The last total solar eclipse of the 20th century occurred and was visible from Europe and Asia.
An F5 tornado hit Oklahoma City, where the highest global wind speeds were recorded.
Two new moons orbiting Uranus were announced in Nature magazine.
Viagra is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Jupiter's moon was found to have a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.
Hong Kong began to slaughter the city's 1.6 million chickens to stop the spread of an influenza strain.
American Psychologist Timothy Leary and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry were launched into orbit after being cremated.
The super-bright comet 'Hale-Bopp' reached its closest point to Earth at a distance of 1.215 AU, making it visible to the naked eye.
The first cloned animal from an adult animal cell was announced.
World's first live cloned mammal (Dolly) is born.
The Hubble Space Telescope captured the first images of the surface of Pluto.
Lowest temperature ever recorded in the United Kingdom.
People in South Asia witnessed a total eclipse that lasted 2 minutes and 9 seconds.
Two new moons of Saturn were found in photos from the Hubble Space Telescope by Astronomers Amanda S. Bosh and Andrew S. Rivkin.
The FDA approved the first chickenpox vaccine.
The population of space hit a new record with 13 astronauts.
The top quark is discovered.
The Great Hanshin earthquake hits Kobe, Japan.
Gliese 229B became the first brown dwarf to be seen and identified by astronomers.
A galaxy named 'Dwingeloo 1' was discovered to be just 10 million light-years from our own.
Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov begins his record spaceflight.
Mexican grill chain Chipotle opened its first restaurant.
Carolyn & Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy discovered the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet.
The MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands.
Pioneer Venus Orbiter, or Pioneer 12, sent its last transmission as it fell from its orbit around Venus.
World Oceans Day was celebrated for the first time.
The first exoplanets are discovered.
North Carolina, US, was hit by hurricane Bob.
A large explosion above the Pacific Ocean turned out to be a meteorite.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are banned to protect the ozone layer.
The asteroid Eureka was discovered by David H. Levy.
The 'Twentieth Century Dinosaurs' exhibit opened at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History.
Pale Blue Dot, an iconic photo of our Earth, was taken by Voyager 1 space probe.
The South African Apartheid system of racial segregation begins to disintegrate.
A 150 million-year-old fossilized dinosaur embryo was found inside a fossilized egg.
The first-ever World AIDS day started in effort to raise awareness of the AIDS global epidemic.
An extreme category 5 hurricane called Gilbert hit Jamaica, with the eye of the storm being 15 miles wide.
7-month-old twins joined at the back of the head were successfully separated.
The heaviest hailstones ever recorded hit Bangladesh.
Halley's Comet was last seen from Earth. It only orbits the Earth once every 75 to 76 years.
The discovery of the virus causing AIDS is announced.
NASA astronauts take the first untethered spacewalk.
A boy born without an immune system, David Vetter, left his bubble isolation for the first time, aged 12, and touched his mother for the first time.
Cosmonauts Titov and Strekalov narrowly escaped the Soyuz T-10 spacecraft explosion.
The Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica recorded the world's lowest temperature in an inhabited location.
The first Hughes Communications Galaxy satellite was launched into orbit.
Shergar, the legendary Thoroughbred racehorse, was stolen by gunmen.
The first artificial heart was successfully implanted.
All nine planets (including Pluto) lined up with the sun.
An incredibly cold air swept into the US from Canada and plunged temperatures across most States far below their existing all-time lows.
