1986

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

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

Years: 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 - 1986 - 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991

• January 1 - Spain and Portugal enter the European Community
• January 1 - Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands and is separated from the Netherlands Antilles.
• January 1 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist
• January 9 - After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak leaves the instant camera business.
• January 12 - Space shuttle Columbia takes-off with the first Hispanic-American[?] astronaut, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz[?].
• January 20 - The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
• January 20 - The first federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
• January 24 - Voyager 2 space probe makes first encounter with Uranus
• January 28 - Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
• February 7 - 28 years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
• February 11 - Human Rights[?] activist Anatoly Scharansky[?] is released by USSR, leaves the country.
• February 19 - The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station
• February 19 - After waiting 37 years, the United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide.
• February 25 - President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule.
• February 26 - After exiled President Ferdinand Marcos leaves the Philippines, Corazon Aquino[?] is inaugurated president.
• February 27 - The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
• February 28 - Swedish prime minister Olof Palme is shot dead on his way home from the cinema, his wife the only witness.
• March 2 - Corazon Aquino[?] is inaugurated as President of the Philippines[?].
• March 9 - United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily-damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The bodies of all seven astronauts were still inside.
• April 3 - IBM unveils the PC Convertible, the first laptop computer.
• April 26 - In the Ukraine, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes creating the worlds worst nuclear disaster[?]. 31 are killed directly by the the incident and many thousands more were exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material.
• April 27 - Captain Midnight[?] (John R. MacDougall) hijacks HBO's satellite and transmits his own message to HBO viewers.
• May 25 - "Hands Across America[?]"
• May 26 - The European Community adopts the European flag.
• July 5 - The Statue of Liberty is reopened to the public after an extensive refurbishing.
• August - Apple Lisa discontinued by Apple.
• August 21 - The Lake Nyos Tragedy occurs, killing nearly 2000 people.
• December 31 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.

• The Iran-Contra affair is publicly exposed in October and November
• Commonly considered the start date of the golden age of old school rap

Art, Culture & Fashion

• 1986 in film
  • Platoon
  • Children of a Lesser God
  • Hannah and Her Sisters
  • Ferris Bueller's Day Off
  • Top Gun starring Tom Cruise
• 1986 in literature
• February 26 - Robert Penn Warren, named poet laureate of the United States
• 1986 in music
  • January 23 - The first induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley)
• 1986 in sports
• 1986 in television
  • May 22 - Cher calls David Letterman an "A**hole" on the air during a taping of Late Night with David Letterman.
  • October ? The FOX Broadcasting Company becomes the United States' fourth television network.

Births

• February 21 - Charlotte Church[?], singer
• April 3 - Amanda Bynes, teen actress and show host
• June 13 - The Olsen twins
• March 14 - Jamie Bell[?], actor

• January 14 - Donna Reed[?], actress
• January 24 - L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction writer, founder of Scientology
• January 24 - Gordon MacRae[?], actor, singer
• January 24 - Vincente Minnelli[?], director
• January 27 - Lilli Palmer[?], actress
• January 28 - Crew of Space Shuttle Challenger: Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Greg Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe.
• February 11 - Frank Herbert, science fiction author.
• February 27 - Jacques Plante, ice hockey star
• February 28 - Olof Palme, Swedish prime minister
• March 6 - Georgia O'Keefe[?], artist
• March 10 - Ray Milland, British actor
• March 30 - James Cagney, actor
• April 3 - Richard Manuel[?], musician ("The Band")
• April 14 - Simone de Beauvoir, feminist philosopher
• April 26 - Broderick Crawford, actor
• May 9 - Tenzing Norgay, mountaineer
• May 12 - Elisabeth Bergner, actress
• May 15 - Theodore H. White, writer
• May 23 - Sterling Hayden[?]
• May 25 - Chester Bowles, politician
• June 14 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer
• August 20 - Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer, and playwright
• August 31 - Henry Moore, sculptor
• December 28 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian movie director

Nobel Prizes

• Physics- Ernst Ruska, Gerd Binnig[?], Heinrich Rohrer[?]
• Chemistry - Dudley R Herschbach, Yuan T Lee, John C Polanyi[?]
• Medicine - Stanley Cohen[?], Rita Levi-Montalcini
• Literature - Wole Soyinka
• Peace - Elie Wiesel
• Economics - James Buchanan Jr[?]