1996
Dolly the cloned sheep
At the Roslin Institute in Scotland, scientists created a sheep from a single mammary cell of a six-year-old ewe, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. Dolly looked ordinary, but her existence proved that adult mammalian cells could be reprogrammed to make an entire body. Ethics committees scrambled. The word cloning entered the kitchen-table vocabulary and stayed there.
Taliban take Kabul
After three years of civil war among mujahideen factions, the Taliban, a movement of young religious students trained in Pakistani madrasas and backed by Pakistan's intelligence services, swept into Kabul. They hanged the former communist president from a lamppost in the city center and imposed a severe version of Sharia law. Afghan women disappeared from schools, offices, and streets.
Deep Blue beats a chess grandmaster
IBM's chess computer beat world champion Garry Kasparov in a single game, though it lost the match. The following year an improved Deep Blue won a full match, the first time a computer had defeated a reigning champion at serious chess. Kasparov later said he had sensed a new kind of intelligence across the board.
Khobar Towers bombing
A massive truck bomb exploded outside a US Air Force housing complex in Saudi Arabia, killing nineteen American airmen. Hezbollah fighters with Iranian backing were suspected. Osama bin Laden praised the attack. A campaign of attacks against American targets in the Muslim world was gathering pace that Washington was slow to recognize.
Kasparov plays Deep Blue first match
In a six-game match in Philadelphia, world chess champion Garry Kasparov beat IBM's Deep Blue four to two. But Deep Blue won the first game, the first time a computer had ever beaten a reigning world champion under tournament conditions. Kasparov went home shaken. The next year's rematch would be even more famous.