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For George Orwell's novel, see Nineteen Eighty-Four. For other uses, see 1984 (disambiguation).

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Crack is first introduced into the Los Angeles area and soon spread across the United States.

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January


January 1 - Brunei becomes a fully independent state.
January 1 - Bell System divestiture breaks AT&T into 24 independent units.
January 3 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan meets with Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman and the Reverend Jesse Jackson at the White House, following Lieutenant Goodman's release from Syrian captivity.
January 5 - Richard Stallman starts developing GNU.
January 7 - Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
January 9 - Clara Peller is featured in the "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's for the first time.
January 10 - The United States and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations.
January 23 - The Peace and Friendship Treaty is signed between Argentina and Chile in Vatican City.
January 23 - Hulk Hogan defeats The Iron Sheik for the World Wrestling Federation Championship in Madison Square Garden. The cultural movement known as Hulkamania is born.
January 24 - The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale.
January 27 - Pop star Michael Jackson's scalp is seriously burned by pyrotechnics during filming of a Pepsi commercial.

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February


February 1 - Medicare comes into effect in Australia.
February 2 - The Melbourne newspaper The Age publishes phone taps incriminating an unknown judge.
February 3 - STS-41-B: Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on the 10th space shuttle mission.
February 7 - Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk.
February 8 - The 1984 Winter Olympics open in Sarajevo.
February 9 - Soviet leader Yuri Andropov dies.
February 9 - Disclosure of remarks by Jesse Jackson, which some consider an anti-Semitic slur, hurt his presidential campaign.
February 13 - Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
February 18 - The Vatican and the Italian government sign a new concordat disestablishing the Roman Catholic Church.
February 26 - United States Marines pull out of Beirut, Lebanon.
February 29 - Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces his retirement.

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March


March 5 - Iran accuses Iraq of the use of chemical weapons; the U.N. condemns their use on March 30.
March 5 - Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi orders an attack on the Harimandir Sahib, the Sikh holy spot.
March 6 - A year-long strike begins in the British coal industry (See UK Miners' Strike (1984-1985).
March 14 - Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams and 3 others are seriously injured in a gun attack by the UVF.
March 16 - The CIA station chief in Beirut, William Buckley, is kidnapped by Islamic Jihad and later dies in captivity.
March 22 - Teachers at the McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California are charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges are later dropped as completely unfounded.
March 23 - General Rahimuddin Khan becomes the first man in Pakistan's history to rule over two of its provinces, after becoming interim Governor of Sindh.
March 27 - Starlight Express opens at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London.

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April


April 2 - Indian Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma is launched into space, aboard the Soyuz T-11.
April 4 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
April 12 - Palestinian gunmen take Israeli Bus Number 300 hostage. Israeli special forces storm the bus, freeing the hostages (1 hostage, 2 hijackers killed). Two other hijackers are captured and then killed in secret service interrogations, causing a major scandal and secret service upheaval.
April 13 - India launches Operation Meghdoot, as most of the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir comes under Indian control.
April 17 - WPC Yvonne Fletcher is shot and killed by a secluded gunman during a siege outside the Libyan Embassy in London.
April 19 - Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
April 25 - The term of Sultan Ahmad Shah as the 7th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia ends.
April 26 - Sultan Iskandar, Sultan of Johor, becomes the 8th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

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May


May 2 - The Liverpool International Garden Festival opens in Liverpool.
May 5 - The Herreys win the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 for Sweden, with the song Diggi-Loo, Diggi-Ley.
May 8 - The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
May 8 - Denis Lortie kills three government employees in the National Assembly of Quebec building.
May 8 - The longest game in Major League Baseball history begins at 7:30 PM between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago White Sox. The game will be played over the course of 2 days, lasting 25 innings, with a total time of 8 hours and 6 minutes.
May 11 - A transit of Earth from Mars takes place.
May 12 - The Louisiana World's Fair opens.
May 14 - The one dollar coin is introduced in Australia.

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June


June 5 - The Indian government begins Operation Blue Star, the planned attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
June 6 - Indian troops storm the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the Sikh's holiest shrine, killing an estimated 300 people.
June 8 - A deadly F5 tornado nearly destroys the town of Barneveld, Wisconsin, killing 9 people, injuring nearly 200, and causing over $25,000,000 in damage.
June 8 - The film Ghostbusters is released into theaters, becoming a summer blockbuster hit, with the song "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr. becoming a Top 40 hit.
June 20 - The biggest exam shake-up in the British education system in over 10 years is announced, with O-level and CSE exams to be replaced by a new exam, the GCSE.
June 22 - The official name of the Turkish city Urfa is changed into Sanliurfa.
June 22 - Virgin Atlantic makes its inaugural flight.
June 27 - France beats Spain 2-0 to win the Euro 84.
June 30 - John Turner becomes Canada's 17th Prime Minister.

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July



July 4 - Richard Petty wins his 200th career NASCAR victory at the Firecracker 400 in Daytona, Florida.
July 9 - Lightning sets fire to York Minster.
July 12 - In San Francisco, the Democratic National Convention nominates Walter F. Mondale for U.S. President, and Geraldine Ferraro for Vice President.
July 14 - New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon calls a snap election and is heavily defeated by opposition Labour leader David Lange.
July 18 - The first Culver's opens in Sauk City, Wisconsin.
July 18 - In San Ysidro, California, 41-year-old James Oliver Huberty sprays a McDonald's restaurant with gunfire, killing 21 people before being shot and killed.
July 21 - In Jackson, Michigan, a factory robot crushes a worker against a safety bar in what is apparently the first robot-related death in the United States.
July 23 - Vanessa Williams becomes the first Miss America to resign when she surrenders her crown, after nude photos of her appear in "Penthouse" magazine.
July 25 - Salyut 7 Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk.
July 28 - The 1984 Summer Olympics open in Los Angeles, California.

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August


August 1 - Australian banks are deregulated.
August 4 - The African republic Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.
August 16 - John De Lorean is acquitted of all 8 charges of possessing and distributing cocaine.
August 21 - Half a million people in Manila demonstrate against the regime of Ferdinand Marcos.
August 23 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush are renominated at the Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas.
August 30 - STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its maiden voyage.

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September


September 2 - Seven people are shot and killed and 12 wounded in a bikie shootout between the rival gangs Bandidos and Comancheros, in the Sydney suburb of Milperra.
September 4 - The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, led by Brian Mulroney, wins 211 seats in the House of Commons, forming the largest majority government in Canadian history.
September 4 - The Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends television series is first broadcasted on ITV.
September 5 - STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.
September 5 - Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment.
September 14 - The first MTV Video Music Awards are held in Radio City Music Hall, New York City.
September 16 - Miami Vice first airs on NBC.
September 26 - The United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China sign the initial agreement to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.

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October


October 4 - Tim Macartney-Snape and Greg Mortimer become the first Australians to summit Mount Everest.
October 5 - STS-41-G: Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
October 11 - Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.
October 12 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) attempts to assassinate the British Cabinet in the Brighton hotel bombing.
October 19 - Polish secret police arrest Jerzy Popiełuszko, a Catholic priest who supports the Solidarity movement. His dead body is found in a reservoir 11 days later on October 30.
October 31 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh security guards. Riots soon break out in New Delhi, and some 2,700 innocent Sikhs are killed.

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November


November 2 - Capital punishment: Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
November 6 - Ronald Reagan defeats Walter F. Mondale in the U.S. presidential election with 59% of the popular vote, the highest since Richard Nixon's 61% victory in 1972. Reagan carries 49 states; Mondale wins only his home state of Minnesota by a mere 3,761 vote margin and the District of Columbia.
November 9 - A Nightmare on Elm Street opens in cinemas in the United States.
November 9 - Cesar Chavez delivers his speech, "What The Future Holds For Farm Workers And Hispanics", at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.
November 19 - A series of explosions at the PEMEX Petroleum Storage Facility at San Juan Ixhuatepec, in Mexico City, ignites a major fire and kills about 500 people.
November 23 - Doug Flutie of Boston College throws a 'Hail Mary pass' to Gerald Phelan, giving Boston College a 47-45 win over the Miami Hurricanes.
November 25 - Thirty-six of Britain and Ireland's top pop musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio to form Band Aid, and record the song "Do They Know It's Christmas", in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
November 25 – An East Rail train derails between Sheung Shui and Fanling stations, Hong Kong.
November 28 - Over 250 years after their deaths, William Penn and his wife Hannah Callowhill Penn are made Honorary Citizens of the United States.
November 30 - The Tamil Tigers begin the purge of the Sinhalese from North and East Sri Lanka; 127 are killed.

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December


December 2 - Bob Hawke's government is re-elected in Australia with a reduced majority.
December 3 - Bhopal Disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, kills more than 2,000 people outright and injures anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 others (some 6,000 of whom later die from their injuries) in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.
December 3 - British Telecom is privatised.
December 19 - The People's Republic of China and United Kingdom sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong.
December 22 - Four African-American youths (Barry Allen, Troy Canty, James Ramseur, and Darrell Cabey) board an express train in The Bronx borough of New York City. They attempt to rob Bernhard Hugo Goetz, who shoots them. The event starts a national debate about urban crime, which is a plague in 1980s America.
December 22 - In Malta, Prime Minister Dom Mintoff resigns.
December 28 - A Soviet cruise missile plunges into Inarinjärvi lake in Finnish Lapland. Finnish authorities announce the fact in public on January 3, 1985.
December 31 - Rajiv Gandhi becomes prime minister of India.

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Unknown dates

Famine in Ethiopia begins.
A peace agreement between Kenya and Somalia was signed in the Egyptian capital Cairo in December 1984. With this agreement, in which Somalia officially renounced its historical territorial claims, relations between the two countries began to improve.
Chatham Dockyard in Medway, England closed after being used a ship-building yard for over 400 years since the reign of King Henry VIII.

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January

January 1 - Keyra Augustina, model
January 1 - Michael Witt, Australian rugby league player
January 3 - Maya Ababadjani, actress
January 3 - Charlotte Marshall, model
January 12 - Scott Olsen, American baseball player
January 13 - Eleni Ioannou, Greek martial artist (d. 2004)
January 15 - Megan Quann, swimmer
January 19 - Zakia Mrisho Mohamed
January 25 - Ines Cudna, model
January 26 - Rebecca Ritters, actress
January 26 - Luo Xuejuan, swimmer
January 29 - Natalie du Toit, South African swimmer

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February

February 10 - Kim Hyo Jin, Korean actress
February 12 - Alexandra Dahlström, actress
February 15 - Dorota Rabczewska, Polish singer and model
February 25 - Xing Huina, Chinese athlete
February 28 - Karolina Kurkova, model
February 29 - Alicia Hollowell, softball pitcher

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March

March 1 - Naima Mora, winner of America's Next Top Model cycle 4
March 7 - Dani Woodward, Porn star
March 10 - Olivia Wilde, American actress
March 20 - Christy Carlson Romano, actress
March 20 - Marcus Vick, American football player
March 20 - Nomura Yuka, Japanese actress
March 24 - Chris Bosh, American Basketball player currently playing with the Toronto Raptors
March 25 - Yuriy Leonovich, Ukrainian-American Cellist
March 25 - Katharine McPhee, American Idol finalist
March 26 - Stéphanie Lapointe, Quebec singer and 2004 Star Académie winner
March 28 - Nikki Sanderson, British actress

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April

April 1 - Amanda Righetti, American actress
April 3 - Allana Slater, Australian gymnast
April 4 - Sean May, American basketball player
April 8 - Kirsten Storms, American actress
April 9 - Adam Loewen, Canadian pitcher
April 10 - Mandy Moore, American singer and actress
April 10 - Cara DeLizia, American actress.
April 11 - Kelli Garner, American actress
April 13 - Kris Britt, Australian cricketer
April 17 - Rosanna Davison, Irish model
April 18 - America Ferrera, American actress
April 22 - Michelle Ryan, British actress
April 23 - Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russian chess player
April 23 - Lil Eazy-E, son of rapper Eazy-E.
April 27 - Patrick Stump, American singer (Fall Out Boy)
April 29 - Taylor Cole, American actress and model
April 29 - Lina Krasnoroutskaya, Russian tennis player and commentator

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May

May 1 - Farah Fath, American actress
May 1 - Alexander Farnerud, Swedish footballer
May 5 - Wade MacNeil, Canadian guitarist
May 11 - Andres Iniesta, Spanish footballer
May 17 - Christine Robinson, Canadian water polo player
May 24 - Sarah Hagan, American actress
May 25 - Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir, "Miss Iceland", crowned Miss World in 2005
May 29 - Carmelo Anthony, American basketball player
May 31 - Jason Smith, Australian actor

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June

June 1 - Oliver Tielemans, Dutch racecar driver
June 9 - Wesley Sneijder, Dutch footballer
June 11 - Vagner Love, Brazilian footballer
June 13 - Berangere Schuh, French archer
June 16 - Rick Nash, Canadian Hockey Player, Columbus Blue Jackets
June 22 - The Tharoor Twins, Crazy Twins, Republicans
June 24 - J.J. Redick, American basketball player
June 25 - Lauren Bush, American model
June 25 - Amrita Hunjan, British RnB Singer
June 26 - Raymond Felton, American basketball player

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July

July 3 - Corey Sevier, Canadian actor
July 11 - Tanith Belbin, Canadian figure skater
July 12 - Gareth Gates, English singer
July 12 - Michael McGovern, Northern Irish footballer
July 19 - Adam Morrison, American basketball player
July 22 - Kinzie Kenner, American pornographic actress
July 24 - Tyler Kyte, Canadian actor/singer

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August

August 07 - Ullas das, Bengali Writer and poet
August 12 - Sherone Simpson, Jamaican athlete
August 13 - Luke Thompson, American entrepreneurial failure
August 20 - Mirai Moriyama, Japanese actor
August 21 - Alizée Jacotey, French singer
August 21 - Michelle Swetnam, American Writer and Bookseller

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September

September 1 - Joe Trohman, American musician
September 3 - Garrett Hedlund, American actor
September 7 - Farveez Maharoof, Sri Lankan cricketer
September 7 - Vera Zvonareva, Russian tennis player
September 13 - J.R. Writer, African American Underground Rapper (member of The Diplomats)
September 14 - Adam Lamberg, American actor
September 15 - Prince Harry of Wales
September 16 - Katie Melua, Georgian singer
September 23 - Anneliese van der Pol, Dutch actress
September 25 - Rashad McCants, American basketball player
September 27 - Avril Lavigne, Canadian Singer
September 28 - Helen Oyeyemi, British novelist
September 30 - Megan Ewing, American model

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October

October 3 - Ashlee Simpson, American singer and actress
October 4 - Eric Staal, Canadian Hockey Player
October 10 - Chiaki Kuriyama, Japanese actress
October 14 - Santino Quaranta, American soccer player
October 16 - Melissa Lauren, pornographic actress
October 18 - Holly Dunaway, boxer
October 26 - Sasha Cohen, American figure skater
October 27 - Kelly Osbourne, English singer

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November

November 7 - Amelia Vega, Miss Universe 2003, from the Dominican Republic
November 9 - Delta Goodrem, Australian actress and singer
November 9 - Se7en, South Korean singer
November 21 - Jena Malone, American actress
November 22 - Scarlett Johansson, American actress
November 28 - Mary Elizabeth Winstead, American actress
November 28 - Andrew Bogut, Australian basketball player
November 28 - Trey Songz, American singer
November 28 - Marc-Andre Fleury, Canadian hockey player

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December

December 7 - Robert Kubica, the first Polish Formula One racing driver
December 14 - Chris Brunt, Northern Irish footballer
December 17 - Asuka Fukuda, Japanese ex-singer
December 22 - Jonas Altberg, Swedish musician (Basshunter)
December 25 - The Veronicas, Australian singers
December 27 - Tye'sha Fluker, American Basketball player
December 30 - LeBron James, American basketball player



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January

January 7 - Alfred Kastler, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)

January 20 - Johnny Weissmuller, Austrian-born swimmer and actor (b. 1904)

January 21 - Jackie Wilson, American singer (b. 1934)

January 22 - Sir Count Michael Gonzi, Archbishop of Malta and past politician (b. 1885)

January 30 - Luke Kelly, Irish folk singer (b. 1940)

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February 8 - Karel Miljon, Dutch boxer (b. 1903)

February 9 - Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (b. 1914)

February 10 - David Von Erich, professional wrestler (b. 1958)

February 12 - Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (b. 1914)

February 15 - Ethel Merman, American singer and actress (b. 1908)

February 21 - Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)

February 22 - Jessamyn West, American writer (b. 1902)

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March 1 - Jackie Coogan, American actor (b. 1914)

March 5 - Tito Gobbi, Italian baritone (b. 1915)

March 5 - William Powell, American actor (b. 1892)

March 12 - Arnold Ridley, English playwright and actor (b. 1896)

March 16 - John Hoagland, American photographer (b. 1947)

March 18 - Charlie Lau, American baseball player (b. 1933)

March 21 - Sir Michael Redgrave, English actor (b. 1908)

March 24 - Sam Jaffe, American actor (b. 1891)

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April 1 - Marvin Gaye, American singer (b. 1939)

April 8 - Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1894)

April 11 – Edgar V. Saks, Estonian statesman and historian (b. 1910)

April 15 - Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedian and magician (b. 1921)

April 20 - Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer (b. 1943)

April 22 - Ansel Adams, American photographer (b. 1902)

April 26 - Count Basie, American musician and composer (b. 1904)

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May 2 - Jack Barry, American television host and producer (b. 1918)

May 16 - Andy Kaufman, American comedian (b. 1949)

May 16 - Irwin Shaw, American author (b. 1913)

May 19 - John Betjeman, English poet (b. 1906)

May 28 - Eric Morecambe, British comedian (b. 1926)

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June 16 - Lew Andreas, American basketball coach (b. 1895)

June 26 - Michel Foucault, French philosopher (d. 1926)

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July 1 - Moshé Feldenkrais, Ukrainain founder of the Feldenkrais Method (b. 1904)

July 8 - Brassaï, Hungarian-born photographer (b. 1899)

July 14 - Philippe Wynne, American musician (b. 1941)

July 24 - Armando Morales Barillas, Nicaraguan guitarist (b. 1936)

July 26 - Ed Gein, American serial killer (b. 1906)

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August 2 - Quirino Cristiani, Argentine animated film director (b. 1896)

August 5 - Richard Burton, Welsh actor (b. 1925)

August 11 - Alfred A. Knopf, American publisher (b. 1892)

August 11 - Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian–German chess player (b. 1916)

August 13 - Tigran Petrosian, Georgian chess player (b. 1929)

August 14 - J. B. Priestley, English novelist and playwright (b. 1894)

August 25 - Waite Hoyt, baseball player (b. 1899) and Truman Capote, writer. (b. 1924)

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September 25 - Walter Pidgeon, Canadian actor (b. 1897)

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October 5 - Leonard Rossiter, British actor (b. 1926)

October 12 - Sir Anthony Berry, British politician (bombing) (b. 1925)

October 14 - Martin Ryle, English radio astronomer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (b. 1918)

October 20 - Carl Ferdinand Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)

October 20 - Paul Dirac, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)

October 21 - François Truffaut, French film director (b. 1932)

October 31 - Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (assassinated) (b. 1917)

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November 6 - Gastón Suárez, Bolivian novelist and dramatist (b. 1929)

November 16 - Vic Dickenson, American trombonist (b. 1906)

November 16 - Leonard Rose, American cellist (leukemia) (b. 1918)

November 18 - Mary Hamman, American writer and editor, modern living editor LIFE and eidtor in chief Bride & Home (b. 1907)

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December 8 - Luther Adler, American actor (b. 1903)

December 11 - Oskar Seidlin, Silesian-born Jewish-American literary scholar (b. 1911)

December 14 - Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)

December 15 - Jan Peerce, American tenor (b. 1904)

December 16 - J. Roderick MacArthur, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1920)

December 20 - Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (b. 1946)

December 28 - Sam Peckinpah, American film director (b. 1926)

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Manuel Angeles Ortiz, Spanish painter (b. 1895)

Juan Antonio Morales, Spanish painter (b. 1909)

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Physics - Carlo Rubbia, Simon van der Meer

Chemistry - Robert Bruce Merrifield

Medicine - Niels Kaj Jerne, Georges J.F. Köhler, César Milstein

Literature - Jaroslav Seifert

Peace - Bishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu

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Richard Stone

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List of ship launches in 1984

List of ship commissionings in 1984

List of ship decommissionings in 1984

List of shipwrecks in 1984