WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO DECEMBER 1983
Find out what all happened January to December 1983

Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Ağca in Rebibbia's prison and personally forgives him for the 1981 attack on him in St. Peter's Square. (27. December 1983)

Ameritech Mobile Communications (now AT&T Inc.) launched the first US cellular network in Chicago, Illinois. (13. October 1983)

1983 United States Senate bombing: a bomb explodes inside the United States Capitol. No one is injured, but an estimated $250,000 in damage is caused. (7. November 1983)

The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia's second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, a 320 metres (1,050 ft) deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night. (8. February 1983)

Japan's former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed and is sentenced to 4 years in jail. (12. October 1983)

The Church Street bombing in the South African capital Pretoria. The bombing killed 19 and wounded 217. (20. May 1983)

Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, is overthrown and later executed in a military coup d'état led by Bernard Coard. (14. October 1983)

Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. (17. May 1983)

Provisional IRA members detonate a car bomb at Harrods Department Store in London, England, United Kingdom. Three police officers and three civilians are killed. (17. December 1983)

Sikorsky S-61 disaster: a helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities. (16. July 1983)

Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations. (23. September 1983)

First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier. (20. May 1983)

13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. (23. July 1983)

The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri. (23. February 1983)

Avianca Flight 011: A Boeing 747 crashes near Madrid's Barajas Airport, killing 181. (27. November 1983)

The metre is defined at the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. (21. October 1983)

The world's lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F). (21. July 1983)

Compact Discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan. (2. March 1983)

Saint Kitts and Nevis gains its independence. (19. September 1983)

The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government. (31. December 1983)