2010

Events in 2010 74

• 1909 – 2010 Miep Gies (1909-2010) Died 11 January 2010, aged 100 Gies was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic during the Second World War. After the family's arrest, she preserved Anne's diary and later gave it to Anne's father, Otto Frank, leading to its publication. She was among the last surviving helpers of the Frank family.
• 1910 – 2010 Gloria Stuart (1910-2010) American actress of 1930s horror films who returned at 87 as the elderly Rose in Titanic.
• 1911 – 2010 Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) Died 31 May 2010, aged 98 Bourgeois was a French-American artist known for her large-scale sculptures, including her iconic spider forms, exploring themes of family, memory, and the body. She continued producing major work into her nineties and became one of the most celebrated sculptors of the 20th century. She died of a heart attack in New York City.
• 1917 – 2010 Lena Horne (1917-2010) American singer, actress and civil rights activist, star of Stormy Weather.
• 1917 – 2010 Robert Byrd (1917-2010) Died 28 June 2010, aged 92 Byrd was a United States Senator from West Virginia who served longer than any other senator in American history, spanning more than 50 years in office. He was a leading advocate for Senate procedure and constitutional authority. He died in office of natural causes.
• 1919 – 2010 J.D. Salinger (1919-2010) Died 27 January 2010, aged 91 Salinger was an American author best known for his novel The Catcher in the Rye, a defining work of postwar American literature. He lived as a recluse in New Hampshire for decades after achieving fame, publishing almost nothing after the mid-1960s. He died at his home of natural causes.
• 1920 – 2010 Juan Antonio Samaranch (1920-2010) Died 21 April 2010, aged 89 Samaranch was a Spanish sports administrator who served as President of the International Olympic Committee from 1980 to 2001, overseeing the Games' transformation into a major commercial enterprise. His tenure was also marked by bidding scandals, including the 2002 Salt Lake City affair. He died of heart failure in Barcelona.
• 1922 – 2010 Kathryn Grayson (1922-2010) American soprano and actress, the leading lady of MGM's operetta-style musicals.
• 1922 – 2010 Howard Zinn (1922-2010) Died 27 January 2010, aged 87 Zinn was an American historian and political scientist best known for his book A People's History of the United States, which presented American history from the perspective of marginalized groups. He was also a longtime civil rights and anti-war activist. He died of a heart attack while traveling in California.
• 1922 – 2010 José Saramago Nobel in Literature The only Portuguese-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1924 – 2010 Alexander Haig (1924-2010) Died 20 February 2010, aged 85 Haig was a United States Army general who served as White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Nixon and Ford and later as Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan. He commanded NATO forces in Europe before entering politics fully. He died of complications from an infection.
• 1925 – 2010 Tony Curtis (1925-2010) Died 29 September 2010, aged 85 Curtis was an American film actor who starred in more than 100 films, including Some Like It Hot and Spartacus, becoming one of Hollywood's leading men of the 1950s and 1960s. He was nominated for an Academy Award for The Defiant Ones. He died of cardiac arrest at his home in Nevada.
• 1926 – 2010 Patricia Neal (1926-2010) American actress, Oscar winner for Hud and wife of Roald Dahl.
• 1926 – 2010 Leslie Nielsen (1926-2010) Died 28 November 2010, aged 84 Nielsen was a Canadian-American actor who became a comedy icon in his later career with roles in Airplane! and the Naked Gun films, after decades as a dramatic actor. His deadpan delivery made him one of the most recognizable comic performers of his generation. He died of complications from pneumonia.
• 1929 – 2010 Jean Simmons (1929-2010) British actress who went from Ophelia in Olivier's Hamlet to Hollywood epics like The Robe and Spartacus.
• 1936 – 2010 Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) Died 29 May 2010, aged 74 Hopper was an American actor and filmmaker who directed and starred in the counterculture classic Easy Rider and later earned acclaim for roles in films including Blue Velvet and Apocalypse Now. His career spanned more than five decades of Hollywood film. He died of complications from prostate cancer.
• 1940 – 2010 Solomon Burke (1940-2010) Died 10 October 2010, aged 70 Burke was an American singer often called one of the founding fathers of soul music, known for hits including Cry to Me and Everybody Needs Somebody to Love. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. He died of a heart attack aboard a flight to Amsterdam.
• 1941 – 2010 Don Van Vliet (1941-2010) Died 17 December 2010, aged 69 Van Vliet, known by his stage name Captain Beefheart, was an American musician and artist whose avant-garde album Trout Mask Replica influenced generations of experimental rock musicians. He retired from music in the early 1980s to focus full-time on painting. He died of complications from multiple sclerosis.
• 1946 – 2010 Malcolm McLaren (1946-2010) Died 8 April 2010, aged 64 McLaren was an English impresario and musician who managed the Sex Pistols and helped shape the aesthetics of the British punk movement as a boutique owner and provocateur. He later pursued a varied career in music and art. He died of mesothelioma, a cancer linked to asbestos exposure.
• 1949 – 2010 Lech Kaczyński (1949-2010) Died 10 April 2010, aged 60 Kaczyński was President of Poland from 2005 until his death, previously serving as mayor of Warsaw. He was killed along with his wife and dozens of senior Polish officials when their aircraft crashed near Smolensk, Russia, en route to a memorial ceremony for the Katyn massacre. His death triggered a period of national mourning in Poland.
• 1968 – 2010 Gary Coleman (1968-2010) Died 28 May 2010, aged 42 Coleman was an American actor who rose to fame as a child star on the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. He struggled with health problems related to a congenital kidney condition throughout his life and later faced financial and legal difficulties. He died after a fall at his Utah home caused a brain hemorrhage.
• 1969 – 2010 Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) Died 11 February 2010, aged 40 McQueen was a British fashion designer known for his dramatic runway shows and technically daring designs, serving as chief designer at Givenchy before founding his own label. He won British Designer of the Year four times. He died by suicide at his London home, days before his mother's funeral.
• 2007 – 2010 Paradiso Girls -- the beginning The Paradiso Girls are formed in 2007 under Robin Antin and Jimmy Iovine, with a deliberate concept: a multinational girl group, each member from a different country. The final lineup of five includes Chelsea Korka (USA), Aria Crescendo (France), Shar Mae Amor (Philippines), Kelly Beckett (UK) and Lauren Bennett (UK). Signed to Interscope Records, they are conceived as a Pussycat Dolls-adjacent act combining pop, R&B and dance music. Bennett is 18 when the group forms and, having just relocated from Kent, is beginning her professional career in earnest.
• 2009 – 2010 Who's My Bitch -- and the group disbands The Paradiso Girls follow "Patron Tequila" with the single "Who's My Bitch," but the group is dropped by Interscope Records and disbands in 2010 before achieving the major commercial breakthrough that their debut promised. The dissolution is a setback but not an end: Bennett remains close to Robin Antin and continues working in the Los Angeles music industry. Her relationship with Antin survives the group's collapse and will prove crucial to her next chapter.
• 2010 Amar'e Stoudemire signs as free agent After missing out on top free agents, the Knicks sign Amar'e Stoudemire, who immediately energizes Madison Square Garden.
• 2010 – present Harry Styles The Modern Rockstar Successfully transitioned from a boy band to a respected rock-influenced solo icon.
• 2010 I Got It from My Mama -- with will.i.am While still active with the Paradiso Girls, Bennett is featured in a remix of will.i.am's "I Got It from My Mama," extending her network in the Los Angeles pop and hip-hop world beyond the Antin circle. The collaboration with will.i.am positions her within the broader Black Eyed Peas ecosystem -- a connection that will soon prove significant, as the Black Eyed Peas' label circle overlaps with LMFAO's world. She is building the industry relationships that lead to "Party Rock Anthem."
• 2010 Love Gun -- with CeeLo Green Bennett is featured on "Love Gun," a track on CeeLo Green's acclaimed 2010 album The Lady Killer -- the same album that contains "Forget You" (the radio edit of his viral hit "F**k You"). Her feature on a CeeLo Green album at the height of his commercial success raises her profile considerably. The Lady Killer goes platinum in several countries. Bennett's voice -- versatile, melodic and suited to pop-R&B hybrid production -- is becoming attractive to a range of high-profile artists.
• 2010 – 2016 One Direction The Modern Boy Band A global sensation formed on The X Factor; launched massive solo careers (Harry Styles).
• 2010 The Royal Wedding 2010 Victoria and Daniel The wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and her former fitness trainer Daniel Westling.
• 2010 – present The Weeknd Starboy Pioneered dark alternative R&B before becoming one of the biggest pop stars in the world.
• 2010 Instagram founded Photo sharing app changes social media Instagram was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in 2010. It was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012 and grew to over 2 billion monthly users.
• 2010 The King's Speech Portrayed King George V in The King's Speech, the Oscar-winning film starring Colin Firth.
• 2010 Burj Khalifa opens in Dubai World's tallest building unveiled The Burj Khalifa officially opened in Dubai, standing at 828 metres to become the tallest building ever constructed. The tower's completion was a centerpiece of Dubai's ambitions as a global business and tourism hub. It surpassed Taiwan's Taipei 101 as the world's tallest structure.
• 2010 Haiti earthquake 316,000 killed in Port-au-Prince A catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, killing an estimated 316,000 people and leaving 1.5 million homeless in one of the deadliest earthquakes in history.
• 2010 Assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh Hamas commander killed in Dubai hotel Hamas military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was found dead in his Dubai hotel room, killed by a team using forged foreign passports. Dubai police accused Israel's Mossad of orchestrating the operation, an allegation Israel neither confirmed nor denied. The case caused diplomatic friction between Israel and several European countries whose passports were cloned.
• 2010 Toyota global recall crisis Millions of vehicles recalled over acceleration defects Toyota recalled more than eight million vehicles worldwide over unintended acceleration problems linked to sticking accelerator pedals and floor mats. The crisis prompted US congressional hearings and a public apology from company president Akio Toyoda. It significantly damaged the automaker's reputation for quality and reliability.
• 2010 Sukhoi Su-57 first flight Russia's fifth-generation fighter The T-50 prototype of Russia's first stealth fighter flies at Komsomolsk-on-Amur. It enters service as the Su-57 in 2020.
• 2010 2010 Winter Olympics XXI Winter Games - Vancouver Canada set a record for most golds won by a host nation. Winner: Canada.
• 2010 k.d. lang sings Hallelujah at the Vancouver Olympics Opening ceremony A celebrated performance at the Winter Olympics.
• 2010 Chile earthquake Magnitude 8.8 quake and tsunami strike central Chile A magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off the coast of central Chile, one of the most powerful ever recorded, triggering a tsunami and killing more than 500 people. The quake caused widespread damage to buildings, roads, and infrastructure across several regions of the country. Chile's disaster response and building codes were credited with limiting casualties given the quake's severity.
• 2010 Iditarod 2010 Winner: Lance Mackey — 8 days 23h Lance Mackey won his fourth consecutive Iditarod, becoming the first musher to achieve four straight victories and the second to finish under 9 days.
• 2010 Affordable Care Act signed Obama's healthcare reform President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010, the most significant overhaul of the US healthcare system since Medicare in 1965.
• 2010 Sinking of the ROKS Cheonan South Korean warship sunk, raising tensions with North Korea The South Korean corvette Cheonan broke apart and sank near the disputed Yellow Sea border, killing 46 sailors. An international investigation concluded a North Korean torpedo caused the explosion, a finding North Korea denied. The incident sharply escalated tensions between the two Koreas.
• 2010 Large Hadron Collider reaches record energy CERN achieves first 7 TeV proton collisions Scientists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider achieved the first collisions at 7 teraelectronvolts, a new record designed to search for the Higgs boson and other physics beyond the Standard Model. The milestone came after more than a year of repairs following a 2008 malfunction. It marked the start of the collider's main research program.
• 2010 iPad launched Apple creates tablet computing market Apple launched the iPad on April 3, 2010, creating a new category of personal computing. It sold 3 million units in its first 80 days.
• 2010 Kyrgyz Revolution of 2010 Uprising topples President Bakiyev Violent protests over corruption and rising utility prices forced President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to flee Kyrgyzstan after security forces killed dozens of demonstrators in the capital, Bishkek. An interim government took power and later held a referendum establishing a parliamentary system. Ethnic violence in the south of the country followed in the months after.
• 2010 Smolensk air disaster Polish president killed in plane crash A Polish Air Force jet carrying President Lech Kaczyński and dozens of senior officials crashed near Smolensk, Russia, while approaching to land in fog. All 96 people aboard were killed, including military chiefs and the national bank governor, on their way to a memorial for the Katyn massacre. The disaster triggered a period of national mourning and a state funeral in Kraków.
• 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption Ash cloud grounds European air travel An eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull sent an ash plume into European airspace, grounding flights across the continent for days. Roughly 100,000 flights were cancelled, stranding millions of travelers and costing airlines billions of dollars. It was the largest disruption to European air travel since the Second World War.
• 2010 2010 World Snooker Championship Neil Robertson Victory Winner: Neil Robertson; Runner-up: Graeme Dott. Score: 18–13.
• 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill Worst marine oil spill in history The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and causing the largest accidental marine oil spill in history. Nearly 5 million barrels spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.
• 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt Failed attack in New York City A car bomb was discovered smoldering in a parked SUV in Times Square, New York, but failed to fully detonate. Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-American who had trained with the Pakistani Taliban, was arrested days later and pleaded guilty to the attempted attack. He was sentenced to life in prison.
• 2010 Greece receives EU-IMF bailout First rescue package amid sovereign debt crisis The European Union and International Monetary Fund agreed a 110 billion euro bailout for Greece after the country's mounting government debt threatened default. The rescue required deep austerity measures that triggered mass protests and strikes across the country. It marked the opening phase of the wider European sovereign debt crisis.
• 2010 First draft of the Neanderthal genome published Sequencing reveals interbreeding with modern humans An international team led by the Max Planck Institute published a draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome, drawn from bone fragments found in Croatia. The analysis showed that Neanderthals interbred with the ancestors of modern non-African humans. The findings reshaped scientific understanding of human evolutionary history.
• 2010 United Kingdom general election Hung parliament produces coalition government The UK general election produced the first hung parliament since 1974, with no party winning a majority. Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg formed the country's first coalition government since the Second World War. Gordon Brown resigned as prime minister after thirteen years of Labour government.
• 2010 Iron Man 2 #3 film of 2010 — $624m worldwide Directed by Jon Favreau. Tony Stark faces pressure from the government, a rival industrialist, and a vengeful Russian physicist.
• 2010 First synthetic cell created Craig Venter builds life from scratch Craig Venter's team announced the creation of the first synthetic bacterial cell on May 20, 2010, assembling its entire genome from chemicals and inserting it into a cell. It was the first life form with a computer-generated genome.
• 2010 Bhopal disaster verdict delivered Indian court convicts former Union Carbide executives An Indian court convicted seven former executives of Union Carbide's Indian subsidiary of criminal negligence over the 1984 Bhopal gas leak, more than 25 years after the disaster. The defendants received two-year sentences, a punishment widely criticized as too lenient given the tens of thousands killed. The verdict reignited debate over corporate accountability for the world's worst industrial disaster.
• 2010 2010 FIFA World Cup First in Africa Spain won their first title with a late extra-time goal by Andrés Iniesta. Winner: Spain.
• 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa First World Cup on African soil The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the first held in Africa. Spain won their first World Cup, defeating the Netherlands 1-0 in Johannesburg. Memorable for the vuvuzela.
• 2010 Stuxnet computer worm discovered Cyberweapon targets Iranian nuclear centrifuges Security researchers identified Stuxnet, a highly sophisticated computer worm that had been sabotaging centrifuges at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility. It was later widely reported to be a joint US-Israeli operation, making it one of the first known cyberweapons to cause physical damage. Its discovery marked a turning point in the public understanding of state-sponsored cyberwarfare.
• 2010 Toy Story 3 #1 film of 2010 — $1.07bn worldwide Directed by Lee Unkrich at Pixar. Andy is leaving for college and the toys are accidentally delivered to a daycare centre.
• 2010 Russian heat wave and wildfires Record temperatures spark deadly smog crisis An extreme summer heat wave brought record temperatures to western Russia, sparking widespread peat and forest wildfires. Smog blanketed Moscow for weeks, and the combined heat and pollution were linked to tens of thousands of excess deaths. The heat wave also devastated grain harvests, prompting Russia to ban wheat exports.
• 2010 Inception Nolan's mind-bending thriller — $836m Directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. A thief who enters people's dreams is tasked with planting an idea into a CEO's mind.
• 2010 WikiLeaks releases the Afghan War Diary Leaked military logs expose war conduct WikiLeaks published over 75,000 classified US military documents on the war in Afghanistan, in coordination with major newspapers including The Guardian and The New York Times. The leak revealed previously unreported civilian casualties and details of the conflict. It was one of the largest unauthorized disclosures of classified material in US military history to that point.
• 2010 2010 Pakistan floods Monsoon flooding devastates the Indus basin Unusually heavy monsoon rains caused the Indus River to flood large areas of Pakistan, affecting an estimated 20 million people and killing close to 2,000. The disaster submerged roughly a fifth of the country's land area and destroyed crops, homes, and infrastructure on a massive scale. It was one of the worst floods in Pakistan's history.
• 2010 Copiapó mining accident and rescue 33 miners trapped and rescued in Chile A collapse at the San José copper-gold mine near Copiapó trapped 33 miners underground for 69 days. A rescue capsule brought them to the surface one by one on 13 October, an operation watched live by roughly a billion people worldwide. The rescue was hailed as a triumph of engineering and international cooperation.
• 2010 US combat operations in Iraq declared over Operation Iraqi Freedom gives way to Operation New Dawn President Barack Obama announced the end of US combat operations in Iraq, marking the transition to Operation New Dawn and a reduced advisory role for remaining American troops. Roughly 50,000 US soldiers stayed to train Iraqi forces after more than seven years of war. Withdrawal of all US troops was completed the following year.
• 2010 Haiti cholera outbreak begins Epidemic follows the earthquake A cholera epidemic broke out in Haiti ten months after the devastating earthquake, spread by contaminated water near a UN peacekeeping base on the Artibonite River. The outbreak eventually killed thousands and infected hundreds of thousands of people. It became one of the worst cholera epidemics of modern times.
• 2010 General Motors returns to the stock market IPO follows 2009 bankruptcy and bailout General Motors relisted on the New York Stock Exchange in one of the largest initial public offerings in US history, roughly eighteen months after emerging from bankruptcy. The offering allowed the US Treasury to begin recouping funds from its 2009 bailout of the automaker. It was seen as a milestone in the American auto industry's recovery from the financial crisis.
• 2010 Bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island North Korea shells South Korean island North Korean artillery struck the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, killing four people and setting homes ablaze in the first attack on civilian territory since the Korean War armistice. South Korea returned fire and raised its military alert status. The exchange was among the most serious inter-Korean incidents in decades.
• 2010 Ivorian election crisis begins Disputed presidential vote splits the country A presidential runoff election in Ivory Coast produced rival claims to victory, with incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refusing to concede to challenger Alassane Ouattara despite international recognition of Ouattara's win. The standoff plunged the country into a political crisis that escalated into armed conflict the following year. It ended Ivory Coast's decade of post-civil-war stability only temporarily.
• 2010 WikiLeaks Cablegate release Quarter-million US diplomatic cables published WikiLeaks began releasing over 250,000 confidential US State Department cables, exposing candid diplomatic assessments of foreign leaders and governments worldwide. The disclosure strained US diplomatic relations and intensified international pressure on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. It followed earlier leaks of Iraq and Afghanistan war logs the same year.
• 2010 Self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi Act sparks the Tunisian revolution and Arab Spring Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest after officials confiscated his produce cart, an act that ignited widespread anti-government demonstrations. The unrest that followed forced President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power weeks later and spread into uprisings across the Arab world. Bouazizi died of his injuries in early January 2011.