1994 is a common year starting on Saturday, and was designated the International year of the Family.
Events
January
February
March
- March 1 - South Africa cedes Walvis Bay to Namibia
- March 1 - Mary Ellen Withrow begins term of office as Treasurer of the United States, serving under President Bill Clinton
- March 1 - Beck releases the album Mellow Gold
- March 4 - Four terrorists are convicted for their roles in the World Trade Center bombing which killed six and injured more than a thousand.
- March 7 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music that parodies of an original work are generally covered by the doctrine of fair use.
- March 12 - A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell, previously touted as 'proof' of the Loch Ness monster, is confirmed to be a hoax.
- Saturday, March 12, 1994 - The Church of England ordains its first female priests
- March 16 - In Portland, Oregon Tonya Harding pleads guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for trying to cover-up an attack on figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. She is fined $100,000 and banned from the sport.
- March 23 - "Shock jock" Howard Stern formally announces his candidacy for the New York governorship under the Libertarian Party ticket.
- March 24 - At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated. Mario Aburto Martinez is arrested for the crime and confesses on the same day.
- March 27 - A tornado outbreak occurs in Southeastern United States. One tornado hits the United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Alabama killing 22. This outbreak is the biggest tornado event of 1994.
- March 28 - In South Africa, Zulus and African National Congress supporters battle in central Johannesburg killing 18.
- March 31 - The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull (see Human evolution).
April-May
June-July
- June - Iraq disarmament crisis: UN weapons inspectors Ritter and Smidovitch learn, through Israeli intelligence reports, that Qusay Hussein, Saddam Hussein's son, is the key player in efforts by the Iraqi government to hide the country's alleged illegal weapons.
- June 8 - Pierce Brosnan told in a press conference that he was going to be the 5th James Bond.
- June 12 - Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are murdered outside her home in Los Angeles, California. O. J. Simpson is later acquitted of the killings, but is held liable in a civil suit.
- June 15 - As of 2004 the third highest grossing animated film of all-time, The Lion King, opens in theatres nationwide.
- June 15 - Israel and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations.
- June 17 - NFL star OJ Simpson and his friend Al Cowlings flee from police in his white Ford Bronco. The low speed chase, which unfolds live on television, ends up at Simpson's mansion in Brentwood, California, where he then surrendered to police.
- July - The planet Jupiter is pelted by 21 large fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 over the course of 6 days.
- July 7 - Aden is occupied by troops from North Yemen.
- July 18 - In Buenos Aires, an explosion destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations killing 96 and injuring many more.
- July 25 - Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration which formally ends the state of war that has existed between the nations since 1948.
August
- August - 'Wollemia nobilis', a "fossil tree" discovered by bushwalker David Noble only 150 km from the largest city in Australia.
September
October
November
December
January-February
- January 1 - Arthur Espie Porritt, New Zealand politician and athlete
- January 5 - Thomas P. 'Tip' O'Neill, Speaker of the House
- January 15 - Harry Nilsson, musician
- January 17 - Helen Stephens, American sprinter
- January 22 - Telly Savalas, actor
- January 23 - Brian Redhead, journalist and broadcaster
- January 25 - Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician
- January 27 - Claude Akins, actor
- January 30 - Pierre Boulle, author
- February 6 - Jack Kirby, comic book writer
- February 6 - Joseph Cotten, actor
- February 11 - Antonio Martin, Spanish cyclist
- February 11 - Sorrell Brooke, actor
- February 11 - William Conrad, actor
- February 11 - Neil Bonnett, NASCAR driver
- February 14 - Andrei Chikatilo, Russian serial killer (executed)
- February 17 - Randy Shilts, author, AIDS activist
- February 22 - Papa John Creech, musician
- February 24 - Dinah Shore, actress, singer
- February 24 - Jean Sablon, French singer
- February 25 - Jersey Joe Walcott, world champion boxer
March-August
- March 4 - John Candy, comedian and actor
- March 22 - Walter Lantz, cartoonist ("Woody Woodpecker")
- March 28 - Eugene Ionesco, playwright
- April 2 - Betty Furness, author
- April 5 - Kurt Cobain (suicide) lead singer of the rock band Nirvana
- April 22 - Richard Nixon, former President of the United States
- April 30 - Roland Ratzenberger, Formula 1 driver
- May 1 - Ayrton Senna, Formula 1 car racing champion
- May 7- Clement Greenberg, art critic
- May 8 - George Peppard, actor
- May 10 - John Wayne Gacy, serial killer (executed)
- May 12 - John Smith leader of British Labour Party.
- May 15 - Gilbert Roland, actor
- May 19 - Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, First Lady of the United States
- May 21 - Johan Hendrik Weidner, Belgian born hero of WW II
- May 29 - Erich Honecker, former leader of East Germany, while in exile in Chile
- June 29 - Kurt Eichhorn, conductor
- July 8 - Kim Il Sung, North Korea's leader
- July 11 - Gary Kildall, computer programmer (b. 1942)
- August 17 - Elias Canetti, buried next to James Joyce
September-December
- September 11 - Jessica Tandy, actress
- September 12 - Boris Yegorov, cosmonaut
- September 15 - Alain Berdarin, owner of "Le Crazy Horse Saloon" - Paris
- October 20 - Burt Lancaster, actor
- October 21 - Benoît Régent, French film actor
- November 12 - Wilma Rudolph, American athlete
- November 13 - Motoo Kimura, population geneticist
- November 28 - Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer
- December 12 - Stuart Roosa, Apollo Astronaut
- December 24 - John Boswell, historian