1997

Great Comet of 1997

Comet Hale–Bopp is a long-period comet that was one of the most widely observed of the 20th century and one of the brightest seen for many decades.

American professional golfer (born 1975)

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer. Woods is widely regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time and as one of the most famous athletes in modern history. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, holds numerous golf records, and is an inductee of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

1997 murder in Taiwan

Pai Hsiao-yen was the only daughter of popular Taiwanese television host and actress Pai Bing-bing and Japanese author Ikki Kajiwara. In April 1997, Pai was kidnapped, held for ransom, and murdered by a group of people led by Chen Chien-hsing, Lin Chun-sheng, and Kao Tien-meen, a trio of criminals previously known to the National Police Agency. Chen, Lin, and Kao evaded a police manhunt for up to eight months, during which they abducted two other people for ransom and killed four people, including a police officer.

Multilateral treaty prohibiting the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), officially the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, is an arms control treaty administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an intergovernmental organization based in The Hague, Netherlands. The treaty entered into force on 29 April 1997. It prohibits the use of chemical weapons, and the large-scale development, production, stockpiling, or transfer of chemical weapons or their precursors, except for very limited purposes.

Massacre of villagers by Islamists during the Algerian Civil War

The Thalit massacre took place in Thalit village, some 70 km from Algiers, on April 3–4, 1997 during the Algerian Civil War. Fifty-two out of the 53 inhabitants were killed by having their throats cut during a 12-hour rampage. The homes of the villagers were burned down afterward.

Space Shuttle orbiter (1981–2003)

Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, and the female personification of the United States, Columbia was the first of five Space Shuttle orbiters to fly in space, debuting the Space Shuttle launch vehicle on its maiden flight on April 12, 1981 and becoming the first spacecraft to be re-used after its first flight when it launched on STS-2 on November 12, 1981. As only the second full-scale orbiter to be manufactured after the Approach and Landing Test vehicle Enterprise, Columbia retained unique external and internal features compared with later orbiters, such as test instrumentation and distinctive black chines.