1983

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s

Years: 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 - 1983 - 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988

• January - Apple Lisa introduced by Apple Computer
• January 1 - the ARPANET officially changes to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet
• January 2 - The musical Annie[?] is performed for the last time after 2,377 shows (Uris Theatre[?] on Broadway, New York City).
• January 19 - Klaus Barbie, Nazi war criminal, is arrested in Bolivia
• January 19 - The Apple Lisa personal computer is announced
• January 22 - Bjorn Borg retires from tennis after winning 5 consecutive Wimbledon championships.
• January 26 - Lotus 1-2-3 is released
• February 16 - The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 71 people in Australia's worst ever fires.
• February 24 - A special commission of the United States Congress releases a report critical of the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
• March 8 - President Reagan calls the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire".
• 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."
• April 7 - During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave[?] and Don Peterson[?] perform the first space shuttle spacewalk (duration: 4 hours, 10 minutes).
• April 25 - American 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.
• May 17 - Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
• June 18 - Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space on the Space Shuttle Challenger
• July 7 after writing Soviet Premier Yuri Andropov, asking why the Soviets wanted to rule the world
• August 4 - Thomas Sankara become President in Upper Volta
• August 21 - Benigno Aquino, Jr.[?], Philippines opposition leader, assassinated in Manila
• September 1 - Korean Airlines flight 007 shot down while off course over Soviet territory [[1] (http://aviation-safety.net/cvr/cvr_ke007.htm)]
• October 23 - United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut destroyed by suicide bomber, killing 241
• October 27 - Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Agca in prison to forgive him. Ali Agca is a Turkish gunman, who attempted to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981,
• October 25 - United States invades Grenada

• Barbara McClintock receives Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovery of the first transposons in maize in 1940.
• The U.S Embasy is bombed in Beirut, killing 40 people
• Internet Domain Name System invented by Paul Mockapetris

• Democratic reform in power in Argentina
• Maine schoolgirl Samantha Smith travels to the Soviet Union

Art, Culture & Fashion

• 1983 in film
  • May 25 - Return of the Jedi
  • Terms of Endearment
  • The Big Chill
  • The Right Stuff
• 1983 in literature
• 1983 in music
• 1983 in sports[?]
  • March 6 - The United States Football League begins its first year of competition
• 1983 in television
  • February 28 - Over 125 million Americans tune in to watch the final episode of M*A*S*H
  • March 7 - The Nashville Network[?] (TNN) begins broadcasting.

Births

• May 2 - Rose Falcon[?], actress/singer

Deaths

• January 23 - George Cukor, director
• February 4 - Karen Carpenter[?], singer, dies of anorexia nervosa
• February 12 - Eubie Blake, musician, songwriter
• February 25 - Tennessee Williams, playwright
• March 3 - Herge, Belgian comics creator
• March 8 - William Walton, composer
• March 15 - Rebecca West, writer
• March 23 - Barney Clark[?], first artificial heart recipient
• April 4 - Gloria Swanson, actress
• April 22 - Earl 'Fatha' Hines[?], musician
• May 15 - Meyer Lansky, gangster
• May 19 - Jean Rey, President of the European Commission
• June 12 - Norma Shearer, Academy Award winning actress
• July 23 - Georges Auric, composer, member of Les Six
• July 29 - Raymond Massey, actor
• September 25 - Leopold III of Belgium
• October 28 - Otto Messmer[?], creator of Felix the Cat
• November 7 - Germaine Tailleferre, composer
• December 2 - Fifi D'Orsay, actress
• December 25 - Joan Miro, surrealist painter
• Buckminster Fuller, American architect
• Stan Rogers, Canadian musician

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, William Alfred Fowler[?]
• Chemistry - Henry Taube[?]
• Medicine - Barbara McClintock
• Literature -William Golding
• Peace - Lech Walesa
• Economics - Gerard Debreu[?]