1981

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

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

Years: 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 - 1981 - 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986

Table of contents

1 Events 2 Year in topic 3 Births 4 Deaths 5 Nobel Prizes 6 Computing

Events

• Ronald Reagan succeeds Jimmy Carter as President of the United States of America
• January 1 - Greece enters the European Community
• January 1 - Palau becomes self-governing
• January 19 - United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity
• January 20 - Iran releases 52 American hostages that were captive for 444 days minutes after Ronald Reagan becomes president.
• February 10 - A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198.
• February 11 - Polish Prime Minister Jozef Pinkowski replaced by Wojciech Jaruzelski
• February 23 - Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil enters the Spanish Congress of Deputies, and stops the session, where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo was going to be named president of the government. The coup d'etat would fail thanks to King Juan Carlos.
• February 24 - Jean Harris is convicted of murdering Dr. Herman Tarnower, the author of the bestselling The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet
• March 6 - After 19 years hosting the CBS Evening News Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time.
• March 19 - Three workers are killed and five injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
• March 29 - First running of the London Marathon
• March 30 - President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C, hotel by John Hinckley, Jr, family friend of the Vice President. Two police officers and James Brady are also wounded.
• April 12 - Columbia 1 mission, first launch of a Space Shuttle
• May 6 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.
• May 13 - Pope John Paul II is shot at and nearly killed by Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish gunman, as he entered St. Peter's Square in Rome to address a general audience. (Two days after Christmas in 1983, Pope John Paul went to the prison to meet and forgive his would-be assassin)
• May 25 - In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
• June 7 - Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor
• July 17 - Hyatt Hotel disaster: Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri collapse into a crowded atrium lobby killing 114.
• July 29 - Diana Spencer marries Charles Windsor, also known as Princess Diana and Prince Charles
• August 5 - Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
• August 7 - The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.
• August 19 - Libyan leader Omar Khadafi sends two Sukoi Su-22 fighter jets to take on a couple of United States fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroyed the Libyan fighters.
• October 14 - Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt one week after Anwar Sadat was assassinated.
• November 1 - Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom.
• December 13 - Wojciech Jaruzelski declares the state of martial law in Poland to prevent dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity
• December 28 - The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born (Norfolk, Virginia).

• US President Ronald Reagan appoints the first female US Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor
• The Pac-Man video game is introduced in the US

• 1981 in film
  • June 12 - Raiders of the Lost Ark starring Harrison Ford
  • Chariots of Fire
  • On Golden Pond
• 1981 in literature
• 1981 in music
  • Grandmaster Flash]'s "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" is the first recording to use scratching
• 1981 in theatre
  • May 11 - the first performance of the history-making musical, Cats.
• 1981 in sports
  • January 25 - Super Bowl XV Oakland Raiders (27) def. Philadelphia Eagles (10)
  • July 24-August 2 - First World Games held in Santa Clara, California
  • August 21 - Salvador Sanchez defeats Wilfredo Gomez by a knockout in 8 to retain his WBC world Featherweight boxing title in Las Vegas.
  • September 16 - Sugar Ray Leonard knocks out Thomas Hearns in round 14, in Las Vegas, to unify the world's Welterweight boxing championship.
• 1981 in television
  • January 20 - Comedian Andy Kaufman ruins sketches and starts a brawl live on the air during ABC's Friday's.
  • August 1 - MTV debuts on Cable television, playing music videos 24 hours a day
  • Luke and Lauras's Wedding on General Hospital, becomes the most watched wedding in television history, other than the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

• The State Council of China listed the four cities (Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Guilin) as where the protection of historical and cultural heritage as well as natural scenery should be treated as a prior project.

• January 4 - Alicia Keys, Musician
• January 28 - Elijah Wood, Actor
• September 26 - Serena Williams, Tennis Player
• November 25 - Barbara and Jenna Bush, daughters of President George W. Bush
• December 2 - Britney Spears, Singer
• December 13 - Amy Lee, Evanescence frontwoman

• January 5 - Lanza del Vasto, philosopher, poet and non-violent activist
• January 6 - A.J. Cronin, Novelist
• January 23 - Samuel Barber, Composer
• February 9 - Bill Haley, Musician
• February 26 - Howard Hanson, composer
• March 9 - Max Delbrück, German biologist
• April 7 - Norman Taurog, director
• May 7 - Eddit Rabbitt, musician
• May 11 - Bob Marley, Jamaican roots rock reggae singer and musician (* 1945)
• May 11 - Bob Marley, reggae musician
• May 18 - William Saroyan, author
• June 28 - Terry Fox, cancer activist
• September 1 - Albert Speer, Nazi official
• October 6 - Anwar Sadat, Egyptian president (assassinated)
• October 16 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general
• November 22 - Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, German medical doctor and biochemist
• December 28 - Allan Dwan, pioneer film director

• Physics - Nicolaas Bloembergen, Arthur Leonard Schawlow, Kai M. Siegbahn
• Chemistry - Kenichi Fukui, Roald Hoffmann
• Medicine - Roger W. Sperry, David H. Hubel, Torsten N. Wiesel
• Literature - Elias Canetti
• Peace - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
• Economics - James Tobin

• Commodore VIC-20, Sinclair ZX81, and Texas Instruments TI-99/4A launched, helping to start the 1980s home computing phenomenon.
• IBM PC released