Year retrospective · 1980s

1985

1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1985th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 985th year of the 2nd millennium, the 85th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1980s decade.

Recorded events

10

top entries

Notable births

30

Notable deaths

30

Decade

1980s

Timeline

Defining events of 1985

  1. 1985 Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-51D to deploy two communications satellites.

    Space Shuttle orbiter (1984–2011)

    Space Shuttle Discovery is a retired American Space Shuttle orbiter. The spaceplane was one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984.

  2. 1985 Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.

    U.S. law enforcement agency

    The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly abbreviated as the ATF, is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevention of federal offenses involving the unlawful use, manufacture, and possession of firearms and explosives; acts of arson and bombings; and illegal trafficking and tax evasion of alcohol and tobacco products.

  3. 1985 University of California, Riverside 1985 laboratory raid: Animal Liberation Front rescues 467 animals being tested in a lab at University of California, Riverside in Riverside, California, causing $700,000 in damages to the laboratory, in advocacy for animal rights.

    1985 animal cruelty incident

    In 1985, a raid took place at a laboratory belonging to the University of California, Riverside (UCR) that resulted in the removal of a monkey by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). This monkey, called Britches, was a stump-tailed macaque who was born into a breeding colony at UCR. He was removed from his mother at birth, had his eyelids sewn shut, and had an electronic sonar device attached to his head—a Trisensor Aid, an experimental version of a blind travel aid, the Sonicguide—as part of a three-year sensory-deprivation study involving 24 infant monkeys.

  4. 1985 The compound of the militant group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord surrenders to federal authorities in Arkansas after a two-day government siege.

    American far-right militant group active during the 1970s and 80s

    The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) was a far-right survivalist anti-government militia which advocated Christian Identity and was active in the United States during the 1970s and early 1980s. The CSA developed from a Baptist congregation, the Zarephath-Horeb Community Church, which was founded in 1971 in Pontiac, Missouri. Over time, Zarephath-Horeb evolved into an extremist militant group and it was rechristened the CSA.

  5. 1985 Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.

    Cola soft drink

    Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. 8 billion company beverage servings each day. Coca-Cola ranked No.

  6. 1985 Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on STS-51-B.

    Space Shuttle orbiter (1983–1986)

    Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the commanding ship of a nineteenth-century scientific expedition that traveled the world, Challenger was the second Space Shuttle orbiter to fly into space after Columbia, and launched on its maiden flight in April 1983. It was destroyed in January 1986 soon after launch in a disaster that killed all seven crewmembers aboard.

  7. 1985 Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Field Marshal Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab.
  8. 1985 Japan Air Lines Flight 123, a Boeing 747, crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, becoming the worst single-plane air disaster.
  9. 1985 Signing of the Assam Accord, an agreement between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement to end the movement.
  10. 1985 The 1985–86 Hormel strike begins in Austin, Minnesota.

Arrivals

Born in 1985

Daniel Murphy 1985– American baseball player (born 1985)
Beth Tweddle 1985– English artistic gymnast (born 1985)
Barkhad Abdi 1985– Somali actor (born 1985)
Willo Flood 1985– Irish footballer (born 1985)
Jesús Gámez 1985– Spanish footballer (born 1985)
Dion Phaneuf 1985– Canadian ice hockey player (born 1985)
Pablo Hernández Domínguez 1985– Spanish footballer (born 1985)
Brennan Boesch 1985– American baseball player (born 1985)
Hitomi Yoshizawa 1985– Japanese singer and actress
Ryan Hamilton 1985– Canadian ice hockey player (born 1985)
Luol Deng 1985– British basketball player (born 1985)
Nate Diaz 1985– American mixed martial artist (born 1985)

Farewells

Died in 1985

Rudi Gernreich Austrian-born American fashion designer (1922–1985)
Tancredo Neves Prime minister of Brazil from 1961 to 1962
Paul Hugh Emmett American chemical engineer (1900–1985)
Jacques Ferron Canadian physician and author
John Frederick Coots American songwriter (1897–1985)
Nate Barragar American football player (1907–1985)
Kyu Sakamoto Japanese singer and actor (1941–1985)
Gale Sondergaard American actress (1899–1985)
Charles Gibson American historian (1920–1985)
Paul Creston American classical composer (1906–1985)
Ruth Gordon American actress, playwright and screenwriter (1896–1985)
Evelyn Ankers British-American actress (1918–1985)

On the charts

Culture of 1985

By month

Across the calendar of 1985

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