World Events
Population: 4.610 billion
Nobel Peace Prize: Alva Myrdal (Sweden) and Alfonso García Robles (Mexico)
British overcome Argentina in Falklands war (April 2-June 15).
Israel invades Lebanon in attack on PLO. (June 4).
Princess Grace, 52, dies of injuries when car plunges off mountain road; daughter Stephanie, 17, suffers serious injuries (Sept. 14).
Lebanese Christian Phalangists kill hundreds of people in two Palestinian refugee camps in West Beirut (Sept. 15).
Leonid I. Brezhnev, Soviet leader, dies at 75 (Nov. 10). Yuri V. Andropov, 68, chosen as successor (Nov. 15).
U.S. Events
President: Ronald W. Reagan
Vice President: George Bush
Population: 231,664,458
Life expectancy: 74.5 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000): 56.0
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000): 50.3
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars): $3,242.10 billion
Federal spending: $745.76 billion
Federal debt: $1137.3 billion
Median Household Income
(current dollars): $20,171
Consumer Price Index: 96.5
Unemployment: 9.7%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.20
John W. Hinckley, Jr. found not guilty because of insanity in shooting of President Reagan (June 21).
Alexander M. Haig, Jr., resigns as Secretary of State (June 25).
Equal Rights Amendment fails ratification (June 30).
Sports
Super Bowl
San Francisco d. Cincinnati (26-21)
World Series
St. Louis Cardinals d. Milwaukee Brewers (4-3)
NBA Championship
LA Lakers d. Philadelphia 76ers (4-2)
Stanley Cup
NY Islanders d. Vancouver (4-0)
Wimbledon
Women: Martina Navratilova d. C. Evert Lloyd (6-1 3-6 6-2)
Men: Jimmy Connors d. J. McEnroe (3-6 6-3 6-7 7-6 6-4)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Gato Del Sol
NCAA Basketball Championship
North Carolina d. Georgetown (63-62)
NCAA Football Champions
Penn St. (11-1-0)
World Cup
Italy d. W. Germany (3-1)
Entertainment
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: Rabbit Is Rich, John Updike
Music: Concerto for Orchestra, Roger Sessions
Drama: A Soldier's Play, Charles Fuller
Oscars awarded in 1982
Academy Award, Best Picture: Chariots of Fire, David Puttnam, producer (The Ladd Co.; Warner Bros.)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)
Grammy Awards
Record of the Year: Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
Album of the Year: Double Fantasy - John Lennon and Yoko Ono (Warner Bros/Geffen)
Song of the Year: Bette Davis Eyes - Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon, songwriters
Miss America: Elizabeth Ward (AR)
Events
Michael Jackson releases Thriller, which sells more than 25 million copies, becoming the biggest-selling album in history, to date.
John Belushi dies of a drug overdose at age 33.
Cats opens on Broadway. Becomes Broadway's longest-running play.
Movies
E.T. – the Extra-Terrestrial, Tootsie, Gandhi, The Verdict
Music
Michael Jackson, Thriller
Books
Thomas Keneally, Schindler's List
Alice Walker, The Color Purple
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Aaron Klug (UK), for research in the detailed structures of viruses and components of life.
Physics: Kenneth G. Wilson (US), for analysis of changes in matter under pressure and temperature.
Physiology or Medicine: Sune Bergstrom, Bengt Samuelsson (both Sweden), and John R. Vane (UK), for research in prostaglandins, hormonelike substances involved in a wide range of illnesses.
A permanent artificial heart is implanted in a human for first time in Dr. Barney B. Clark, 61, at University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City (Dec. 2).
The space shuttle Columbia makes its first mission, deploying two communications satellites (Nov. 16).
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) diagnostic machines are introduced in Britain.
Washington University in St. Louis develops the Flavr Savr tomato, the first genetically-engineered plant approved for sale.
Deaths
John Belushi
Ingrid Bergman
Leonid Brezhnev
Grace Kelly
Satchel Paige