1994

World Events

Population: 5.602 billion

Nobel Peace Prize: Yasir Arafat (Palestine), Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin (both Israel)

Serbs' heavy weapons pound Sarajevo (Jan. 5-6).

Thousands dead in Rwanda massacre (April 6).

South Africa holds first interracial national election (April 29); Nelson Mandela elected President.

Israel signs accord with Palestinians (May 4), peace treaty with Jordan (Oct. 17).

IRA declares cease-fire in Northern Ireland (Aug. 31). Ulster Protestants declare cease-fire (Oct. 13).

Aristide returns to Haiti (Oct. 4), forms Government with Prime Minister and full Cabinet (Nov. 9).

US sends forces to Persian Gulf (Oct. 7).

Russians attack secessionist Republic of Chechnya (Dec. 11 et seq.).

U.S. Events

President: William J. Clinton

Vice President: Albert Gore, Jr

Population: 260,289,237

Life expectancy: 75.7 years

Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 53.7

Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 46.6

Economics

US GDP (1998 dollars): $6,947.00 billion

Federal spending: $1460.84 billion

Federal debt: $4643.7 billion

Median Household Income

(current dollars): $32,264

Consumer Price Index: 148.2

Unemployment: 6.1%

Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.29

Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan attacked (Jan. 6); three arrested in attack (Jan. 13).

Aldrich Ames, high C.I.A. official, charged with spying for Soviets (Feb. 22).

Four convicted in World Trade Center bombing (March 4).

Clinton accused of sexual harassment while Governor of Arkansas (May 6).

O. J. Simpson arrested in killings of wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and friend, Ronald Goldman (June 18).

US Supreme Court approves limit on abortion protests (June 30).

Senate confirms Stephen G. Breyer for Supreme Court (July 29).

Major league baseball players strike (Aug. 13).

Newt Gingrich named House Speaker (Dec. 5).

Entertainment

Pulitzer Prizes

Fiction: The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx

Music: Of Reminiscences and Reflections, Gunther Schuller

Drama: Three Tall Women, Edward Albee

Oscars awarded in 1994

Academy Award, Best Picture: Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen and Branko Lustig, producers (Universal)

Nobel Prize for Literature: Kenzaburo Oe (Japan)

Miss America: Kimberly Clarice Aiken (SC)

Grammy Awards

Record of the Year: I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston

Album of the Year: The Bodyguard (Original Soundtrack Album) - Whitney Houston

Song of the Year: A Whole New World (Theme From Aladdin) - Peabo Bryson

Events

Kurt Cobain kills himself. He was 27.

Ninety-five million viewers watch O. J. Simpson and Al Cowlings drive along Los Angeles freeways in history's most exciting low-speed chase.

Steven Spielberg wins his first directing Oscar for Schindler's List.

Woodstock '94 commemorates the original weekend-long concert. Green Day and Nine Inch Nails join Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers.

For the first time in history, chain bookstores outsell independent stores, signaling what many fear to be the death of smaller booksellers at the hands of superstores.

Tom Hanks wins his second consecutive Best Actor Oscar. He won in 1993 for his role in Philadelphia and in 1994 for Forrest Gump.

ER and Friends debut on NBC, establishing NBC's dominance of the Thursday-night lineup.

Movies

Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, Quiz Show, Nobody's Fool

Books

James Kelman, How Late It Was, How Late; Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: George A. Olah (US), University of Southern California in Los Angeles, for research that opened new ways to break apart and rebuild compounds of carbon and hydrogen

Physics: Clifford G. Shull (US) and Bertram N. Brockhouse (Canada), for adapting beams of neutrons as probes to explore the atomic structure of matter

Physiology or Medicine: Alfred G. Gilman and Martin Rodbell (both US), for discovery of G-proteins that help cells respond to outside signals

White House launches Web page. Initial commerce sites are established and mass marketing campaigns are launched via email, introducing the term "spamming" to the Internet vocabulary. Background: Computers and Internet.

Dr. Ned First (US) clones calves from cells of early embryos. Background: Cloning Milestones.

The FDA approves the Flavr Savr tomato, the first genetically-engineered food product.