1996

Facts and Events That Happened in This Year

Dec 31

Blizzard Entertainment released the first Diablo game.

Dec 29

The Guatemalan Civil War came to an end after 36 years of bloody conflict.

Dec 26

JonBenét Ramsey was found dead.

Dec 26

The largest strike in South Korean history began.

Dec 20

The horror film classic 'Scream,' starring Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox, was released.

Nov 14

The musical 'Chicago' opened at Richard Rodgers Theater in New York City.

Oct 16

A stampede of 47,000 football fans killed 84 people and injured 180 more in Guatemala City.

Oct 7

Fox News Channel began broadcasting.

Sep 29

The Nintendo 64 gaming console was released in the US.

Sep 26

Nintendo released Super Mario 64, one of their most iconic Mario games.

Sep 9

Naughty Dog released their first 3D video game, Crash Bandicoot, for the PlayStation.

Sep 7

Rapper Tupac Shakur was shot four times in Las Vegas, Nevada, US.

Aug 6

A team of NASA scientists declared that the Martian ALH 84001 meteorite might contain traces of alien life.

Aug 1

The US won gold in the first-ever women's soccer at the Olympics.

Aug 1

George R. R. Martin published his novel, 'Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire.'

Jul 12

Basketball player Michael Jordan was offered the richest NBA one-year contract of $30 million from the Chicago Bulls.

Jul 7

Nelson Mandela stepped down as President.

Jun 28

The Nutty Professor with Eddie Murphy premiered in the US.

Jun 23

The Nintendo 64 went on sale in Japan three months before hitting US shelves.

May 19

STS 77 (Endeavour 11) was launched into orbit.

May 10

The disaster movie 'Twister' by Michael Crichton premiered.

Apr 29

The TV Land Network made its debut.

Apr 3

Ted Kaczynski, The Unabomber, was caught and arrested.

Mar 25

The EU banned all British beef exports due to the risks of carrying 'mad cow disease.'

Mar 13

Sixteen primary school children and one teacher were killed in a mass shooting in Dunblane, Scotland.

Mar 7

The Hubble Space Telescope captured the first images of the surface of Pluto.

Feb 29

The longest siege of a capital city in modern history, the siege of Sarajevo, officially ended.

Feb 28

Alanis Morissette claimed four Grammy's, including Album of the Year with ''Jagged Little Pill."

Feb 27

Pokémon was released on the Game Boy for the first time, in the video games Pocket Monsters Red & Green.

Feb 23

The movie 'Trainspotting' arrived in UK cinemas.

Feb 13

The world-famous British boy band, Take That, announced their breakup.

Feb 10

A computer defeated world champion chess player Gary Kasparov for the first time.

Jan 29

French President Jacques Chirac announced France's nuclear test program had finished.

Jan 27

Germany first observed the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Jan 23

The programming language 'Java' was released.

Jan 20

NASA mission STS-72 landed at the Kennedy Space Center after eight days in space.