1986
1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year that started on a Wednesday, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It was also the 1986th year of the Common Era, the 986th year of the 2nd millennium, the 86th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1980's. The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events
January
February
March
- March 3 – The first paper is published describing the Atomic force microscope, invented the previous year by Gerd Binnig, Calvin Quate and Christopher Berger.[1]
- March 4 – The Today national tabloid newspaper is launched in the United Kingdom, pioneering the use of computer photosetting and full-colour offset printing, at a time when British national newspapers still use Linotype machines and letterpress.
- March 8 – The Japanese Suisei probe flies by Halley's Comet, studying its UV hydrogen corona and solar wind.
- March 9 – United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger; the bodies of all seven astronauts are still inside.
- March 15 - Hotel New World disaster: a six-story building collapses, trapping 50 people beneath the rubble; 33 are killed.
- March 25 – The 58th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, California, with Out of Africa winning Best Picture.
- March 26 – An article in the New York Times charges that Kurt Waldheim, former United Nations Secretary General and candidate for president of Austria, may have been involved in Nazi war crimes during World War II.
- March 27 – A car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing a police officer.
- March 31
April
- April 2 – A bomb explodes on a Trans World Airlines flight from Rome to Athens, killing 4 people.
- April 5 – 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing: The West Berlin discothèque, a known hangout for United States soldiers, is bombed, killing 3 and injuring 230; Libya is held responsible.
- April 13 – Pope John Paul II officially visits the Synagogue of Rome, the first time a modern Pope has visited a synagogue.
- April 14 – Hailstones weighing 1 kg (2.2 lb) fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
- April 15 – Operation El Dorado Canyon: At least 15 people die after United States planes bomb targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region
- April 17
- April 21 – Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's secret vault on The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault, discovering only a bottle of moonshine.
- April 26 – The Chernobyl disaster: A mishandled safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union "killed at least 4056 people and damaged almost $7 billion of property".[3] Radioactive fallout from the accident concentrated near Belarus, Ukraine and Russia and at least 350,000 people were forcibly resettled away from these areas. After the accident, "traces of radioactive deposits unique to Chernobyl were found in nearly every country in the northern hemisphere".[3]
- April 27 – "Captain Midnight" interrupts the HBO satellite feed.
- April 29 – Diamond Jubilee of Emperor Showa is held at the Kokugikan in Tokyo
May
June
July
August
September
October
- October 1 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Goldwater–Nichols Act into law, making official the largest reorganization of the United States Department of Defense since the Air Force was made a separate branch of service in 1947.
- October 3 – TASCC, a superconducting cyclotron, officially opens at Chalk River Laboratories.
- October 7 – Slayer releases their album Reign in Blood
- October 9
- October 10 – An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale strikes San Salvador, El Salvador, killing an estimated 1,500 people.
- October 11 – Cold War: Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe (the talks break down in failure).
- October 12 – Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the People's Republic of China.
- October 16 – The International Olympic Committee chooses Albertville, France to be the host city of the 1992 Winter Olympics and Barcelona, Spain to be the host city of the 1992 Summer Olympics.
- October 19 – Mozambican president Samora Machel's plane crashes in South Africa.
- October 21 – The Marshall Islands become an associated state under the Compact of Free Association.
- October 22 – In New York City WNBC Radio's traffic helicopter crashes into the Hudson River, killing traffic reporter Jane Dornacker. The last words heard on-the-air were Dornacker's screams of terror, "Hit the water! Hit the water! Hit the water!"
- October 24 – Lambda Sigma Gamma Sorority Inc. was founded at Sacramento State by Linda V. Fuentes and 26 Founding Mothers.
- October 26 – Bus deregulation goes into effect in the United Kingdom, except Greater London and Northern Ireland.
- October 27
- October 28
November
- November 1
- November 3 – Iran–Contra affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been selling weapons to Iran in secret, in order to secure the release of 7 American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
- November 3 – Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in Political Union with the United States. The CNMI Government adopted its own constitution in 1977, and the constitutional government took office in January 1978. The Covenant was fully implemented November 3, 1986, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation no. 5564, which conferred United States citizenship on legally qualified CNMI residents.
- November 4 – Democrats regain control of the United States Senate for the first time in 6 years. In California, Chief Justice Rose Bird and two colleagues are removed by voters from the Supreme Court of California for opposing capital punishment.
- November 6 – Sumburgh disaster: A British International Helicopters Boeing 234LR Chinook crashes 2.5 miles east of Sumburgh Airport, killing 45 people (the deadliest civilian helicopter crash on record).
- November 11 – Sperry Rand and Burroughs merge to form Unisys, becoming the second largest computer company.
- November 12 – Australian singer John Farnham releases the album Whispering Jack, which becomes the highest selling album in Australia's history.
- November 18
- November 21 – Iran-Contra Affair: National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, start shredding documents implicating them in selling weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
- November 22 – Mike Tyson wins his first world boxing title by defeating Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas.
- November 25 – Iran-Contra Affair: U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
- November 26 – Iran-Contra Affair: U.S. President Ronald Reagan announces that on December 1 former Senator John Tower, former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft will serve as members of the Special Review Board looking into the scandal (they became known as the Tower Commission). Reagan denies involvement in the scandal.
December
- December 7 – A 5.7 Richter scale earthquake destroys most of the Bulgarian town of Strajica, killing 2 people.
- December 14 – Rutan Voyager, an experimental aircraft designed by Burt Rutan and piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, begins its flight around the world.
- December 19 – Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov is permitted to return to Moscow after years of internal exile.
- December 20 – Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.
- December 22 – British Liberal Party Member of Parliament David Penhaligon, 42, is killed in a car crash near Truro in Cornwall, England.
- December 23 – Voyager completes the first nonstop circumnavigation of the earth by air without refueling in 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
- December 26 – After 35 years on the airwaves and holding the title of longest-running non-news program on network television, NBC airs the final episode of daytime drama Search for Tomorrow.
- December 31 – A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.
Date unknown
Births
January
February
March
- March 1 – Jonathan Spector, American soccer player
- March 2 – Ethan Peck, American actor
- March 3 – Stacie Orrico, American singer
- March 4 – Margo Harshman, American actress
- March 5
- March 6 – Francisco Cervelli, American baseball player
- March 8 – Princess Tsuguko of Takamado, a member of the Japanese Imperial Family
- March 9 – Brittany Snow, American actress
- March 11 – Dario Cologna, Swiss cross-country skier
- March 13 – Chiaki Kyan, Japanese gravure idol
- March 14 – Jamie Bell, British actor
- March 16
- March 17 – Olesya Rulin, Russian-born actress
- March 19 – Casey Anthony, American murder suspect
- March 21 – Scott Eastwood, American actor
- March 22 – Matt Bush, American actor
- March 25
- March 26 – Jonny Craig, Canadian singer and songwriter
- March 27
- March 28 – Lady GaGa, American singer-songwriter
- March 29 – Romina Oprandi, Italian tennis player
- March 30 – Sergio Ramos, Spanish footballer
April
- April 1
- April 2 – Lee DeWyze, American singer/songwriter
- April 3
- April 4 – Eunhyuk, Korean singer (Super Junior)
- April 8
- April 9 – Leighton Meester, American actress
- April 10
- April 16 – Shinji Okazaki, Japanese football player
- April 18 – Maurice Edu, American footballer
- April 19 – Candace Parker, American basketball player
- April 20 – Pablo Martin, Spanish golfer
- April 22 – Amber Heard, American actress
- April 24 – Tahyna Tozzi, Australian model, singer and actress
- April 27 – Dinara Safina, Russian tennis player
- April 28 – Jenna Ushkowitz, American stage and television actress and singer
- April 30 – Dianna Agron, American actress
May
June
- June 1 – Dayana Mendoza, Miss Universe 2008
- June 3
- June 4
- June 6 – Kim Hyun Joong, South Korean actor, model and singer (SS501)
- June 11 – Shia LaBeouf, American actor
- June 13
- June 15 – Momoko Ueda, Japanese golfer
- June 18
- June 19 – Marvin Williams, American basketball player
- June 25 – Lee Ho-Suk, South Korean short-track skater
- June 26 – Philip Hughes, American baseball player
- June 27
- June 28
- June 29 – Edward Maya, Romanian musician, producer, performer, and composer
- June 30 – Victoria Crawford, American wrestler and model
July
August
- August 2 – Caitlin Murphy, Australian model and actress
- August 3
- August 4 – Oleg Ivanov, Russian footballer
- August 5 – Paula Creamer, American golfer
- August 6 – Bryan Young, Canadian ice hockey player
- August 7
- August 11
- August 14 – Nigel Boogaard, Australian footballer
- August 16
- August 17 – Tobias Schönenberg, German actor and photo model
- August 19 – Christina Perri, American singer-songwriter and musician
- August 21 – Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter
- August 22 – Jack Perkins, Australian racing driver
- August 23 – Neil Cicierega, American musician and animator
- August 26
- August 27 – Mario, R&B singer and actor
- August 28 – Gilad Shalit, Israeli soldier/hostage
- August 29
- August 30
- August 31 – Feng Tianwei, Singaporean Olympic table tennis player
September
- September 2 – Moses Ndiema Kipsiro, Ugandan middle-distance runner
- September 3 – Shaun White, American professional snowboarder
- September 6 – Raven Riley, American porn star
- September 8 – Jake Sandvig, American actor
- September 9 – Jose Aldo, WEC Featherweight Champion, the first UFC Featherweight Champion
- September 12 – Yang Mi,Chinese actress and singer
- September 14
- September 15 – Jenna McCorkell, British figure skater
- September 16
- September 18
- September 19
- September 24 – Leah Dizon, American singer and model
- September 25 – Steve Forrest, American drummer
- September 26 – Ashley Leggat, Canadian actress
- September 27 – Natasha Thomas, Danish singer and songwriter
- September 28 – Andrés Guardado, Mexican footballer
October
- October 1 – Jurnee Smollett, American actress
- October 2
- October 4 – Yuridia, Mexican singer
- October 5 – Novica Velickovic, Serbian basketball player
- October 6
- October 7 – Amber Stevens, American actress and model
- October 9 – Laure Manaudou, French swimmer
- October 10 – Nathan Jawai, Australian basketball player
- October 11 – Henry Lau, Korean singer (Super Junior M)
- October 12 – Marcus T. Paulk, American actor
- October 14 – Skyler Shaye, American actress
- October 15 – Lee Donghae, Korean singer (Super Junior)
- October 16 – Craig Pickering, British sprinter
- October 17 – Mohombi, Swedish-Congolese R&B singer-songwriter and dancer
- October 20 – Jessica Stroup, American actress
- October 21
- October 22
- October 23
- October 24 – Aubrey "Drake" Graham, Canadian actor and rapper
- October 28 – Tamar Kaprelian, Armenian American musician and singer
- October 29 – Italia Ricci, Canadian actress
- October 30 – Thomas Morgenstern, Austrian ski jumper
November
- November 1 – Penn Badgley, American actor
- November 3 – Jasmine Trias, Filipino-American singer
- November 4 – Alexz Johnson, Canadian actress and singer
- November 5
- November 10 – Josh Peck, American actor and director
- November 11 – François Trinh-Duc, French rugby player
- November 12 – Evan Yo, Taiwanese singer-songwriter
- November 15 – Sania Mirza, Indian tennis player
- November 17
- November 18
- November 19 – Veronica Scott, American fashion designer
- November 22 – Oscar Pistorius, South African Paralympic runner
- November 24
- November 25
- November 27 – Suresh Raina, Indian cricket player
- November 28 – Pamela Bianca Manalo, Filipina beauty queen and actress
December
- December 1 – DeSean Jackson, American football player
- December 4 – Martell Webster, American basketball player
- December 7 – Corey Vidal, Canadian online video content provider and digital media consultant
- December 8
- December 11
- December 15
- December 18 – Jery Sandoval, Colombian actress, model and singer
- December 19 – Ryan Babel, Dutch footballer
- December 22 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Nigerian-born terrorist known as the "Underwear Bomber"
- December 24
- December 26 – Mew Azama, Japanese actress
- December 29 – Kim Ok-bin, South Korean actress and model
- December 30 – Ellie Goulding, British Artist
Deaths
January
- January 1 – Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b. 1902)
- January 2 – Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)
- January 4
- January 7 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican writer (b. 1917)
- January 8 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist (b. 1906)
- January 10 – Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- January 14 – Donna Reed, American actress (b. 1921)
- January 23 – Willard Van Dyke, American filmmaker and photographer (b. 1906)
- January 24
- January 27 – Lilli Palmer, German actress (b. 1914)
- January 28, in the Challenger disaster:
- January 29 – Leif Erickson, American actor (b. 1911)
February
- February 1 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, diplomat, and writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1902)
- February 6 – Frederick Coutts, the 8th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1899)
- February 7 – Minoru Yamasaki, Japanese-American architect, designed the twin towers of the World Trade Center (b. 1912)
- February 10 – Brian Aherne, British actor (b. 1902)
- February 11
- February 14 – Edmund Rubbra, British composer (b. 1901)
- February 16 – Howard Da Silva, American actor (b. 1909)
- February 17 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher (b. 1895)
- February 21
- February 24 – Tommy Douglas, Canadian politician and "Father of medicare" in Canada (b. 1904)
- February 27 – Jacques Plante, Canadian hockey player (b. 1929)
- February 28
March
April
- April 3 – Peter Pears, English tenor (b. 1910)
- April 7 – Leonid Kantorovich, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
- April 8 – Yukiko Okada, Japanese idol singer (b. 1967)
- April 13 – Stephen Stucker, American actor (b. 1947)
- April 14 – Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist writer (b. 1908)
- April 15
- April 19
- April 22 – Mircea Eliade, Romanian historian of religions and writer (b. 1907)
- April 23
- April 24 – Wallis Simpson, widow of Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (b. 1896)
- April 26
- April 30 – Robert Stevenson, English film director (b. 1905)
May
- May 1 – Hylda Baker, English comedy actress (b. 1905)
- May 2 – Henri Toivonen, Finnish rally car driver (b. 1956)
- May 3 – Robert Alda, American-born actor (b. 1914)
- May 9
- May 11 – Henry Plumer McIlhenny, American art collector, socialite, philanthropist and the chairman of the Philadelphia Art Museum (b. 1910)
- May 12 – Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian actress (b. 1897)
- May 14 – Janne Aikala, Finnish murder victim (b. 1975)
- May 15
- May 19 – Jimmy Lyons, American musician (b. 1931)
- May 23 – Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)
- May 24 – Yakima Canutt, American actor and stuntman (b. 1895)
- May 25 – Chester Bowles, American politician (b. 1901)
- May 26 – Gian-Carlo Coppola, American film producer (b. 1963)
- May 30 – Perry Ellis, American fashion designer (b. 1940)
- May 31
June
- June 3 – Anna Neagle, English actress (b. 1904)
- June 5 – Bryan Grant, American tennis champion (b. 1909)
- June 13
- June 14
- June 16 – Maurice Duruflé, French composer (b. 1902)
- June 17 – Kate Smith, American singer (b. 1907)
- June 18 – Frances Scott Fitzgerald, daughter of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre (b. 1921)
- June 19
- Len Bias, American basketball player (b. 1963)
- Coluche, stage name of Michel Colucci, French comedian and humorist (b. 1944)
- June 21 – Assi Rahbani, Lebanese composer, musician, conductor and author (b. 1923)
- June 27 – Don Rogers, American football player (b. 1962)
- June 29 – Robert Drivas, American actor (b. 1938)
July
- July 3 – Rudy Vallée, American singer, actor, and bandleader (b. 1901)
- July 4 – Oscar Zariski, Russian mathematician (b. 1899)
- July 6 – Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician (b. 1908)
- July 8
- July 14 – Raymond Loewy, French-born industrial designer (b. 1893)
- July 15
- July 21 – Ernest Maas, American screenwriter (b. 1892)
- July 22 – Ede Staal, Dutch singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
- July 24
- July 25 – Vincente Minnelli, American film director (b. 1903)
- July 26 – W. Averell Harriman, American diplomat and politician (b. 1891)
- July 27 – Osbert Lancaster, British cartoonist (b. 1908)
- July 31 – Teddy Wilson, American jazz pianist (b. 1912)
August
- August 2 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer and anti-Communist (b. 1927)
- August 4 – Willem Ruis, Dutch game show host (b. 1945)
- August 10 – Chuck McKinley, American tennis champion (b. 1941)
- August 16 – Jaime Sáenz, Bolivian poet, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1921)
- August 19
- August 20 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer, and playwright (b. 1923)
- August 21 – Thad Jones, American jazz musician (b. 1923)
- August 22 – Celal Bayar, ex-President of Turkey (b:1883)
- August 26 – Ted Knight, American actor (b. 1923)
- August 27 – George Nepia, New Zealand Maori rugby player (b. 1905)
- August 29 – Arthur Meyerhoff, American advertising agency executive and entrepreneur (b. 1895)
- August 30 – George Pelawa, American ice hockey star Minnesota Mr. Hockey (b. 1968)
- August 31
September
- September 1 – Murray Hamilton, American actor (b. 1923)
- September 4 – Hank Greenberg, baseball player (b. 1911)
- September 6 – Blanche Sweet, American actress (b. 1896)
- September 7 – Omar Ali Saifuddin III, Sultan of Brunei (b. 1914)
- September 12 – Frank Nelson, American actor (b. 1911)
- September 18 – Pat Phoenix, British actress (b. 1923)
- September 22 – József Asbóth, Hungarian tennis champion (b. 1917)
- September 25 – Nikolay Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
- September 26 – Noboru Terada, Japanese Olympic swimmer (b. 1917)
- September 27 – Cliff Burton, American bassist (Metallica) (b. 1962)
- September 28 – Robert Helpmann, Australian dancer and choreographer (b. 1909)
October
- October 5
- October 7 – Wallace Wade, American football coach, University of Alabama, Duke University (b. 1892)
- October 11 – Boris Leven, Russian-born art director (b. 1908)
- October 14 – Keenan Wynn, American actor (b. 1916)
- October 16 – Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (b. 1921)
- October 19 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique (b.1933)
- October 22 – Albert Szent-Györgyi, Hungarian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)
- October 23 – Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1893)
- October 25 – Forrest Tucker, American actor (F Troop) (b. 1919)
- October 26 – Jackson Scholz, American runner (b. 1897)
- October 28 – Ian Marter, British actor and writer (b. 1944)
- October 31 – Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1896)
November
December
- December 2 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor (b. 1917)
- December 3 – Austin Hayes, Irish footballer (b. 1958)
- December 10 – Susan Cabot, American actress (b. 1927)
- December 13 – Heather Angel, English actress (b. 1909)
- December 15 – Serge Lifar, Russian dancer and choreographer (b. 1905)
- December 21 – Willy Coppens, Belgian pilot (b. 1892)
- December 22 – Ida Cook (aka Mary Burchell), British novelist and campaigner for Jewish refugees (b. 1904)
- December 26 – Elsa Lanchester, English actress (b. 1902)
- December 28 – Jan Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter (b. 1922)
- December 29
- December 31 – Lloyd Haynes, American actor (b. 1934)
Date unknown
Nobel Prizes
Templeton Prize
References