1989 Facts: Nobel Prizes, Music, Movies & Many More!

If we observe carefully, we find that 1989 is a major turning point in the history of the world and for politics too!

In 1989, there was a wave of revolution in politics that swept the political bloc in eastern Europe and included the well-known demolishing of the Berlin Wall. As the cold war came to a definite end, people witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall.

There were also major changes seen in the living cost in the year 1989. The USA's Yearly Inflation Rate rose by 4.8%, with a steady increase and rise in gas prices and average monthly rent.

The rate of Ham and Cheese Pizza becomes 2.59 dollars, and one gallon of gas is of the price of 97 cents. There were also new things invented in that year.

The famous thing that was invented in 1989 is the World Wide Web which is very important in today's time.

While working at CERN in 1989, British scientist Tim Berners-Lee devised the World Wide Web (WWW). The web was created to address the demand for computerized information sharing between scientists at universities and research organizations all across the world.

Apart from the Computerized development, we also saw various key medical developments in 1989. For example, the CFTR genes (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) were discovered along the HCV (Hepatitis C Virus) in Medicine and Physiology department was identified.

Also, in 1989, Queen Elizabeth II was given the title of the wealthiest person in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, in the same year again, the origin of National Coffee Day was celebrated.

Although it is not the actual year of origin, its exact origins are still unknown. Also, the forming of the Canadian Space Agency took place in March 1989 whereas, in Australia, Queensland state elections took place.

If you liked the following facts about the year 1989, and you are curious to know more about such fun facts, then check our other articles on 1976 fun facts and 1977 fun facts here on Kidadl.

Revolution In The American Music Industry

Dance music and the new wave style of music was popular in the year 1989. Rock music continued to have a large following. Soft rock, glam music, official audio, thrash metal, shred guitar with extreme distortion, and pinch harmonics grew popular. Smooth jazz and adult contemporary had both grown in appeal.

Madonna, Phil Collins and Basic Minds were all still very popular in 1989. The year's best-selling music group was Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers, a novelty pop band based out of Rotherham in the UK. For fans of music outside the mainstream, there were lots of up and coming artists with an electric sound to choose from.

The spring of groove preceded the summer of love in 1989. Soul II Soul published their debut album, suitably titled 'Club Classics Vol.

1', in April of that year. The CD is jam-packed with incredible soulful grooves that are hard to find these days. English based electronic band New Order took three years to release their album 'Technique' and fans said it was well worth the wait with their acid house influence beats.

In 1989, some American popular music artists were Bobby Brown, Bon Jovi, Bette Midler, Debbie Gibson, Cher, Dino, and many more. Popular music underwent a drastic transformation as a result of technological breakthroughs and advancements and in terms of aesthetic diversity.

New Wave, Punk, Electronic, Soft Rock, and more middle-of-the-road out-and-out pop music all rose to prominence in the 1980s.

Guns n' Roses reached new heights of fame after releasing two of their biggest hits in the one year, 'Sweet Child O'Mine' and 'Paradise City'.

Paula Abdul also released her incredibly successful single 'Opposites Attract', while Madonna's superstardom was cemented with her single 'Express Yourself'. Incredibly, after 64 weeks after it was released, 'Forever Your Girl' by Paula Abdul, reached number 1 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart.

Some other popular songs of 1989 were 'Wind Beneath My Wings' by Bette Midler, 'She Drives Me Crazy' by Fine Young Cannibals, 'Satisfied' by Richard Marx, 'Don't Wanna Lose You' by Gloria Estefan, 'I'll Be Loving You (Forever)' by New Kids on the Block, 'I'm Gonna Miss You' by Milli Vanilli, and 'Miss You Much' by Janet Jackson.

Even though 'Beaches' was released in 1988, Midler's title track from the movie, 'Wind Beneath My Wings' was still in the charts.

Famous Movies Released In 1989

1989, like the year before it, was a major year in the film industry. 1989 was the first time a major blockbuster movie film was directed by a black woman.

'A Dry White Season,' was directed by Euzhan Palcy, who is originally from Martinique, French West Indies.. 1989 was also the official return of Walt Disney productions with the blockbuster animation film, 'The Little Mermaid'.

Michael Moore's debuted his new documentary 'Love Him or Hate Him'. With the release of the first instalment of the 'Batman' movie franchise, directed by Tim Burton's famous, the beginning of a new superhero age of film began.

Along with these films came a slew of significant pop-culture history classics, including 'Heathers', 'When Harry Met Sally', and 'Field of Dreams'.

In 1989, then relatively unknown director Hayao Miyazaki released 'Kiki's Delivery Service' an animated fantasy movie.

It was the first movie released under a 15-year distribution partnership between The Walt Disney Company and Studio Ghibli. The year 1989 was also incredibly when the first movie stuntman was used in a movie, paving the way for an amazing array of stunts in future films.

Some other famous movies of 1989 include 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade', 'Intimate Fall Tour', 'The Star Wars', 'The Killer', 'Crimes and Misdemeanors', 'My Left Foot', 'Dead Poets Society', 'Driving Miss Daisy', and 'Do the Right Thing'.

Popular back-to-back shows included 'Different World' on NBC, 'The Wonder Years' on ABC, 'Empty Nest' on NBC, 'The Golden Girls' on NBC, 'The Cosby Show' on NBC, and 'Monday Night Football' on ABC.

Another instant hit was 'America's Funniest Home Videos' and first ever episode of long-running series 'The Simpsons' was released titled 'Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire' for the very first time on television, which was well-received and much-adored by the audiences.

Decolonization In Various Countries

Following World War II, the Soviet Union ruled over all of Eastern Europe, but as the Revolutions of 1989 neared, this position significantly changed. It was a game-changer in the fall of communism across Europe. It also signaled the end of the Cold War and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall that separated Eastern Europe and Western Europe.

The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia are thought to have been antecedents to the 1989 Revolutions. The reforms proposed by Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, on the other hand, greatly contributed to the Eastern bloc's democratic liberalization movement.

The Soviet Union was then in the middle of an economic crisis in the '80s, prompting Gorbachev to enact significant reforms to address the issue.

The Soviet Union turned to Western bloc technology to compensate for their economic downfall. In 1986, Gorbachev established a strategy known as glasnost and promoted perestroika throughout the Soviet-influenced countries.

Without a doubt, the October 1989 revolutions began with changes in Poland. During this time, the Soviet Union chose to rescind the Brezhnev Doctrine, which stated that the Soviet Union would not interfere in the domestic affairs of its Warsaw Pact partners.

This decision freed Poland, which was quickly followed by Hungary, from Soviet domination.

In the '80s, Poland was experiencing a labor crisis, prompting the formation of Solidarity, an autonomous trade organization led by Lech Walesa that grew into political force over time.

As a result, on Dec 13, 1981, Communist leader Wojciech Jaruzelski imposed a military crackdown on Solidarity by the declaration of martial law in Poland, suspending the union and imprisoning a majority of its officials.

The Revolutions of 1989, which is also known as the Autumn of Nations, were a critical phase that swept Central and Eastern Europe, ending the Soviet Union's hegemony in the region. It also resulted in the collapse of the Berlin Wall, allowing East Germans to move to West Germany over Hungary's Austrian border.

Before the GDR barred travel to Hungary in September 1989, an estimated 30,000 East Germans managed to flee.

By the end of 1989, uprisings had expanded across Eastern Europe, all with the goal of overthrowing Soviet authorities.

The upheavals ultimately marked the end of the Cold War and the fall of Communism along with the Berlin Wall in Europe. In addition, other Soviet-influenced countries' liberalization and self-determination progressed, signaling the retreat of Soviet troops from Eastern Europe.

Nobel Prize Winners In 1989

The 14th Dalai Lama which is Tenzin Gyatso, was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for supporting reasonable solutions based on acceptance and mutual understanding in order to preserve his folk's historical and cultural legacy.

The Nobel Prize is one of five prizes (until 1969 when a sixth prize was introduced) granted yearly from a fund established by the Swedish inventor and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.

The Nobel Prizes are usually considered to be the world's most distinguished reward for intellectual achievement. Nobel directed that the majority of his income be set aside as a budget for awarding five-yearly prizes 'to those who, during the following year, should have conferred the greatest value on mankind' in his will made in 1895.

The Nobel Prizes for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace, as established by their legacy, are the Nobel Prizes for Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, and Harmony.

Other than the Nobel Peace Prize winners, there are many winners in various fields. In the chemistry department, the winners were Sidney Altman and Thomas Robert Cech, from the United States.

They were awarded because of their discovery and finding properties of RNA. Whereas in economics, Trygve Haavelmo of Norway was the winner. He developed statistical techniques for the field of economic forecasting.

Same in physics and physiology, there were many winners like Hans Georg Dehmelt, Wolfgang Paul for their development for isolating atoms and Norman Foster Ramsey for atomic clock development. J. Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus were the winners in the medicine department as they studied the genes which cause cancer in human bodies.

Other Facts About 1989

In the year 1989, the popular books were of Stephen King and Tom Clancy Daddy. 'The Dark Half' and 'Clear and Present Danger' were both released. Besides these books, another popular release in 1989 was written by James A Michener called 'John Jakes Caribbean'.

The Miss USA of 1989 was Gretchen Polhemus of Texas. She received much fame after receiving the title. At the same time, the fashion icons of the time were Naomi Campbell, Jennifer Beals, Candice Bergen, Christina Applegate, Cindy Crawford, and Jennifer Connelly.

The Loma Prieta earthquake occurred in 1989, with a magnitude of 7.1 on the Richter magnitude, impacting the San Francisco Bay Area, in California and resulting in the death of 63 people.

Also, due to bad real estate lending practices and a lack of regulatory oversight, approximately a quarter of all savings and loan organizations required bailouts during the savings and loan crisis of 1989.

On Jul 31, 1989, in pop culture history, the Nintendo Game Boy was introduced as the first handheld gaming device released in North America. The Game Boy was the first 8-bit standalone system to have interchangeable modules which could be used to play a variety of games.

There was also an Exxon Valdez Oil Spill where on Mar 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil ship sank in Alaska's Prince William Sound. The hull of the ship ruptured, releasing approximately 11 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean.

Thousands of animals were harmed as a result of the oil spill, which turned into a massive ecological disaster.

At the beginning of 1989, two key significant events occurred in India on Jan 6 where Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh, were found guilty of killing Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and were hung in Tihar Jail. On Jan 15, the Gorkha National Liberation Front, led by Subhash Ghisingh, won the inaugural Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Assembly elections.

Some cool things also happened in 1989, back when floppy discs were still used. The Netherlands became the world's second-largest internet user. Also, the first episode of Australian soap show Home and Away aired.

The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide incident, the first Palestinian suicide strike against Israel, occurred on Jul 6, 1989. President George H. W. Bush of the USA at that time visited Poland and Hungary from July 9 to July 12, urging economic support and investment from the United States.

In 1989, hundreds of demonstrators died or were injured after the Chinese government declared martial law. Sanctions against China occurred around the world following the Tiananmen Square incident, including the United States and many other countries.

The events of 1989 not only dissolved Europe, but they also terminated the Soviet Union's postwar position in Europe because that role was predicated on the continent's once-clear separation and, of course, the political-military implications that came with it.

However, despite the continuous presence of Soviet forces in Europe, these repercussions no longer exist and resulted in bringing major advancements in foreign affairs.

Oakland Athletics were the World Series Champions in 1989.

James E. Burke took over the reins of Partnership for a Drug-Free America, an NGO, in 1989. It is a non-profit company based in New York City that undertakes campaigns in the United States to reduce juvenile drug and alcohol usage.

It is famous for bringing together volunteer talent to address a specific social issue, namely, assisting young people in living lives free of drug and alcohol abuse.

If you're wondering how much things cost in 1989, a $1 item in the year 1989 would cost around $2.5 today. So what was cool in 1988? Being a 'Crocodile Dundee II' fan was considered very cool.

The 1989 Grand Prix in Canada was a Formula One automobile event contested on Jun 18, 1989 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 1989 facts then why not take a look at 1983 facts, or 1972 facts.

First image is by Raph_PH.