Contemporary
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (1989): Disaster in Prince William Sound
About 11 million US gallons of crude oil polluted some 1,300 miles of coastline; the disaster led to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and decades of litigation.
Region
Americas
Contemporary
Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) and the Capitol Crawl
The ADA outlawed discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, public services, public accommodations and telecommunications across the United States.
Contemporary
Hubble Space Telescope (1990): Launch, Flaw and Discoveries
Hubble's mirror flaw was corrected by astronauts in December 1993, and the telescope went on to transform astronomy, helping to fix the age of the universe and revealing its accelerating expansion.
Prehistory
Sue the T. rex: Discovery of the Most Complete Tyrannosaurus
After a federal seizure and court battle, the skeleton was sold at auction in 1997 to the Field Museum in Chicago, where it has been displayed since 2000.
Contemporary
START I Treaty (1991): Cutting Strategic Nuclear Arsenals
The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to reduce their strategic nuclear forces to 1,600 delivery vehicles and 6,000 accountable warheads each.
Contemporary
Hurricane Andrew (1992): The Storm That Flattened South Florida
Andrew killed 65 people directly and indirectly, caused about $26.5 billion in US damage and led to stronger building codes and a restructured Florida insurance market.
Contemporary
Earth Summit in Rio (1992): The UN Conference on Environment
Governments adopted the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21 and the Forest Principles, and opened the UN climate change and biological diversity conventions for signature.
Contemporary
Great Flood of 1993: The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Overflow
About 50 people died and damage reached roughly 15-20 billion US dollars; the disaster led to large-scale buyouts of flood-prone property and a rethinking of levee-based flood control.
Contemporary
1994 Northridge Earthquake: The Quake That Shook Los Angeles
The earthquake killed 57 people, injured more than 8,700 and caused about 20 billion US dollars or more in damage, prompting major changes to steel-frame design, hospital safety and earthquake insurance.
Contemporary
Dayton Agreement (1995): The Deal That Ended the Bosnian War
The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina ended, and the country was preserved as one state made up of two largely autonomous entities under international supervision.
Contemporary
Oklahoma City Bombing (1995): Domestic Terror in the Heartland
The bombing killed 168 people, including 19 children; Timothy McVeigh was executed in 2001 and Terry Nichols received life sentences, and the attack led to new anti-terrorism and building-security laws.
Contemporary
Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner (1997): The First Mars Rover
Pathfinder proved a low-cost airbag landing on Mars, and Sojourner became the first wheeled rover to operate on another planet.