1986

1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January

• January 1 - Spain and Portugal enter the European Community
• January 1 - Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands and is separated from the Netherlands Antilles.
• January 9 - After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak leaves the instant camera business.
• January 12 - Space shuttle Columbia is launched with the first Hispanic-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz.
• January 20 - The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
• January 20 - The first federal Martin Luther King Day, honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
• January 24 - Voyager 2 space probe makes first encounter with Uranus
• January 28 - Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven astronauts on board.
• January 29 - Yoweri Kaguta Museveni became President of the Republic of Uganda after leading a successful five-year liberation struggle.

February

• February 7 - 28 years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
• February 9 - Mohinder Amarnath becomes the first batsman dismissed handled the ball in one-day international cricket.
• February 11 - Human Rights activist Anatoly Shcharansky is released by USSR, leaves the country.
• February 16 - The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand
• February 19 - The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station
• February 19 - After waiting 37 years, the United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide
• February 25 - EDSA Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president
• February 27 - The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis
• February 28 - Swedish prime minister Olof Palme is shot dead on his way home from the cinema.

March

• March 8 - Japanese spacecraft Suisei 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 were still inside.
• March 27 - Car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing 1 police officer.
• March 31 - A fire devestates Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, England.

April

• April 5 - In the terroristic La Belle discotheque bombing the West-Berlin discotheque, a known hangout for U.S. soldiers, was bombed, killing 3 and injuring 230 people. Libya is held responsible.
• April 13 -- Pope John Paul II officially visits the Synagogue of Rome — the first time a modern Pope had visited a synagogue.
• April 14 - 2.2 lb (1kg) hailstones fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
• April 15 - At least 100 people died after USA planes bombed targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region.
• April 17 - British journalist John McCarthy kidnapped in Beirut (released in August 1991) - three others are found dead, Revolutionary Cells claims responsibility in retaliation for the US bombing of Libya
• April 26 - In Ukraine, one of the reactors at the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear plant explodes creating the world's worst nuclear disaster. 31 are killed directly by the incident, many thousands more were exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material, vast territories in Ukraine and Belarus rendered uninhabitable.

May

• May 2 - The 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada opens.
• May 7 - Steaua Bucharest wins the European Champions Cup in Sevilla
• May 25 - Hands Across America
• May 26 - The European Community adopts the European flag.

June

• June 4 - Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
• June 8 - Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.
• June 9 - The Rogers Commission releases its report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
• June 22 - Pirate radio Euro Weekend begins to broadcast

July

• July 5 - The Statue of Liberty is reopened to the public after an extensive refurbishing
• July 23 - In London, Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.
• July 30 - Estate agent Suzy Lamplugh vanishes after a meeting in London

August

• August 20 - In Edmond, Oklahoma, US Postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.
• August 21 - The Lake Nyos tragedy occurs, killing nearly 2000 people.
• August 31 - The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov collides with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev in the Black Sea and sinks almost immediately, killing 398.

September

• September 5 - Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport
• September 6 - In Istanbul, two Arab terrorists from Abu Nidal's terror organization kill 22 and wound six inside the Neve Shalom synagogue during Sabbath services.
• September 7 - Desmond Tutu becomes the first black to lead the Anglican Church in South Africa.

October

• October 1 - 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 9 - United States District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne becomes the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment.
• 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, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe (the talks break down in failure).
• October 26 - Bus deregulation in the United Kingdom, except Greater London and Northern Ireland.
• October 27 - The New York Mets win the Major League Baseball World Series, beating the Boston Red Sox in seven games.
• October 28 - The centennial of the Statue of Liberty's dedication is celebrated in New York Harbor.
• October 28 - Jeremy Bamber is found guilty of the murder of his parents, sister and twin nephews and is given five life sentences.

November

• November 1 - Queensland, Australia: Joh Bjelke-Petersen wins his final election as Premier of Queensland with 38.6% of the vote. He resigns on December 1, 1987 following revelations of his involvment corruption released in the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
• 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 seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
• November 11 - Sperry Rand and Burroughs merge to form Unisys, becoming the second largest computer company
• November 21 - Iran-Contra Affair: National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary start to shred documents implicating them in the sale of weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
• November 25 - Iran-Contra Affair: US 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 as of Monday, 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 14 - 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 23 - Voyager, completes the first nonstop circumnavigation of the earth by air without refueling in 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds
• December 31 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.

Unknown date

• Rajendra Sethia flees from England to India owing £170 million
• Atomic force microscope invented
• Ford Taurus makes popular debut in car showrooms.
• Nintendo releases The Legend of Zelda.

Year in topic

• 1986 in film
  • January 17 - Iron Eagle starring Louis Gossett, Jr.
  • February 7 - F/X starring Bryan Brown and Brian Dennehy
  • February 7 - Hannah and Her Sisters
  • May 16 - Top Gun starring Tom Cruise
  • May 23 - Cobra starring Sylvester Stallone
  • June 6 - Raw Deal starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • June 11 - Ferris Bueller's Day Off
  • July 18 - Aliens starring Sigourney Weaver
  • August 8 - Stand By Me
  • October 3 - Children of a Lesser God
  • October 17 - The Color of Money starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise
  • November 26 - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
  • December 19 - Platoon
  • December 19 - Little Shop of Horrors
• 1986 in literature
  • February 26 - Robert Penn Warren, named poet laureate of the United States
• 1986 in music
  • January 23 - The first induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley)
  • Punk rock band Dead Kennedys break up, after releasing their last album Bedtime for Democracy. The breakup followed a court fight involving obscenity charges against the band. This brings to light creative differences and signals the beginning of the break between Jello Biafra and the rest of the band.
• 1986 in rail transport
  • January 1 - The Soo Line railroad fully absorbs the Milwaukee Road after attempting to operate it as a subsidiary railroad.
• 1986 in sports
  • June 29 - Argentina defeats West Germany to win the Football World Cup 1986
  • October 27 - The New York Mets defeat the Boston Red Sox to win the World Series after a dramatic Game Six victory two nights before, in which Bill Buckner's famous error allowed the winning run to score.
• 1986 in television
  • January - A Vicks Formula 44 ad premieres, starring Peter Bergman from All My Children, in which he told the viewing audience "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV."
  • April 27 - Captain Midnight (John R. MacDougall) hijacks HBO's satellite and transmits his own message to HBO viewers.
  • May 22 - Cher calls David Letterman an "asshole" on the air during a taping of Late Night with David Letterman.
  • July 18 - A tornado is broadcast live on KARE TV in Minneapolis when the station's helicopter pilot makes a chance encounter.
  • October 9 - The FOX Broadcasting Company becomes the United States' fourth television network with a broadcast of "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers".
  • October 27 - Australian soap opera Neighbours begins broadcast on BBC1 in the United Kingdom.
• 1986 in video gaming and computing
  • April 3 - IBM unveils the PC Convertible, IBM's first laptop computer.
  • June - The SEGA Master System is released in the U.S.

Births

• January 24 - Mischa Barton, English-born American actress
• January 24 - Ricky Ullman, Israeli-born American actor
• February 1 - Johan Vonlanthen, Swiss footballer
• February 19 - Maria Mena, Norwegian singer
• February 21 - Charlotte Church, Welsh soprano
• March 1 - Jonathan Spector, American footballer
• March 9 - Brittany Snow, American actress
• March 14 - Jamie Bell, English actor
• April 3 - Amanda Bynes, American actress and variety show host
• June 3 - Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player
• June 10 - Joey Zimmerman, American actor
• June 11 - Shia LaBeouf, American actor
• June 13 - Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, American actresses and entrepreneurs
• June 24 - Solange Knowles, American actress and singer
• June 25 - Aya Matsuura, Japanese singer
• June 27 - Drake Bell, American actor
• July 2 - Lindsay Lohan, American actress
• July 4 - Shane Kippel, Canadian actor
• August 16 - Shawn Pyfrom, American actor
• September 12 - Emmy Rossum, American actress and singer
• October 31 - Christie Hayes, Australian actress
• November 2 - Lara Sacher, Australian actress
• November 5 - BoA, Korean singer
• November 3 - Jasmine Trias, American singer
• November 25 - Amber Hagerman, American murder victim (d. 1996)

Deaths

January-April

• January 1 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b. 1902)
• January 8 - Pierre Fournier, French cellist (b. 1906)
• January 14 - Donna Reed, American actress (b. 1921)
• January 24 - L. Ron Hubbard, American science fiction writer, founder of Scientology (b. 1911)
• January 24 - Gordon MacRae, American actor, singer (b. 1921)
• January 24 - Vincente Minnelli, American director (b. 1903)
• January 27 - Lilli Palmer, actress (b. 1914)
• January 28 - Crew of Space Shuttle Challenger: Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Greg Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe.
• February 11 - Frank Herbert, American science fiction author (b. 1920)
• February 27 - Jacques Plante, Canadian hockey player (b. 1929)
• February 28 - Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)
• March 6 - Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist (b. 1887)
• March 10 - Ray Milland, Welsh actor (b. 1907)
• March 30 - James Cagney, American actor (b. 1899)
• April 3 - Richard Manuel, American musician (The Band) (b. 1943)
• April 3 - Peter Pears, English tenor (b. 1910)
• April 14 - Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist writer (b. 1908)
• April 15 - Jean Genet, French writer (b. 1910)
• April 23 - Otto Preminger, film director (b. 1906)
• April 26 - Broderick Crawford, American actor (b. 1911)
• April 26 - Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1899)

May-October

• May 3 - Robert Alda, actor (b. 1914)
• May 4 - Henri Toivonen, Finnish race car driver (b. 1956)
• May 9 - Tenzing Norgay, mountaineer (b. 1914)
• May 12 - Elisabeth Bergner, actress (b. 1897)
• May 15 - Theodore H. White, writer (b. 1915)
• May 23 - Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)
• May 25 - Chester Bowles, American politician (b. 1901)
• May 31 - James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
• June 13 - Benny Goodman, American jazz musician (b. 1909)
• June 14 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (b. 1899)
• June 16 - Maurice Duruflé, French composer (b. 1902)
• June 17 - Kate Smith, American singer (b. 1907))
• July 4 - Oscar Zariski, mathematician (b. 1899)
• July 8 - Hyman Rickover, American admiral (b. 1900)
• July 8 - Skeeter Webb, baseball player (b. 1909)
• July 14 - Raymond Loewy, industrial designer (b. 1893)
• August 2 - Roy Cohn, American lawyer and anti-Communist (b. 1927)
• August 20 - Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer, and playwright (b. 1923)
• August 31 - Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (b. 1900)
• August 31 - Henry Moore, British sculptor (b. 1898)
• September 4 - Hank Greenberg, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1911)
• September 27 - Cliff Burton, bassist (Metallica) (b. 1962)
• October 5 - James H. Wilkinson, mathematician (b. 1919)
• October 16 - Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (b. 1921)
• October 25 - Forrest Tucker, American actor (b. 1919)
• October 26 - Jackson Scholz, American runner (b. 1897)

November-December

• November 6 - Elisabeth Grümmer, Alsatian soprano (b. 1911)
• November 8 - Artur London, Czech statesman (b. 1915)
• November 8 - Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician (b. 1890)
• November 21 - Dar Robinson, film stuntman (b. 1947)
• November 22 - Scatman Crothers, American actor, musician (b. 1910)
• November 29 - Cary Grant, British actor (b. 1904)
• December 28 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian movie director (b. 1932)
• December 29 - Harold Macmillan, British statesman (b. 1894)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Ernst Ruska, Gerd Binnig, Heinrich Rohrer
• Chemistry - Dudley R Herschbach, Yuan T Lee, John C Polanyi
• Medicine - Stanley Cohen, Rita Levi-Montalcini
• Literature - Wole Soyinka
• Peace - Elie Wiesel

Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel

• James Buchanan Jr

Fields Medalists

• Simon Donaldson, Gerd Faltings, Michael Freedman

Templeton Prize

• Rev. Dr. James McCord

Right Livelihood Award

• Robert Jungk, Rosalie Bertell / Alice Stewart, Ladakh Ecological Development Group and Evaristo Nugkuag / AIDESEP