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
Events
- 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.
Art, Culture & Fashion
Births
Deaths
- 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