1982 CE

The Falklands War breaks out between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands; the 1982 Lebanon War begins as Israel invades Lebanon; the 1982 FIFA World Cup is held in Spain and is won by Italy; E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial becomes the highest grossing movie at the time; Hama is besieged; Air Florida Flight 90 crashes into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., killing 80; the Chicago Tylenol murders lead to tamper-evident packaging; the Twilight Zone accident kills actor Vic Morrow and two child actors; and the CD is commercially introduced.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 26 – Mauno Koivisto is elected President of Finland.source
January 27 – The government of Garret FitzGerald in Ireland is defeated 82–81 on its budget; the 22nd Dáil is dissolved.source
February 1 – Senegal and The Gambia form a loose Senegambia Confederation.source
February 7 – Iraqi club Al-Shorta win the 1982 Arab Club Champions Cup with a 4–2 aggregate win over Al-Nejmeh in the final.source
February 18 – The Ireland general election gives a boost to Fianna Fáil.source
February 24 – In South Africa, 22 National Party MPs, led by Andries Treurnicht, vote for no confidence in P. W. Botha.source
March 2 – Decentralisation in France: the Law of Decentralisation creates the administrative regions of France (régions).source
March 19 – Argentine scrap metal workers (infiltrated by marines) raise the flag of Argentina on South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, two British overseas territories.source
March 29 – Royal Assent is given to the Canada Act 1982, setting the stage for the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution on April 17.source
April 17 – Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: By Proclamation of the Queen of Canada on Parliament Hill, Canada patriates its constitution, gaining full political independence from the United Kingdom; included is the country's first entrenched bill of rights.source
April 25 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in accordance with the Egypt–Israel peace treaty of 1979.source
June 20 – Falklands War ends with British forces retaking the South Sandwich Islands.source
September 21 – The first International Day of Peace is proclaimed by the United Nations.source
September 23 – Amine Gemayel, brother of Bachir, is elected president of Lebanon.source
October 1 – Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of Germany through a constructive vote of no confidence.source
October 27 – In Canada, the July 1 holiday, Dominion Day, is officially renamed Canada Day.source
October 28 – The Socialist Party wins the election in Spain; Felipe González is elected Prime Minister.source
November 6 – Paul Biya becomes the second president of Cameroon following the resignation of Ahmadou Ahidjo.source
November 8 – Kenan Evren becomes the seventh president of Turkey as a result of the constitution referendum. His former title was "head of state".source
November 27 – Yasuhiro Nakasone becomes Prime Minister of Japan.source
December 1 – Miguel de la Madrid takes office as President of Mexico.source
December 4 – The People's Republic of China adopts its current constitution.source
December 10 – United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea signed at Montego Bay; it becomes fully effective on November 16, 1994, on receiving 60 signatures.source
December 22 – The Indian Ocean Commission (Commission de l'Océan Indien, COI) is created by the Port Louis Agreement.source

Conflict & Security

February 2 – The Hama massacre begins in Syria.source
March 10 – The United States places an embargo on Libyan oil imports, alleging Libyan state-sponsored terrorism.source
April 1 – The 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands begins when Argentine forces land near Stanley, beginning the Falklands War.source
April 2 – Rex Hunt, the British governor of the Falkland Islands, surrenders the islands to Argentine forces, leading to their occupation.source
April 3 – Invasion of the Falkland Islands: Argentine forces begin the invasion of South Georgia.source
April 26 – Falklands War: British troops retake South Georgia Island during Operation Paraquet.source
April 30 – The Bijon Setu massacre takes place in broad daylight at a railway crossing in India.source
May 18 – Falklands War: The British Special Air Service launches Operation Plum Duff, a reconnaissance mission preliminary to Operation Mikado, which is planned to destroy three Argentinean Exocet missiles and five Super Étendard fighter-bombers. Both Operation Plum Duff and Operation Mikado are called off after the Plum Duff insertion is revealed by a helicopter landing in Chile.source
May 24 – Iran-Iraq War: Iranian troops retake Khorramshahr.source
May 28–29 – Falklands War: Battle of Goose Green: British forces defeat a larger Argentine force.source
June 6 – The 1982 Lebanon War begins: Israeli forces under Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut. The United Nations Security Council votes to demand that Israel withdraw its troops from Lebanon.source
June 8 – The Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Philadelphia 76ers in six games to win the 1982 NBA Finals.source
June 8 – Falklands War: British supply ship RFA Sir Galahad is destroyed during the Bluff Cove Air Attackssource
June 14 – Argentine surrender in the Falklands War: Argentine forces in the island capital, Stanley, surrender to British forces.source
June 18 – Argentine military dictator Leopoldo Galtieri resigns in the wake of his country's defeat in the Falklands War.source
August 1 – Attempted coup against the government of Daniel Arap Moi in Kenya.source
August 4 – The United Nations Security Council votes to censure Israel because its troops are still in Lebanon.source
August 20 – Lebanese Civil War: A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon.source
September 14 – Lebanese President-elect Bachir Gemayel is assassinated in Beirut.source
September 18 – Sabra and Shatila massacre: A Lebanese Christian militia (the Phalange) kill thousands of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut; the massacre is a response to the assassination of the president-elect, Bachir Gemayel, four days earlier.source
September 24 – The Wimpy Operation, the first act of armed resistance against Israeli troops in Beirut.source
October 20 – Luzhniki disaster: During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death.source
November 11 – In Lebanon, the first Tyre headquarters bombing kills between 89 and 102 people.source
December 16 – The United Freedom Front bombs an office of South African Airways in Elmont, NY and an IBM office in Harrison, NY. Two police officers suffer hearing damage. In March 1984, the UFF claims responsibility for the IBM building bombing, stating that the company was targeted because of its business in South Africa under Apartheid.source

Exploration & Expansion

May 1 – A crowd of over 100,000 attends the first day of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, which is kicked off with an address by President Ronald Reagan. Over 11 million people attend during its six-month run.source

Religion & Belief

May 12 – Spanish priest Juan María Fernández y Krohn tries to stab Pope John Paul II with a bayonet during the latter's pilgrimage to the shrine at Fátima.source
June 12 – The Nuclear Disarmament Rally, an event against nuclear weapon proliferation, draws 750,000 to New York City's Central Park. Performers include Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen and Linda Ronstadt. An international convocation at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine features prominent peace activists from around the world and afterward participants march on Fifth Avenue to Central Park for the rally.source

Economy & Finance

August 12 – Mexico announces it is unable to pay its large foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis that quickly spreads throughout Latin America.source
September 26 – Thermals take Australian parachutist Rich Collins up to 2800 m ft during a jump; he almost blacks out due to lack of oxygen. He releases his main parachute to fall to a lower altitude and lands by his reserve parachute.source
November 3 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average surges 43.41 points, or 4.25%, to close at 1,065.49, its first all-time high in more than 9 years.source
November 24 – Representatives from 88 countries gather in Geneva to discuss world trade and ways to work toward aspects of free trade.source
A global surplus of crude oil causes gasoline prices to collapse.source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).source
January 30 – The first computer virus, the Elk Cloner, written by 15-year old Rich Skrenta, is found. It infects Apple II computers via floppy disk.source
February 19 - The Boeing 757 is flown for the first time.source
May 2 – The Weather Channel airs on cable television in the United States as the first 24-hour all-weather network.source
May 21 – The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is established.source
May 30 – Indianapolis 500: 1973 winner Gordon Johncock wins his second race over 1979 winner Rick Mears by 0.16 seconds. Leading to the closest finish to this date, Mears draws alongside Johncock with a lap remaining, after erasing a seemingly insurmountable advantage of more than 11 seconds in the final 10 laps, in what Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian Donald Davidson and Speedway public address announcer Tom Carnegie later call the greatest moment in the track's history.source
July 23 – Torrential rain and mudslides in Nagasaki, Japan, destroy bridges and kill 299.source
August 2 – The Helsinki Metro, the first rapid transit system in Finland, opens to the general public.source
August 17 – The first compact discs (CDs) are produced in Germany.source
October 1 – Sony launches the first consumer compact disc (CD) player (model CDP-101).source
November 3 – A gasoline (petrol) tanker explodes in the Salang Tunnel in Afghanistan, killing at least 176 people.source
December 11 – Swedish pop group ABBA make their final public performance on the British TV programme The Late, Late Breakfast Show.source
December 26 – Time magazine's Man of the Year is given, for the first time to a non-human, the computer.source

Science & Discovery

March 10 – Syzygy: All 9 planets recognized at this time align on the same side of the Sun.source
June 11 – E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is released in the United States; directed by Steven Spielberg, this will become the biggest box-office hit for the next 11 years.source
July 6 – A lunar eclipse (umbral duration 236 min and total duration 106 min, the longest of the 20th century) occurs.source
September 19 – The first emoticons are posted by Scott Fahlman.source
Ciabatta bread is invented by a baker in Verona, Italy.source

Health & Medicine

January 20 – Musician Ozzy Osbourne is treated for rabies after biting the head off a live bat during a concert in Des Moines, Iowa.source
August 13 – In Hong Kong, health warnings on cigarette packets are made statutory.source
September 21 – In the United States, the National Football League Players Association calls a strike, the first in-season work stoppage in the National Football League's 63-year history. The strike lasts for 57 days, reduces the regular season from 16 games to 9, and forces an expanded 16-team playoff tournament.source
October 8 – Poland bans the Solidarity trade union after having suspended it on December 13, 1981.source
December 2 – At the University of Utah, 61-year-old retired dentist Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart (he lives for 112 days with the device).source
The population of the People's Republic of China alone exceeds 1 billion, making China the first nation to have a population of more than a billion.source

Crime & Justice

February 25 – The European Court of Human Rights rules that teachers who cane, belt or tawse children against the wishes of their parents are in breach of the Human Rights Convention.source
March 16 – Claus von Bülow is found guilty of the attempted murder of his wife by a court in Newport, Rhode Island.source
April 26 – From 26 to 27 April, policeman Woo Bum-kon goes on a killing spree in Uiryeong County, South Korea. By the early morning of April 27, after killing at least 56 people with several firearms and grenades, he kills himself via grenade. It becomes the deadliest spree shooting in recorded history up until the 2011 Norway attacks.source
May 8 – French-Canadian racing driver Gilles Villeneuve is killed during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.source
July 16 – In New York City, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon is sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $25,000 for tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.source
September 29 – Chicago Tylenol murders: an unknown killer laces Tylenol capsules with potassium cyanide that kills seven in Chicago, Illinois.source
December 7 – The first U.S. execution by lethal injection is carried out in Texas.source
December 8 – The December murders occur in Suriname.source

Disasters & Accidents

January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., United States, then falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 people.source
January 14 – An Ethiopian Air Force Antonov An-26 with an unknown registration crashed near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing all 73 occupants on board.source
January 18 – 1982 Thunderbirds Indian Springs Diamond Crash: Four Northrop T-38 aircraft of the United States Air Force crash at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, Nevada, killing all 4 pilots.source
February 3 – Syrian president Hafez al-Assad orders the army to purge the city of Harran of the Muslim Brotherhood.source
February 5 – London-based Laker Airways collapses, leaving 6,000 stranded passengers and debts of £270 million.source
February 9 – Japan Airlines Flight 350 crashes in Tokyo Bay due to thrust reversal on approach to Tokyo International Airport, killing 24 among the 174 people on board.source
February 15 – The oil platform Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing all 84 rig workers aboard.source
May 2 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine sinks the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, killing 323 sailors. Operation Algeciras, an attempt to destroy a Royal Navy warship in Gibraltar, fails.source
May 4 – Falklands War: is hit by an Argentine Exocet missile and burns out of control; 20 sailors are killed. The ship sinks on May 10.source
May 21 – Falklands War: is sunk by Argentine aircraft, killing 22 sailors.source
May 25 – British ships and are sunk during the Falklands War; Coventry by two A-4C Skyhawks and Atlantic Conveyor by two Exocets.source
June 8 – VASP Flight 168, a Boeing 727 passenger jet, crashes into a forest hillside in Fortaleza in Brazil, killing 137.source
July 9 – Pan Am Flight 759 (Boeing 727) crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 146 on board and 8 on the ground.source
July 23 – Twilight Zone accident: During filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie, actor Vic Morrow and 2 child actors die in a helicopter stunt accident in California.source
July 31 – Beaune coach crash: In Beaune, France, 53 persons, 46 of them children, die in a highway accident (France's worst).source
October 11 – The Mary Rose, flagship of Henry VIII of England that sank in 1545, is raised from the Solent.source
October 12 – The Saudi Arabian cargo ship Elhawi Star, transporting 3,631 tonnes of ceramic tiles and 781 tonnes of lumber to Chioggia, sank while being towed away from the Port of Rijeka by the tugboats Beli Kamik and Aries because of the unevenly distributed cargo.source

Climate & Environment

March 30 – Space Shuttle Columbia ends an eight-day mission, STS-3, by landing at White Sands Space Harbor near Alamogordo, New Mexico. It is the only time a Space Shuttle has landed at White Sands. The orbiter was forced to land here due to flooding at its originally planned landing site, Edwards Air Force Base in California.source
May 16 – The New York Islanders sweep the Vancouver Canucks in four games to win the 1982 Stanley Cup Final in ice hockey.source
June 24 – British Airways Flight 9 suffers a temporary four-engine flameout and damage to the exterior of the plane after flying through the otherwise undetected volcanic ash plume from Indonesia's Mount Galunggung.source
July 23 – The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985–1986.source
December 13 – The 6.2 North Yemen earthquake shakes southwestern Yemen with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 2,800.source

Culture & Society

January 24 – The San Francisco 49ers defeat the Cincinnati Bengals to win Super Bowl XVI at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.source
March 18 – A legal case brought on behalf of Mary Whitehouse against the National Theatre of Britain concerning alleged obscenity in the play The Romans in Britain ends after the Attorney General intervenes.source
March 29 – Freshman Michael Jordan hits a jumper with 17 seconds remaining to lift the North Carolina Tar Heels to a 63–62 win over the Georgetown Hoyas in the 1982 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.source
March 29 – The 54th Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Chariots of Fire wins Best Picture and 3 other Academy Awards.source
April 24 – German singer Nicole wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 (held in Britain) with the song Ein Bisschen Frieden.source
May 26 – English club Aston Villa F.C. wins the European Cup, beating Bayern Munich 1–0 after a 69th-minute goal by Peter Withe in Rotterdam.source
June 13 – The 1982 FIFA World Cup in Association football begins in Spain.source
July 11 – Italy beats West Germany 3–1 to win the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain.source
September 18 – The funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco takes place.source
November 20 – The General Union of Ecuadorian Workers (UGTE) is founded.source
November 20 – University of California, Berkeley executes "The Play" in a college football game against Stanford. Completing a wacky 57-yard kickoff return that includes five laterals, Kevin Moen runs through Stanford band members who have prematurely come onto the field. His touchdown stands and California wins 25–20.source
November 28 – The Edmonton Eskimos win an unprecedented 5th consecutive Grey Cup – a feat yet unaccomplished by any professional football franchise – to win the 70th Grey Cup, defeating the Toronto Argonauts 32–16.source
November 29 – Michael Jackson releases his sixth studio album, Thriller, in the United States, which will go on to be the best-selling album of all time.source

Deaths

June 13 – Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.source
July 20 – Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: the Provisional IRA detonates 2 bombs in central London, killing 8 soldiers, wounding 47 people, and leading to the deaths of 7 horses.source
September 14 – Princess Grace of Monaco dies after having suffered a car crash a few days previously.source
November 12 – In the Soviet Union, former KGB head Yuri Andropov is selected to become the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid Brezhnev, who had died two days earlier.source