Black Monday refers to Monday, 19 October, 1987, when stock markets around the world crashed, shedding a huge value in a very short time.
Beginning of the AIDS pandemic.
Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, U.S. on May 18, 1980, killing 57 people.
The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1989 World Series, gaining worldwide attention. Sixty-five people were killed and thousands injured, with major structural damage on freeways and buildings and broken gas-line fires in San Francisco, California. The cost of the damage totaled $13 billion (1989 USD).
The US Drought of 1988 decimated the US with many parts of the country becoming victim. This was the worst drought to hit the United States in many years. The drought caused $60 billion in damage (between $80 billion and $120 billion for 2008 USD). The concurrent heat waves killed 5,800 to 17,000 people in the United States.
Hurricane Allen (1980), Hurricane Alicia (1983), Hurricane Gilbert (1988), Hurricane Joan (1988), and Hurricane Hugo (1989) were some notably destructive Atlantic hurricanes of the 1980s.
In 1986, the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated after launch, killing all of the crew onboard. This was the first disaster involving the destruction of a NASA space shuttle. A faulty O-ring was the cause of the accident.
In 1989 the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Alaska. Although not among the largest oil spills in history, its remote and sensitive location made it one of the most devastating ecological disasters ever.
On the night of 8 December 1980, John Lennon was shot in the back four times outside of Lennon's home in New York City and died.
The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were disrupted by a boycott led by the United States and 64 other countries in protest of the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
