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    Welcome to the year of 1985! It is a very eventful year. Pop-star Madonna is married to actor Sean Penn. Coca-Cola introduces New Coke, a sweeter version of the Classic Coca-Cola. A hole in the ozone layer is detected over the Antarctic. A study indicates that the estimated literacy rate of women in the world is 97%. However, only the literacy rate among women in developing countries is only 55%. A serious problem of homelessness arises in the United States with an estimated number of between 350,000 and 3 million people homeless. The U.S. imposes sanctions against South Africa in protest of apartheid. Gorbachev and Reagan meet in Geneva for a two day summit. The Titanic is discovered, and more!

• The San Francisco 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins at Stanford, California, 38 to 16 in the Super Bowl XIX on January 20.

• On January 21 Ronald Reagan takes the oath of office for a second term. At 73 he is the oldest person ever to take the oath of office as President of the United States.

• The U.S. first-class postal rate goes to 22 cents on February 17.
• On February 11, A United States balloonist named Ben Abruzzo, the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon dies in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• Clarence Nash an American vocal impressionist that played the voice of Donald Duck in many different languages for over 50 years dies in Burbank, California on February 20.

• In March, a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is detected by the British Antarctic Survey.

• The Coca-Cola Company replaces its Coca-Cola recipe with a new, sweeter version called New Coke on April 23.

• On May 13 eleven people are killed and two hundred are made homeless when Philadelphia police bomb a house with gunmen inside.

• On May 31 more than thirty tornadoes hit New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania leaving 76 people dead.

• On June 14 TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by Arab terrorists.

• On June 27 the song “Saving All My love For You” and the album Whitney, are released by United States pop singer Whitney Houston. It eventually becomes the bestselling album by a female artist to date.

• On July 13 Live Aid Concert takes place, raising over $70 million dollars to help relieve the famine in Africa.

• The United States seismologist who developed the Richter scale of earthquake magnitude, Charles Francis Richter, dies in Pasadena, California on September 30.

• On August 16 Madonna marries actor Sean Penn in New York, New York.

• On August 27 the space shuttle named Discovery launches. The mission is to deploy three satellites. They also get, fix, and re-send an orbiting satellite.

• The Titanic is discovered in more than 12, 400 feet of water on September 1.

• Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's career base hit record with 4,192 hits on September 11. Ty Cobb's record had stood since 1928.
• Willie Nelson, a country singer, organizes the first Farm Aid concert meant to help America's farmers on September 22.
• Movie star Rock Hudson dies of AIDS on October 2. He was one of the first major stars to become a victim of AIDS.
• On October 7 the Achille Lauro, an Italian cruise ship, is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists.
• The Kansas City Royals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 3, winning the 1985 World Series.

• In October the crew of the shuttle Atlantis begin construction exercises to develop proficiency for assembling a large space station.

• Windows 1.0 software comes out in November.

• December 14, United States baseball player Roger Maris, who broke Babe Ruth's record of home runs for a single season, dies in Houston, Texas of lymphoma cancer at the age of 51.

• New York Mafia boss Paul Castellano and his bodyguard Thomas Bibotti are shot dead an a New York City street on December 16. John Gotti is suspected of having them murdered so he can seize control of the Gambino crime family.

• Researchers discover that chromosomes for cystic fibrosis and  polycyctic kidney disease have gene markers.

• The Safe Water Drinking Act is passed by the United States Congress 

• Doctors begin using lasers in the United States to clean out clogged arteries.

• United States geneticists Micheal S. Brown and Joseph Goldstein are awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine, for their discoveries regarding the regulation of cholesterol metabolism.

• The Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their methods of determining crystal structures are awarded to United States chemists Herbert Hauptman and Jerome Karle.

• The hit movie Back to the Future is released.

• New gaming software, called Nintendo is introduced. original Nintendo

• Scientists at a California University, Berkeley, discover evidence for a black hole in the galaxy’s center.

58th Annual Academy Awards
Best Actor: William Hurt in Kiss of the Spider Woman
Best Actress: Geraldine Page in The Trip to Bountiful
Best Picture: Out of Africa

Emmy Awards
Outstanding Comedy: The Golden Girls
Outstanding Drama: Cagney and Lacey (CBS)

28th Annual Grammy Awards
Record of the Year: We Are the World by USA for Africa
Album of the Year: No Jacket Required by Phil Collins (Atlantic)
Song of the Year: We Are the World by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie
Best New Artist: Sade

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last updated 03/15/06