Top News Stories from 1980
World Events
World Statistics
Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade
Nobel Peace Prize:
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (Argentina)
More World Statistics...
- Six US embassy aides escape from Iran with Canadian help (Jan. 29). Background: Iran Hostage Crisis
- US breaks diplomatic ties with Iran (April 7).
- Eight US servicemen are killed and five are injured as helicopter and cargo plane collide in abortive desert raid to rescue American hostages in Teheran (April 25). Background: Iran Hostage Crisis
- Iraqi troops hold 90 square miles of Iran after invasion; 8-year Iran-Iraq War begins (Sept. 19).
- Three US nuns and a lay worker are found shot in El Salvador (Dec. 4).
- Anastasio Somoza Debayle, ousted Nicaraguan ruler, and two aides are assassinated in Paraguayan capital of Asunción (Sept. 17).
U.S. Events
U.S. Statistics
President:
James Earl Carter, Jr.
Vice President:
Walter F. Mondale
Population:
227,224,681
Life expectancy:
73.7 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000):
59.5
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000)
53.5
More U.S. Statistics...
- F.B.I.'s undercover operation "Abscam" (for Arab scam) implicates public officials (Feb. 2).
- US Supreme Court upholds limits on federal aid for abortions (June 30).
- Ronald Reagan elected president in Republican sweep (Nov. 4).
Economics
US GDP (1998 dollars):
$2,784.20 billion
Federal spending:
$590.95 billion
Federal debt
$909.1 billion
Median Household Income(current dollars):
$17,710 billion
Consumer Price Index:
$82.4
Unemployment:
7.1%
Cost of a first-class stamp:
$0.15
Sports
Super Bowl
Pittsburgh d. La RamsWorld Series
Philadelphia Phillies d. Kansas CityNBA Championship
LA Lakers d. Philadelphia 76ersStanley Cup
NY Islanders d. PhiladelphiaWimbledon
Women: Evonne Cawley d. C. Evert Lloyd (6-1 7-6)Men: Bjorn Borg d. J. McEnroe (1-6 7-5 6-3 6-7 8-6)
Kentucky Derby Champion
Genuine RiskNCAA Basketball Championship
Louisville d. UCLANCAA Football Champions
Georgia (12-0-0) 1980 Summer OlympicsEntertainment
Entertainment Awards
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction:
The Executioner's Song, Norman Mailer
Music:
In Memory of a Summer Day, David Del Tredici
Drama:
Talley's Folly, Lanford Wilson
Academy Award, Best Picture:
Kramer vs. Kramer, Stanley R. Jaffe, producer (Columbia)
Nobel Prize for Literature:
Czeslaw Milosz (US)
Record of the Year:
"What a Fool Believes," Doobie Brothers
Album of the Year:
52nd Street, Billy Joel (Columbia)
Song of the Year:
"What a Fool Believes," Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald, songwriters
Miss America:
Cheryl Prewitt (MS)
More Entertainment Awards...
Events
- John Lennon of the Beatles shot dead in New York City.
- Ted Turner launches CNN, the first all-news network.
- Mark Morris establishes the Mark Morris Dance Group in New York and is widely received as the most promising modern-dance choreographer of his generation.
Movies
- Raging Bull, Ordinary People, Coal Miner's Daughter, The Elephant Man, Tess
Books
- William Golding, Rites of Passage
- John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces
Science
Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry:
Paul Berg, Walter Gilbert (both US), and Frederick Sanger (UK), for developing methods to map the structure and function of DNA, the substance that controls the activity of the cell
Physics:
James W. Cronin and Val L. Fitch (both US), for work concerning the asymmetry of subatomic particles
Physiology or Medicine:
Baruj Benacerraf, George D. Snell (both US), and Jean Dausset (France), for discoveries that explain how the structure of cells relates to organ transplants and diseases
More Nobel Prizes in 1998...
- Janice Brown, a 98-lb. former teacher, makes the first long-distance solar-powered flight in the Solar Challenger. Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation
- Voyager I reaches Saturn, returning data on its 14 moons as well as its more than 1,000 rings (November). Background: US Unstaffed Planetary and Lunar Programs
- In Diamond v. Shakrabarty, the US Supreme Court rules that genetically engineered organisms may be patented.
- Philadelphia's Wistar Institute develops a new, less painful rabies vaccine.
Death
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