Table of Contents
Timeline of 2007
A chronological overview of notable events from the year 2007.
| Date | Event | Category | |—|—|—| | Jan 9, 2007 | iPhone launched — Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the original iPhone at Macworld, describing it as a widescreen iPod, revolutionary phone, and internet communicator in one device. | Science & Technology | | Apr 16, 2007 | Virginia Tech shooting — Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history to that point. | History & Politics | | Apr 23, 2007 | Boris Yeltsin dies — Russia’s first post-Soviet president died of cardiac arrest in Moscow aged 76; President Putin declared the day of his funeral a national day of mourning. | History & Politics | | May 2007 | Facebook Platform opens to developers — Facebook unveiled its developer platform, enabling third-party applications on the social network and accelerating its growth past MySpace in global traffic. | Science & Technology | | Jun 29, 2007 | iPhone released — The first iPhone went on sale in the United States at $499–$599, with thousands of customers lining up at Apple stores nationwide. | Science & Technology | | Jul 2007 | Subprime mortgage crisis erupts — Bear Stearns disclosed that two of its subprime hedge funds had lost nearly all their value, signaling the onset of the global financial crisis. | Society & Economics | | Jul 21, 2007 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows published — J. K. Rowling’s seventh and final Harry Potter novel sold 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours in the U.S. alone, setting a Guinness World Record. | Arts & Culture | | Sep 6, 2007 | Luciano Pavarotti dies — The Italian tenor, widely regarded as the greatest operatic voice of the 20th century, died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Modena, aged 71. | People | | Oct 12, 2007 | Al Gore and IPCC share Nobel Peace Prize — The Nobel Committee awarded the 2007 Peace Prize jointly to Al Gore and the IPCC for their work building consensus on man-made climate change. | History & Politics | | Nov 5, 2007 | Writers Guild of America strike — WGA members began a strike over compensation for internet-distributed content, halting U.S. television production for 100 days and reshaping residual-pay rules. | Arts & Culture | | Nov 2007 | No Country for Old Men released — The Coen Brothers’ adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel opened in November, winning four Academy Awards including Best Picture at the 80th ceremony in February 2008. | Arts & Culture | | Nov 19, 2007 | Amazon Kindle launched — Amazon introduced the Kindle e-reader at $399, selling out within 5.5 hours and fundamentally changing how consumers purchase and read books. | Science & Technology | | Dec 27, 2007 | Benazir Bhutto assassinated — Pakistan’s former prime minister was shot and killed in Rawalpindi after a political rally, destabilizing the country ahead of scheduled January elections. | History & Politics |