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Iraqi troops hold 90 square miles of Iran after invasion; 8-year Iran-Iraq War begins (Sept. 19)
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Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat is assassinated by Islamic extremists during a military parade in Cairo
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Ronald Reagan elected president in Republican sweep (Nov. 4)
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AIDS is first identified.
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IBM introduces its first personal computer, running the Microsoft Disk Operating System
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A permanent artificial heart is implanted in a human for first time in Dr. Barney B. Clark, 61, at University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City (Dec. 2).
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Sally K. Ride, 32, first US woman astronaut in space as a crew member aboard space shuttle Challenger (June 18)
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US invades Grenada (Oct. 25)
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Soviet Union withdraws from summer Olympic games in US, and other bloc nations follow (May 7
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President Reagan re-elected in landslide with 59% of vote
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Apple introduces the user-friendly Macintosh personal computer.
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US and Vatican exchange diplomats after 116-year hiatus (Jan. 10
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The first genetically-engineered vaccine, for hepatitis B, gains FDA approval.
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President Reagan freezes Libyan assets in US (Jan. 8).
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Major nuclear accident at Soviet Union's Chernobyl power station alarms world (April 26 et seq.)
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US planes attack Libyan "terrorist centers" (April 14)
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Iraqi missiles kill 37 in attack on US frigate Stark in Persian Gulf (May 17);
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Ninety-eight percent of U.S. households have at least one television set.
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NASA scientist James Hansen warns congress of the dangers of the global warming and the greenhouse effect.
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US and Canada reach free trade agreement (Jan. 2).
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Benazir Bhutto, first Islamic woman prime minister, chosen to lead Pakistan (Dec. 1)
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Tens of thousands of Chinese students take over Beijing's Tiananmen Square in rally for democracy (April 19 et seq.).
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First World Wide Web server and browser developed by Tim Berners-Lee (England) while working at CERN.
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US planes shoot down two Libyan fighters over international waters in Mediterranean (Jan. 4)
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George Herbert Walker Bush inaugurated as 41st US President (Jan. 20
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After 28 years, Berlin Wall is open to West (Nov. 11)
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US troops invade Panama, seeking capture of General Manuel Noriega (Dec. 20)
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South Africa frees Nelson Mandela, imprisoned 27½ years
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General Manuel Noriega surrenders in Panama (Jan. 3)
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The Hubble Space Telescope is launched (Apr. 25)
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Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, setting off the Persian Gulf War (Aug. 2 et seq.)
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East and West Germany reunited (Aug. 31
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Cease-fire ends Persian Gulf War (April 3)
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Boris Yeltsin becomes first freely elected president of Russian Republic (July 10)
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Bush and Yeltsin proclaim a formal end to the Cold War (Feb. 1
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Bill Clinton elected President, Al Gore Vice President; Democrats keep control of Congress (Nov. 3)
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South Africa holds first interracial national election (April 29); Nelson Mandela elected President
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US rescues Mexico's economy with $20-billion aid program
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Death toll 2,000 in Rwanda massacre (April 22)
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South Africa gets new constitution (May 8)
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Hong Kong returns to Chinese rule (June 30)
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US spacecraft begins exploration of Mars (July 4)
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Timothy J. McVeigh sentenced to death for Oklahoma City bombing (Aug. 14
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President accused in White House sex scandal; denies allegations of affair with White House intern, Monica Lewinsky (Jan. 21 et seq.).
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Europeans agree on single currency, the euro (May 3)
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The world awaits the consequences of the Y2K bug, with more drastic millennial theorists warning of Armageddon.
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George W. Bush is sworn in as 43rd president (Jan. 20).
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Terrorists attack United States. Hijackers ram jetliners into twin towers of New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane crashes 80 mi outside of Pittsburgh (Sept. 11). Toll of dead and injured in thousands. Within days, Islamic militant Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorist network are identified as the parties behind the attacks.
