2007 was, in many ways, a turning point for the world, with major milestones occurring in science and technology.
This year, Netflix began streaming content, NASA landed a spacecraft on Mars, Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone, and Tesla unveiled the efficient electric car, the Tesla Roadster.
Social media also took off like crazy in 2007, but Myspace was ahead of the game, valuing 65 times more than Facebook. It was also the year Tumblr entered the scene.
Notable events outside of tech included J.K. Rowling revealing Dumbledore’s sexuality and Britney Spears’s headline-making haircut.
Here’s what defined 2007 through its events, music, and memorable moments.
Historical Events
Here you'll discover a collection of fascinating and unforgettable events that shaped the world in 2007.
Jan 9
Steve Jobs announced Apple’s very first smartphone, the iPhone 1.
Steve Jobs said he aimed to "reinvent the phone." And that he did.
Jan 11
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling officially finished writing The Deathly Hallows.
It was finished in room 552 at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, UK.
Jan 13
Instruments used to observe Venus found two-thirds of the planet’s southern hemisphere brightened after aerosols were triggered on an “astronomical” scale.
Jan 17
The Doomsday Clock’s minute hand was moved two minutes closer to midnight, making the new Doomsday just five minutes to midnight.
The change was made after North Korea performed its first nuclear test.
March 2007
Mar 29
Rihanna’s single “Umbrella” was released.
It featured Jay-Z and spent seven weeks as #1 on Billboard's Top 100.
April 2007
Apr 17
Jazz composer and musician John Coltrane received the Special Citation Pulitzer Prize after his death.
May 2007
May 3
Three-year-old English girl Madeleine McCann went missing while on vacation with her parents, family, and friends in Praia da Luz, Portugal.
Her disappearance received worldwide media coverage, with searches still ongoing today. Her parents, Gerry, and Kate McCann, continue to appeal for information on her whereabouts.
May 19
The Coen brothers film, “No Country for Old Men,” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
It won the Best Picture award. The movie was based on the Cormac McCarthy novel.
May 19
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End premiered in Anaheim, California.
At the time, it was the most expensive film ever made, with a $300 million budget.
May 19
Sicko, a documentary on the US healthcare system, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Michael Moore directed the film.
Jun 13
The first large-scale exhibition of Frida Kahlo’s works was displayed in Mexico.
354 of Kahlo's original drawings and paintings went on display at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City in honor of the Mexican artist's 100th birthday.
July 2007
Jul 21
J.K. Rowling’s final book in the series “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” book was published worldwide.
A record 12 million copies were sold within just 24 hours of its release.
August 2007
Aug 4
NASA launched the Phoenix spaceship from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, US.
Aug 8
The EF2 tornado ripped through Brooklyn, New York, for 18 minutes, causing nine injuries and $20 million in damages.
Aug 21
Bioshock, the first-person dystopian horror shooter game, was released for Xbox 360 and PC.
The last few months of Bioshock's development were rough. The playtesters had no idea of the setting or what was happening. To give players more clarity, the development team added cutscenes at the beginning of the game that showed the player's aircraft crashing into the sea. This tactic was inspired by the first episode of Lost.
Aug 22
Storm Botnet sent a staggering 57 million emails.
Storm Botnet was a remotely controlled network of "zombie computers" spread through email spam. Essentially the emails carry viruses, and in September 2007, Storm Botnet accounted for around 8% of malware found on Microsoft devices.
Aug 23
Chris Messina Tweeted #barcamp, which became the first use of a hashtag on Twitter.
Messina co-founded BarCamp, a technology and web event that's been held in more than 350 cities.
September 2007
Sep 10
The CERN Large Hadron Collider was powered up for the first time.
The Large Hadron Collider, built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), is the world's largest and most sophisticated high-energy particle collider. It wasn't tested for another fourteen months due to damage it sustained while powering up.
Sep 21
The survival movie “Into the Wild,” starring Emile Hirsch, premiered at the Rome Film Festival.
Sep 21
Actor George Clooney crashed on a motorcycle.
The accident happened at 3:00 am, and he suffered a broken rib and a few scratches.
Sep 23
After three years in development, Bungie finally released Halo 3 for the Xbox 360.
Microsoft marketed Halo 3 like crazy and even had Bill Gates at the launch event at a Best Buy in Bellevue, Washington, to hand out the first official copy. All that hard work paid off, as Halo 3 broke the record for the highest gross sales of a video game within 24 hours of release with $170 million.
Sep 24
The American Sitcom, “The Big Bang Theory”, premiered on CBS.
The show lasted for 12 seasons, and because of its success, stars such as Jim Parsons and Kunal Nayyar became some of the most well-paid actors in the world.
October 2007
Oct 14
American reality show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” premiered on the E! Network.
Oct 18
Former Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan as suicide bombers attacked her convoy in Karachi.
Returning from eight years of exile in London and Dubai, she escaped unscathed from the attack that killed 180 people and injured 500.
November 2007
Nov 5
Spacecraft Change 1 entered lunar orbit at 02:15 UT and became the first Chinese spacecraft to orbit the moon successfully.
Change 1 was launched on October 24, 2007, to collect data from mapping the moon's surface. After having orbited the moon over 589 times, it landed on the moon's surface on March 1, 2009. It became the first Chinese space mission to make contact with the moon.
Nov 5
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was released in North America for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
This award-winning game was set in the modern era instead of World War II. This new direction for Call of Duty was clearly the right choice, as Call of Duty 4 was the highest-selling Xbox game in 2007.
Nov 12
Super Mario Galaxy, Nintendo’s third 3D Mario game, was released for the Nintendo Wii in North America.
Many of the game's design elements were thought of before the Wii was first created. For example, the concept of spherical "platforms" was envisioned for a GameCube game but wasn't possible due to technical limitations.
Nov 20
MTV and Harmonix released Rock Band for PS3 and Xbox 360 in North America.
Harmonix created the first two Guitar Hero games and already had the idea in mind for Rock Band when MTV Music bought them out. Unable to continue the Guitar Hero series, they created Rock Band.
Nov 29
Martinique earthquake shook the majority of the Eastern Caribbean.
The 7.4 magnitude quake struck at 15:00 local time and killed six people while injuring more than 400.
December 2007
Dec 27
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.
The former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, was killed as she was leaving a rally of the Pakistan People's Party. She was killed as she was driving away from the rally as a result of both gunshot wounds and suicide bomber detonation next to her car.
Famous Births
Here's a look at a few amazing individuals whose story began in 2007.
Famous Deaths
Discover the well-known names we lost in 2007.
1922 — 2007
Kurt Vonnegut
American Author Kurt Vonnegut was born on November 11, 1922. He died on April 11, 2007, at age 84 in New York, USA.
Quotes
Here are some of the most memorable quotes that came out of 2007.
Feb 10
“Let’s be the generation that makes future generations proud of what we did here.”
Barack Obama
(American Politician)
Dec 1
“It’s okay to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.”
Elon Musk
(South African-American Entrepreneur)
2007 in Music
In 2007, the music world was on fire with an incredible lineup of sensational tracks that defined the year!
From the energetic rock anthem “Umbrella” by Rihanna ft. Jay-Z to the catchy pop vibes of “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White T’s, these songs became the soundtracks of our lives and had us singing along wherever we went.
Check out these music highlights from 2007.
Album of the Year
Dixie Chicks’ heartfelt and introspective country album “Taking the Long Way” triumphed at the 2007 Grammy Awards, capturing the hearts of fans and critics alike.
Song of the Year
The Dixie Chicks fearlessly expressed their views through their captivating track “Not Ready to Make Nice,” which won them the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 2007.
Best New Artist
Carrie Underwood’s powerful vocals and country charm won her the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2007, making her a beloved figure in the world of country music.
Eurovision Song Contest Winner
Helsinki, Finland, hosted the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest in 2007, with a series of memorable performances.
Marija Šerifović, a powerful vocalist from Serbia, stole the show with her captivating ballad “Molitva,” claiming Serbia’s first victory in Eurovision.
2007 In Numbers
In 2007, an astrological event known as the Lucky 7’s happened on July 7th (7/7/2007), which was claimed to be a day of incredibly good fortune. Many people from all over the world scrambled to get married on this day, so at least wedding planners had some good fortune!
The Roman numeral form of 2007 is MMVII, and if we convert it to binary, it becomes 11111010111.
Harshad Number
2007 is a Harshad number, which is a number that can be evenly divided by the sum of its digits. It’s like a special math rule for some numbers.
To explain in more detail, we add up the digits (2 + 0 + 0 + 7), which equals 9. And now we see if 2007 can be divided evenly by 9, which it can! 2007 ÷ 9 = 223. So this makes 2007 a Harshad number.
Deficient Number
Also, 2007 is known as a deficient number. A deficient number is a number where if you add up all the smaller numbers that can divide evenly into it, the total sum is less than the number itself.
So, when you add up all the smaller numbers that can divide evenly into 2007 (1, 3, 9, 223, 669), they add up to 905, which is less than 2007.
Chinese Zodiac 2007
As per the Chinese zodiac tradition, 2007 was recognized as The Year of the Pig within the twelve-year cycle.
Interestingly, each zodiac sign is associated with one of the five elements – Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. So not only was 2007 the Year of the Pig, it was actually the Year of the Fire Pig, which occurs once every sixty years!
Did you know that the Chinese zodiac operates on a lunar calendar? That means the Year of the Fire Pig actually kicked off on February 18th, and lasted until February 6, 2008.
People born in the Year of the Pig are often kind-hearted, generous, and sincere. They are known for their strong work ethic, are loyal companions, and have a love for life’s pleasures.
The Years of the Pig have blessed us with influential figures such as Dua Lipa and Ross Lynch.
2004 Trivia
Did you know that in 2007, the US state of New Mexico declared that Pluto is still a planet?
Despite being struck from the list of planets the previous year, New Mexico wrote into state law that whenever Pluto flies over New Mexico, it is a planet.
