maurice Gibb, British rock musician (Bee Gees) (b. 1949)
 * January 15 – Doris Fisher, American singer-songwriter (b. 1915)
 * January 17 – Richard Crenna, American actor (Marooned) (b. 1926)
 * January 20 – Al Hirschfeld, American cartoonist (b. 1903)
 * January 23 – Nell Carter, African-American singer and actress (b. 1948)
 * January 24 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (b. 1921)
 * January 26
 * Valeriy Brumel, Russian athlete (b. 1942)
 * Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, English historian (b. 1917)
 * January 27 – Henryk Jablonski, former President of Poland (b. 1909)
 * January 29 – Frank Moss, American politician (b. 1911)

February

 * February 1
 * Michael P. Anderson, American astronaut (b. 1959)
 * David M. Brown, American astronaut (b. 1956)
 * Kalpana Chawla, American astronaut (b. 1961)
 * Laurel Clark, American astronaut (b. 1961)
 * Rick Husband, American astronaut (b. 1957)
 * William McCool, American astronaut (b. 1961)
 * February 2 – Lou Harrison, American composer (b. 1917)
 * February 10
 * Edgar de Evia, American photographer (b. 1910)
 * Ron Ziegler, American White House Press Secretary (b. 1939)
 * Curt Hennig, American wrestler (b. 1959)
 * February 19 – Johnny Paycheck, American singer (b. 1938)
 * February 20
 * Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and writer (b. 1907)
 * Orville Freeman, American politician (b. 1918)
 * February 27 – Fred Rogers, American children's television host (b. 1928)
 * February 28
 * Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (b. 1917)
 * Rudolf Kingslake, British lens designer and engineer (b. 1903)

March

 * March 2
 * Yevgeny Matveyev, Russian actor and film director (b. 1922)
 * Hank Ballard, American musician (b. 1927)
 * March 9 – Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (b. 1946)
 * March 12
 * Zoran Đinđić, Serbian prime minister (b. 1952)
 * Howard Fast, American novelist (b. 1914)
 * March 22 – Milton G. Henschel, American Jehovah's Witnesses leader (b. 1920)
 * March 26 – Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American politician (b. 1926)
 * March 29 – Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (b. 1956)
 * March 30 – Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952)

April

 * April 1 – Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong singer and actor (b. 1956)
 * April 2 – Edwin Starr, American soul singer (b. 1942)
 * April 7 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (b. 1903)
 * April 9 – Jorge Oteiza, Spanish painter (b. 1908)
 * April 11 – Cecil Howard Green, British-born geophysicist and businessman (b. 1900)
 * April 17
 * Robert Atkins, American nutritionist (b. 1930)
 * Paul Getty, American-born philanthropist (b. 1932)
 * Earl King, American musician (b. 1934)
 * April 19 – Mirza Tahir Ahmad, British-born Muslim leader (b. 1928)
 * April 20
 * Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (b. 1908)
 * Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911)
 * Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1976)
 * April 21 – Nina Simone, American singer (b. 1933)
 * April 23 – Fernand Fonssagrives, French photographer (b. 1910)
 * April 26 – Peter Stone, American writer (b. 1930)
 * April 30 – Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (b. 1923)

May

 * May 11 – Noel Redding, English musician (b. 1946)
 * May 12 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French UN High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1933)
 * May 14
 * Wendy Hiller, English actress (b. 1912)
 * Robert Stack, American actor (b. 1919)
 * May 15
 * June Carter Cash, American singer (b. 1929)
 * Rik Van Steenbergen, Belgian cyclist (b. 1924)
 * May 26 – Kathleen Winsor, American writer (b. 1919)
 * May 27 – Luciano Berio, Italian composer (b. 1925)
 * May 28
 * Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1917)
 * Martha Scott, American actress (b. 1912)

June

 * June 2
 * Burke Marshall, American lawyer and politician (b. 1922)
 * Freddie Blassie, American professional wrestler and manager (b. 1918)
 * June 10
 * Donald Regan, American Treasury Secretary (b. 1918)
 * Bernard Williams, English philosopher (b. 1929)
 * June 11 – David Brinkley, American television reporter (b. 1920)
 * June 12 – Gregory Peck, American actor (b. 1916)
 * June 14 – Jimmy Knepper, American musician (b. 1927)
 * June 15
 * Hume Cronyn, Canadian actor (b. 1911)
 * Kaiser Matanzima, President of Transkei bantustan (b. 1915)
 * June 18 – Larry Doby, American baseball player (b. 1923)
 * June 21 – Leon Uris, American writer (b. 1924)
 * June 25 – Lester Maddox, American politician (b. 1915)
 * June 26
 * Denis Thatcher, British husband of Margaret Thatcher (b. 1915)
 * Strom Thurmond, American politician (b. 1902)
 * Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroon footballer (b. 1975)
 * June 29 – Katharine Hepburn, American actress (b. 1907)
 * June 30 – Buddy Hackett, American comedian and actor (b. 1924)

July

 * July 1
 * Herbie Mann, American jazz flautist (b. 1930)
 * N!xau, Namibian actor (b. 1944)
 * George Roper, British comedian (b. 1934)
 * July 4 – Barry White, American singer (b. 1944)
 * July 5 – Roman Lyashenko, Russian hockey player (b. 1979)
 * July 7 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor (b. 1908)
 * July 10
 * Winston Graham, English writer (b. 1908)
 * Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross, British chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials (b. 1902)
 * July 11 – Zahra Kazemi, Iranian-Canadian freelance photographer. (b. 1949)
 * July 12 – Benny Carter, American musician (b. 1907)
 * July 13 – Compay Segundo, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1907)
 * July 14 – Éva Janikovszky, Hungarian novelist (b. 1926)
 * July 15
 * Roberto Bolaño, Chilean writer (b. 1953)
 * Tex Schramm, American football team president and general manager (b. 1920)
 * July 16
 * Celia Cruz, Cuban singer (b. 1924)
 * Carol Shields, American-born writer (b. 1935)
 * July 17 – Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (b. 1914)
 * July 22
 * Uday Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein (b. 1964)
 * Qusay Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein (b. 1966)
 * July 25
 * Ludwig Bölkow, German aeronautical engineer (b. 1912)
 * John Schlesinger, English film director (b. 1926)
 * July 27 – Bob Hope, English-born American comedian (b. 1903)
 * July 30 – Sam Phillips, American record producer (b. 1923)

August

 * August 1 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (b. 1962)
 * August 4
 * Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
 * Brian Trueman, English musician (b. 1930)
 * August 9 – Gregory Hines, American dancer and actor (b. 1946)
 * August 11 – Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (b. 1923)
 * August 14 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929)
 * August 16 – Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator (b. 1924)
 * August 19
 * Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (b. 1948)
 * Carlos Roberto Reina, President of Honduras (b. 1926)
 * August 22 – Imperio Argentina, Argentinian singer and actress (b. 1906)
 * August 23 – Jack Dyer, Australian football player, coach, and commentator (b. 1913)
 * August 29 – Vladimir Vasicek, Czech painter (b. 1919)
 * August 30 – Charles Bronson, American actor (b. 1921)

September

 * September 1
 * Terry Frost, English artist (b. 1915)
 * John Gould, American humorist, essayist, and columnist (b. 1908)
 * September 6 – Harry Goz, American actor (b. 1932)
 * September 7 – Warren Zevon, American singer (b. 1947)
 * September 8 – Leni Riefenstahl, German film director (b. 1902)
 * September 9
 * Larry Hovis, American actor (b. 1936)
 * Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist (b. 1908)
 * September 11
 * Anna Lindh, Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1957)
 * John Ritter, American actor (b. 1948)
 * September 12 – Johnny Cash, American singer and guitarist (b. 1932)
 * September 13 – Frank O'Bannon, American politician (b. 1930)
 * September 14 – John Serry, Sr., American musician (b. 1915)
 * September 17 – Sheb Wooley, American actor and singer (b. 1921)
 * September 22 – Gordon Jump, American actor (b. 1932)
 * September 23 – Yuri Senkevich, Russian TV anchorman (b. 1937)
 * September 24 – Edward Said, Palestinian-born literary critic (b. 1935)
 * September 25
 * Franco Modigliani, Italian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
 * George Plimpton, American writer and actor (b. 1927)
 * September 26
 * Robert Palmer, English singer (b. 1949)
 * Shawn Lane, American musician (b. 1963)
 * September 27 – Donald O'Connor, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1925)
 * September 28
 * Althea Gibson, American tennis player (b. 1927)
 * Elia Kazan, Greek-American director (b. 1909)

October

 * October 3 – William Steig, American cartoonist (b. 1907)
 * October 5
 * Timothy Treadwell, American environmentalist and filmmaker (b. 1957)
 * Denis Quilley, British actor (b. 1927)
 * Dan Snyder, Canadian hockey player (b. 1978)
 * Neil Postman, American educator, media theorist, and cultural critic (b. 1931)
 * October 10 – Eugene Istomin, American pianist (b. 1925)
 * October 12
 * Jim Cairns, Australian politician (b. 1914)
 * Bill Shoemaker, American jockey (b. 1931)
 * October 13 – Bertram Brockhouse, Canadian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
 * October 16
 * László Papp, Hungarian boxer (b. 1926)
 * Stu Hart, Canadian wrestling promoter (b. 1915)
 * October 19
 * Alija Izetbegović, Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (b. 1925)
 * Michael Hegstrand American wrestler (b. 1957)
 * October 20 – Jack Elam, American actor (b. 1918)
 * October 21 – Elliott Smith, American musician (b. 1969)
 * October 23 – Soong May-ling, Chinese wife of Chiang Kai-shek (b. 1898)
 * October 24 – Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish cross-country skier (b. 1925)
 * October 25
 * Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian philosopher and social reformer (b. 1920)
 * Robert Strassburg, American composer (b. 1915)
 * October 29
 * Hal Clement, American writer (b. 1922)
 * Franco Corelli, Italian opera tenor (b. 1921)
 * October 31 – Richard Neustadt, American political historian (b. 1919)

November

 * November 3 – Spider Jorgensen, American baseball player and coach (b. 1919)
 * November 4 – Richard Wollheim, British philosopher (b. 1923)
 * November 5 – Dorothy Fay, American actress (b. 1915)
 * November 6
 * Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer (b. 1919)
 * Mike Lockwood American wrestler (b. 1971)
 * November 9 – Art Carney, American actor (b. 1918)
 * November 10
 * Canaan Banana, first President of Zimbabwe (b. 1936)
 * Irv Kupcinet, American columnist and television personality (b. 1912)
 * November 12
 * Jonathan Brandis, American actor (b. 1976)
 * Penny Singleton, American actress (b. 1908)
 * November 15
 * Ray Lewis, Canadian runner (b. 1910)
 * T. Y. Lin, Chinese-born civil engineer (b. 1912)
 * Dorothy Loudon, American actress (b. 1933)
 * November 18 – Michael Kamen, American composer (b. 1948)
 * November 20
 * Robert Addie, British actor (b. 1960)
 * David Dacko, first President of the Central African Republic (b. 1930)
 * Jim Siedow, American actor (b. 1920)
 * November 24
 * Hugh Kenner, Canadian literary critic (b. 1922)
 * Warren Spahn, American baseball player (b. 1921)
 * November 26
 * Abed Hamed Mowhoush, Iraqi general
 * Stefan Wul, French writer (b. 1922)
 * November 28 – Mihkel Mathiesen, Estonian statesman (b. 1918)
 * November 30 – Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (b. 1906)

December

 * December 3 – David Hemmings, English actor (b. 1941)
 * December 4 – Iggy Katona, American race car driver (b. 1916)
 * December 6
 * Hans Hotter, German opera and Lieder bass-baritone singer (b. 1909)
 * Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, President of Guatemala (b. 1918)
 * December 7
 * Carl F. H. Henry, American theologian and publisher (b. 1913)
 * Azie Taylor Morton, U.S. Treasurer (b. 1936)
 * December 8 – Rubén González, Cuban pianist (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1919)
 * December 9 – Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois (b. 1928)
 * December 11 – Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (b. 1927)
 * December 12 – Heydar Aliyev, former President of Azerbaijan (b. 1923)
 * December 14
 * Jeanne Crain, American actress (b. 1925)
 * Blas Ople, Filipino politician (b. 1927)
 * December 15 – George Fisher, American political cartoonist (b. 1923)
 * December 16
 * Robert Stanfield, Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1914)
 * Gary Stewart, American singer (b. 1945)
 * December 17
 * Ed Devereaux, Australian actor (b. 1925)
 * Otto Graham, American football player (b. 1921)
 * December 19
 * Hope Lange, American actress (b.1933)
 * Roger Conant, American herpetologist (b.1909)
 * December 22 – Dave Dudley, American singer (b. 1928)
 * December 27 – Alan Bates, English actor (b. 1934)
 * December 29
 * Earl Hindman, American actor (b. 1942)
 * Dinsdale Landen, English actor (b. 1932)
 * Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (b. 1928)
 * December 30
 * David Bale, South African–born activist (b. 1941)
 * John Gregory Dunne, American writer (b. 1932)
 * Anita Mui, Hong Kong singer (b. 1963)
 * December 31 – Arthur R. von Hippel, German-born physicist (b. 1898)

Nobel Prizes

 * Chemistry – Peter Agre, Roderick MacKinnon
 * Economics – Robert F. Engle, Clive W. J. Granger
 * Literature – John Maxwell Coetzee
 * Peace – Shirin Ebadi
 * Physics – Alexei Alexeevich Abrikosov, Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, Anthony James Leggett
 * Physiology or Medicine – Paul Lauterbur, Peter Mansfield

In fiction

 * In the video game Freedom Fighters, the game is set in an alternate timeline from 1945 on where world power shifted towards the Soviet Union, the Soviets invades and conquers the United States, causing a rebel resistance.
 * In the TV series Stargate SG-1 the second alpha site is attacked by kull warriors.
 * In The Simpsons timeline, the events of The Simpsons: Hit & Run take place between October 25 and October 31, with all seven levels taking place on one week.
 * The events of Resident Evil: Extinction take place, before the last chapters of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles.
 * The events of 28 Days Later commence in 2003, with the initial uprising of the Rage virus and decimation of Great Britain, and then the sequel 28 Weeks Later is also set later on in 2003, with the resurgence of the virus. The third film, 28 Months Later is to be set around 2005.
 * In the last chapters of Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield are sent to an Umbrella Fortress in February 2003.
 * The Galactic Federation in the Metroid Backstory was formed in 2003.
 * The main character in Osamu Tezuka's manga Tetsuwan Atom (1951) or Astro Boy was "born" on 7 April 2003.
 * The 1981 arcade game Omega Race takes place in the year 2003.
 * Mega Mom 2: MLBP (1990) is set in February 7, 2003