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1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday in the Gregorian calendar, the 988th year of the 2nd millennium, the 88th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1980s decade
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century |
| Decades: | 1950s 1960s 1970s – 1980s – 1990s 2000s 2010s |
| Years: | 1985 1986 1987 – 1988 – 1989 1990 1991 |
- February 13 – Michael Jackson purchases a ranch in Santa Ynez, California. He calls his new home "Neverland".
- March 12 – Record producer Jimmy Iovine presents the Special Olympics with a donation of $5 million, which was raised with the release of the A Very Special Christmas album.
- April 19 – Former rock and roll singer Sonny Bono becomes the mayor of Palm Springs, California.
- May 1 – Citing the 1st Amendment, a judge drops all charges filed against singer Billy Joel. Joel was being sued by Jack Powers for defamation following an interview with Playboy in which he called Powers a "creep".
- June 14 – A small wildfire starts in Montana near Yellowstone National Park. It joins other fires. Eventually, over 750,000 acres (3,000 km2) of Yellowstone burns before firefighters gain control in late September.
- July 1 – Quartetto Cetra's last concert
- August 20 – The Iran–Iraq War ends
- September 16 – rapper Eazy-E releases his first album Eazy-Duz-It
- November 1 – Bad Religion releases Suffer
- Hurricane Gilbert strikes the Caribbean, Mexico and south Texas
- November 24 – Mystery Science Theater 3000 premieres
- December 7 – A powerful earthquake kills nearly 25,000 people in Soviet Armenia
- December 21 – A Pan-Am airplane explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing more than 270 people
- Ankst music label founded
- Peter Ruzicka becomes director of the Hamburg State Opera and State Philharmonic Orchestra
- "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" experiences a surge in popularity sparked by television commercials featuring claymation raisin figures dancing to the song. The California Raisins version of the song peaks at No. 84 on Billboard's Hot 100.
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- January 12 – Chris Casement, Northern Irish footballer
- February 20 – Rihanna, Barbadian singer
- February 29 – Lena Gercke, German model
- March 27 – Brenda Song, American actress and singer
- April 27 – Lizzo, American musician
- April 29 – Jonathan Toews, Canadian Professional ice hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks
- May 5 – Adele, British singer-songwriter
- June 6 – Ajinkya Rahane, Indian cricketer
- June 7 – Michael Cera, Canadian actor
- July 14 – Conor McGregor, Irish boxer
- July 16 – Sergio Busquets, Spanish footballer
- August 10 – Kateryna Pavlenko, Ukrainian singer, composer and folklorist
- August 25 – Alexandra Burke, British singer
- October 15 – Mesut Özil, German footballer
- November 5 – Virat Kohli, Indian cricketer
- November 6 – Emma Stone, American actress
- November 8 - Chris McNally, Canadian actor
- November 19 – Patrick Kane, American professional ice hockey for the Chicago Blackhawks
- November 25 – Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgian luger (d. 2010)
- December 14 – Vanessa Hudgens, American actress
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January
- January 3 – Rose Auslander, German poet (b. 1901)
- January 3 – Gaston Eyskens, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1905)
- January 5 – Pete Maravich, basketball player (b. 1947)
- January 7 – Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913)
- January 11 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist (b. 1898)
- January 13 – Chiang Ching-kuo, 3rd President of the Republic of China (b. 1910)
- January 14 – Georgy Malenkov, 5th Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (b. 1902)
- January 15 – Seán MacBride, Irish Republican Army leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1904)
- January 16 – Ballard Berkeley, British actor (b. 1904)
February
- February 1 – Heather O'Rourke, American actress (b. 1975)
- February 13 – John Curulewski, American guitarist (Styx) (b. 1950)
- February 15 – Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
March
- March 7 – Divine, American actor and singer (b. 1945)
- March 9 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, 3rd Chancellor of Germany (b. 1904)
- March 10 – Andy Gibb, singer (b. 1958)
- March 10 – Phạm Hùng, Vietnamese prime minister (b. 1912)
- March 31 – Sir William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908)
April
- April 12 – Alan Paton, South African author (b. 1903)
- April 17 - Louise Nevelson, American sculptor
- April 25 - Valerie Solanas, American author (b. 1936)
May
- May 8 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer (b. 1907)
- May 11 – Kim Philby, British agent and spy (b. 1912)
- May 14 – Willem Drees, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1886)
- May 25 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
June
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- June 7 - Vernon Washington, American actor (b. 1927)
- June 11 – Giuseppe Saragat, 5th President of Italy (b. 1898)
- June 25 – Hillel Slovak, American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers) (b. 1962)
July
- July 25 – Judith Barsi, American child actress (b. 1978)
August
- August 2 – Raymond Carver, American writer (b. 1938)
- August 10 – Arnulfo Arias, President of Panama (b. 1901)
- August 14 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian car maker (b. 1898)
- August 17 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (b. 1924)
- August 20 – Lazarus Salii, President of Palau (b. 1937)
- August 30 – Jack Marshall, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1912)
September
- September 1 – Luis Walter Alvarez, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- September 5 - Gert Fröbe, German actor (b. 1913)
- September 11 - Roger Hargreaves, English writer (b. 1934)
- September 30 – Trường Chinh, former President of Vietnam (b. 1907)
October
- October 3 – Franz Josef Strauß, German politician (b. 1915)
November
- November 4 – Kleanthis Vikelidis, Greek footballer (b. 1916)
- November 14 – Takeo Miki, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1907)
- November 27 – Angela Aames, American actress (b. 1956)
- November 27 – John Carradine, American actor (b. 1906)
December
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- December 3 – Thawan Thamrongnawasawat, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1901)
- December 4 – Osman Achmatowicz, Polish chemist (b. 1899)
- December 6 – Roy Orbison, American singer (b. 1936)
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- Nobel Prize in Physics shared by Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, and Jack Steinberger for their research on neutrinos
- Nobel Prize in Chemistry shared by Johann Deisenhofer, Robert Huber, and Hartmut Michel
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine shared by Sir James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion, and George H. Hitchings
- Nobel Prize in Literature won by Naguib Mahfouz, an Egyptian writer
- Nobel Peace Prize won by The United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces
- Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences won by Maurice Allais, French economist
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Media related to 1988 at Wikimedia Commons
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