1983 Facts: Everyone Will Absolutely Adore This Year!

1983 was the 983rd year of the second millennium, 4th year of the 1980's decade, and 83rd year of the 20th century.

A lot many important events took place in the finance, business, pop culture, science, sports, and technology sector of the world. From pioneers to world leaders, find all the hidden insights of the year 1983 as you read along.

As we move forward in time, we tend to look forward to the next big invention that will take the world by storm.

Is it the newest iPhone model or another pandemic that would halt all of the world's activities! But you would be surprised to see how much humanity has achieved till today, and so at times, it's good to look back and appreciate how far we humans have come.

So how about you travel back in time with us about one such year in history, 1983, to know why it was such a memorable year!

We are sure you would love our other related articles on 1975 facts and 1987 fun facts too. Do check them out!

Development In Children’s Literature

1983 was quite a busy year, with lots of events getting the spotlight in different spheres of life. Major news included stories of IBM relating the IBM PC XT, space shuttle challenger launched its maiden flight, and guess what, the most popular application, Microsoft Word, was launched in 1983!

Following this, there was a recession in the US along with a 12 million rise in US unemployment. A staggering drought caught Ethiopia, with their death toll rising to four million.

There were also mass protests in West Germany and England.

Coming to pop culture news, Hollywood wives by Jackie Collins was a hit book for people to read in 1983. A show on nuclear war called 'The Conversation: Mr. Rogers Neighborhood' was trendy as well, along with movies like star wars, vacation, and a Christmas story.

Some more 1983 incidents include a massive hurricane on the Texas coast that cost billions of dollars of loss. The United Kingdom introduces the usage of seatbelts for front-seat passengers and the driver.

Nasa's space shuttle challenger was a six-day flight that carried five astronauts in June.

These astronauts carried several useful experiments in space and were highly regarded as a significant event in 1983. Songs like 'She Works Hard For Money' by Donna Summer and 'Flashdance' by Irene Care, were hit, and we are sure if you were to hear them, you would groove to them too!

But for now, let's look at a lighter side of 1983- children's literature.

Literature for children started during the 17th century with wide-scale publications adopting children as the audience for reading too. Still, the substantial rise in the development of children's literature came in the 20th century.

One of the famous screenwriters of the 20th century was Tennessee Williams. He was famous for his works, such as 'The Glass Menagerie', 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof', and 'A Streetcar Named Desire'.

Before, a kid's story would be presented in the form of pictures and then slowly with pictures and words together. Stories, magazines, books, and poems slowly found their way into children's literature or juvenile literature.

Traditional children's literature can be looked back by first tracing fairy tales that were popular in the 18th century. Then came the songs, part of the popular oral traditions that adults started sharing with children way before any publications even existed.

We are sure many of you must be aware of Roald Dahl, as one of the famous authors for children's literature during the 20th century.

His fantasy novels included the famous 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' (1964) featuring the eccentric factory owner, Willi Wonka, 'James and the Giant Peach' (1961), 'The BFG' (1982), 'Matilda' (1988), 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' (1971).

His childhood experiences inspired all his works; for instance, the novel 'Charlie and Chocolate Factory' was inspired by the two chocolate makers in England, Roald Dahl was familiar with. His novel's unexpected endings, dark humor, and unsentimental plot made him quite the famous author during the '60s, '70s and '80s.

In 1983, the famous Roald Dahl book, 'The Witches', was released.

Presidency Of Ronald Reagan

1983 was the year that buzzed with many events from the sports world to the entertainment industry. Hit movies like 'Flashdance', 'Return of The Jedi', 'Risky Business', and 'Endearment' made their debuts.

The TV show by the name 'A-Team' about four vets was top-rated too. In the 12th season of the national hockey franchise, the 1983-85 New York islanders took place.

The winner of 1983 US open golf, Larry Nelson, made it to the top news of that year too.

A famous show, the musical 'Annie', was performed in New York City for the last time at Uris theater. Turning to the pop culture history pages, Julie Hayek from California became Miss USA.

At the same time, Vanessa Williams became the first Miss America in Atlantic City, New Jersey; what was unique about this win was that she was the first African-American to win the title. Pop-culture history includes famous fashion icons Heather Locklear, Grace Jones, Victoria Principal, Dolly Parton, Jessica Lange, and Madonna.

Did you know the computer mouse was invented in 1983? Sally ride was a popular figure when it came to women in science and technology. Why?

Well, the space saw welcoming Sally Ride, the first American woman and the first woman in space!. J. Crew began selling their items through mail-order catalog.

The American vocabulary added the word anorexia after the pop star death of Karen Carpenter. More sad news in 1983 for the shooting of Korean air flight 007 in Soviet airspace. In 'Scarface', a famous quote from Tony Montana, 'say hello to my little friend,' became famous in 1983.

Before we get into some politics, you must know that the year 1983 was a paradise for music lovers!

Various songs such as do you really want to hurt me by culture club, 'Billie Jean' by Michael Jackson (January 1983), 'Let's Dance' by David Bowie (November 1983), 'Tell Her' about it by Billy Joel (September 1983), 'Say Say Say' by Paul McCartney that also featured Michael Jackson, 'Sweet Dreams' (are made of this) by Eurythmics (September 1983), 'All Night Long' (All night) by Lionel Richie and Relax-Frankie goes to Hollywood and songs by Kenny Rogers were immensely popular in the year.

Now, let's dive into some political happenings of 1983. Ronald Reagan, the president of the United States from 1981 - 1989, made quite some headlines.

After his victory over President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential elections, Ronald Reagan took charge of the office. Again in 1984, he became the president by defeating Democrat Walter Mondale to win the election.

During his tenure, president Ronald proposed the strategic defense initiative (SDI) in a televised address of March 1983. This proposal was a technology intended to intercept enemy missiles.

This system would depend on a not-yet-developed technology to prevent any nuclear war in the future.

The media and many called this plan star wars as they believed the technology to be impossible to implement during that time. Nevertheless, the strategic defense initiative (SDI) did start its development in 1984 under the defense department, but its funding got canceled post the cold war.

Another significant step by president Ronald Reagan was creating a federal holiday to honor the civil rights of Americans on November 2nd, 1983. Martin Luther King day became a holiday on the third Monday of every January.

Apart from this political news, the United States troops conquered Grenada under the command of Eugenia Charles of Dominica, who was then a member of the organization of the American States. This was a famous battle in 1983 and the entire 1980s.

Development In Physics

As you must have read until now, 1983 was a year not short of any achievements, and the science and technology sector notably witnessed a rise in development and growth. Two scientists were the recipients of the Nobel prize in 1983 for their work in physics and space. Let's look at their work in physics during 1983.

The noble prize in physics was shared between William Alfred Fowler and Subramanyam Chandrashekhar. William Alfred Fowler won his prize for the experimental and theoretical study of the importance of nuclear reactions in the Universe's chemical elements. Subramanyam Chandrasekhar's study on the importance of physical processes in the evolution and structure of stars won him the Nobel prize.

Subramanyam Chandrasekhar was an Indian-American astrophysicist. He studied and gave results on mathematical analysis of stellar evolution.

These results were the base for many current theoretical models to study black holes and other massive stars. Did you know the famous Chandrasekhar limit is named after him? Subramanyam Chandrasekhar's mathematical theory on black holes and his late 80s work on colliding gravitational waves made him a renowned physicist.

William Alfred Fowler (9 August 1911 - 14 March 1995) was an American nuclear physicist and astrophysicist. He was known for his experimental and theoretical research on nuclear reactions happening within stars and other energy elements.

He also co-authored the influential paper titled synthesis of the elements in stars. Apart from the Nobel prize in 1983, he won the Eddington medal in 1978, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's Bruce medal in 1979, the Vetlesen Prize in 1973, and the Henry Norris Russel Lecturship in 1978.

Well, this was about science but did you know that one biggest news events in 1983 was theft in Britain, one of the biggest in the history of Britain. £6 million worth of cash was taken at gunpoint from a train van.

Ronnie Knight, actress Barbara Windsor's ex-husband, was imprisoned for 22 years after he was convicted for the robbery.

On the 2nd of May in 1983, a 6.7 magnitude of earthquake was recorded in Coalinga, California, and 487 were injured.

In November 1983, Michael Jackson released one of his famous albums, 'Thriller'.

In 1983, Australia seemed to have a tough year, with severe dust storms sweeping the entire Melbourne, depositing around 1000 ton (907185 kg) of soil everywhere in the city! On 16 February, bushfires in South Australia and Victoria claimed 72 lives and destroyed 2000 homes. This was regarded as one of Australia's worst fires.

The US, on the other, seemed to be in pretty good condition during 1983 in terms of its economy. Inflation dropped to 3.2% in 1983 from 10.3% in 1981. Corporate income also rose by 29% in the quarter of July-September in 1983 as compared to 1982.

September 1983 also marked a unique day as the celebrations of the national coffee day took place in Japan on September 29th. The national coffee day is now celebrated globally as a sign of the promotion of fair trade in coffee and raising awareness about the poor condition of coffee farmers.

1983 was also the year of the invention with several new technologies finding their breakthrough, such as Apple Lisa, Apple 410 color plotter, Actrix (computer).

Famous Novel Published

The decade of '80s was often regarded as a decade forgotten because of its manifold news, happenings, and achievements. One such area was of novels and books. Several bestselling books found their way through 1983; while avid readers still remember some, some are forgotten. Nevertheless, let's look at some hot-sellers of 1983.

The Lonesome goods by Louis L'Amour was a hit amongst people. His book of an adventure in California frontier set in the 19th century appealed masses. Louis L'amour was a very popular writer of the '80s

Before the concept of real housewives, there was the novel Hollywood wives! It was written by Jackie Collins and sold around 15 million copies worldwide! The story revolved around a group of women from the entertainment industry, ranging from talent agents, screenwriters to screen vixens and newcomers.

Umberto Eco's debut novel was 'The Name of the Rose' that was initially published in 1980. The book was a historical murder mystery set in 1327 in a monastery. A movie was made on this book too.

Christine by Stephen King was another famous novel. Stephen King described it as happy days gone mad, quite a peculiar way to describe, right?

Apparently, back then, it was the only story Stephen could pen down. The book was about a teenager Arnie Cunningham who is a nerd and buys an old 1958 Plymouth Fury that is actually possessed by supernatural forces! Despite many critical and negative reviews, Christine sold 300,00 copies in 1983.

'The Little Drummer Girl' by William F. Buckley was another hit novel about spies, crime and punishment, and adultery that follows Martin Kurtz's manipulations, an Israeli spymaster who recruits a young actress from Britain to track down a Palestinian terrorist.

James Kahn wrote 'The Return of the Jedi', and it was a phenomenal success from the time it was released in May 1983. 'Return of the Jedi' had bagged the number one position in New York Times paperback and hardcover bestseller list and in June was reprinted 11 times already!

Did you know that the Star Wars first novelization had released prior to the first film?

The book was written by George Lucas and Alan Dean Foster and got launched in November 1976. The film opened in cinemas in May 1977.

Speaking about movies, another famous movie by the name 'War Games' starring Matthew Broderick was a hit. The movie's plot revolved around a computer genius kid who accidentally connects to a supercomputer that's top-secret and, in fact, has control over the US nuclear arsenal.

This challenges him to a game between Russia and America, to which he innocently also starts counting down to world war three!

Some more interesting facts before you leave!

Did you know that an Air Canada flight, Boeing 767, was landed at the RCAF station in 1983 by captain Bob Pearson with no fuel and countless mechanical failures! What skills must that require, right?

In 1983, Richard Noble set a land speed record of 633.468 mph (1019.46 kph) at the Black Rock desert while driving Thrust 2 in Nevada.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 1983 facts then why not take a look at 1998 facts, or 1981 facts.