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1983
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Years : | 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 |
Years: | 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 |
Decades: | 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s |
Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
1983 by topic: |
Arts |
Architecture - Art - Film - Literature - Music - Television |
Science and technology |
Archaeology - Aviation - Meteorology - Rail transport - Radio - Science |
By country |
Australia - Canada - India - Ireland - Mexico - South Africa |
Other topics |
Awards - Sport - Law - State leaders - Religious leaders Video gaming |
Birth and death categories |
Births - Deaths |
1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar.
Contents |
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Events
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January
- January 2 - The musical Annie is performed for the last time after 2,377 shows (Uris Theatre on Broadway, New York City).
- January 8 - Riot in the Sing Sing prison
- January 10 - Mafia hitman Roy DeMeo is found dead in the trunk of his own car
- January 15 - Mafioso Meyer Lansky dies at Mount Sinai hospital
- January 19 - Klaus Barbie, Nazi war criminal, is arrested in Bolivia.
- January 22 - Björn Borg retires from tennis after winning 5 consecutive Wimbledon championships.
- January 24 - 25 members of the Red Brigades are sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Aldo Moro
- January 26 - Lotus 1-2-3 is released.
- January 31 - Seatbelt use for drivers and front seat passengers becomes mandatory in the United Kingdom.
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February
- February 2 - Giovanni Vigliotto goes on trial for multiple counts of bigamy - 105 women
- February 3 - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser is granted a double dissolution of both houses of parliament for a double dissolution election for the March 5. Bob Hawke replaces Bill Hayden as federal ALP leader
- February 6 - Klaus Barbie is charged with war crimes
- February 7 - Iran opens an invasion in the southeast of Iraq.
- February 13 - US President Ronald Reagan proclaims 1983 "The Year of the Bible".
- February 16 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 76 people in one of Australia's worst ever fires.
- February 18 - Wah Mee massacre - 13 people are killed in an attempted robbery in Seattle, Washington
- February 23 - The Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
- February 24 - A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report critical of the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
- February 25 - US playwright Tennessee Williams found dead in his hotel room.
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March
- March 1 - Balearic Islands and Madrid become autonomous communities of Spain
- March 1 - Swatch introduce their first timepieces
- March 1 - Bob Hawke Elected Australian Prime Minister
- March 8 - IBM releases the IBM PC XT
- March 8 - President Ronald Reagan calls the Soviet Union an "evil empire."
- March 11 - Hawke Ministry sworn in, Andrew Peacock becomes Federal Opposition leader
- March 16 - Demolition of the radio tower Ismaning, the last radio tower in Germany built of wood.
- March 23 - Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles. The media dub this plan "Star Wars."
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April
- April 7 - During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first space shuttle spacewalk (duration: 4 hours, 10 minutes).
- April 11 National Economic Summit held In Canberra
- April 15 - American Public Radio founded; changes its name to the current Public Radio International in 1994
- April 15 - The first non-American Disney theme park opens in Japan as Tokyo Disneyland
- April 18 - The U.S Embassy is bombed in Beirut, killing 63 people.
- April 22 - Soviet embassy official Valery Ivanov is expelled from Australia for allegedly trying to recruit spies in the Australian government.
- April 23 - Stern magazine in West Germany announces it has Hitler diaries
- April 25 - Maine schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
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May
- May 6 - Stern magazine publishes "Hitler Diaries" (later found to be forgeries).
- May 9 - Pope John Paul II retracts the ban of Galileo Galilei
- May 11 - Aberdeen FC win the European Cup Winners Cup - beating Real Madrid 2-1 in the final played in Gothenburg, Sweden.
- May 16 - London police begin the use of wheel clamps on illegally-parked vehicles.
- May 16 - NSW Premier Neville Wran steps down in response to allegations rasied by ABC program Four Corners That he Attempted to influence the NSW Majestry
- May 17 - Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
- May 25 - Return of the Jedi opens in the United States.
- May 29 - 67th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race: Tom Sneva wins his first race after three previous runner-up finishes.
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June
- Shipbreaking begins on the beach at Alang in Gujarat.
- 9 June: Conservative Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 1979, won a landslide victory (42% of the popular vote) over Michael Foot, who led a highly-divided and weakened Labour Party which earned only 28% of the vote. The much improved economy (after 2-3 years of restructuring), her victory in the Falkands, as well as shrinking unemployment rates consolidated her election victory.
- June 13 - Pioneer 10 becomes the first manmade object to leave the solar system.
- June 18 - Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space on the Space Shuttle Challenger.
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July
- July 1 - A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashed into the Fouta Djall Mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.
- July 1 - High Court of Australia blocks construction of the Franklin Dam in Tasmania.
- July 7 - Samantha Smith flies to the Soviet Union.
- July 16 - Sikorsky S-61 disaster: helicopter crash off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
- July 20 - Government of Poland announces end of the martial law and amnesty for political prisoners.
- July 22 - Australian Dick Smith completes his solo circumnavigation in a helicopter.
- July 22 - The Ford Orion is launched.
- July 23 - Gimli Glider: Air Canada flight 143 crash-lands in Gimli, Manitoba.
- July 25 - The outbreak of anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka which left over 3,000 Tamils massacred and millions of dollars worth of their property was destroyed. This genocide is the beginning of a deadly civil war and ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka.
- July 25 - Metallica released their debut album Kill 'Em All.
- July 28 - New South Wales premier Neville Wran exonerated by Street Royal Commission over claims raised by ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) program Four Corners which claimed, he attempted to influence the NSW majestry.
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August
- August 4 - Thomas Sankara became President in Upper Volta.
- August 18 - Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over US$3.8 billion (2005 dollars)
- August 18 - 5 people are killed and 18 others injured when a road train is deliberatly driven into a motel at Ayers Rock (Uluru) NT (The driver, Douglas Edward Crabbe, was found guilty of this in March 1984)
- August 21 - Benigno Aquino, Jr., Philippines opposition leader, assassinated in Manila just as he returns from exile
- August 24 - Old Philadelphia Arena is destroyed by arson
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September
- September 1 - Cold War: Korean Air Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet jet fighter when the commercial aircraft entered Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die.
- September 4 - Six men walk underwater across the Sydney Harbor - 82.9 km in 48 hours
- September 5 - Tom Brokaw becomes lead anchor for NBC Nightly News
- September 6 - The Soviet Union admits to shooting down Korean Air Flight 007, stating that the pilots did not know it was a civilian aircraft when it violated Soviet airspace
- September 10 - Jon Brower Minnoch, heaviest man in USA, dies weighing 362 kg. When he was admitted to hospital in March 1978, his weight was 635 kg
- September 16 - Donna Griffiths of Pershore, England, stops sneezing after continuous series of sneezes for 978 days, since January 13, 1981
- September 23 - Violence erupts in New Caledonia between native Kanaks and French expatriates. The French government withdraws the promise of independence
- September 23 - Mass outbreak in Maze prison - 38 prisoners hijack a lorry and crash out of the gate - one guard dead and 5 others injured. 19 of the prisoners are later apprehended.
- September 23 - Barbara Turnbull, an 18 year old Canadian girl, was shot in the neck and became paralyzed for life during a store robbery in Mississauga, Canada.
- September 25-26 - Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war.
- September 27 - The GNU Project was announced publicly on the net.unix-wizards and net.usoft newsgroups.
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October
- October 2 - Neil Kinnock is elected leader of the British Labour Party.
- October 4 - Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 mph, driving Thrust 2 at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.
- October 7 - Plan to abolish Greater London Council announced.
- October 12 - Japan's ex Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed and sentenced to 4 years in jail.
- October 19 - Maurice Bishop, the President of Grenada, and 40 others are shot in a military coup
- October 22 - In Bonn, West Germany people demonstrate for nuclear disarmament
- October 23 - A suicide truck-bombing destroys the United States Marine Corps barracks at Beirut International Airport, killing 241 US servicemen.
- October 24 - Arthur Hutchinson kills three members of Laitner family and rapes their daughter in the Sheffield suburb of Dore.
- October 25 - United States invades Grenada at the behest of Dame Eugenia Charles, of Dominica a member of the Organization of American States.
- October 27 - Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Ağca in prison to forgive him. Ali Ağca is the Turkish gunman who attempted to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981
- October 30 - The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule are held.
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November
- November 2 - Martin Luther King Day: At the White House Rose Garden, President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January to honor American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
- November 5 - The worst offshore diving accident ever to take place, happened on board the Byford Dolphin rig in the North Sea of the coast of Norway. Five divers were killed and one severely wounded in an explosive decompression accident.
- November 11 - President Reagan became the first U.S. chief executive to address the Diet, Japan's national legislature.
- November 13 - The first US cruise missiles arrive at Greenham Common airbase in England amid protests from peace campaigners.
- November 15 - The Turkish part of Cyprus declares independence.
- November 16 - A jury in Gretna, Louisiana acquits Ginny Foat of the murder of Argentine businessman Moses Chaiyo.
- November 17 - The Zapatista Army of National Liberation founded.
- November 24 - 15-year-old Lynda Mann is found raped and strangled in the village of Narborough, England (Colin Pitchfork is sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988)
- November 26 - Brinks Mat robbery: In London, 6,800 gold bars worth nearly UK£26 million are taken from the Brinks Mat vault at Heathrow Airport. Only a fraction of the gold was ever recovered, and only two men were convicted of the crime.
- November 30 Microsoft Word is first released.
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December
- December 9 - The Australian Dollar is floated, by Federal treasurer Paul Keating. Under the old flexible peg system, the Reserve Bank bought and sold all Australian dollars and cleared the market at the end of the day. This initiative was taken by the government of Bob Hawke.
- December 13 - The Denver Nuggets and the visiting Detroit Pistons combined for an NBA record 370 points, with Detroit winning in triple overtime, 186-184.
- December 17 - A fire at a discotheque in Madrid, Spain, kills 83 people.
- December 17 - An PIRA car bomb kills six Christmas shoppers and injures 90 outside Harrods in London.
- December 31 - Brunei gains independence from United Kingdom.
- December 31 - Two bombs explode in France. One on the Paris train kills 3 and injures 19. The other at Marseille station kills 2 and injures 34.
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Unknown dates
- Democratic reform in power in Argentina.
- The Dodge Caravan, the first minivan to enter production, is released as a 1984 model.
- Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program launched in U.S.
- Flashdance and Return of the Jedi are box-office hits.
- Gerard Debreu wins the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
- The immunosuppressant cyclosporine was approved by FDA, leading to a revolution in the field of transplantation.
- In Australia, the Northern Territory decriminalizes homosexual acts between consenting adults
- Kellogg's introduces Crispix cereal.
- Leopold Kohr, the people of Belau, Amory and Hunter Lovins / Rocky Mountain Institute and Manfred Max-Neef / CEPAUR win the Right Livelihood Award
- McDonald's introduces the McNugget
- MyFamily was founded.
- Roxanne Pulitzer divorces Herbert Pulitzer
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Births
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January
- January 2 - Kate Bosworth, American actress
- January 8 - Chris Masters, American Wrestler
- January 18 - Samantha Mumba, Irish singer and actress
- January 19 - Hikaru Utada, Japanese singer and songwriter
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February
- February 7 - Elin Grindemyr, Swedish model
- February 8 - Jim Verraros, American singer
- February 19 - Mika Nakashima, Japanese singer and actress
- February 23 - Mido, Egyptian footballer
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March
- March 10 - Carrie Underwood, American singer
- March 14 - Bakhtiyar Artayev, Kazakh boxer
- March 14- Taylor Hanson, American musician
- March 15 - Sean Biggerstaff, British actor
- March 21 - Bruno Langley, British actor
- March 26 - Kazy Brown, Artist manager
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April
- April 10 - Ryan Merriman, American actor
- April 13 - Schalk Burger, South African rugby player
- April 15 - Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian hockey player
- April 15 - Jack D. Lee III, Saxophonist and Politician
- April 17 - Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- April 22 - Matt Jones, American football player
- April 22 - Sean Muir, American playwright
- April 23 - Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakian tennis player
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May
- May 11 - Matt Leinart, American football player
- May 11 - Holly Valance, Australian actress and singer
- May 14 - Amber Tamblyn, American actress
- May 27 - Bobby Convey, American soccer player
- May 30 - Jennifer Ellison, British actress
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June
- June 6 - Joe Rokocoko, New Zealand rugby player
- June 8 - Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player
- June 17 - Lee Ryan, British singer
- June 18- Billy Slater, Melbourne Storm Football Player
- June 24 - Alexander Beyer, German actor
- June 30 - Cheryl Tweedy, British singer
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July
- July 2 - Michelle Branch, American singer
- July 6 - Gregory Smith, Candian-born American actor
- July 11 - Marie Eleonor Sernehlot, Swedish-born American singer (A*Teens)
- July 12 - Megumi Kawamura, Japanese model
- July 13 - Liu Xiang, Chinese athlete
- July 21 - Eivør Pálsdóttir, Faroese singer and composer
- July 21 - Kellen Winslow Jr., American football player
- July 22 - Shelby Belle, Canadian actress
- July 23 - Bec Cartwright, Australian actress
- July 23 - Aaron Peirsol, American swimmer
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August
- August 6 - Robin van Persie, Dutch football player
- August 14 - Mila Kunis, Ukrainian actress
- August 19 - Tammin Sursok, Australian actress
- August 23 - Nicol David, Malaysian squash player
- August 24 - Christopher Parker, British actor
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September
- September 1 - Jose Antonio Reyes, Spanish football player
- September 17 - Jennifer Peña, American singer
- September 21 - Maggie Grace, American actress
- September 21 - Joseph Mazzello, American actor
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October
- October 2 - Efren Ramirez, American actor
- October 5 - Nicky Hilton, American model and socialite
- October 24 - Brian Vickers, American race car driver
- October 29 - Amit Sebastian Paul, Swedish-born American singer (A*Teens)
- October 30 - Diana Karazon, Jordanian singer
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November
- November 16 - Fallon Bowman, South African-born guitarist (Kittie)
- November 18 - Jon Johansen, Norwegian computer programmer
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December
- December 6 - Bryan Habana, South African rugby player
- December 12 - Katrina Elam, American singer
- December 12 - Brad Smith, American football player
- December 13 - Otylia Jędrzejczak, Polish swimmer
- December 15 - René Duprée, Canadian professional wrestler
- December 20 - Lucy Pinder, British model
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Deaths
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January-March
- January 11 - Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist and educator (b. 1894)
- January 15 - Meyer Lansky, Russian-born gangster (b. 1902)
- January 23 - Fred Bakewell, English cricketer (b. 1908)
- January 24 - George Cukor, American film director (b. 1899)
- January 28 - Frank Forde, fifteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1890)
- February 4 - Karen Carpenter, American singer (b. 1950)
- February 12 - Eubie Blake, American musician and songwriter (b. 1887)
- February 14 - Lina Radke, German athlete (b. 1903)
- February 22 - Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
- February 25 - Tennessee Williams, American playwright (b. 1911)
- March 3 - Hergé, Belgian comics creator (b. 1907)
- March 3 - Arthur Koestler, Austrian writer (b. 1905)
- March 8 - William Walton, English composer (b. 1902)
- March 9 - Ulf von Euler, Swedish physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
- March 15 - Rebecca West, English-born writer (b. 1892)
- March 17 - Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
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April-June
- April 4 - Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1897)
- April 22 - Earl 'Fatha' Hines, American musician (b. 1903)
- April 30 - McKinley "Muddy Waters" Morganfield, American Musician (b. 1915)
- May 8 - Frank Aiken, Irish Foreign Minister (b. 1898)
- May 8 - John Fante, American writer (b. 1909)
- May 14 - Roger J. Traynor, American judge (b. 1900)
- May 19 - Jean Rey, President of the European Commission (b. 1902)
- May 21 - Kenneth Clark, British art historian (b. 1903)
- May 22 - Albert Claude, Belgian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
- June 2 - Stan Rogers, Canadian musician (b. 1949)
- June 12 - Norma Shearer, Canadian-born actress
- June 18 - Marianne Brandt, German industrial designer (b. 1893)
- June 25 - Alberto Ginastera, Argentine composer (b. 1916)
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July-September
- July 1 - Buckminster Fuller, American architect (b. 1895)
- July 4 - John Bodkin Adams, alleged English murderer (b. 1899)
- July 7 - Vicki Morgan, American model (murdered) (b. 1952)
- July 23 - Georges Auric, French composer (b. 1899)
- July 29 - Raymond Massey, Canadian actor (b. 1896)
- July 29 - David Niven, English actor (b. 1910)
- August 16 - Earl Averill, baseball player (b. 1902)
- August 21 - Benigno Aquino Jr., Filipino politician (b. 1932)
- September 1 - Larry McDonald, U.S. Congressman (plane crash) (b. 1935)
- September 10 - Felix Bloch, Swiss-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
- September 25 - King Léopold III of Belgium (b. 1901)
- September 26 - Tino Rossi, Corsican singer (b. 1907)
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October-December
- October 6 - Terence Cardinal Cooke, American Catholic archbishop (b. 1921)
- October 8 - Joan Hackett, American actress (b. 1934)
- October 18 - Willie Jones, baseball player (b. 1925)
- October 28 - Otto Messmer, American cartoonist (b. 1892)
- November 7 - Germaine Tailleferre, French composer (b. 1892)
- November 15 - John Le Mesurier, British actor (b. 1912)
- December 2 - Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian actress (b. 1904)
- December 6 - Lucienne Boyer, French singer (b. 1903)
- December 11 - Sir Neil Ritchie, British general (b. 1897)
- December 21 - Paul de Man, Belgian-born literary critic (b. 1919)
- December 23 - Colin Middleton, Northern Irish artist (b. 1910}
- December 25 - Joan Miró, Catalan painter (b. 1893)
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Nobel Prizes
- Physics - Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, William Alfred Fowler
- Chemistry - Henry Taube
- Medicine - Barbara McClintock
- Literature - William Golding
- Peace - Lech Wałęsa
- Economics - Gerard Debreu
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