2005 CE
From left to right, top to bottom:; YouTube was launched, with "Me at the zoo" being the first video on the platform; Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, killed 1,392, and displaced millions; it is tied as the costliest hurricane of all time as of today; Eris, the largest known dwarf planet at the time, was discovered; Pope John Paul II dies; An earthquake in Kashmir kills between 75,000 and 90,000; A truck bombing assassinates Rafic Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon; The Amagasaki derailment occurred when a seven-car commuter train came off the tracks on West Japan Railway Company's (JR West) Fukuchiyama Line just before Amagasaki. 107 people were killed in the derailment; Tickets to a Live 8 concert at Hyde Park in London; 4 Islamic suicide bombings on the London Underground kill 56 and become one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in London.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- January 9 – The Comprehensive Peace Agreement is signed, ending the Second Sudanese Civil War in Sudan.source
- February 7 – A presidential decree on redenomination of the Azerbaijani manat is issued, equating 1 new manat to 5000 old manats.source
- February 16 – The Kyoto Protocol officially goes into effect.source
- March 13 – 2005 Liechtenstein general election: The Progressive Citizens' Party remains the largest party and wins a plurality of 12 seats in the Landtag.source
- March 14 – China ratifies an anti-secession law, aimed at preventing Taiwan from declaring independence.source
- March 24 – The President of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, is deposed following mass anti-government demonstrations and flees the country.source
- May 5 – The 2005 United Kingdom general election is won by Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Labour Party for a third consecutive majority government.source
- July 6 – The European Parliament rejects the proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions in its second reading.source
- August 26 – The Constitution of Chile is heavily amended, eliminating senators for life, reducing the presidential terms from six to four years, giving the president exclusive rights to summon the National Security Council, and removes legal obstacles for the creation of new regions.source
- September 7 – Egypt holds its first ever multi-party presidential election, which is marred with allegations of fraud.source
- September 19 – North Korea agrees to stop building nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and cooperation.source
- October 3 – Croatia and Turkey's accession negotiations to the European Union officially starts.source
- November 22 – Angela Merkel assumes office as the first female Chancellor of Germany.source
- November 23 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wins the Liberian general election, making her the first democratically elected female head of state in Africa.source
Conflict & Security
- February 10 – North Korea announces that it possesses nuclear weapons as a protection against the hostility it says it perceives from the United States.source
- February 14 – Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri is assassinated, along with 21 others, by a suicide bomber in Beirut.source
- April 26 – Cedar Revolution: Syria withdraws the last of its military garrison from Lebanon, ending its 29-year military occupation of the country.source
- May 13 – Uzbek Interior Ministry and National Security Service troops massacre at least 200 protesters in the city of Andijan.source
- July 7 – Four coordinated suicide bombings hit central London, killing 52 people and injuring over 700.source
- July 28 – As a result of the Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998, the Provisional Irish Republican Army ends its armed campaign and decommissions their weapons, by ordering all its units to drop their arms under the supervision of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.source
- August 18 – Peace Mission 2005, the first joint China–Russia military exercise, begins its eight-day training on the Shandong Peninsula.source
- September 12 – Israel demolishes multiple settlements and withdraws its army from the Gaza Strip.source
- September 30 – Controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, sparking outrage and violent riots by Muslims around the world.source
- November 9 – At least 60 people are killed and 115 more are wounded in a series of coordinated suicide bombings in Amman, Jordan.source
- December 18 – Chad descends into civil war after various rebel forces, with support from Sudan, attack the capital, N'Djamena.source
Economy & Finance
Technology & Infrastructure
Science & Discovery
- January 5 – Eris, the most massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System, is discovered by a team led by Michael E. Brown using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.source
- January 12 – Deep Impact is launched from Cape Canaveral with the purpose of studying the comet Tempel 1.source
- January 14 – The Huygens spacecraft lands on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.source
- January 20 – The most intense solar particle event in recorded history is observed.source
- March 31 – The dwarf planet Makemake is discovered by a team led by Michael E. Brown at the Palomar Observatory.source
- April 8 – The first solar eclipse of the year was a rare hybrid event, occurring at ascending node in Aries. This was 4.4 days after the Moon reached perigee. Gamma had a value of -0.34733. A hybrid solar eclipse was visible from south Pacific, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela, and was the 51st solar eclipse of Solar Saros 129.source
- April 24 – The first lunar eclipse of the year was a penumbral event, occurring at descending node in Virgo. This was 5 days before the Moon reached perigee. Gamma had a value of -1.08851. A penumbral lunar eclipse was visible in eastern Asia, Australia, Pacific and Americas, and was the 23rd lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 141.source
- April 27 – The Superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 makes its first flight from Toulouse.source
- August 12 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched from Cape Canaveral, designed to explore Mars.source
- October 3 – The second solar eclipse of 2005 was an annular event, occurring at descending node in Virgo. This was 4.8 days after the Moon reached apogee. Gamma had a value of 0.33058. An annular solar eclipse was visible in Portugal, Spain, Libya, Sudan and Kenya, and was the 43rd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 134.source
- October 12 – The second crewed Chinese spacecraft, Shenzhou 6, is launched.source
- October 17 – The final eclipse of 2005 was a partial lunar eclipse event, occurring at ascending node in Aries. This was 2.9 days after the Moon reached perigee. Gamma had a value of 0.97960. A partial lunar eclipse was visible in Asia, Australia, Pacific and North America, and was the 10th lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 146.source
- November 22 – Microsoft releases the Xbox 360.source
- December 12 – Scientists announce that they have created mice with small numbers of human neurons in an effort to make realistic models of neurological disorders.source
- December 31 – Another second is added, 23:59:60, to end the year 2005, the first time since 1998.source
Health & Medicine
- January 1 – Jeanna Giese from Wisconsin, United States, comes home from the hospital and officially becomes the first person to ever survive rabies without a vaccination.source
- November 13 – Andrew Stimpson, a 25-year-old Scottish man, is reported as the first person proven to have been 'cured' of HIV.source
- November 30 – Surgeons in France carry out the first human face transplant with Isabelle Dinoire becoming the first person to undergo it.source
- December 16 – Find-a-drug medical distributed computing project is concluded.source
Crime & Justice
Disasters & Accidents
- March 23 – The Texas City refinery explosion leaves 15 people dead and 180 injured with a property loss of about $200 million.source
- July 23 – A series of bombings hit the resort city of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, killing over 80 people.source
- August 14 – Helios Airways Flight 522, en route from Larnaca, Cyprus to Prague, Czech Republic via Athens, crashes in the hills near Grammatiko, Greece, killing 121 passengers and crew.source
- August 16 – West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes into a mountain in Venezuela, killing 160 passengers and crew.source
- October 1 – A series of suicide bombs exploded at Kuta and Jimbaran, Bali, Indonesia. The attack killed 20 and injured over 100 others.source
- December 19 – Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101 crashes into the ocean off of Miami Beach in Florida. There were 20 fatalities.source
- December 25 – An express train bound for the city of Niigata, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, is derailed by strong winds in Shonai, Yamagata Prefecture. Five people are killed and at least 33 injured.source
Climate & Environment
- March 28 – The 8.6 Nias–Simeulue earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong), leaving 915–1,314 people dead and 340–1,146 injured.source
- August 29 – Hurricane Katrina makes landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast, causing severe damage, killing over a thousand people and causing an estimated $108 billion in damage.source
- October 8 – The 7.6 Kashmir earthquake strikes Azad Kashmir, Pakistan and nearby areas with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing more than 86,000 people and displacing several million more.source
- October 24 – Hurricane Wilma, the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, makes landfall near Cape Romano, causing an estimated $29.1 billion in damage.source
Culture & Society
- February 14 – YouTube, an American online video sharing and social media platform was founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim headquartered in San Bruno, California.source
- February 14 – Chad Hurley registers the youtube.com domain name.source
- April 9 – Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor's Guildhall. Camilla receives the title Duchess of Cornwall.source
- May 19–21 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 takes place in Kyiv, Ukraine, and is won by Greek entrant Helena Paparizou with the song "My Number One".source
- May 21 – David Foster Wallace delivers his now-famous commencement address, This Is Water at Kenyon College in Ohio.source
- June 4 – The Civic Forum of the Romanians of Covasna, Harghita and Mureș is founded.source
- July 2 – Live 8, a set of 10 simultaneous concerts, takes place throughout the world, raising interest in the Make Poverty History campaign.source
- July 6 – The International Olympic Committee awards London the right to host the 2012 Summer Olympics.source
- August 31 – The Al-Aimmah bridge disaster in Baghdad, Iraq kills 953 Shia Muslim pilgrims who were celebrating a religious festival.source
- October 20 – The general conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passes the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.source
Births
- January 11 – Roksana Węgiel, Polish singer, winner of Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018source
- January 21 – IShowSpeed, American YouTubersource
- February 19 – Alma Deutscher, British composer and former child prodigysource
- February 20 – Cruz Beckham, British singer and musician and son of David Beckham and Victoria Beckhamsource
- June 26 – Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, daughter of Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his wife Queen Máxima of the Netherlandssource
- August 8 – Alysa Liu, American figure skatersource
- September 26 – Jack Hoffman, American high school football player and pediatric brain cancer patient who met President Barack Obama in 2013 (d. 2025)source
- September 28 – Sienna Spiro, English singer-songwriter and record producersource
- October 15 – Christian, Crown Prince of Denmark, son of Frederik X and his wife Queen Mary of Denmarksource
- October 31 – Leonor, Princess of Asturias, daughter of Felipe VI of Spain and his wife Queen Letizia of Spainsource
- November 3 – Lara Raj, American singer and member of Katseyesource
- November 16 – Mariam Mamadashvili, Georgian singer, winner of Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016source
- December 1 – Violet Affleck, American spokesperson and daughter of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garnersource
- December 3 – Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway, son of Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway and his wife Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway, grandson of King Harald V of Norwaysource