What happened in 1983
166 entries recorded for 1983, listed by date. That was 43 years ago.
1983 at a glance
- Years ago
- 43 (as of 2026)
- Century
- 20th century
- Decade
- 1980s
- Generation born
- Millennials (Generation Y)
- Entries here
- 166
- Breakdown
- 120 historical events · 44 births · 2 deaths
January
- January 11
United Airlines Flight 2885
United Airlines Flight 2885 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing three.
- January 16
Turkish Airlines Flight 158
Turkish Airlines Flight 158 crashes at Ankara Esenboğa Airport in Ankara, Turkey, killing 47 and injuring 20.
- January 18
Malayan Communist Party
Singaporean communist activist Tan Chay Wa was executed, leading to a much-publicised trial of his brother for engraving "subversive" material on the gravestone.
- January 18
International Olympic Committee
Thirty years after his death, the International Olympic Committee presented commemorative medals to the family of American athlete Jim Thorpe, who had been stripped of his gold medals for playing semi-professional baseball before the 1912 Summer Olympics.
- January 27
Seikan Tunnel
The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō, breaks through.
- January 27
Paulo Colaiacovo
Paulo Colaiacovo, Canadian ice hockey player
- January 27
Carlo Colaiacovo
Carlo Colaiacovo, Canadian ice hockey player
- January 29
Singapore cable car crash
Singapore cable car crash: Panamanian-registered oil rig, Eniwetok, strikes the cables of the Singapore Cable Car system linking the mainland and Sentosa Island, causing two cabins to fall into the water and killing seven people and leaving thirteen others trapped for hours.
February
- February 4
Rebecca White
Rebecca White, Australian politician
- February 4
Hannibal Buress
Hannibal Buress, American comedian and actor
- February 8
Shergar
The Irish-bred race horse Shergar was stolen by gunmen, who demanded a £2 million ransom.
- February 8
1983 Melbourne dust storm
A dust storm hits Melbourne, resulting in the worst drought on record and severe weather conditions in the city.
- February 12
Lahore
One hundred women protest in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.
- February 13
Cinema Statuto fire
A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people.
- February 14
Knoxville, Tennessee
United American Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee collapses. Its president, Jake Butcher, is later convicted of fraud.
- February 16
Ash Wednesday bushfires
The Ash Wednesday bushfires burned over half a million acres (over 2,000 km2) each in both South Australia and Victoria, killing 75 people and injuring 2,676 others.
- February 18
Wah Mee massacre
Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee massacre in Seattle. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.
- February 22
Moose Murders
The play Moose Murders opened and closed on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, becoming the standard of "awfulness" against which all Broadway failures are judged.
- February 22
Broadway theatre
The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.
- February 22
Brian Duensing
Brian Duensing, American baseball player
- February 23
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
- February 24
United States Congress
A special commission of the United States Congress condemns the Japanese American internment during World War II.
- February 26
Jerome Harrison
Jerome Harrison, American football player
- February 28
Goodbye, Farewell and Amen
The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 110 million viewers.
March
- March 2
Compact disc
Compact discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.
- March 8
Cold War
Cold War: In a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida, U.S. president Ronald Reagan described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire".
- March 11
Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke is appointed Prime Minister of Australia.
- March 21
West Bank
In the West Bank, a number of Palestinian girls complained of breathing difficulties due to strange odors, leading to accusations of poison gas.
- March 21
1983 West Bank fainting epidemic
The first cases of the 1983 West Bank fainting epidemic begin; Israelis and Palestinians accuse each other of poison gas, but the cause is later determined mostly to be psychosomatic.
- March 29
Chokwe Antar Lumumba
Chokwe Antar Lumumba, American attorney, activist and politician
- March 29
Efstathios Aloneftis
Efstathios Aloneftis, Greek-Cypriot footballer
April
- April 4
Space Shuttle program
Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space on STS-6.
- April 5
People's Armed Police
In China, the People's Armed Police, primarily responsible for internal security, was founded.
- April 12
Harold Washington
Harold Washington was elected as the first African-American mayor of Chicago.
- April 14
Let's Dance (David Bowie album)
Let's Dance, English musician David Bowie's best-selling album, was released.
- April 18
Miguel Cabrera
Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player
- April 19
Joe Mauer
Joe Mauer, American baseball player
- April 20
Miranda Kerr
Miranda Kerr, Australian model
- April 21
Kim Wall (sprinter)
Kim Wall, British sprinter
- April 21
Tarvaris Jackson
Tarvaris Jackson, American football player (died 2020)
- April 22
Shkëlzen Shala
Shkëlzen Shala, Albanian entrepreneur and veganism activist
- April 22
Sam W. Heads
Sam W. Heads, English-American entomologist and palaeontologist
- April 25
The Jakarta Post
The first issue of The Jakarta Post was published in Indonesia.
- April 25
Cold War
Cold War: 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.
- April 28
Stern (magazine)
The West German news magazine Stern published excerpts from the purported diaries of Adolf Hitler, later revealed to be forgeries.
May
- May 4
Derek Roy
Derek Roy, Canadian ice hockey player
- May 6
Hitler Diaries
The Hitler Diaries are revealed as a hoax after being examined by new experts.
- May 9
Gilles Müller
Gilles Müller, Luxembourgian tennis player
- May 12
Kushida (wrestler)
Yujiro Kushida, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
- May 12
Domhnall Gleeson
Domhnall Gleeson, Irish actor
- May 17
Lebanon
Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
- May 17
United States Department of Energy
The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds [1.9 kt]), in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request.
- May 20
Virology
A team of researchers led by French virologist Luc Montagnier published their discovery of HIV, but were not then certain that it caused AIDS.
- May 20
HIV
First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by a team of French scientists including Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Jean-Claude Chermann, and Luc Montagnier.
- May 20
Church Street, Pretoria bombing
Church Street bombing: A car bomb planted by UMkhonto we Sizwe explodes on Church Street in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, killing 19 people and injuring 217 others.
- May 26
1983 Sea of Japan earthquake
The 7.8 Mw Sea of Japan earthquake shakes northern Honshu with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami is generated that leaves about 100 people dead.
- May 26
Nathan Merritt
Nathan Merritt, Australian rugby league player
- May 26
Demy de Zeeuw
Demy de Zeeuw, Dutch footballer
- May 27
Benton fireworks disaster
An explosion at an illegal fireworks factory near Benton, Tennessee, killed eleven people.
June
- June 2
Emergency landing
After an emergency landing due to an in-flight fire, 23 passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 were killed when a flashover occurred as the aircraft's doors opened.
- June 2
Air Canada Flight 797
After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire, twenty-three passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 are killed when a flashover occurs as the plane's doors open. Because of this incident, numerous new safety regulations are put in place.
- June 4
Gordon Kahl
Gordon Kahl, who killed two US Marshals in Medina, North Dakota on February 13, is killed in a shootout in Smithville, Arkansas, along with a local sheriff, after a four-month manhunt.
- June 6
Michael Krohn-Dehli
Michael Krohn-Dehli, Danish footballer
- June 6
Hans Leip
Hans Leip, German author, poet, and playwright who wrote the lyrics of Lili Marleen (born 1893)
- June 8
Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8
Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 loses one of its propellers in flight resulting in damage to the flight controls. The Lockheed L-188 Electra makes an emergency landing at Anchorage International Airport and there are no injuries.
- June 8
Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player; winner of six Grand Slam tournament titles.
- June 13
Pioneer 10
Pioneer 10 passed the orbit of Neptune, becoming the first man-made object to leave the proximity of the major planets of the Solar System.
- June 18
Space Shuttle program
Space Shuttle program: STS-7, astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.
- June 18
Space Shuttle Challenger
Aboard Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman and third one overall in space.
- June 18
Mona Mahmudnizhad
Iranian teenager Mona Mahmudnizhad and nine other women were hanged in Shiraz because of their membership in the Baháʼí Faith.
- June 25
Marc Janko
Marc Janko, Austrian footballer
July
- July 1
Ilyushin Il-62
A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet crashed into the Fouta Djallon mountains in Guinea, killing all 23 people on board.
- July 1
Ministry of State Security (China)
The Ministry of State Security is established as China's principal intelligence agency
- July 1
North Korea
A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashes into the Fouta Djallon mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.
- July 6
Gregory Smith (actor)
Gregory Smith, Canadian actor, director, and producer
- July 7
Cold War
Cold War: Samantha Smith, a United States schoolgirl, flies to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Secretary General Yuri Andropov.
- July 7
Yuri Andropov
After writing a letter to Soviet premier Yuri Andropov, American schoolgirl Samantha Smith visited the Soviet Union as Andropov's personal guest, becoming known as "America's Youngest Ambassador".
- July 8
Rich Peverley
Rich Peverley, Canadian ice hockey player
- July 11
TAME
A TAME airline Boeing 737-200 crashes near Cuenca, Ecuador, killing all 119 passengers and crew on board.
- July 14
Mario Bros.
Mario Bros. is released in Japan, beginning the popular Super Mario Bros franchise.
- July 15
1983 Orly Airport attack
An attack at Orly Airport in Paris is launched by Armenian militant organisation ASALA, leaving eight people dead and 55 injured.
- July 15
Nintendo
Nintendo and Sega enter the console market with the respective releases of the Famicom and SG-1000 in Japan.
- July 15
Sega
Sega's first home video game console, the SG-1000 (pictured), was released in Japan.
- July 16
British Airways Helicopters Flight 5918
Sikorsky S-61 disaster: A helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
- July 16
Sikorsky S-61
A Sikorsky S-61 helicopter operated by British Airways crashed in thick fog in the Celtic Sea, killing 20 of the 26 people on board.
- July 17
Adam Lind
Adam Lind, American baseball player
- July 19
Michael W. Vannier
The first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a CT is published.
- July 21
Lowest temperature recorded on Earth
The world's lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).
- July 22
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland is officially revoked.
- July 23
Gimli Glider
Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba.
- July 23
Sri Lanka Army
Thirteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
- July 24
Black July
The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
- July 24
George Brett
George Brett, playing for the Kansas City Royals against the New York Yankees, has a game-winning home run nullified in the "Pine Tar Incident".
- July 25
Black July
Black July: Thirty-seven Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by the fellow Sinhalese prisoners.
- July 27
Black July
Black July: Eighteen Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by Sinhalese prisoners, the second such massacre in two days.
- July 27
Madonna
American musician Madonna released her self-titled debut album, which set the standard for the genre of dance-pop for decades.
August
- August 4
Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo
Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, the president of Upper Volta, was ousted in a coup d'état led by Thomas Sankara.
- August 6
Robin van Persie
Robin van Persie, Dutch footballer
- August 18
Hurricane Alicia
Hurricane Alicia made landfall near Galveston, Texas, causing $3 billion in damage and 21 fatalities.
- August 21
Ninoy Aquino
Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. is assassinated at Manila International Airport (now renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor).
- August 29
Anthony Recker
Anthony Recker, American baseball player
- August 29
Jennifer Landon
Jennifer Landon, American actress
- August 29
Antti Niemi (ice hockey)
Antti Niemi, Finnish ice hockey player
- August 30
Aeroflot Flight 5463
Aeroflot Flight 5463 crashes into Dolan Mountain while approaching Almaty International Airport in present-day Kazakhstan, killing all 90 people on board.
- August 30
STS-8
STS-8: The Space Shuttle Challenger takes off on the first night launch of the shuttle program. Guion Bluford becomes the first African-American in space on this mission.
September
- September 1
Cold War
Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the commercial aircraft strayed into Soviet airspace, killing all 269 on board, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.
- September 10
Typhoon Ellen (1983)
Typhoon Ellen dissipated after destroying hundreds of homes across Hong Kong and the Philippines.
- September 12
Boricua Popular Army
The clandestine Boricua Popular Army staged a bank robbery in West Hartford, Connecticut, making off with $7 million in the largest cash theft in U.S. history at the time.
- September 15
Israel
Israeli premier Menachem Begin resigns.
- September 17
Vanessa Williams
Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America.
- September 19
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Kitts and Nevis gains its independence.
- September 23
Gulf Air Flight 771
Flying from Pakistan, Gulf Air Flight 771 was bombed up by the Abu Nidal Organization while on approach over the United Arab Emirates (UAE), killing all 112 people on board.
- September 25
Maze Prison escape
In one of the largest prison escapes in British history, 38 Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners hijacked a meals lorry and broke out of HM Prison Maze in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
- September 26
Soyuz 7K-ST No.16L
Soyuz 7K-ST No. 16L, intended to launch a crew to the Salyut 7 space station, explodes on the launch pad. The launch escape system is activated before the Soyuz-U rocket explodes, saving the crew.
- September 26
Stanislav Petrov
Soviet Air Force officer Stanislav Petrov identifies a report of an incoming nuclear missile as a computer error and not an American first strike, thus preventing nuclear war.
- September 26
Yacht racing
The racing yacht Australia II, captained by John Bertrand, won the America's Cup and ended the New York Yacht Club's 132-year defence of the trophy.
- September 26
Cold War
Cold War: Soviet lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov averted a potential nuclear war by identifying as a false alarm signals that appeared to indicate an impending U.S. missile attack.
- September 27
Richard Stallman
American software developer Richard Stallman announced plans for the Unix-like operating system GNU, the first free software developed by the GNU Project.
- September 29
Ryan Garry
Ryan Garry, English footballer and coach
October
- October 4
Richard Noble
Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 miles per hour (1,019.468 km/h) at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.
- October 9
Chun Doo-hwan
South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan survives an assassination attempt in Rangoon, Burma, but the blast kills 21 and injures 17 others.
- October 13
Ameritech Cellular
Ameritech Mobile Communications launches the first US cellular network in Chicago.
- October 21
Metre
The metre is defined as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
- October 22
Marion, Illinois
Two correctional officers are killed by inmates at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. The incident inspires the Supermax model of prisons.
- October 23
Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese Civil War: The U.S. Marines Corps barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. A French Army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.
- October 25
United States invasion of Grenada
The United States and its Caribbean allies invade Grenada, six days after Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and several of his supporters are executed in a coup d'état.
- October 30
1983 Argentine general election
The first democratic elections in Argentina, after seven years of military rule, are held.
- October 30
1983 Erzurum earthquake
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake in the Turkish provinces of Erzurum and Kars leaves approximately 1,340 people dead.
- October 30
National Reorganization Process
As the military dictatorship came to an end, Argentina's first democratic election in a decade resulted in Raúl Alfonsín being elected president.
November
- November 2
Ronald Reagan
U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
- November 2
Ebonette Deigaeruk
Ebonette Deigaeruk, Nauruan weightlifter
- November 2
Fred Rosser
Darren Young, American wrestler
- November 5
Byford Dolphin
The Byford Dolphin diving bell accident kills five and leaves one severely injured.
- November 7
1983 United States Senate bombing
United States Senate bombing: A bomb explodes inside the United States Capitol. No one is injured, but an estimated $250,000 in damage is caused.
- November 7
Cold War
Cold War: The command post exercise Able Archer 83 begins, eventually leading to the Soviet Union to place air units in East Germany and Poland on alert, for fear that NATO was preparing for war
- November 8
TAAG Flight 462
TAAG Angola Airlines Flight 462 crashes after takeoff from Lubango Airport killing all 130 people on board. UNITA claims to have shot down the aircraft, though this is disputed.
- November 9
Michael Turner (footballer, born 1983)
Michael Turner, English footballer
- November 9
Ted Potter Jr.
Ted Potter Jr., American golfer
- November 9
Rob Elloway
Rob Elloway, German rugby player
- November 10
Bill Gates
Bill Gates introduces Windows 1.0.
- November 13
Kalle Kriit
Kalle Kriit, Estonian cyclist
- November 17
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is founded in Mexico.
- November 18
Aeroflot Flight 6833
Aeroflot Flight 6833 is hijacked en route from Tbilisi to Leningrad. After returning to Tbilisi, the aircraft is subsequently raided on the ground, resulting in seven deaths.
- November 24
André Laurito
André Laurito, German footballer
- November 24
Dean Ashton
Dean Ashton, English footballer
- November 24
Lars Eckert
Lars Eckert, German rugby player
- November 25
Jhulan Goswami
Jhulan Goswami, Indian cricketer
- November 26
Brink's
Six robbers broke into a Brink's-Mat warehouse at Heathrow Airport in London and stole £26 million in gold, diamonds and cash.
- November 26
Brink's-Mat robbery
Brink's-Mat robbery: In London, 6,800 gold bars worth nearly £26 million are stolen from the Brink's-Mat vault at Heathrow Airport.
- November 27
Avianca Flight 011
Avianca Flight 011: A Boeing 747 crashes near Madrid's Barajas Airport, killing 181.
- November 28
Space Shuttle Columbia
Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-9, the first mission to carry the European Space Agency's Spacelab module.
December
- December 4
United States Navy
US Navy aircraft from USS John F. Kennedy and USS Independence attack Syrian missile sites in Lebanon in response to an F-14 being fired on by an SA-7. One A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair are shot down. One American pilot is killed, one is rescued, and one is captured.
- December 5
National Reorganization Process
Dissolution of the Military Junta in Argentina.
- December 7
Iberia (airline)
An Iberia Airlines Boeing 727 collides with an Aviaco DC-9 in dense fog while the two airliners are taxiing down the runway at Madrid–Barajas Airport, killing 93 people.
- December 10
Democracy
Democracy is restored in Argentina with the inauguration of President Raúl Alfonsín.
- December 10
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín (pictured) became the first democratically elected president of Argentina to take office after more than seven years of military dictatorship.
- December 17
The Troubles
The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a car bomb outside Harrods in London, killing six people and injuring about 90 others.
- December 17
Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional IRA members detonate a car bomb at Harrods Department Store in London. Three police officers and three civilians are killed.
- December 19
FIFA World Cup
The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- December 19
FIFA World Cup Trophy
The Jules Rimet Trophy, awarded to the winner of the FIFA World Cup, was stolen from the offices of the Brazilian Football Confederation.
- December 21
Taylor Teagarden
Taylor Teagarden, American baseball player
- December 21
Paul de Man
Paul de Man, Belgian-born philosopher, literary critic and theorist (born 1919)
- December 21
Steven Yeun
Steven Yeun, American actor
- December 24
Aeroflot Flight 601
Aeroflot Flight 601 crashes during takeoff from Leshukonskoye Airport, Russia, killing 44 of the 49 people on board.
- December 27
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Ağca in Rebibbia's prison and personally forgives him for the 1981 attack on him in St. Peter's Square.
- December 31
Wells and Wellington affair
Two Australian biologists published an article titled "A Synopsis of the Class Reptilia in Australia", initiating the Wells and Wellington affair.
Questions about 1983
What happened in 1983?
This site records 166 entries for 1983, including United Airlines Flight 2885 on January 11. They are listed below by date.
How long ago was 1983?
43 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1983 turns 43 this year.
Which century is 1983 in?
1983 falls in the 20th century, in the 1980s.
Which generation was born in 1983?
Millennials (Generation Y) (1981–1996). Came of age around the year 2000 and the rise of the internet.
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