1980 Scientific/Technological development

On November 12, 1980, more than 3 years after it's launch, the U.S. planetary probe Voyager 1 beamed pictures of Saturn back to California.  The pictures stunned scientists and showed moons and hundreds of rings that were previously undiscovered. 

 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/voyager-i-flies-near-Saturn





On May 22, 1980, the Pac-Man video game was released in Japan and by October of the same year it was released in the United States. The yellow, pie-shaped Pac-Man character, who travels around a maze trying to eat dots and avoid four mean ghosts, quickly became an icon of the 1980s. To this day, Pac-Man remains one of the most popular video games in history.

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1980s/qt/Pac-Man.htm





In 1980, Post-It Notes were first sold in the United States and immediately became a hit.  They were invented by Spencer Silver and Arthur Fry. 

http://www.post-it.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Post_It/Global/About/History/

1980 Culture

 

John Lennon was one of the most iconic members of the Beatles.  On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot seven times by Mark David Chapman in New York City. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital. 

 

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/john-lennon/biography

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On November 21, 1980 millions of people around the world tuned in to watch televisions primetime drama "Dallas" to find out who shot the character J.R. Ewing.  J.R. had been shot on the season-ending episode on March 21.  The plot twist inspired widespread media coverage and left America wondering "Who shot J.R.?" for the next 8 months. The November 21st episode solved the mystery, identifying Kristen Shepard, J.R.'s wife's sister and his former mistress, as the culprit. 

 

 

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/millions-tune-in-to-find-out-who-shot-jr

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1980, the movie, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back was released and was one of the largest grossing films of the time.  The movie inspired numerous merchandizing items, such as the Star Wars toys, video games, and comic books.

 

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/star-wars-the-empire-strikes-back-rolling-stones-1980-cover-story-20110504

 

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/star-wars-opens

 

 

 

 

On June 1, 1980, CNN (Cable News Network), the world's first 24 hour television news network made its debut.  It signed on at 6pm EST, from it's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.  Before CNN, news was only seen in 30 minute broadcasts on the three major networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC. 

 

 

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cnn-launches



1980 Politics/Eastern World

 

The Iran-Iraq War started September 22, 1980 when Iraqi troops invaded the Iran borders.  The trigger of the war may have been the assassination attempt in March of 1980 on the Iraqi Foreign Minister in southern Iraq. The roots of the war lay in a number of territorial and political disputes between Iraq and Iran. Iraq wanted to seize control of the rich oil-producing Iranian border region of Khūzestān, a territory inhabited largely by ethnic Arabs over which Iraq sought to extend some form of suzerainty. Iraqi president Ṣaddām Ḥussein wanted to reassert his country’s sovereignty over both banks of the Shaṭṭ al-ʿArab, a river formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that was historically the border between the two countries. The War was ended by a 1988 cease-fire, though the resumption of normal diplomatic relations and the withdrawal of troops did not take place until the signing of a formal peace agreement on Aug. 16, 1990.  Iraq received advanced weapons and assistance from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait giving Iraq and advantage over Iran. It is unknown how many were killed during the war, but at least a half of million and possibly twice as many troops were killed on both sides.  Chemical warfare, missile attacks, and oil tanker attacks accounted for many of these deaths.  The war cost both sides billions of dollars and caused billions of dollars in damage especially to oil facilities. The Iran-Iraq war lasted longer than either world war.  At the end of this 8 year war, Iran and Iraq agreed to pre-war boundaries.   


http://www.history.com/topics/iran-iraq-war
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/293527/Iran-Iraq-War
http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/united_states_iran_iraq_war1.php
http://www.worldology.com/Iraq/iran_iraq_war.htm




 

1980 Politics/Western World

On November 4, 1980 the United States Presidential Election resulted in Republican Ronald Reagan defeating Democratic President Jimmy Carter.  Carter and Reagan were not alone in the 1980 presidential campaign. Representative John Anderson, a moderate Republican from Illinois who had run in his party's primaries, saw Reagan as too conservative and launched an independent campaign for the presidency.  A onetime movie star and president of the Screen Actor’s Guild (1947–1952), Reagan was originally a Democrat but turned to the Republican Party and was elected to the first of two terms as governor of California in 1966. He tried unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 and 1976, and by the time of the 1980 election he had been stumping in one forum or another for that election for nearly four years.  Reagan defeated Carter in a landslide, winning 44 million votes, or 50.7 percent, and 489 electoral votes to Carter's 35.5 million votes, or 41 percent, and only 44 electoral votes.  Carter became the first elected incumbent to be defeated for reelection as president since Herbert Hoover lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. Reagan, at age 69, became the oldest president-elect in the country’s history. 





http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1576043/United-States-presidential-election-of-1980
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/carter-election1980/
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/09/25/the-most-consequential-elections-in-history-ronald-reagan-and-the-election-of-1980
http://millercenter.org/president/reagan/essays/biography/3

1980 Olympics

The Winter Olympics began on February 13, 1980 in Lake Placid, New York.  This was the second time the games were held in Lake Placid, the first being in 1932.  To guarantee that the games took place in the best possible conditions, snow machines were used to produce artificial snow for the first time in Olympic history.

On February 22, 1980, the U.S. men’s hockey team pulled off one of the biggest upsets in sports history with a 4-3 victory over the heavily favored Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Two days later, the Americans went on to beat Finland and take home the gold medal.  The game is still remembered fondly by many Americans as one of the greatest moments in Olympic history.




http://www.olympic.org/lake-placid-1980-winter-Olympics
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-hockey-pulls-off-miracle-on-ice



The 1980 Summer Olympics were held in Moscow on July 19, 1980.   The United States led a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the late 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In total, 65 nations refused to participate in the games, whereas 80 countries sent athletes to compete.  This was the lowest number of participants since 1956.  Some countries such as Great Britain and Australia supported the boycott, however they still allowed athletes to participate.  United States President Jimmy Carter threatened to revoke the passports of any United States athletes who attempted to travel to USSR for the games. 

http://www.olympic.org/moscow-1980-summer-Olympics
http://history.state.gov/milestones/1977-1980/Olympic
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/carter-tells-us-athletes-of-olympic-boycott