- US civil rights leader Martin Luther King is assassinated on April 4: The most successful and powerful of American black leaders, he led black moderates in campaigning for civil rights, preached non-aggression and adopted 'passive resistance' tactics. In 1963 he told 200,000 marchers in Washington: "I have a dream ... that one day this nation will rise up and live out its creed - 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal'." He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
- US Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy is assassinated on June 6: Younger brother of President John F Kennedy and US Attorney-General from 1961-64, he had a special interest in promoting civil rights for blacks.
- First manned spacecraft Apollo 8 journeys 384,000 kilometres to orbit the moon and back.
- Antony Hewish co-discovers (with Jocelyn Bell) pulsars: radio stars emitting regular pulses of energy. He shares the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 with Sir Martin Ryle, discoverer of the quasar.
† The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education InstituteResearch and Education Institute
† The Nobel Organization