1983

15 January 1974 - 12 July 1984	USA [television]	The situation comedy Happy Days, about family life in the 1950s, premiers on US television and runs for 11 seasons.
11 September 1974 - 21 March 1983	USA [television]	Little House on the Prairie, a popular television drama based on the classic series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, starts on US television. It chronicles the Ingalls family's struggles in the American West in the 1870s.
1982–1984	Ethiopia [famines]	Civil war and drought cause a major famine in Ethiopia; at least 800,000 people die and 1.5 million flee the country before foreign grain is received the following year.
1982–1984	UK [television]	The Young Ones, a comedy series about four students in a shared house, is shown on British television. It stars Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Adrian Edmondson, and Christopher Ryan, and guest stars Alexei Sayle.
1983	USA [thought and scholarship]	Palestinian-American critic Edward Said publishes The World, the Text, and the Critic.
1983	USA [computing]	US computer manufacturer Apple introduces the ‘Lisa’, the first computer to use a mouse and pull-down menus.
1983	USA [medicine]	US medical researcher Robert Gallo at the US National Cancer Institute, Maryland, and French medical researcher Luc Montagnier at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, isolate the virus thought to cause AIDS; it becomes known as the HIV virus (human immunodeficiency virus).
1983	UK [motor vehicles]	The wearing of seat belts by front-seat car passengers is made compulsory in Britain.
1983	USA [musicals]	The musical La Cage aux Folles by Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein, is first performed, at the Palace Theater in New York City.
1983	USA [music]	For the first time, cassettes outsell vinyl LPs in the USA.
1983	France [opera]	The French composer Olivier Messiaen completes his opera Saint François d'Assise/St Francis of Assissi.
1983	Germany [opera]	The opera Akhnaten by the US composer Philip Glass is first performed, in Stuttgart, Germany.
1983	Germany [painting]	The German artist Jorg Immendorf paints Café Deutschland Hörerwunsch.
1983	Russia [painting]	The Russian artists Vitaly Komar and Aleksandr Melamid paint The Origin of Socialist Realism.
1983–1989	UK [television]	The comedy Blackadder is shown on British television.Written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, it consists of four main series set in different historical periods – the Middle Ages, the Elizabethan Age, the Regency Period, and the First World War – and stars Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder.
1983	world [statistics and demography]	Illiteracy levels in selected countries (percentage of adult population): Afghanistan, 81.8; Angola, 59.0; Argentina, 6.1; Bangladesh, 70.8; Brazil, 22.2; China, 34.5; Egypt, 61.8; Ethiopia, 37.6; India, 59.2; Indonesia, 32.7; Iran, 45.2; Israel, 8.2; Malaysia, 30.4; Mexico, 17.0; Pakistan, 73.8; Peru, 18.1; Saudi Arabia, 48.9; Sri Lanka, 13.2; Sudan, 68.6; Tunisia, 49.3.
1983	USA [statistics and demography]	The US Census Bureau reports the highest level of persons living in poverty in the USA in 18 years (35,300,000).
1983	Switzerland [consumer products]	In Switzerland, the Swatch timepiece is created.
17 January 1983	UK [television]	Selina Scott and Frank Bough present the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC's) Breakfast Time, Britain's first national breakfast television programme.
1 March 1983	UK, France, West Germany, Netherlands [consumer products]	A group of companies, including Sony and Philips, launches compact disc players in Britain, France, West Germany, and the Netherlands. Around 200 discs are available, costing between £9 and £12.
6 March 1983	West Germany [elections]	Chancellor Helmut Kohl's ruling Christian Democratic Union wins the general election in West Germany, with the Green Party gaining its first seats in the Bundestag.
23 March 1983	USA [weapons]	The US president Ronald Reagan proposes a ‘Star Wars’ defence system for the USA, using satellites to detect and destroy incoming missiles.
29 March 1983	USA [computing]	The Tandy Corporation markets the first laptop computer in the USA. The TRS-80 Model 100 weighs less than 2 kg/4 lb and runs on 4 small batteries; prices range from $799 to $999.
April 1983	USA [chemistry]	US biochemist Kary Banks Mullis invents the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This is a method of copying genes or known sections of a DNA molecule a million times without the need for a living cell.
14 April 1983	UK [telephone services]	BT (British Telecom) launches the first cordless phone in Britain, the Fidelity Wanderer. It costs £170 and is effective up to 180 m/600 ft from base.
24 April 1983	Austria [elections]	Bruno Kreisky's Socialist Party loses its majority in the Austrian general election. A new coalition government is formed under Chancellor Fred Sinowatz on 11 May.
June 1983	UK [television]	Sony launches the first pocket television set in Britain. The Sony Watchman has a flat 5-cm/2-in screen.
9 June 1983	UK [elections]	The Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher win an overall majority of 144 seats in the British general election, with 397 seats against Labour's 209 and the Liberal–SDP Alliance's 23.
13 June 1983	USA [space exploration]	The US space probe Pioneer 10, launched 3 March 1972, becomes the first artificial object to leave the Solar System.
18 June - 24 June 1983	USA [space exploration]	The US Challenger mission (launched 18 June) includes Sally Ride, the first US woman to go into space.
August 1983	South Africa [political parties]	The multiracial United Democratic Front is formed under Allan Boesak in South Africa. Opposed to apartheid, it attracts 2 million members in affiliated clubs, societies, and churches.
21 August 1983	Philippines [political events]	The Philippines opposition leader Benigno Aquino is assassinated at Manila airport.
28 August 1983	Israel [political events]	The Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin announces his intention to resign. He is succeeded on 15 September by Yitzhak Shamir.
September 1983	Ireland [human rights]	Anti-abortion legislation in Ireland giving the fetus the same rights as the mother is incorporated into the constitution.
1 September 1983	USSR, South Korea [political events]	A South Korean Boeing 747 airliner is shot down by a Soviet fighter, killing 269 people, after straying into Soviet air space near Sakhalin Island. On 5 September, western European nations impose a 14-day ban on flights by the Soviet airline Aeroflot.
19 September 1983	St Kitts and Nevis [decolonization]	The Caribbean islands of St Kitts and Nevis achieve independence from Britain.
4 October 1983	UK, USA [speed records]	British driver Richard Noble breaks the world one-mile land speed record in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, in his Thrust 2 jet car, averaging a speed of 1,019.44 kph/633.468 mph over the required two runs.
6 October 1983	India [law and government]	The Indian government takes over direct control of Punjab state in response to growing violence between the Sikh and Hindu communities there.
25 October 1983	Grenada [political events]	US marines invade Grenada to depose the new military government. On 28 October, the USA vetoes a United Nations (UN) resolution deploring the invasion.
1 November 1983	UK [television]	The Nottingham Building Society and the Bank of Scotland jointly launch Homelink, the first telephone banking system in Britain. Operating through the television, using Prestel technology, it also offers teleshopping.
2 November 1983	USA [civil rights]	The US Congress votes to make the birthday of the black American civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr, (15 January) a federal holiday from 1986.
23 November 1983	USSR [diplomacy]	The USSR delegation walks out of the arms limitation talks in Geneva following the deployment of US missiles in Europe. The next day, President Yuri Andropov announces that the USSR will increase the number of its submarine missiles targeted at the USA.
20 December 1983	Middle East [political events]	The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yassir Arafat is forced to evacuate his forces from Lebanon after talks between Lebanon and Israel.