1982 - What happened in 1982 ?

January 1982

Wednesday 06:

William Bonin convicted of being the "freeway killer".

Friday 08:

AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.

Monday 11:

A cold snap sends temperatures to record lows in dozens of cities throughout the Midwestern United States.

Wednesday 13:

Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90 737 jet crashes into Washington, DC's 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 including four motorists. Plane was not properly de-iced. There were five survivors.

Sunday 24:

Super Bowl XVI: San Francisco 49ers defeat the Cincinnati Bengals, 26-21 in the first Super Bowl played north of the Mason-Dixon line

February 1982

Monday 01:

Senegal and Gambia form a loose confederation known as Senegambia.

Tuesday 02:

1986 - Nurse Anita Cobby is found Dead in a paddock in Prospect, She had been Robbed, Raped + Murdered. 5 men, Micheal Murphy, Gary Murphy, Les Murphy, Micheal Murdoch + John Travers Sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, June 1987 for Anita Cobby's Murder

Wednesday 10:

Das Boot opens in United States theaters.

Monday 15:

The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 rig workers.

March 1982

Friday 05:

Venera 14, a Soviet satellite arrives at the planet Venus.

Wednesday 10:

Syzygy: all 9 planets align on the same side of the Sun.

Friday 19:

Falklands War: Argentines land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war.

Friday 26:

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is held in Washington, DC.

Monday 29:

Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney release their single "Ebony and Ivory".

April 1982

Friday 02:

John Chancellor helms the news desk at the NBC Nightly News for the final time, after eleven-and-a-half years.

Saturday 17:

Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.

Saturday 24:

In Harrogate, United Kingdom, Nicole wins the twenty-seventh Eurovision Song Contest for Germany singing "Ein bißchen Frieden" (A little bit of peace).

May 1982

Saturday 01:

The 1982 World's Fair opens in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Sunday 02:

Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.

Tuesday 25:

HMS Coventry is sunk during the Falklands War.

Friday 28:

Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.

Sunday 30:

Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.

June 1982

Sunday 06:

1982 Lebanon War begins: Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.

Monday 07:

Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier is kept off-limits.

Saturday 12:

in New York City's Central Park, 750,000 people rally against nuclear weapons. Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, and Linda Ronstadt are in attendance.

Sunday 13:

Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.

Friday 25:

Greece abolishes headshaving of the recruits in the military.

July 1982

Friday 02:

Larry Walters uses 45 helium balloons and a lawnchair to propel himself to 16,000 feet.

Sunday 04:

Four Iranian diplomats have been kidnapped upon Israel invasion of lebanon.

Friday 09:

A Boeing 727 carrying Pan Am Flight 759 crashes in Kenner, Louisiana killing all 146 people on board and eight others on the ground.

Tuesday 13:

Montreal hosts the first baseball All-Star Game outside the United States.

Sunday 18:

268 campesinos ("countryside people") are slain in the Plan de Sánchez massacre in Ríos Montt's Guatemala.

August 1982

Wednesday 18:

Japanese election law is amended to allow for proportional representation.

Friday 20:

Lebanese Civil War: A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon.

Sunday 29:

The synthetic chemical element Meitnerium, atomic number 109, is first synthesized at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany.

September 1982

Wednesday 15:

The first issue of USA Today is published by Gannett.

Thursday 16:

Sabra and Shatila massacre.

Sunday 19:

Scott Fahlman posts the first recorded instance of the emoticon :-) to an online bulletin board

Thursday 30:

The TV sitcom Cheers premieres.

October 1982

Friday 01:

The EPCOT Center opens at Walt Disney World in Florida, United States.

Thursday 07:

Cats opens on Broadway and runs for nearly 18 years before closing on September 10, 2000.

Friday 08:

Poland bans Solidarity.

Tuesday 19:

John De Lorean is arrested for trafficking in cocaine.

Wednesday 20:

St. Louis Cardinals defeat Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 to win 9th World Series Championship.

November 1982

Wednesday 03:

A gasoline tanker explodes in the Salang Tunnel in Afghanistan, killing 2,000+ people.

Sunday 14:

Lech Wa??sa, the leader of Poland's outlawed Solidarity movement, is released after eleven months of internment near the Soviet border.

Thursday 18:

Duk Koo Kim died unexpectedly from injuries sustained during a 14-round match against Ray Mancini in Las Vegas, prompting reforms in the sport of boxing.

Saturday 20:

1982 - Andy Kaufman was forever voted off of Saturday Night Live by a live phone poll.

Monday 29:

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: The United Nations General Assembly passes United Nations Resolution 37/37, stating that the Soviet Union forces should withdraw from Afghanistan.

December 1982

Thursday 02:

At the University of Utah, Barney Clark, becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.

Saturday 04:

The People's Republic of China adopts its current constitution.

Thursday 09:

Norman Mayer threatens to blow up the Washington Monument, before being killed by United States Park Police.

Thursday 23:

The Environmental Protection Agency recommends the evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri due to dangerous levels of dioxin contamination

Sunday 26:

TIME magazine's Man of the Year was for the first time given to a non-human; the personal computer