1998
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s - 1990s - 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s
Years: 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 - 1998 - 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
International Year of the Ocean
Births
Deaths
- September 6 - Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film director
- Pol Pot - Cambodian dictator
- May 29 - Barry M. Goldwater, Arizona Senator
Events
- January: A massive ice storm, caused by El Niño, strikes New England and southern Ontario and Quebec, resulting in widespread power failures, severe damage to forests, and a number of deaths.
- The entertainment industry frantically lobbies for, and the United States Congress passes, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which gives the entertainment industry 20 more years of exclusive monopoly on all of its works created since 1923.
- The third World Parliament of Religions is held in Cape Town
- June 3 - Eschede train disaster: an ICE high speed train derails, causing 101 deaths.
- October 6 - Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming college student, is found tied to a fence, the victim of a gay-bashing. He dies on October 12, becoming a symbol of victims of gay-bashing and sparking public reflection on homophobia.
Sport
- January 25 - Super Bowl XXXII Denver Broncos (31) def. Green Bay Packers (24)
- France wins Football World Cup on home ground
- Commonwealth Games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Arsenal F.C. wins The Double
- Physics - Robert B. Laughlin, Horst L. Störmer, Daniel C. Tsui
- Chemistry - Walter Kohn, John A Pople
- Medicine - Robert F Furchgott, Louis J Ignarro, Ferid Murad
- Literature - José Saramago
- Peace - John Hume and David Trimble
- Economics - Amartya Sen
Books