21st century

In calendars based on the Christian Era or Common Era, such as the Gregorian calendar, the 21st century is the current century, as of this writing. By some interpretations, it lasts from 2001 to 2100, and the 3rd millennium lasts from 2001 to 3000. This is based on the argument that there was no Year Zero, so the first century began in year 1 http://www.astronomyboy.com/millennium/. However, common usage often regards the 21st century as lasting from 2000 to 2099. In 2000 the ISO implicitly backed this common usage by creating a calendar that incorporates a Year Zero (see 20th century). Decades are almost always considered as starting with the "0" year and named accordingly ("2010s", etc.), so the first decade of a century could overlap back into the preceding one.

Significant people

Influential people in politics as of 2005

(in alphabetical order)

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• Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian President
• King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
• Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations
• Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Comission
• Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister
• Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• George W. Bush, President of the United States of America
• Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela
• Fidel Castro, President of Cuba
• Jacques Chirac, President of France
• Vicente Fox, President of Mexico
• Jean Chrétien, former Prime Minister of Canada
• Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of Italy
• Luis Inácio da Silva, President of Brazil
• Luigi R. Einaudi, Secretary-General of the Organization of American States
• Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Prime Minister
• John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia
• Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China
• Saddam Hussein, deposed President of Iraq, currently held by US forces
• Mohammad Khatami, President of Iran
• Kim Jong-il, General Secretary of the Korean Workers' Party and chairman of the National Defense Commission of North Korea
• Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan
• Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan
• Aleksander Kwa?niewski, President of Poland
• Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda leader
• Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada
• Thabo Mbeki, South African president and current leader of the African Union
• Pervez Musharraf Pakistani President
• Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, President of the Russian Federation
• Condoleezza Rice, United States Secretary of State
• Karl Rove, President Bush's senior advisor, chief political strategist, and deputy chief of staff in charge of policy.
• Dr. Manmohan Singh Indian Prime Minister
• Gerhard Schröder, German Bundeskanzler (chancellor)
• Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel
• Javier Solana, Foreign policy chief of the European Union
• Ong Keng Yong, Secretary-General of ASEAN
• Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
• José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, President of Spain
• Vaira V??e-Freiberga, President of Latvia
• Vladimir Putin (???????? ?????), President of Russia

Influential people in religion as of 2005

• Pope John Paul II
• Pope Benedict XVI
• The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso
• Founder of Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi
• Ayatollah Khamenei
• Stanley Hauerwas, proclaimed in 2001 "America's Best Theologian"
• Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Influential people in technology as of 2005

• Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corporation
• Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corporation
• Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer
• Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of the Google search engine
• Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel

Influential people in science as of 2005

• Stephen Hawking
• Brian Greene

Influential people in mathematics as of 2005

• Laurent Lafforgue
• Grigori Perelman

See also: Timeline of the future in forecasts

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