1983

1983 is an integer and composite number that represents a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January

• January 1 – Beat Raaflaub became Basel Boys Choir's new conductor
• January 1 – the ARPANET officially changes to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.
• January 1 – compulsory wearing of seat belts becomes law in the UK.
• 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 19 – Klaus Barbie, Nazi war criminal, is arrested in Bolivia.
• January 19 – The Apple Lisa personal computer is announced.
• 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.

February

• February 3 – Australian P.M Malcolm Fraser is granted a double dissolution of both houses of parliament for a double dissolution election for the March 5, on that day Bob Hawke replaces Bill Hayden as federal ALP leader
• February 7 – Iran opens an invasion in the southeast of Iraq.
• February 16 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 71 people in Australia's worst ever fires.
• 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 28 – Over 100 million television viewers tune in to watch the final episode of M*A*S*H on CBS making it the most watched television show in history at the time.

March

• March 1 – Balearic Islands and Madrid become autonomous communities of Spain
• March 1 – Swatch introduce their first timepieces
• March 1 – Duran Duran's album Rio goes gold
• March 5 – Bob Hawke Elected Australian P.M
• March 8 – IBM releases the IBM PC XT
• March 8 – President Ronald Wilson Reagan calls the Soviet Union an "evil empire."
• March 11 – Hawke Ministry sworn in, Andrew Peacock becomes Federal Opposition leader
• 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."
• March 25 – Pop singer Michael Jackson performs his Moonwalk dance maneuver for the first time during his performance of Billie Jean on the Motown 25 TV special, which would air nationally on NBC on May 16.

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 18 – The U.S Embassy is bombed in Beirut, killing 63 people.
• April 22 – Soviet 1st Embassy official Valery Ivanov Expelled For alleged Spying (Aus)
• 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.

May

• May 6 – Stern magazine publishes "Hitler Diaries" (later found to be forgeries).
• May 14 – Justin King was born.
• 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 alligations 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.

June

• Shipbreaking begins on the beach at Alang in Gujarat.
• 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.
• June 27 – The Internet Domain Name System was invented by Paul Mockapetris.
• June 27 – The conception of the MSX Home Computer System.

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 Blocks construction of the Franklin Dam In Tasmania
• July 7 – Samantha Smith flies to the Soviet Union.
• July 20 – Government of Poland announces end of the martial law and amnesty for political prisoners.
• July 23 – Gimli Glider: Air Canada flight 143 crash-lands in Gimli, Manitoba.
• July 28 New South Wales premier Neville Wran exonerated by Street Royal Commision over claims raised by ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) program Four Corners which claimed,he attempted to influence the NSW majestry

August

• August 4 – Thomas Sankara become President in Upper Volta.
• August 18 – Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
• August 24 – Old Philadelphia Arena is destroyed by arson fire
• August 21 – Benigno Aquino, Jr., Philippines opposition leader, assassinated in Manila.

September

• September 1 – Cold War: Korean Air Flight KAL-007 is shot down by a Soviet jet fighter when the commercial aircraft entered Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die.
• September 6 – The Soviet Union admits to shooting down Korean Air Flight KAL-007, stating that the pilots did not know it was a civilian aircraft when it violated Soviet airspace
• September 23 – Mass outbreak in Maze prison – 38 prisoners hijack a lorry and crash out of the gate – one guard dead, 5 injured. 19 of the prisoners are later apprehended.
• September 23 – Barbara Turnbull, a Canadian 18 year old girl, was shot in the neck and became paralyzed for life during a store robbery in Mississauga, Canada.
• September 23 – Armand Jose, was born.
• September 25 – September 26 – Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war.
• Septembetr 26 – Australia wins the America's Cup ending the New York Yacht club's 132 year domination of the race

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 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 rape their daughter in the Sheffield suburb of Dore.
• October 25 – United States invades Grenada.
• 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 30 – The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule are held.

November

• November 2 – Martin Luther King Day: At the White House Rose Garden, UnitedUnited States President Ronald Wilson 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, 5 divers where killed and 1 severely wounded. In an explosive decompression accident.
• November 10 – Microsoft announces the forthcoming release of a new software product, to be named Windows.
• 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 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 ASIS (Australian Secret Intelligence Service) agents bungle a training exercise on the Melbourne Sheraton
• Microsoft Word is first released.

December

• December 9 – The Australian Dollar is Floated, By Federal treasuer 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 10 – Gary Noble was born in Preston Hospital, North Shields. Which is in the North-East of England.
• December 17 – A fire at a discotheque in Madrid, Spain, kills 83 people.
• December 17 – IRA 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 Marseilles. One on the Paris train kills 3 and injures 19. Other at Marseilles station kills 2 and injures 34.

Unknown dates

• Democratic reform in power in Argentina.
• McDonald's introduces the McNugget
• Roxanne Pulitzer divorces Herbert Pulitzer
• Gerard Debreu wins the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel

• Leopold Kohr, the people of Belau, Amory and Hunter Lovins / Rocky Mountain Institute and Manfred Max-Neef / CEPAUR win the Right Livelihood Award
• Northern Territory Decriminilizes Homosexual Acts Between Consenting Adults
• Atari releases the game E.T. for the Atari 2600. It is considered the Worst Video Game of All Time.

Year in topic

• 1983 in film
  • May 25 – Return of the Jedi
  • November 23 – Terms of Endearment
  • The Big Chill
  • The Right Stuff
• 1983 in literature
• 1983 in music
• 1983 in rail transport
• 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) (now Spike TV) begins broadcasting.
  • November 20 – ABC-TV in the USA broadcasts the controversial movie The Day After about what a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union might be like.

Births

January-March

• January 2 – Kate Bosworth, actress
• January 6 – Hans Robert Hiegel, German architect
• January 11 – Siti Nurhaliza, Malaysian R&B singer
• January 18 – Utada Hikaru, Japanese-American R&B singer
• January 18 – Samantha Mumba – singer and actress
• February 7 – Elin Grindemyr, model
• February 8 – Jim Verraros, American Idol singer
• February 23 – Mido, Egyptian international footballer
• March 14 – Taylor Hanson, musician

April-June

• April 10 – Cecelia Cichan
• April 13 – Schalk Burger, South African rugby player
• April 15 – Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian NHL player
• April 17 – Miguel Cabrera, Major League Baseball All-Star
• April 22 – Sean Muir, American Playwright
• April 23 – Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakian tennis player
• May 2 – Rose Falcon, actress/singer
• May 11 – Matt Leinart, Heisman Trophy-winning football quarterback
• May 11 – Holly Valance – Australian actress and pop singer
• May 14 – Amber Tamblyn, actress
• May 27 – Bobby Convey, American soccer player
• May 30 – Jennifer Ellison – British actress
• June 6 – Joe Rokocoko, New Zealand rugby player
• June 8 – Kim Clijsters – Belgian tennis player
• June 30 – Cheryl Tweedy – British pop singer

July-September

• July 2 – Michelle Branch, pop singer
• July 11 – Marie Eleonor Sernehlot, oldest of the A-Teens
• July 13 – Liu Xiang, Chinese hurdling athlete
• July 21 – Kellen Winslow Jr., American football player
• July 22 – Shelby Belle, pornographic actress
• July 23 – Aaron Peirsol, competitive swimmer
• August 14 – Mila Kunis, actress
• August 19 – Tammin Sursok, Australian actress
• August 22 – Bryan Smith, American Supermodel
• August 24 – Christopher Parker, actor
• September 17 – Jennifer Peña, Tejano singer

October-December

• October 2 – Efren Ramirez, actor
• October 5 – Nicky Hilton, model and socialite
• October 24 – Brian Vickers – NASCAR driver
• October 29 – Amit Sebastian Paul, member of A-Teens
• October 30 – Diana Karazon, Jordanian singer
• November 16 – Fallon Bowman, exguitarist of Kittie
• November 18 – Jon Johansen, programmer
• December 12 – Katrina Elam, Country singer
• December 20 – Lucy Pinder, British Page 3 model

Deaths

January-March

• January 11 – Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist, Gandhian and educationist (b. 1894)
• January 15 – Meyer Lansky, mobster (b. 1902)
• January 23  – Fred Bakewell, exciting and unorthodox Northamptonshire and England batsman (b. 1908)
• January 24 – George Cukor, director (b. 1899)
• January 28 – Frank Forde, fifteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1890)
• February 4 – Karen Carpenter, singer, dies of anorexia nervosa (b. 1950)
• February 12 – Eubie Blake, musician, songwriter
• February 14 – Lina Radke, German athlete (b. 1903)
• February 22 – Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
• February 25 – Tennessee Williams, playwright (b. 1911)
• March 3 – Hergé (Georges Rémi), Belgian comics creator (Tintin)
• March 8 – William Walton, composer (b. 1902)
• March 15 – Rebecca West, writer (b. 1892)
• March 23 – Barney Clark, first artificial heart recipient
• March 30 – Eilius Eques, photojournalist

April-June

• April 4 – Gloria Swanson, actress
• April 22 – Earl 'Fatha' Hines, musician (b. 1903)
• May 8 – Frank Aiken, Irish Foreign Minister (1959-1969)
• May 19 – Jean Rey, President of the European Commission
• May 21 – Kenneth Clark, British art historian
• June 2 – Stan Rogers, Canadian musician
• June 12 – Norma Shearer, Academy Award-winning actress
• June 18 – Marianne Brandt, industrial designer and Bauhaus participant
• June 25 – Alberto Ginastera, Argentine composer (b. 1916)

July-September

• July 1 – Buckminster Fuller, American architect
• July 4 – John Bodkin Adams, alleged British murderer
• July 7 – Vicki Morgan, fashion model
• July 23 – Georges Auric, French composer
• July 29 – Raymond Massey, actor
• August 16 – Earl Averill, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1902)
• August 21 – Benigno Aquino Jr., Philippine opposition leader
• September 25 – Leopold III of Belgium
• September 26 – Tino Rossi, Corsican singer

October-December

• October 6 – Terence Cardinal Cooke, tenth bishop (seventh archbishop) of the Roman Catholic diocese of New York (b. 1921)
• October 8 – Joan Hackett, actress
• October 18 – Willie Jones, Major League Baseball player (b. 1925)
• October 28 – Otto Messmer, creator of Felix the Cat
• November 7 – Germaine Tailleferre, French composer
• December 2 – Fifi D'Orsay, actress
• December 6 – Lucienne Boyer, French singer
• December 11 – Sir Neil Ritchie, British general (b. 1897)
• December 25 – Joan Miró, surrealist painter

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, William Alfred Fowler
• Chemistry – Henry Taube
• Medicine – Barbara McClintock
• Literature -William Golding
• Peace – Lech Walesa