Everything Totally Explained


Ask & we'll explain, totally!
2001
Totally Explained


  NEW! All the latest news in the worlds of computer gaming, entertainment, the environment,  
finance, health, politics, science, stocks & shares, technology and much, much, more.  


View this entry using RSS

Everything about 2001 totally explained

Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday according to the (Gregorian calendar). It was the year of the snake in the Chinese Zodiac.
   By traditional interpretation of the Gregorian Calendar, 2001 is also the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium. Popular culture, however, views the year 2000 as holding this distinction.
   Also see: Wikipedia's almanac of events for this year.

Events of 2001

January

February

  • February 6 - Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon wins election as Prime Minister of Israel.
  • February 9 - The submarine USS Greeneville strikes and sinks the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime-Maru near Hawaii.
  • February 11 - Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh is imploded.
  • February 12 - The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
  • February 13 - A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 400.
  • February 16 - Iraq disarmament crisis: British and U.S. forces carry out bombing raids, attempting to disable Iraq's air defense network.
  • February 16 - US and UK war planes bomb a Baghdad suburb, killing three.
  • February 18 - NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt is killed in a crash during the Daytona 500.
  • February 18 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 15 years.
  • February 19 - An Oklahoma City bombing museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
  • February 20 - The 2001 UK foot and mouth crisis begins.
  • February 23 - Four students are killed and one critically injured by a University of California, Santa Barbara freshman.
  • February 28 - The Selby rail crash near Selby, North Yorkshire, England, kills 10 people.
  • February 28 - The Nisqually Earthquake strikes Seattle, Washington.

    March

  • March 4 - Hintze Ribeiro disaster: A bridge collapses in northern Portugal, killing up to 70.
  • March 23 - The Russian space station Mir re-enters the atmosphere near Nadi, Fiji, and falls into the Pacific Ocean.
  • March 25 - The 73rd Academy Awards, hosted by Steve Martin are held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, with Gladiator winning Best Picture.

    April

  • April 1 - U.S.-China Spy Plane Incident: A Chinese fighter jet bumps into a U.S. EP-3E surveillance aircraft which is forced to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China. The U.S. crew is detained for 10 days and the F-8 Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, goes missing and is presumed dead.
  • April 1 - Former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on charges of war crimes.
  • April 1 - In the Netherlands, the Act on the Opening up of Marriage goes into effect. The Act allows same-sex couples to marry legally for the first time in the world since the reign of Nero.
  • April 7 - Timothy Thomas, a 19-year-old African-American, is shot by a police officer in Cincinnati, sparking riots in downtown Cincinnati from April 10 to April 12.
  • April 26 - Junichiro Koizumi becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
  • April 27 - Impostor Christopher Rocancourt is arrested in Oak Bay, British Columbia.
  • April 28 - Soyuz TM-32 lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the first space tourist, American Dennis Tito.
  • April 29 - The UK Census is conducted in the United Kingdom.
  • April 30 - Blanche Barton, High Priestess of the Church of Satan, steps down and gives her position to Peter H. Gilmore and Peggy Nadramia.

    May

  • May 1 - The Japanese cities of Urawa, Omiya, and Yono merge to form the city of Saitama.
  • May 1 - Washington, DC police declare Chandra Levy missing (her remains are discovered a year later).
  • May 6 - Space tourist Dennis Tito returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-31. (Soyuz TM-32 is left docked at the International Space Station as a new lifeboat.)
  • May 7 - In Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina, an attempt is made to reconstruct the Ferhadija mosque. However, the ceremony results in mass riots by Serb nationalists that beat and stone 300 elderly Bosnian Muslims.
  • May 10 - A soccer game stampede in Ghana kills over 120.
  • May 13 - Silvio Berlusconi and the Italian House of the Liberties coalition win general elections.
  • May 22 - A large trans-Neptunian object (28978 Ixion) is found during the Deep Ecliptic Survey.
  • May 22-May 23 - The Bahá'í Terraces officially open on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel (site of the Shrine of the Báb and the Bahá'í World Centre).
  • May 23 - Bayern München wins the UEFA Champions League.
  • May 24 - Sherpa Temba Tsheri, 16, becomes the youngest person to conquer Mount Everest.

    June

  • June 1 - Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal kills his father, the king, his mother and other members of the royal family with an assault rifle and then shoots himself in the Nepalese royal massacre. He dies June 4. King Gyanendra accedes to the throne.
  • June 1 - A Hamas suicide bomber kills 21, mostly teenagers, in the Dolphinarium disco in Tel Aviv, Israel.
  • June 5-June 9 - Tropical Storm Allison produces 36 inches (900 mm) of rain in Houston, Texas, killing 22, damaging the Texas Medical Center, and causing more than 5 billion American dollars of damage overall.
  • June 5 - U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords leaves the Republican party, an act which changes control of the United States Senate from the Republican party to the Democratic party.
  • June 7 - Tony Blair's Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election.
  • June 8 - Mamoru Takuma murders 8 first and second grade students and wounds 15 others in Osaka, Japan.
  • June 11 - In Terre Haute, Indiana, Timothy McVeigh is executed for the Oklahoma City Bombing.
  • June 19 - An American missile hits a soccer field in northern Iraq (Tel Afr County), killing 23 and wounding 11.
  • June 20 - Pervez Musharraf becomes President of Pakistan after the resignation of Muhammad Rafiq Tarar.
  • June 20 - Andrea Yates drowns her children in a bathtub and confesses to her crime. She is sentenced to life in prison.
  • June 23 - An earthquake with 7.9 on the Richter scale, hits the south of Peru.

    July

  • July 2 - The world's first self-contained artificial heart is implanted in Robert Tools.
  • July 3 - A Vladivostokavia Tupolev Tu-154 jetliner crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk, Russia, killing 145.
  • July 13 - Beijing wins the bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics
  • July 16 - The People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation sign the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.
  • July 16 - The FBI arrests Dmitry Sklyarov at a convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, for violating a provision of the DMCA.
  • July 17 - Inauguration of the Altamira caves's replica created by Manuel Franquelo and Sven Nebel.
  • July 18 - In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derailment occurs in a tunnel, sparking a fire that lasts days and virtually shuts down downtown Baltimore.
  • July 19 - UK politician and novelist Jeffrey Archer is sentenced to 4 years in prison for perjury and perverting the course of justice.
  • July 20 - Vanessa Legget is found in contempt by a Federal Court for refusing to release notes made for her book on the Doris Angleton murder.
  • July 20-July 22 - The 27th G8 summit takes place in Genoa, Italy. Massive demonstrations are held against the meeting by anti-globalisation groups. One demonstrator, Carlo Giuliani, is shot dead by a carabiniere. Several others are badly injured during a police attack on a school used by the protesters as their headquarters.
  • July 24 - Tamil Tigers attack Bandaranaika International Airport in Sri Lanka, causing an estimated $500 million of damages.
  • July 28 - Alejandro Toledo is sworn in as the new president of Peru, 8 months after a vote of no-confidence in former President Alberto Fujimori.

    August

  • August 1 - Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a 2½ ton monument of the Ten Commandments installed in the Rotunda of the Judiciary Building. He is later sued to have it removed, and eventually removed from office.
  • August 2 - Robert Mueller is confirmed as the new FBI director.
  • August 9 - U.S. President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.
  • August 9 - In the Comoros, the "Military Committee" of Major Mohamad Bacar seizes power in the island of Anjouan, which had declared independence. They plan to rejoin the Comoros.
  • August 10 - The Hudson River Way is opened to traffic.
  • August 24 - The Heino murders in Finland: four teenagers assassinate businessman Martti Heino and his wife Elise Heino.
  • August 25 - A Cessna 402 aircraft carrying 9 people, including R&B singer Aaliyah, crashes in the Bahamas, killing all aboard.

    September

  • September 1 - The libertarian Free State Project is founded at Yale University.
  • September 4 - Google is awarded a patent, number 6,285,999, for the PageRank search algorithm used in the Google search engine.
  • September 5 - Peru's attorney general files homicide charges against ex-President Alberto Fujimori.
  • September 6 - United States v. Microsoft: The United States Justice Department announces that it no longer seeks to break up software maker Microsoft, and will instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty.
  • September 9 - 68 people die in Estonia after drinking bootleg alcohol that contained methanol.
  • September 9 - A suicide bomber kills Ahmed Shah Massoud, military commander of the Afghan Northern Alliance.
  • September 10 - Norwegian parliamentary election, 2001: Kjell Magne Bondevik returns to power as head of a conservative coalition.
  • September 11 - Almost 3,000 people are killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City, The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania after an American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into the The Twin Towers and United Airlines Flight 93 crashes into a grassland in Pennsylvania.
  • September 11 - Ansett Australia, one of the oldest airlines in the world and the second-largest in Australia goes under administration with KordaMentha due to major financial struggles.
  • September 12 - Jericho, West Bank, Israel sends tanks into the West Bank town of Jericho at the start of a military operation.
  • September 15 - The Queen Isabella Causeway in Texas collapses after being hit by a tugboat, killing 8.
  • September 17 - The New York Stock Exchange reopens following the attacks in New York.
  • September 18 - The 2001 anthrax attacks commence as anthrax letters are mailed from Princeton, New Jersey to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the New York Post, and the National Enquirer.
  • September 21 - Sports return to New York for the first time since the attacks with the New York Mets/Atlanta Braves game at Shea Stadium. The two teams shake hands before the game.
  • September 21 - benefit concert for victims of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks and their families, airs uninterrupted and commercial-free.
  • September 21 - Toulouse: The AZote Fertilisant or AZF chemical factory just 5 KM (3.1 Miles) from the city center explodes, causing 29 deaths and over 2500 seriously wounded.

    October

  • October 2 - Swissair goes bankrupt.
  • October 4 - Federal officials announce the first anthrax attack in the U.S.
  • October 4 - Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 crashes over the Black Sea en route from Tel Aviv, Israel to Novosibirsk, Russia; 78 are killed.
  • October 5 - Tom Ridge resigns as Governor of Pennsylvania to become the first director of the newly created United States Office of Homeland Security.
  • October 5 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants breaks the single season home run record with his 71st and 72nd home runs of the year.
  • October 7 - The United States invades Afghanistan, with participation from other nations participating in Operation Enduring Freedom.
  • October 8 - Flight SK686 of SAS collides first with a private plane and then a building in Milano Airport; 100 are killed.
  • October 9 - The 2001 anthrax attacks continue as anthrax letters are mailed from Princeton, New Jersey, to U.S. Senators Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont.
  • October 10 - U.S. President George W. Bush presents a list of 22 most wanted terrorists.
  • October 12 - Prompted by a request from U.S. President George W. Bush, an episode of America's Most Wanted features the 22 most wanted terrorists.
  • October 14 - Michael Schumacher wins the 52nd FIA Formula One World championship, with a record margin of 58 points.
  • October 15 - NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.
  • October 19 - SIEV-X sinks en route to Christmas Island.
  • October 20 - The Concert for New York City, "a celebration of the strength, resilience, and pride of New York and America," is held.
  • October 21 - The benefit concert is held in Washington D.C..
  • October 23 - Apple Computer releases the iPod.
  • October 23 - Principal Financial Group files its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.
  • October 25 - Microsoft releases Windows XP.
  • October 26 - The USA PATRIOT Act becomes law.

    November

  • November - The Doha Declaration relaxes the grip of international intellectual property law.
  • November 2 - The Glocal Forum, leading international organization in the field of city-to-city cooperation, is established by Ambassador Uri Savir.
  • November 4 - Hurricane Michelle hits Cuba, destroying crops and thousands of homes.
  • November 4 - The Police Service of Northern Ireland is established, replacing the controversial Royal Ulster Constabulary.
  • November 4 - The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees to win their first-ever World Series.
  • November 7 - Belgium's SABENA Airlines goes bankrupt.
  • November 10 - The People's Republic of China is admitted to the World Trade Organization after 15 years of negotiations.
  • November 10 - Australian Prime Minister John Howard is elected to a third term.
  • November 10 - Heavy rains and mudslides in Algeria kill more than 900.
  • November 12 - In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, headed to the Dominican Republic, crashes in Queens, New York minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board.
  • November 12 - 2001 Attack on Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops, who take the city on November 14.
  • November 13 - Doha Round: The World Trade Organization ends a 4-day ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar.
  • November 13 - Symbionese Liberation Army member Kathleen Soliah (Sara Jane Olsen) withdraws her previous guilty plea.
  • November 13 - In the first such act since World War II, U.S. President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts against the United States.
  • November 22 - Pope John Paul II sends the first papal e-mail from a laptop in his office.

    December

  • December 2 - Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection 5 days after Dynegy cancels a US$8.4 billion buyout bid. At the time this is the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
  • December 3 - Officials announce that one of the Taliban prisoners captured after the prison uprising at Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan is John Walker Lindh, an American citizen.
  • December 11 - The United States government indicts Zacarias Moussaoui for involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
  • December 11 - Law enforcement raid members of DrinkOrDie in Operation Buccaneer.
  • December 12 - Roy Whiting is found guilty of murdering Sarah Payne at Lewes Crown Court. The trial judge recommends that Whiting should never be released.
  • December 13 - The Parliament of India is attacked, killing 14. This brings India and Pakistan to the brink of war.
  • December 13 - U.S. President George W. Bush announces the United States' withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
  • December 19 - A new world-record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded in Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl Province, Mongolia.
  • December 22 - Hamid Karzai is sworn in as head of the interim government in Afghanistan.
  • December 22 - A Paris-Miami, Florida flight is diverted to Boston, Massachusetts after passenger Richard Reid attempts to set his shoe, filled with explosives, on fire.
  • December 27 - The People's Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade status with the United States.
  • December 27 - Typhoon Vamei forms within 1.5 degrees of the equator. No other tropical cyclone in recorded history has come as close to the equator.

    Undated

  • India becomes the second nation in the world to register one billion people in its population. The first was China in 1979.

    Ongoing

    Births
  • October 7 - Princess Senate Seeiso, daughter of King Letsie III of Lesotho
  • October 18 - Annelise Manojlovic, English actress
  • October 25 - Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, daughter of Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant
  • December 1 - Aiko, Princess Toshi of Japan

    Deaths

    For more deaths see: Deaths in 2001

    January-June

  • January 1 - Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
  • January 2 - Teri Diver, American actress (b. 1971)
  • January 3 - José Greco, Italian-born flamenco dancer (b. 1918)
  • January 5 - Nancy Parsons, American actress (b. 1942)
  • January 9 - Maurice Prather, American motion picture and still photographer (b. 1926)
  • January 12 - William Reddington Hewlett, American businessman (b. 1913)
  • January 12 - Vladimir Semichastny, Soviet former head of the KGB (b. 1924)
  • January 16 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)
  • January 19 - Dario Vittori, Argentinean actor (b. 1921)
  • January 27 - Marie-José of Belgium, last Queen of Italy (b. 1906)
  • January 28 - Curt Blefary, American baseball player (b. 1943)
  • January 30 - Jean-Pierre Aumont, French actor (b. 1911)
  • January 30 - Johnnie Johnson, English pilot (b. 1915)
  • January 31 - Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian writer (b. 1923)
  • February 4 - Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer (b. 1922)
  • February 6 - Filemon Lagman, Filipino Communist revolutionary (b. 1953)
  • February 7 - Dale Evans, American actress and singer (b. 1912)
  • February 7 - Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author and aviator (b. 1906)
  • February 9 - Herbert Simon, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
  • February 10 - Abraham Beame, American mayor of New York City (b.1906)
  • February 12 - Kristina Söderbaum, German actress and photographer (b. 1912)
  • February 16 - Bob Buhl, American baseball player (b. 1928)
  • february 17 - Khalid Abdul Muhammad, American Black Nationalist leader (b. 1948)
  • February 18 - Balthus, French painter (b. 1908)
  • February 18 - Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (b. 1951)
  • February 18 - Eddie Mathews, American baseball player (b. 1931)
  • February 19 - Priscilla Davis, American socialite (b. 1942)
  • February 19 - Stanley Kramer, American film director (b. 1913)
  • February 19 - Charles Trenet, French singer (b. 1913)
  • February 24 - Claude Elwood Shannon, American mathematician (b. 1916)
  • February 25 - Sir Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (b. 1908)
  • February 26 - Stan Cullis, English footballer and manager (b. 1915)
  • March 4 - Harold Stassen, American politician (b. 1907)
  • March 4 - Fred Lasswell, American cartoonist (b. 1916)
  • March 4 - Glenn Hughes, American singer (b. 1950)
  • March 12 - Morton Downey Jr., American television personality (b. 1932)
  • March 12 - Robert Ludlum, American author (b. 1927)
  • March 12 - Ann Sothern, American actress (b. 1909)
  • March 13 - Encarnacion Alzona, Filipino historian (b. 1895)
  • March 18 - John Phillips, American singer (b. 1935)
  • March 21 - Norma Macmillan, Canadian voice actress (b. 1921)
  • March 22 - William Hanna, American animation studio executive (b. 1910)
  • March 23 - Sully Boyar, American actor (b. 1923)
  • March 28 - Vulo Radev, Bulgarian film director (b. 1923)
  • March 31 - Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
  • March 31 - David Rocastle, English footballer (b. 1967)
  • April 7 - David Graf, American actor (b. 1950)
  • April 7 - Beatrice Straight, American actress (b. 1914)
  • April 10 - Willie Stargell, American baseball player (b. 1940)
  • April 11 - Graciela Naranjo, Venezuelan singer and actress (b. 1916)
  • April 11 - Harry Secombe, Welsh entertainer (b. 1921)
  • April 12 - Harvey Ball, American designer (b. 1921)
  • April 14 - Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director (b. 1927)
  • April 15 - Joey Ramone, American musician and singer (b. 1951)
  • April 20 - Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1946)
  • April 20 - Bert Sutcliffe, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1923)
  • May 2 - Ted Rogers, British comedian (b. 1935)
  • May 2 - Gina Mastrogiacomo, American actress (b. 1961)
  • May 5 - Clifton Hillegass, American businessman and publisher (b. 1918)
  • May 9 - James E. Myers, American songwriter (b. 1919)
  • May 11 - Douglas Adams, English author (b. 1952)
  • May 12 - Perry Como, American singer (b. 1912)
  • May 13 - R.K. Narayan, Indian novelist (b. 1906)
  • May 20 - Renato Carosone, Italian musician and singer (b. 1920)
  • May 24 - Javier Urruticoechea, Spanish footballer (b. 1952)
  • May 27 - Ramon Bieri, American actor (b. 1929)
  • May 28 - Francisco Varela, Chilean biologist and philosopher (b. 1946)
  • June 1 - Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (b. 1920)
  • June 1 - Queen Aiswarya of Nepal (b. 1949)
  • June 1 - King Birendra of Nepal (b. 1945)
  • June 2 - Imogene Coca, American actress (b. 1908)
  • June 2 - Joey Maxim, American boxer (b. 1922)
  • June 3 - Anthony Quinn, Mexican actor (b. 1915)
  • June 4 - Prince Dipendra of Nepal (b. 1971)
  • June 4 - John Hartford, American musician and composer (b. 1937)
  • June 7 - Víctor Paz Estenssoro, President of Bolivia (b. 1907)
  • June 10 - Princess Leila of Iran (b. 1970)
  • June 11 - Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (b. 1968)
  • June 13 - Marcelo Fromer, Brazilian musician (b. 1961)
  • June 17 - Donald J. Cram, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1919)
  • June 17 - Thomas Winning, Scottish cardinal (b. 1925)
  • June 19 - John Heyer, Australian documentary filmmaker (b. 1916)
  • June 21 - John Lee Hooker, American musician (b. 1917)
  • June 21 - Carroll O'Connor, American actor (b. 1924)
  • June 21 - Souad Hosni, Egyptian actress (b. 1942)
  • June 26 - Peter von Zahn, German journalist (b. 1913)
  • June 27 - Tove Jansson, Finnish author (b. 1914)
  • June 27 - Jack Lemmon, American actor and director (b. 1925)
  • June 28 - Mortimer Adler, American philosopher (b. 1902)
  • June 28 - Joan Sims, British actress (b. 1930)
  • June 30 - Chet Atkins, American country guitar player and producer (b. 1924)

    July-December

  • July 1 - Nikolay Basov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
  • July 5 - Hannelore Kohl, wife of German chancellor Helmut Kohl (b. 1933)
  • July 7 - Fred Neil, American singer-songwriter (b. 1936)
  • July 11 - Herman Brood, Dutch musician and painter (b. 1946)
  • July 12 - Paul Magloire, President of Haiti (b. 1907)
  • July 18 - Fabio Taglioni, Italian automotive engineer (b. 1920)
  • July 20 - Milt Gabler, American record producer (b. 1911)
  • July 22 - Frances Horwich American television show host (b. 1907)
  • July 27 - Leon Wilkeson, American musician (b. 1952)
  • July 29 - Edward Gierek, Polish politician (b. 1913)
  • July 29 - Wau Holland, German hacker (b. 1951)
  • August 1 - Poul Anderson, American author (b. 1926)
  • August 1 - Korey Stringer, American football player (b. 1974)
  • August 3 - Christopher Hewett, British actor (b. 1922)
  • August 6 - Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer (b. 1912)
  • August 15 - Richard Chelimo, Kenyan athlete (b. 1972)
  • August 19 - Les Sealey, English footballer (b. 1957)
  • August 20 - Fred Hoyle, British astronomer and writer (b. 1915)
  • August 21 - Calum MacKay, Canadian hockey player (b. 1927)
  • August 25 - Aaliyah, American singer and actress ((b. 1979)
  • August 30 - Ivor Spencer-Thomas, English entrepreneur and inventor (b. 1907)
  • September 1 - Bobby Evans, Scottish football player (b. 1927)
  • September 2 - Christiaan Barnard, South African surgeon (b. 1922)
  • September 3 - Pauline Kael, American film critic (b. 1919)
  • September 3 - Thuy Trang, Vietnamese-American actress (b. 1973)
  • September 4 - Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf, American radio personality and actor (b. 1962)
  • September 7 - Spede Pasanen, Finnish television personality (b. 1930)
  • September 9 - Ahmed Shah Massoud, Afghani military commander (b. 1953)
  • September 11 - Casualties of the September 11, 2001 attacks, including: