1982

There was an introduction of smaller and cheaper electronic gadgets to the market such as the first CD player. It was also the beginning of a new type of industry whereby a Genetically Engineered human insulin, which is produced by bacteria, was put to use and sold for the first time.

On the other end in Europe, there was an invasion in Falkland by Argentina, which in turn led to a serious war between Argentina and British over the Island. Consequently, British took victory in the Falkland war after a long battle. It is also the year that Israel invaded Lebanon in the famous PLO attack, and at the same time Lebanese Christian Phalangists killed hundreds of people in West Beirut in two major Palestinian refugee camps.

1982 also saw the death of Princes Grace at the age of 52 after sustaining serious injuries when the car she was in plunged off Mountain Road. Stephanie, her daughter, who was also in the same car suffered serious injuries but survived.

Soviet leader, Leonid I. Brezhnev, died at the age of 75, which led to the 68-year-old Yuri V. Andropov being chosen as the successor.

In the USA, the jury decided that President Reagans’ shooter, John W. Hinckley Jr. was not guilty of the shooting due to his insanity. Then again, Alexander M. Haig, Jr. proffered his resignation as the Secretary of State while the Equal Rights Amendment’s endorsement was failing.

This was the year that Michael Jackson’s career was at its peak. He released the famous Thriller and it sold a record 25 million-plus copies making it history’s biggest-selling album. Contrariwise, John Belushi takes a drug overdose and dies at the age of 33. Cats, the longest running play on Broadway, also opened in 1982.

In the health and nutrition sector, this was the year that saw the first ever implantation of a permanent artificial heart in Dr. Barney B. Clark who was 61 at the time, in Salt Lake at the University of Utah Medical Center. Britain also introduces the first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnostic machines.