January
January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the true Internet).
January 3 – Kīlauea begins slowly erupting on the Big Island of Hawaii and is still flowing as of 2014.
January 10 – Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States launch Fraggle Rock, a worldwide program advocating peace.
January 19 – High-ranking Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.
January 22 – Björn Borg retires from tennis after winning 5 consecutive Wimbledon championships.
January 24 – Twenty-five members of the Red Brigades are sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1978 murder of Aldo Moro.
January 26 – Lotus 1-2-3 is released for IBM PC compatible computers.
January 31 – Seatbelt use for drivers and front seat passengers becomes mandatory in the United Kingdom.
February
February 2 – Giovanni Vigliotto goes on trial for multiple counts of bigamy involving 105 women.
February 3 – Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser is granted a double dissolution of both houses of parliament, for elections the next day.
February 3 – Bob Hawke replaces Bill Hayden as leader of the Australian Labor Party.
February 6 – Klaus Barbie is officially charged with war crimes.
February 12 – 100 women protest in Lahore, Pakistan, against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.
February 13 – A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people.
February 16 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 75 people, in one of Australia's worst bushfire disasters.
February 18
The Venezuelan bolívar is devaluated and exchange controls are established in an event now referred to as Black Friday by many Venezuelans (the Bolívar had been the most stable and internationally accepted currency).
Nellie massacre: Over 2,000 people, mostly Bangladeshi Muslims, are massacred in Assam, India, during the Assam agitation.
Wah Mee massacre: 13 people are killed in an attempted robbery in Seattle, Washington.
February 23
The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intention to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
The automatic shut-down fails at Salem Nuclear Power Plant, New Jersey, USA.
February 24
A special commission of the Congress of the United States releases a report critical of the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
Bermondsey by-election, 1983 (U.K.): Simon Hughes's defeat of Peter Tatchell is criticised for alleged homophobia.
February 28 – The final episode of M*A*S*H is aired and the record of most watched episode is broken.
March
March 1 – The Balearic Islands and Madrid become Autonomous communities of Spain.
March 5 – Bob Hawke is elected Prime Minister of Australia.
March 8 – IBM releases the IBM PC XT.
March 9 – Anne Burford resigns as head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency amid scandal.
March 11 – Australia's First Hawke Ministry is sworn in; Andrew Peacock becomes Federal Opposition leader.
March 16 – The Ismaning radio transmitter (last wooden radio tower in Germany) is demolished.
March 23 – Strategic Defense Initiative: U.S. President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles. The media dub this plan "Star Wars".
March 25 – Motown celebrates its 25th anniversary with the television special Motown 25, during which Michael Jackson performs "Billie Jean" and introduces the moonwalk.
April
April 4 – First flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger.
April 13 – California's largest retailer Target Corporation expands into California, opening 11 stores. [3]
April 15 – Tokyo Disneyland opens.
April 18 – The 1983 United States embassy bombing in Beirut kills 63 people.
April 18 – Channel broadcasting is founded by Disney (the Disney Channel).
April 22 – A reactor shut-down due to failure of fuel rods occurs at Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, Russia.
April 25 – Manchester, Maine, schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov, after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
May
May 6 – Stern magazine publishes the "Hitler Diaries" (which are later found to be forgeries).
May 11 – Aberdeen F.C. beat Real Madrid 2–1 (after extra time) to win the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1983 and become only the third Scottish side to win a European trophy.
May 14 – Dundee United F.C. are crowned Champions of Scotland for the first time in their history by winning the Scottish Premier League, on the final day of the league season at the home of their city rivals Dundee F.C. at Dens Park.
May 16 – NSW Premier Neville Wran steps down, in response to allegations raised by the ABC program Four Corners, that he attempted to influence the NSW Magistracy.
May 17 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
May 25 – Return of the Jedi opens in theatres.
May 26 – A powerful earthquake and tsunami in northern Honshū, Japan kills 104 and injures 163.
May 27 – Benton fireworks disaster, an explosion at an unlicensed fireworks operation near Benton, Tennessee kills eleven, injures one, and causes damage within a radius of five miles.[4]
May 28 – The 9th G7 summit begins at Williamsburg, Virginia.
May 29 – Tom Sneva wins the Indianapolis 500
May 31 – The Philadelphia 76ers defeat the LA Lakers for the NBA championship.
June
June 9 – Britain's Conservative government, led by Margaret Thatcher, is re-elected by a landslide majority.[5]
June 13 – Pioneer 10 passes the orbit of Neptune, becoming the first man-made object to leave the vicinity of the major planets of the Solar System.
June 16 – Cork Graham is caught off the Vietnamese island of Phú Quốc looking for treasure buried by Captain Kidd. He is convicted and imprisoned until 1984 for illegal entry.
June 18
Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on the STS-7 mission.
Iranian teenager Mona Mahmudnizhad and nine other women are hanged because of their membership of the Bahá'í Faith.
June 25 – India wins the Cricket World Cup by defeating the West Indies by 43 runs.
June 30 – A total loss of coolant occurs at the Embalse Nuclear Power Station, Argentina. It is classified as an "Accident With Local Consequences" – level 4 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
Throughout the summer – Many Midwestern American states are affected by a severe drought that causes water shortages
July
July 1
A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet, en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea, crashes into the Fouta Djall Mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.
The High Court of Australia blocks construction of the Franklin Dam in Tasmania.
A technical failure causes the release of iodine-131 from the Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant, Germany.
July 15
Nintendo's Family Computer, also known as the Famicom, goes on sale in Japan.
The Orly Airport attack in Paris leaves 8 dead and 55 injured.
July 16 – Sikorsky S-61 disaster: A helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
July 20 – The government of Poland announces the end of martial law and amnesty for political prisoners.
July 21 – The lowest temperature on Earth is recorded in Vostok Station, Antarctica with −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).
July 22 – Australian Dick Smith completes his solo circumnavigation in a helicopter.
July 23
Gimli Glider: Out of fuel, Air Canada Flight 143 glides in to land in Gimli, Manitoba.
13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, starting the Sri Lankan Civil War which continues until 2009.
Heavy massive rain and mudslides at western Shimane Prefecture, Japan, kill 117.
July 24 – The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
July 28 – New South Wales premier Neville Wran is exonerated by the Street Royal Commission, over claims raised by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) programme Four Corners, that he attempted to influence the NSW magistracy.
August
August 1 – America West Airlines begins operations out of Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada.
August 4 – Thomas Sankara becomes President of Upper Volta.
August 16 – The Bill first airs as Woodentop.
August 18
Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over US$3.8 billion (2005 dollars) in damage.
Five people are killed and 18 others injured when a road train is deliberately driven into a motel at Ayers Rock, NT (the driver, Douglas Edward Crabbe, is convicted in March 1984).
August 21 – Benigno Aquino, Jr., Philippines opposition leader, is assassinated in Manila just as he returns from exile.
August 24 – The Old Philadelphia Arena is destroyed by arson.
August 26 – Heavy rain triggers flooding at Bilbao, Spain, and surrounding areas, killing 45 people and causing millions in damages.
August 30 – Guion Bluford becomes the first African-American in space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on the STS-8 mission.
September
September 1 – Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by Soviet Union Air Force Su-15 Flagon pilot Major Gennadi Osipovich near Moneron Island when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board are killed including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald.
September 4 – Six men walk underwater across Sydney Harbour – 82.9 km in 48 hours.
September 6 – The Soviet Union admits to shooting down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, stating that the pilots did not know it was a civilian aircraft when it violated Soviet airspace.
September 9 – Iraqi club Al-Shorta win the 1983 President's Gold Cup by defeating Malaysia 2-0 in the final.
September 16 – Ronald Reagan announces that the Global Positioning System (GPS) will be made available for civilian use.
September 17 – Vanessa L. Williams becomes the first African American to be crowned Miss America, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
September 18 – U.S. heavy metal band Kiss officially appears in public without makeup for the first time on MTV.
September 19
Saint Kitts and Nevis becomes an independent state.
Wheel of Fortune begins its syndicated version, which still churns out new episodes to this very day.
September 23
Gulf Air Flight 771 crashes in the United Arab Emirates after a bomb explodes in the baggage compartment, killing 117.
Violence erupts in New Caledonia between native Kanaks and French expatriates. The French government withdraws the promise of independence.
September 24 – U.S. rock group the Red Hot Chili Peppers launch their first self-titled album.
September 25 – Maze Prison escape: 38 Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners, armed with 6 handguns, hijack a prison lorry and smash their way out of HM Prison Maze in Northern Ireland, in the largest prison escape since World War II and in British history.
September 26
1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident: Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war by correctly identifying a warning of attack by U.S. missiles as a false alarm.
The Soyuz T-10-1 mission ends in a pad abort at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, when a pad fire occurs at the base of the Soyuz U rocket during the launch countdown. The escape tower system, attached to the top of the capsule containing the crew and Soyuz spacecraft, fires immediately, pulling the crew safe from the vehicle a few seconds before the rocket explodes, destroying the launch complex.
The Australian yacht Australia II wins the America's Cup, the first successful challenge to the New York Yacht Club's 132-year defence of the sailing trophy.
September 27 – The GNU Project is announced publicly on the net.unix-wizards and net.usoft newsgroups.
October
October 2 – Neil Kinnock is elected leader of the British Labour Party.
October 4 – British entrepreneur Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 mph (1,019.468 km/h), driving Thrust2 at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.
October 7 – A plan to abolish the Greater London Council is announced.
October 9 – The Rangoon bombing kills South Korea's Foreign Minister, Lee Bum Suk, and 21 others.
October 12 – Japan's former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed, and sentenced to 4 years in jail.
October 19 – Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, and 40 others are assassinated in a military coup.
October 21 – At the 17th General Conference on Weights and Measures, the metre is defined in terms of the speed of light as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
October 22 – In Bonn, West Germany, people demonstrate for nuclear disarmament.
October 23 – Beirut barracks bombing: Simultaneous suicide truck-bombings destroy both the French Army and United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemen, 58 French paratroopers and 6 Lebanese civilians.
October 25 – Invasion of Grenada by United States troops at the behest of Eugenia Charles of Dominica, a member of the Organization of American States.
October 30 – Argentine general election: The first democratic elections in Argentina after 7 years of military rule are held.
November
November 2
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: At the White House Rose Garden, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January to honor American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Able Archer 83: Many Soviet officials misinterpret this NATO exercise as a nuclear first strike, causing the last nuclear scare of the Cold War.
South Africa approves a new constitution granting limited political rights to Coloureds and Asians as part of a series of reforms to apartheid.
Chrysler introduces the Dodge Caravan, the first "minivan".
November 3 – The Reverend Jesse Jackson announces his candidacy for the 1984 Democratic Party presidential nomination.
November 5 – Byford Dolphin rig diving bell accident: Off the coast of Norway, 5 divers are killed and one severely wounded in an explosive decompression accident.
November 10 – The anticancer drug etoposide is approved by the FDA, leading to a curative treatment regime in the field of combination chemotherapy of testicular carcinoma.
November 11 – Ronald Reagan becomes the first U.S. President to address the National Diet, Japan's national legislature.
November 13 – The first United States cruise missiles arrive at RAF Greenham Common in England amid protests from peace campaigners.
November 14
The immunosuppressant cyclosporine is approved by the FDA, leading to a revolution in the field of transplantation.
Ecuador recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
November 15 – The Turkish part of Cyprus declares independence.
November 16 – A jury in Gretna, Louisiana acquits Ginny Foat of the murder of Argentine businessman Moses Chaiyo.
November 17 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is founded in Mexico.
November 19 – An attempted hijacking of Aeroflot Flight 6833 in Soviet Georgia results in several dead and wounded.
November 20 – The Day After debuts on ABC.
November 24 – Lynda Mann, 15, is found raped and strangled in the village of Narborough, England (Colin Pitchfork is sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988).
November 26 – Brink's-MAT robbery: In London, 6,800 gold bars worth nearly UK£26 million are taken from the Brink's-MAT vault at Heathrow Airport. Only a fraction of the gold is ever recovered, and only 2 men are convicted of the crime.
November 27 – Colombian Avianca Flight 11 crashes near Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, killing 181 of the 192 on board.
December
December 4
United States Navy aviator Lt's. Mark Lange and Bobby Goodman are shot down in an A-6 Intruder over Lebanon and captured by Syrians; Lt. Lange dies of his injuries; Lt. Goodman is released 30 days later after the intervention of the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
General elections are celebrated in Venezuela in which the opposition party, Democratic Action, wins a majority in both chambers of the Venezuelan Congress and the presidency for the 1984-1989 period under Jaime Lusinchi. Voter turn out is 87.3% and Lusinchi obtains 58.4% of the votes.
Solar eclipse of December 4, 1983.
December 5 – ICIMOD is established and inaugurated with its headquarters in Kathmandu, Nepal, and legitimised through an Act of Parliament in Nepal this same year.
December 7 – Two Spanish passenger planes collide on the foggy runway at a Madrid airport, killing 90.
December 9 – The Australian dollar is floated, by Federal treasurer Paul Keating. Under the old flexible peg system, the Reserve Bank bought and sold all Australian dollars and cleared the market at the end of the day. This initiative is taken by the government of Bob Hawke.
December 10 – Military rule ends and democracy is restored in Argentina, with the beginning of Raúl Alfonsín's first term as President of Argentina
December 13 – Turgut Özal, of ANAP forms the new government of Turkey (45th government); beginning of a new civilian regime
December 17
A discotheque fire in Madrid, Spain, kills 83 people.
A Provisional IRA car bomb kills 6 Christmas shoppers and injures 90 outside Harrods in London.
December 19 – The Jules Rimet Trophy is stolen from the Brazilian Soccer Confideration building in Rio de Janeiro.
December 27
A propane explosion in Buffalo, New York kills 5 firefighters and 2 civilians.
Pope John Paul II visits Rebibbia prison to forgive his would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Ağca.
December 29 – The Reverend Jesse Jackson travels to Syria to secure the release of U.S. Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman, who has been in Syrian captivity since being shot down over Lebanon during a bombing mission.
December 31
Brunei gains independence from the United Kingdom.
Two bombs explode in France; one on the Paris train kills 3 and injures 19. The other at Marseille station kills 2 and injures 34.
January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the true Internet).
January 3 – Kīlauea begins slowly erupting on the Big Island of Hawaii and is still flowing as of 2014.
January 10 – Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States launch Fraggle Rock, a worldwide program advocating peace.
January 19 – High-ranking Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.
January 22 – Björn Borg retires from tennis after winning 5 consecutive Wimbledon championships.
January 24 – Twenty-five members of the Red Brigades are sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1978 murder of Aldo Moro.
January 26 – Lotus 1-2-3 is released for IBM PC compatible computers.
January 31 – Seatbelt use for drivers and front seat passengers becomes mandatory in the United Kingdom.
February
February 2 – Giovanni Vigliotto goes on trial for multiple counts of bigamy involving 105 women.
February 3 – Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser is granted a double dissolution of both houses of parliament, for elections the next day.
February 3 – Bob Hawke replaces Bill Hayden as leader of the Australian Labor Party.
February 6 – Klaus Barbie is officially charged with war crimes.
February 12 – 100 women protest in Lahore, Pakistan, against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.
February 13 – A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people.
February 16 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 75 people, in one of Australia's worst bushfire disasters.
February 18
The Venezuelan bolívar is devaluated and exchange controls are established in an event now referred to as Black Friday by many Venezuelans (the Bolívar had been the most stable and internationally accepted currency).
Nellie massacre: Over 2,000 people, mostly Bangladeshi Muslims, are massacred in Assam, India, during the Assam agitation.
Wah Mee massacre: 13 people are killed in an attempted robbery in Seattle, Washington.
February 23
The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intention to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
The automatic shut-down fails at Salem Nuclear Power Plant, New Jersey, USA.
February 24
A special commission of the Congress of the United States releases a report critical of the practice of Japanese internment during World War II.
Bermondsey by-election, 1983 (U.K.): Simon Hughes's defeat of Peter Tatchell is criticised for alleged homophobia.
February 28 – The final episode of M*A*S*H is aired and the record of most watched episode is broken.
March
March 1 – The Balearic Islands and Madrid become Autonomous communities of Spain.
March 5 – Bob Hawke is elected Prime Minister of Australia.
March 8 – IBM releases the IBM PC XT.
March 9 – Anne Burford resigns as head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency amid scandal.
March 11 – Australia's First Hawke Ministry is sworn in; Andrew Peacock becomes Federal Opposition leader.
March 16 – The Ismaning radio transmitter (last wooden radio tower in Germany) is demolished.
March 23 – Strategic Defense Initiative: U.S. President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles. The media dub this plan "Star Wars".
March 25 – Motown celebrates its 25th anniversary with the television special Motown 25, during which Michael Jackson performs "Billie Jean" and introduces the moonwalk.
April
April 4 – First flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger.
April 13 – California's largest retailer Target Corporation expands into California, opening 11 stores. [3]
April 15 – Tokyo Disneyland opens.
April 18 – The 1983 United States embassy bombing in Beirut kills 63 people.
April 18 – Channel broadcasting is founded by Disney (the Disney Channel).
April 22 – A reactor shut-down due to failure of fuel rods occurs at Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, Russia.
April 25 – Manchester, Maine, schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov, after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
May
May 6 – Stern magazine publishes the "Hitler Diaries" (which are later found to be forgeries).
May 11 – Aberdeen F.C. beat Real Madrid 2–1 (after extra time) to win the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1983 and become only the third Scottish side to win a European trophy.
May 14 – Dundee United F.C. are crowned Champions of Scotland for the first time in their history by winning the Scottish Premier League, on the final day of the league season at the home of their city rivals Dundee F.C. at Dens Park.
May 16 – NSW Premier Neville Wran steps down, in response to allegations raised by the ABC program Four Corners, that he attempted to influence the NSW Magistracy.
May 17 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
May 25 – Return of the Jedi opens in theatres.
May 26 – A powerful earthquake and tsunami in northern Honshū, Japan kills 104 and injures 163.
May 27 – Benton fireworks disaster, an explosion at an unlicensed fireworks operation near Benton, Tennessee kills eleven, injures one, and causes damage within a radius of five miles.[4]
May 28 – The 9th G7 summit begins at Williamsburg, Virginia.
May 29 – Tom Sneva wins the Indianapolis 500
May 31 – The Philadelphia 76ers defeat the LA Lakers for the NBA championship.
June
June 9 – Britain's Conservative government, led by Margaret Thatcher, is re-elected by a landslide majority.[5]
June 13 – Pioneer 10 passes the orbit of Neptune, becoming the first man-made object to leave the vicinity of the major planets of the Solar System.
June 16 – Cork Graham is caught off the Vietnamese island of Phú Quốc looking for treasure buried by Captain Kidd. He is convicted and imprisoned until 1984 for illegal entry.
June 18
Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on the STS-7 mission.
Iranian teenager Mona Mahmudnizhad and nine other women are hanged because of their membership of the Bahá'í Faith.
June 25 – India wins the Cricket World Cup by defeating the West Indies by 43 runs.
June 30 – A total loss of coolant occurs at the Embalse Nuclear Power Station, Argentina. It is classified as an "Accident With Local Consequences" – level 4 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
Throughout the summer – Many Midwestern American states are affected by a severe drought that causes water shortages
July
July 1
A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet, en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea, crashes into the Fouta Djall Mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.
The High Court of Australia blocks construction of the Franklin Dam in Tasmania.
A technical failure causes the release of iodine-131 from the Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant, Germany.
July 15
Nintendo's Family Computer, also known as the Famicom, goes on sale in Japan.
The Orly Airport attack in Paris leaves 8 dead and 55 injured.
July 16 – Sikorsky S-61 disaster: A helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
July 20 – The government of Poland announces the end of martial law and amnesty for political prisoners.
July 21 – The lowest temperature on Earth is recorded in Vostok Station, Antarctica with −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).
July 22 – Australian Dick Smith completes his solo circumnavigation in a helicopter.
July 23
Gimli Glider: Out of fuel, Air Canada Flight 143 glides in to land in Gimli, Manitoba.
13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, starting the Sri Lankan Civil War which continues until 2009.
Heavy massive rain and mudslides at western Shimane Prefecture, Japan, kill 117.
July 24 – The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
July 28 – New South Wales premier Neville Wran is exonerated by the Street Royal Commission, over claims raised by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) programme Four Corners, that he attempted to influence the NSW magistracy.
August
August 1 – America West Airlines begins operations out of Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada.
August 4 – Thomas Sankara becomes President of Upper Volta.
August 16 – The Bill first airs as Woodentop.
August 18
Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over US$3.8 billion (2005 dollars) in damage.
Five people are killed and 18 others injured when a road train is deliberately driven into a motel at Ayers Rock, NT (the driver, Douglas Edward Crabbe, is convicted in March 1984).
August 21 – Benigno Aquino, Jr., Philippines opposition leader, is assassinated in Manila just as he returns from exile.
August 24 – The Old Philadelphia Arena is destroyed by arson.
August 26 – Heavy rain triggers flooding at Bilbao, Spain, and surrounding areas, killing 45 people and causing millions in damages.
August 30 – Guion Bluford becomes the first African-American in space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on the STS-8 mission.
September
September 1 – Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by Soviet Union Air Force Su-15 Flagon pilot Major Gennadi Osipovich near Moneron Island when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board are killed including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald.
September 4 – Six men walk underwater across Sydney Harbour – 82.9 km in 48 hours.
September 6 – The Soviet Union admits to shooting down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, stating that the pilots did not know it was a civilian aircraft when it violated Soviet airspace.
September 9 – Iraqi club Al-Shorta win the 1983 President's Gold Cup by defeating Malaysia 2-0 in the final.
September 16 – Ronald Reagan announces that the Global Positioning System (GPS) will be made available for civilian use.
September 17 – Vanessa L. Williams becomes the first African American to be crowned Miss America, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
September 18 – U.S. heavy metal band Kiss officially appears in public without makeup for the first time on MTV.
September 19
Saint Kitts and Nevis becomes an independent state.
Wheel of Fortune begins its syndicated version, which still churns out new episodes to this very day.
September 23
Gulf Air Flight 771 crashes in the United Arab Emirates after a bomb explodes in the baggage compartment, killing 117.
Violence erupts in New Caledonia between native Kanaks and French expatriates. The French government withdraws the promise of independence.
September 24 – U.S. rock group the Red Hot Chili Peppers launch their first self-titled album.
September 25 – Maze Prison escape: 38 Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners, armed with 6 handguns, hijack a prison lorry and smash their way out of HM Prison Maze in Northern Ireland, in the largest prison escape since World War II and in British history.
September 26
1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident: Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war by correctly identifying a warning of attack by U.S. missiles as a false alarm.
The Soyuz T-10-1 mission ends in a pad abort at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, when a pad fire occurs at the base of the Soyuz U rocket during the launch countdown. The escape tower system, attached to the top of the capsule containing the crew and Soyuz spacecraft, fires immediately, pulling the crew safe from the vehicle a few seconds before the rocket explodes, destroying the launch complex.
The Australian yacht Australia II wins the America's Cup, the first successful challenge to the New York Yacht Club's 132-year defence of the sailing trophy.
September 27 – The GNU Project is announced publicly on the net.unix-wizards and net.usoft newsgroups.
October
October 2 – Neil Kinnock is elected leader of the British Labour Party.
October 4 – British entrepreneur Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 mph (1,019.468 km/h), driving Thrust2 at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.
October 7 – A plan to abolish the Greater London Council is announced.
October 9 – The Rangoon bombing kills South Korea's Foreign Minister, Lee Bum Suk, and 21 others.
October 12 – Japan's former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed, and sentenced to 4 years in jail.
October 19 – Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, and 40 others are assassinated in a military coup.
October 21 – At the 17th General Conference on Weights and Measures, the metre is defined in terms of the speed of light as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
October 22 – In Bonn, West Germany, people demonstrate for nuclear disarmament.
October 23 – Beirut barracks bombing: Simultaneous suicide truck-bombings destroy both the French Army and United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemen, 58 French paratroopers and 6 Lebanese civilians.
October 25 – Invasion of Grenada by United States troops at the behest of Eugenia Charles of Dominica, a member of the Organization of American States.
October 30 – Argentine general election: The first democratic elections in Argentina after 7 years of military rule are held.
November
November 2
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: At the White House Rose Garden, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January to honor American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Able Archer 83: Many Soviet officials misinterpret this NATO exercise as a nuclear first strike, causing the last nuclear scare of the Cold War.
South Africa approves a new constitution granting limited political rights to Coloureds and Asians as part of a series of reforms to apartheid.
Chrysler introduces the Dodge Caravan, the first "minivan".
November 3 – The Reverend Jesse Jackson announces his candidacy for the 1984 Democratic Party presidential nomination.
November 5 – Byford Dolphin rig diving bell accident: Off the coast of Norway, 5 divers are killed and one severely wounded in an explosive decompression accident.
November 10 – The anticancer drug etoposide is approved by the FDA, leading to a curative treatment regime in the field of combination chemotherapy of testicular carcinoma.
November 11 – Ronald Reagan becomes the first U.S. President to address the National Diet, Japan's national legislature.
November 13 – The first United States cruise missiles arrive at RAF Greenham Common in England amid protests from peace campaigners.
November 14
The immunosuppressant cyclosporine is approved by the FDA, leading to a revolution in the field of transplantation.
Ecuador recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
November 15 – The Turkish part of Cyprus declares independence.
November 16 – A jury in Gretna, Louisiana acquits Ginny Foat of the murder of Argentine businessman Moses Chaiyo.
November 17 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is founded in Mexico.
November 19 – An attempted hijacking of Aeroflot Flight 6833 in Soviet Georgia results in several dead and wounded.
November 20 – The Day After debuts on ABC.
November 24 – Lynda Mann, 15, is found raped and strangled in the village of Narborough, England (Colin Pitchfork is sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988).
November 26 – Brink's-MAT robbery: In London, 6,800 gold bars worth nearly UK£26 million are taken from the Brink's-MAT vault at Heathrow Airport. Only a fraction of the gold is ever recovered, and only 2 men are convicted of the crime.
November 27 – Colombian Avianca Flight 11 crashes near Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, killing 181 of the 192 on board.
December
December 4
United States Navy aviator Lt's. Mark Lange and Bobby Goodman are shot down in an A-6 Intruder over Lebanon and captured by Syrians; Lt. Lange dies of his injuries; Lt. Goodman is released 30 days later after the intervention of the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
General elections are celebrated in Venezuela in which the opposition party, Democratic Action, wins a majority in both chambers of the Venezuelan Congress and the presidency for the 1984-1989 period under Jaime Lusinchi. Voter turn out is 87.3% and Lusinchi obtains 58.4% of the votes.
Solar eclipse of December 4, 1983.
December 5 – ICIMOD is established and inaugurated with its headquarters in Kathmandu, Nepal, and legitimised through an Act of Parliament in Nepal this same year.
December 7 – Two Spanish passenger planes collide on the foggy runway at a Madrid airport, killing 90.
December 9 – The Australian dollar is floated, by Federal treasurer Paul Keating. Under the old flexible peg system, the Reserve Bank bought and sold all Australian dollars and cleared the market at the end of the day. This initiative is taken by the government of Bob Hawke.
December 10 – Military rule ends and democracy is restored in Argentina, with the beginning of Raúl Alfonsín's first term as President of Argentina
December 13 – Turgut Özal, of ANAP forms the new government of Turkey (45th government); beginning of a new civilian regime
December 17
A discotheque fire in Madrid, Spain, kills 83 people.
A Provisional IRA car bomb kills 6 Christmas shoppers and injures 90 outside Harrods in London.
December 19 – The Jules Rimet Trophy is stolen from the Brazilian Soccer Confideration building in Rio de Janeiro.
December 27
A propane explosion in Buffalo, New York kills 5 firefighters and 2 civilians.
Pope John Paul II visits Rebibbia prison to forgive his would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Ağca.
December 29 – The Reverend Jesse Jackson travels to Syria to secure the release of U.S. Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman, who has been in Syrian captivity since being shot down over Lebanon during a bombing mission.
December 31
Brunei gains independence from the United Kingdom.
Two bombs explode in France; one on the Paris train kills 3 and injures 19. The other at Marseille station kills 2 and injures 34.