1998
Google founded
Two Stanford grad students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, incorporated a company based on their PageRank algorithm for ranking web pages by how often other pages linked to them. They worked out of a Menlo Park garage. Within a decade the word Google would be a verb, and the way humans found information would be permanently changed.
Good Friday Agreement
After three decades of sectarian bombings that had killed thirty-six hundred people in Northern Ireland and Britain, leaders from the major parties signed a peace agreement in Belfast. Decommissioning would be slow and imperfect. But the Troubles, more or less, were over. Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods could sleep a little more quietly.
India and Pakistan test nuclear weapons
India conducted five nuclear tests at its Rajasthan desert site; Pakistan followed with six of its own two weeks later. Both subcontinental rivals were now openly nuclear powers. Their populations cheered; the world sanctioned them and got used to it. A new and dangerous corner of the nuclear map had been added.
US embassy bombings in East Africa
Near-simultaneous truck bombs devastated the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. More than two hundred died, most of them Africans. A Saudi millionaire named Osama bin Laden, living in Afghanistan, took credit. Bill Clinton ordered cruise missile strikes in response. The war that would define the next decade had begun.
Clinton impeached
The US House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice arising from his affair with a White House intern. Only the second president ever to be impeached, he was acquitted by the Senate six weeks later. Clinton served out his term with high approval ratings, and American politics grew nastier.
Viagra approved
The FDA approved a blue pill called sildenafil, marketed by Pfizer as Viagra, for erectile dysfunction. It had been discovered by accident during heart medication trials. Within months it was a cultural phenomenon, the subject of jokes, prescriptions, and spam emails for decades. Pharmaceuticals had entered a new intimate territory.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1998?
Saeculum lists 6 curated events from 1998. The most significant is Google founded: Two Stanford grad students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, incorporated a company based on their PageRank algorithm for ranking web pages by how often…
What era was 1998 part of?
1998 falls within the Modern Era (1901-2000). World wars, cold war, and the splitting of the atom.
Which regions saw notable events in 1998?
The curated events from 1998 span North America, Europe, South Asia and Africa.