Timeline February 2005

Events in February 2005 10

• 1915 – 2005 Arthur Miller (1915-2005) Died 10 February 2005, aged 89 Arthur Miller, the American playwright behind "Death of a Salesman" and "The Crucible", died on 10 February 2005. His plays examined the pressures of American society and morality, and he remained a prominent public intellectual for decades. Miller was briefly married to Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s.
• 1917 – 2005 Ossie Davis (1917-2005) Died 4 February 2005, aged 87 Ossie Davis, an actor, director and civil rights activist, died on 4 February 2005. He appeared in numerous films and plays over a six-decade career, often alongside his wife Ruby Dee, and was a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Davis delivered the eulogy at Malcolm X's funeral in 1965.
• 1921 – 2005 Peter Benenson (1921-2005) Died 25 February 2006, aged 84 Peter Benenson, the British lawyer who founded Amnesty International in 1961, died in Oxford. His campaign began with a newspaper article calling for letters on behalf of political prisoners, growing into a global human rights movement. Amnesty International remains one of the world's largest human rights organizations.
• 1935 – 2005 Gnassingbe Eyadema (1935-2005) Died 5 February 2005, aged 69 Gnassingbe Eyadema, president of Togo for 38 years, died on 5 February 2005 while in office, making him one of Africa's longest-serving heads of state. His death triggered a disputed military-backed succession by his son, Faure Gnassingbe, that drew international condemnation. Eyadema had ruled Togo since seizing power in a coup in 1967.
• 1937 – 2005 Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) Died 20 February 2005, aged 67 Hunter S. Thompson, the writer who pioneered "gonzo journalism" with works including "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", died by suicide on 20 February 2005. His freewheeling, first-person style blended fact and fiction and influenced generations of journalists. Thompson had struggled publicly with declining health in his final years.
• 2005 Google Maps launches Google introduces free interactive web mapping service Google launched Google Maps on 8 February 2005, offering free interactive maps, satellite imagery and driving directions through a web browser. It rapidly became one of the most widely used mapping services and later expanded to mobile devices and satellite navigation. The service changed how people navigated and how businesses displayed location information online.
• 2005 North Korea declares nuclear weapons capability Pyongyang publicly claims to possess nuclear arms North Korea publicly declared on 10 February 2005 that it possessed nuclear weapons and was withdrawing indefinitely from six-party disarmament talks. The announcement heightened international concern over nuclear proliferation in East Asia. North Korea returned to talks later in the year, producing a joint statement of principles in September 2005.
• 2005 Ray Charles wins eight posthumous Grammys Genius Loves Company His duets album sweeps the Grammys.
• 2005 Assassination of Rafic Hariri Former Lebanese prime minister killed in Beirut bombing Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was killed along with 21 others when a truck bomb exploded near his motorcade in Beirut on 14 February 2005. The assassination triggered mass protests known as the Cedar Revolution and international pressure that led to Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon. A UN-backed tribunal later investigated the killing.
• 2005 Kyoto Protocol enters into force International treaty on climate change takes legal effect The Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty committing signatory nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, entered into force on 16 February 2005 after ratification by Russia. It bound industrialized countries to specific emissions targets for the first time under international law. The United States did not ratify the treaty.