Dashed left edge = started before October 2013 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond October 2013
Events in October 2013 7
1942 – 2013Lou Reed (1942-2013)Died 27 October 2013, aged 71Lou Reed was an American musician and songwriter, frontman of the Velvet Underground and later a solo artist known for albums including Transformer. He died of liver disease following a liver transplant.
1947 – 2013Tom Clancy (1947-2013)Died 1 October 2013, aged 66Tom Clancy was an American author of best-selling techno-thriller novels including The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games, many of which were adapted into films. He died in Baltimore after a brief illness.
2013Grand Theft Auto V releasedFastest entertainment product to $1bnGrand Theft Auto V was released on September 17, 2013, reaching $1 billion in sales in just 3 days — the fastest any entertainment product had ever reached that milestone.
2013US federal government shutdownBudget standoff over Affordable Care Act fundingThe US federal government partially shut down for 16 days after Congress failed to pass funding legislation amid disputes over the Affordable Care Act. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees were furloughed before a last-minute deal raised the debt ceiling and reopened the government.
2013Higgs and Englert win Nobel Prize in PhysicsAward recognises theory behind the Higgs bosonPeter Higgs and Francois Englert were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their theoretical work predicting the Higgs boson, confirmed experimentally at CERN's Large Hadron Collider the previous year. The discovery explained how fundamental particles acquire mass.
2013The Velvet Underground's Lou Reed diesAged 71Dies on Long Island.
2013Dell goes private in $24.9 billion buyoutMichael Dell and Silver Lake Partners complete a $24.9 billion leveraged buyout on 29 October 2013 — the largest technology buyout in history. Carl Icahn mounts a fierce campaign against the deal, arguing it undervalues Dell. After months of shareholder battles the buyout proceeds at $13.75 per share. Dell disappears from public markets for three years. Michael Dell describes going private as 'the most important decision I have made since starting the company.'