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1997
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World Events
U.S. Events
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $8,110.90 billion
Federal spending: $1635.33 billion
Federal debt: $5498.9 billion
Median Household Income
(current dollars): $37,005
Consumer Price Index: 160.5
Unemployment: 4.9%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.32
Sports
Super BowlGreen Bay d. New England (35-21)World SeriesFlorida Marlins d. Cleveland (4-3)NBA ChampionshipChicago d. Utah (4-2)Stanley CupDetroit d. Philadelphia (4-0)WimbledonWomen: Martina Hingis d. J. Novotna (2-6 6-3 6-3)
Men: Pete Sampras d. C. Pioline (6-4 6-2 6-4)Kentucky Derby ChampionSilver CharmNCAA Basketball ChampionshipArizona d. Kentucky (84-79 OT)NCAA Football ChampionsMichigan (AP) (12-0) & Nebraska (ESPN/USA) (13-0)
Entertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer, Steven Millhauser
Music: Blood on the Field, Wynton Marsalis
Oscars awarded in 1997
Academy Award, Best Picture: The English Patient, Saul Zaentz, producer (Miramax) Nobel Prize for Literature: Dario Fo (Italy) 1997 Emmy Awards 1997 Tony Awards Grammys awarded in 1997
Record of the Year: "Change the World," Eric Clapton
Album of the Year: Falling Into You, Celine Dion (550 Music/Epic)
Song of the Year: "Change the World," Gordon Kennedy, Wayne Kirkpatrick and Tommy Sims, songwriters Miss America: Tara Dawn Holland (KS) More Entertainment Awards...
Events- The controversial television ratings system debuts on cable stations and broadcast networks. The ratings, TV-Y, TV-G, TV-Y7, TV-PG, TV-14 and TV-M, appear for 15 seconds in the upper left-hand corner of the screen at the beginning of each show, except news and sports programs, which are not rated.
- Titanic crashes into theaters. It is the most expensive film of all time, costing between $250 and $300 million to produce and market.
- Ellen DeGeneres outs herself. She becomes the first openly gay woman to have her own sitcom.
- The Prince of Pop is born to Michael Jackson and wife Debbie Rowe. The child's name is Prince Michael Junior.
- J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone is published in the U.K. It comes to U.S. in 1998 as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Movies- As Good as It Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting, The Ice Storm, L.A. Confidential, Titanic
Books
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Paul D. Boyer (US), Jens C. Skou (Denmark), and John E. Walker (UK), for discoveries about a molecule that allows the human body to store and transfer energy between cells Physics: Steven Chu, William D. Phillips (both US), and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (France), for developing a method to cool and trap atoms using light from lasers Physiology or Medicine: Stanley B. Prusiner (US), for discovery of a new type of germ, called prions, that causes degenerative brain disorders More Nobel Prizes in 1997...
- A team led by Drs. Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell (UK) create the first sheep with a human gene in every cell of its body. The genetically engineered lamb is named Dolly.
- Scientists at Oregon Regional Primate Research Center (US) create the first primates —two rhesus monkeys named Neti and Ditto— from DNA taken from cells of developing monkey embryos. Background: Cloning Milestones
- Comet Hale-Bopp is the closest it will be to Earth until 4397 (March 22). Background: comets
- US spacecraft begins exploration of Mars (July 4). Background: US Unstaffed Planetary and Lunar Programs
- US company launches first commercial spy satellite (Dec. 24).
Deaths
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