Timeline February 2003

Events in February 2003 9

• 1920 – 2003 Alberto Sordi (1920-2003) Died 24 February 2003, aged 82 Alberto Sordi was one of the most popular Italian film actors of the postwar era, appearing in some 150 films that satirised the habits and hypocrisies of the ordinary Italian. His comic everyman became a national archetype, and around a million people attended his funeral in Rome.
• 1928 – 2003 Fred Rogers (1928-2003) Died 27 February 2003, aged 74 Fred Rogers created and hosted the children's television programme 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood', which ran on US public television from 1968 to 2001. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he addressed subjects such as death, divorce and anger in a calm, direct way. He died of stomach cancer.
• 2003 Robert Trujillo joins Metallica New bassist Joins during the turmoil shown in the film Some Kind of Monster.
• 2003 Ilan Ramon dies First Israeli astronaut killed in Columbia disaster Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut, was killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003, along with six other crew members.
• 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster 7 astronauts killed on re-entry Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on February 1, 2003, killing all seven crew members. The accident was caused by foam damage to the heat shield.
• 2003 Serbia and Montenegro established Federal Republic of Yugoslavia renamed The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was reconstituted as a loose union called Serbia and Montenegro, ending the last official use of the name Yugoslavia. The constitutional charter allowed either republic to hold an independence referendum after three years. Montenegro voted to leave in 2006.
• 2003 Death of Dolly the sheep First cloned mammal put down at six years old Dolly, the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell, was put down at the Roslin Institute in Scotland after developing a progressive lung disease. She was six years old. Her birth in 1996 had transformed public and scientific debate about cloning.
• 2003 Global anti-war protests Coordinated demonstrations in some 600 cities On 15 February demonstrations against the imminent invasion of Iraq took place in around 600 cities, with the largest crowds in Rome, London, Barcelona and Madrid. Organisers estimated worldwide participation in the tens of millions. It is often described as the largest single day of protest in history.
• 2003 The Station nightclub fire Stage pyrotechnics kill 100 at a Rhode Island club Pyrotechnics used by the band Great White ignited flammable foam soundproofing during a concert at a nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island. The fire killed 100 people and injured about 230, and led to tighter enforcement of fire codes for entertainment venues.