Major Events

January

01/01: Greece enters the European Community, which later becomes the European Union.

01/17: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law.

01/19: US and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.

01/20: Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days within minutes of Ronald Reagan succeeding Jimmy Carter as the President.

01/21: The first DeLorean DMC-12 automobile rolls off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.

01/25: Chiang Ching ("Madame Mao") is sentenced to death in the People's Republic of China.

February

02/09: Polish Prime Minister Józef Pinkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski.

02/14: Australia withdraws recognition of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.

March

03/01: Bobby Sands, an Irish Republican Army member, begins a hunger strike for political status (he dies May 5, the first of 10 men).

03/11: Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet is sworn in as President of Chile for another 8-year term.

03/19: Three workers are killed and 5 injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia.

03/30: President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by John Hinckley, Jr. Two police officers and Press Secretary James Brady are also wounded.

April

04/12: Space Shuttle Columbia with NASA astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14. It is the first time a manned reusable spacecraft has returned from orbit.

04/18: A Minor League Baseball game between the Rochester Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox becomes the longest professional baseball game in history: 8 hours and 25 minutes/33 innings (the 33rd inning is not played until June 23).

May

03/05: Bobby Sands, IRA member, dies aged 27 while on hunger strike.

03/06: A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.

03/13: Pope John Paul II is shot and nearly killed he enters St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.

June

06/05: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 5 homosexual men in Los Angeles have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems. It is the first recognized cases of AIDS.

06/07: The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor.

06/13: At a ceremony in London, Marcus Sarjeant fires 6 blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.

06/24: Six young people in Yugoslavia first saw what they believed to be an apparition of The Virgin Mary.

July

07/07: President Ronald Reagan nominates the first woman, Sandra Day O'Connor, to the Supreme Court.

07/17: Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City collapse into a crowded atrium lobby, killing 114.

07/17: Israeli aircraft bomb Beirut destroying multi-story apartment blocks containing the offices of PLO associated groups, killing approximately 300 civilians and resulting in worldwide condemnation and a U.S. embargo on the export of aircraft to Israel.

07/21: Tohui The Panda is born in Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City, the first panda to ever be born and survive in captivity outside of China.

07/29: Over 700 million people watch the Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

August

08/01: MTV (Music Television) is launched.

08/09: Major League Baseball resumes from a strike with the All-Star Game in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium.

08/12: The original Model 5150 IBM PC (with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor) is released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.

08/19: Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi sends two fighter jets to intercept two U.S. fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroy the Libyan fighters.

08/24: Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, after being convicted of murdering John Lennon.

08/28: South African troops invade Angola.

08/31: A bomb explodes at the U.S. Air Force base in Ramstein, West Germany, injuring 20 people.

September

09/17: Ric Flair defeats Dusty Rhodes to win his first World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in Kansas City.

09/18: France abolishes capital punishment.

09/20: Simon & Garfunkel perform The Concert in Central Park, a free concert in New York.

09/25: Sandra Day O'Connor takes her seat as the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

09/25: The Rolling Stones begin their Tattoo You tour at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.

October

10/06: Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a parade by army members who belong to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization; they opposed his negotiations with Israel.

10/14: Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt 1 week after Anwar Sadat's assassination.

10/21: Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece.

November

11/12: The Church of England General Synod votes to admit women to holy orders.

11/16: Luke and Laura marry on the soap opera General Hospital.

11/18: IBM introduces the IBM PC. Scientific Solutions announces the first PC add-in cards.

11/23: President Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), authorizing the CIA to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

11/30: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin negotiating intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe. T(the meetings end inconclusively on Thursday, December 17.

December

12/11: Muhammad Ali loses to Trevor Berbick; this proved to be Ali's last-ever fight.

12/11: In El Salvador, army units kill 900 civilians.

12/13: Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.

12/17: American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is kidnapped in Verona by the Italian Red Brigades.

12/28: The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born.

Date unknown

Luxor AB Presents the ABC 800 computer.

Donkey Kong becomes the first ever Super Mario game.