Dashed left edge = started before October 2025 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond October 2025
Events in October 2025 19
1922 – 2025Chen Ning Yang (1922-2025)Died 18 October 2025, aged 103Chinese-born American theoretical physicist who shared the 1957 Nobel Prize for Physics for showing that parity is violated in certain particle decays.
1924 – 2025Murayama Tomiichi (1924-2025)Died 17 October 2025, aged 101Japanese politician who from 1994 to 1996 was the first Socialist prime minister of Japan since 1948.
1931 – 2025Ivan Klima (1931-2025)Died 4 October 2025, aged 94Czech author whose fiction and plays were banned for decades under communist rule.
1933 – 2025John Gurdon (1933-2025)Died 7 October 2025, aged 92British developmental biologist who shared the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for work that laid the foundation for cloning and stem cell research.
1934 – 2025Jane Goodall -- the woman who redefined our relationship with animalsDame Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall (3 April 1934 - 1 October 2025) was a British primatologist, ethologist and conservationist whose groundbreaking research on wild chimpanzees in Tanzania transformed scientific understanding of the relationship between humans and animals. Working without formal scientific training, she discovered that chimpanzees use tools, eat meat, and have complex social and emotional lives -- findings that challenged the very definition of what it means to be human. She spent the last three decades of her life as a tireless global advocate for conservation, animal welfare and environmental action. She died of natural causes aged 91 while on a speaking tour in California.
1945 – 2025Raila Odinga (1945-2025)Died 15 October 2025, aged 80Kenyan businessman and politician who served as prime minister from 2008 to 2013 and was a central figure in Kenyan politics for decades.
1946 – 2025Diane Keaton (1946-2025)Died 11 October 2025, aged 79American actress and director who won an Academy Award for Annie Hall and moved from quirky comedy to some of the most respected dramatic work of her generation.
1951 – 2025Ace Frehley (1951-2025)Died 16 October 2025, aged 74American musician, the original guitarist for Kiss, among the most influential and best-selling rock groups of the 1970s.
2025No Kings protests draw millions across the United StatesFive million in June, nearly seven million in OctoberDemonstrations against President Donald Trump, known as the No Kings protests, were held across the United States and abroad on 14 June 2025, drawing more than five million participants. A second wave on 18 October drew almost seven million.
2025Returns for another NBA seasonJokic returns for the 2025-26 season at age 30, still the best player in basketball by most advanced metrics, leading the rebuilt Nuggets and demonstrating the consistency that defines his legacy.
2025 – 2026Final ExhibitionsMajor exhibitions of her work opened at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, the Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland, and Museum Ludwig in Cologne. A posthumous exhibition was already scheduled to open at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in September 2026.
2025Jane Goodall dies in Beverly HillsJane Goodall died in her sleep on 1 October 2025 in Beverly Hills, California, while on a speaking tour in the United States. She was 91. Her cause of death was cardiopulmonary arrest. The Jane Goodall Institute said: 'Today is a profoundly sad day for the planet. But Jane's light continues in all of us.' She had recently spoken at New York Climate Week 2025, still carrying Jubilee, the toy chimpanzee she had been given as a child.
2025Sarah Mullally appointed the first female Archbishop of CanterburyInstallation set for March 2026Sarah Mullally was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury on 3 October 2025, the first woman to hold the senior post in the Anglican Communion. Her installation followed on 25 March 2026.
2025Sean Combs sentenced to fifty monthsConvicted on two transportation chargesSean Combs was sentenced to 50 months in prison on 3 October 2025, having been convicted earlier in the year on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
2025Ceasefire takes effect in the Israel-Hamas WarAn uneasy pause after two years of fightingA ceasefire took effect in the Israel-Hamas War on 10 October 2025, some two years after Hamas launched its assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip. The intervening war caused widespread destruction in Gaza and tens of thousands of deaths.
2025Thieves steal nine jewels from the LouvreA heist that took less than ten minutesA team of thieves broke into the Louvre on 19 October 2025 and stole nine pieces of nineteenth-century jewellery, using a truck-mounted ladder, power tools and motorbikes. Suspects were charged within weeks but the jewels were not recovered.
2025Demolition begins on the White House East WingTo be replaced by a 90,000-square-foot ballroomDemolition of the White House East Wing began on 20 October 2025 as part of President Donald Trump's renovations, to be replaced by a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. The Rose Garden lawn had been paved over earlier in the year.
2025Sanae Takaichi becomes Japan's first woman prime ministerHead of the Liberal-Democratic PartySanae Takaichi became prime minister of Japan on 21 October 2025, the first woman to hold the office. A hard-line conservative, she leads the Liberal-Democratic Party.
2025NBA betting scandal breaksIndictments of Chauncey Billups and Terry RozierAn NBA betting and gambling scandal broke on 23 October 2025 with the indictment of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier.