Britannica: 2024 Year in Review
Year in Review
Jan. 8, 2024
Led by coach Jim Harbaugh, Michigan defeats Washington, 34–13, to win the College Football Playoff national championship.
Ken Murray—Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
Jan. 14, 2024
After 52 years on the throne, Danish Queen Margrethe II of Denmark abdicates, and her eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik, becomes King Frederik X.
Per Morten Abrahamsen for H.M. Dronningen.
The Royal House of Denmark
Feb. 4, 2024
Taylor Swift wins a record-setting fourth Grammy Award for album of the year for Midnights (2023). She also makes news with her Eras tour, which grosses some $2 billion by its final show in December.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Feb. 16, 2024
Russian anti-corruption activist and politician Aleksey Navalny, who achieved international recognition as one of the most prominent domestic critics of Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin, dies at age 47 while in prison.
Nikolay Vinokurov/Alamy
March 3, 2024
Caitlin Clark becomes the all-time leading scorer in NCAA basketball, surpassing Pete Maravich’s record of 3,667 points; she later breaks other records with the Indiana Fever of the WNBA. Her dominance helps women’s basketball surge in popularity.
Matthew Holst/Getty Images
March 8, 2024
The FDA expands the approval of semaglutide (Wegovy) to include heart disease, making it the first weight-loss drug to be approved for reducing the risk of cardiovascular events in adults who have cardiovascular disease and are either obese or overweight.
Michael Siluk/UCG—Universal Images Group/Getty Images
March 9, 2024
Despite legal challenges, Utah’s new flag design takes effect; later in the year, voters in Maine reject a revised flag.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
March 10, 2024
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is the big winner at the Academy Awards, receiving seven Oscars, including for best picture.
March 26, 2024
The container ship Dali collides with Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse. The crash also kills six people.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
April 8, 2024
A total solar eclipse occurs across parts of Mexico, the United States, and Canada. It is North America’s second total solar eclipse in seven years.
Jordan Salkin—GRC/NASA
April 13, 2024
Iran strikes Israel with hundreds of drones and missiles during the Israel-Hamas War. Although the attack seems to be designed to fail, it marks the first time the two regional powers have come into a direct military confrontation.
Fatemeh Bahrami—Anadolu/Getty Images
April 13, 2024
Madonna’s free concert on the beach in Brazil is attended by 1.6 million fans, making it the largest standalone concert event in history by a recording artist.
Daniel Ramalho—AFP/Getty Images
April 15, 2024
In 1874, 30 artists, including Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne, staged the first Impressionism exhibition. While their work was disliked by many critics, the art movement has become one of the most influential in art history.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection;
Animation Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc
May 7, 2024
Israeli forces move into the city of Rafah, where more than half of the population of the Gaza Strip was sheltering from the Israel-Hamas War, in apparent defiance of pressure from the United States to limit civilian casualties.
Mohammed Abed—AFP/Getty Images
May 19, 2024
Iranian hard-line president Ebrahim Raisi dies suddenly in a helicopter crash. Masoud Pezeshkian, the most reform-oriented president in decades, is elected to replace him in July.
(L) © Hossein Sepahvand—Office of the Iranian President Handout/Getty Images
(R) © Abedin Taherkenareh—EPA-EFE/Shutterstock.com
May 29, 2024
South Africa’s 2024 national election marks the first time the African National Congress, the ruling party since 1994 (when the first election by universal suffrage was held after the fall of apartheid), is unable to win a majority in the National Assembly and has to form a government with other political parties.
May 30, 2024
Donald Trump is found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He is the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime.
June 5, 2024
Boeing’s Starliner is launched, and it docks at the International Space Station the next day; however, because of equipment issues, NASA later decides it is unsafe for astronauts to return on the spacecraft.
Johnson Space Center/NASA
June 17, 2024
Led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Boston Celtics defeat the Dallas Mavericks to win a record-setting 18th NBA title.
Matt Stone/Boston Herald—MediaNews Group/Getty Image
June 18, 2024
$3 trillion.
June 25, 2024
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleads guilty to U.S. charges of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security information. He is subsequently freed from a British prison and allowed to return to Australia, his home country.
Roni Bintang/Getty Images
June 25, 2024
China’s lunar probe Chang’e 6 returns to Earth, carrying the first samples from the far side of the Moon.
June 27, 2024
U.S. Pres. Joe Biden and Donald Trump face off in the first presidential debate of 2024, and Biden’s disastrous performance plays a key role in his decision to drop out of the race in July.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
June 29, 2024
India defeats South Africa to win its second ICC T20 World Cup, one of the most prestigious events in cricket.
Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images
July 1, 2024
In Trump v. United States, the Supreme Court rules that former presidents are entitled to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for acts that involved the exercise of their “core constitutional powers” and to “presumptive immunity” for all other official acts.
Alex Wong—Getty Images News/Getty Images
July 5, 2024
Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, becomes prime minister of the United Kingdom, replacing Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party.
Henry Nicholls—AFP/Getty Images
July 13, 2024
Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, survives an assassination attempt after a gunman opens fire during a campaign event in Pennsylvania; Trump suffers a wound to his ear.
Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images
July 26, 2024
The Olympic Games begin in Paris, and standout athletes during the two-week event include American gymnast Simone Biles and swimmers Léon Marchand (France) and Torri Huske (U.S.).
Gabriel Bouys—AFP/Getty Images
Aug. 5, 2024
Sheikh Hasina Wazed, Bangladesh’s five-term prime minister, flees the country amid mass protests against her government. Several days later Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel laureate, becomes the country’s interim leader.
L) Evan Schneider/UN Photo; (R) Vittorio Zunino Celotto—Getty Images/Thinkstock
Aug. 6, 2024
U.S. Vice Pres. Kamala Harris is officially certified as the Democratic presidential candidate, thereby becoming the first Black woman and the first Asian American in U.S. history to win the presidential nomination of a major party.
Official White House photo by Adam Schultz
Aug. 30, 2024
Brazil blocks X (previously Twitter), largely because of rampant disinformation on the site. The ban is lifted in October after X agrees to various requirements, including the removal of certain accounts.
Sept. 18, 2024
The Federal Reserve cuts the Fed funds rate by half a percentage point, to a range of 4.75% to 5%, marking a shift in policy from fighting inflation in the post-pandemic economy to creating a consumer- and business-friendly environment.
Sept. 26, 2024
Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Florida, causing widespread destruction and more than 230 deaths across the region, especially western North Carolina. Some estimates put the cost at $200 billion, which would make it the costliest hurricane in U.S. history.
Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images
Oct. 1, 2024
Claudia Sheinbaum is sworn in as Mexico’s first female president–and the first Jewish person to hold the post.
STR—AFP/Getty Images
Oct. 13, 2024
SpaceX launches Starship, and in an unprecedented move, large metal pincers, known as “chopsticks,” catch the spacecraft’s 233-foot (71-meter) rocket booster on its descent.
Infogram
Oct. 29, 2024
Eastern Spain experiences massive flooding after heavy rains; more than 200 people are killed.
David Ramos/Getty Images
Nov. 3, 2024
American producer and composer Quincy Jones dies at age 91. He worked with many of the biggest names in jazz, rock, R&B, pop, and hip-hop and is especially known for his work on Michael Jackson’s blockbuster album Thriller (1982).
Phillip Faraone—FilmMagic/Getty Images
Nov. 5, 2024
Sarah McBride, a Democrat from Delaware, is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives; she will become the first openly transgender member of Congress.
Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images
Nov. 5, 2024
Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election, defeating Kamala Harris. He is the first convicted felon to be elected to the office and the second president to win a second nonconsecutive term.
(L) © Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images (R) © Charly Triballeau—AFP/Getty Images
Nov. 12, 2024
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigns amid criticism of his handling of child abuse allegations within the Church of England.
Nov. 18, 2024
Spirit Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the first major U.S. airline to do so since American Airlines 13 years earlier.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Nov. 19, 2024
The world marks 1,000 days since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. At least 30,000 Ukrainians have been killed in action, and more than 700,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in combat.
Nov. 26, 2024
U.S. Pres. Joe Biden announces a ceasefire deal meant to end hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. The deal largely follows the guidelines of UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Lebanon War but whose provisions were never fully implemented.
Dec. 8, 2024
After 13 years of civil war in Syria, Bashar al-Assad is ousted as the country’s leader. His attempt to repress the uprising against his rule included brutal tactics, most infamously the use of chemical weapons.
Dec. 29, 2024
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter dies at 100. He served (1977–81) during a time of serious problems at home and abroad, and for his work in diplomacy and advocacy, both during and after his presidency, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002.
