1986 - Wikipedia

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s

Years: 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 - 1986 - 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991

See also:

Events

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 1 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist
January 9 - After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak leaves the instant camera business.
January 12 - Space shuttle Columbia takes-off 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 holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
January 24 - Voyager 2 space probe makes first encounter with Uranus
January 28 - Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
February 7 - 28 years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
February 11 - Human Rights[?] activist Anatoly Scharansky[?] is released by USSR, leaves the country.
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 - President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule.
February 26 - After exiled President Ferdinand Marcos leaves the Philippines, Corazon Aquino[?] is inaugurated 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, his wife the only witness.
March 2 - Corazon Aquino[?] is inaugurated as President of the Philippines[?].
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.
April 3 - IBM unveils the PC Convertible, the first laptop computer.
April 26 - In the Ukraine, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes creating the worlds worst nuclear disaster[?]. 31 are killed directly by the the incident and many thousands more were exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material.
April 27 - Captain Midnight[?] (John R. MacDougall) hijacks HBO's satellite and transmits his own message to HBO viewers.
May 25 - "Hands Across America[?]"
May 26 - The European Community adopts the European flag.
July 5 - The Statue of Liberty is reopened to the public after an extensive refurbishing.
August - Apple Lisa discontinued by Apple.
August 21 - The Lake Nyos Tragedy occurs, killing nearly 2000 people.
December 31 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.

The Iran-Contra affair is publicly exposed in October and November
Commonly considered the start date of the golden age of old school rap

Art, Culture & Fashion

1986 in film
- Platoon
- Children of a Lesser God
- Hannah and Her Sisters
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off
- Top Gun starring Tom Cruise
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)
1986 in sports
1986 in television
- May 22 - Cher calls David Letterman an "A**hole" on the air during a taping of Late Night with David Letterman.
- October ? The FOX Broadcasting Company becomes the United States' fourth television network.

Births

February 21 - Charlotte Church[?], singer
April 3 - Amanda Bynes, teen actress and show host
June 13 - The Olsen twins
March 14 - Jamie Bell[?], actor

Deaths

January 14 - Donna Reed[?], actress
January 24 - L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction writer, founder of Scientology
January 24 - Gordon MacRae[?], actor, singer
January 24 - Vincente Minnelli[?], director
January 27 - Lilli Palmer[?], actress
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, science fiction author.
February 27 - Jacques Plante, ice hockey star
February 28 - Olof Palme, Swedish prime minister
March 6 - Georgia O'Keefe[?], artist
March 10 - Ray Milland, British actor
March 30 - James Cagney, actor
April 3 - Richard Manuel[?], musician ("The Band")
April 14 - Simone de Beauvoir, feminist philosopher
April 26 - Broderick Crawford, actor
May 9 - Tenzing Norgay, mountaineer
May 12 - Elisabeth Bergner, actress
May 15 - Theodore H. White, writer
May 23 - Sterling Hayden[?]
May 25 - Chester Bowles, politician
June 14 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer
August 20 - Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer, and playwright
August 31 - Henry Moore, sculptor
December 28 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian movie director

Nobel Prizes