1981
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| Decades: | 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s |
| Years: | 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1981.
1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar.
Events
January
- January - The subterranean Sarawak chamber is discovered in Borneo.
- January 1 - Greece enters the European Community, which later becomes the European Union.
- January 1 - Palau becomes self-governing.
- January 4 - Sheffield police arrest Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.
- January 13 - Donna Griffiths, a schoolgirl in Pershore, Worcestershire, UK, begins an uncontrollable series of sneezes that end September 16 1983 - after 978 days.
- January 16 - Protestant gunmen shoot and wound Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and her husband.
- January 18 - The historic Ottawa Wine Tasting of 1981 confirms that superior wines can be made outside of France.
- January 19 - United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
- January 20 - Ronald Reagan succeeds Jimmy Carter, becoming the 40th President of the United States. Minutes after Reagan becomes president, Iran releases 52 American hostages that had been held captive for 444 days and the Iran hostage crisis ends.
- January 21 - The first De Lorean DMC-12 automobile rolls off the production line.
February
- February 4 - Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes the Prime Minister of Norway.
- February 8 - Twenty fans of the Greek Olympiacos FC are killed and 54 injured after a stampede at the Karaiskaki Stadium in Pireus. The deadly incident most likely occurred because Gate 7 of the stadium did not open immediately after the end of the game.
- February 9 - Polish Prime Minister Józef Pinkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski.
- February 10 - A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills 8 and injures 198.
- February 14 - Australia withdraws recognition of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.
- February 23 - Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil, enters the Spanish Congress of Deputies and stops the session where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo is about to be named president of the government. The coup d'état fails thanks to King Juan Carlos.
- February 24 - Shortly before 11 p.m. local time, a powerful 6.7 magnitude earthquake hits Athens, killing 16 people, most of whom die because of related heart attacks. The quake's epicentre is located in the eastern Corinthian Gulf, near the tiny Alkyonides Islands, approximately 60 Km west of the city. Dozens of buildings collapse in the nearby towns of Loutraki, Kiato and Xylocastro. A 6.4 magnitude aftershock that strikes the area a few hours later, at 4:30 a.m local time, causes the damage or collapse of an additional number of buildings in the previously mentioned towns.
March
- March 1 - Bobby Sands, an IRA member, begins a hunger strike for political status in Long Kesh prison - he dies May 5, the first of 10 men.
- March 6 - After 19 years hosting the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time.
- March 11 - Chilean President Augusto Pinochet is sworn in for another 8-year term.
- March 19 - Three workers are killed and 5 injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
- March 30 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.. Two police officers and Press Secretary James Brady are also wounded.
April
- April 1 - Daylight saving time is introduced in the USSR.
- April 4 - Bucks Fizz wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song, Making Your Mind Up.
- April 11 - Riot in Brixton, South London - rioters throw petrol bombs, attack police and loot shops.
- April 12 - The Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia (John Young, Robert Crippen) launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14.
- April 15 - The Australian Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock resigns from the cabinet, accusing Prime Minister Fraser of gross disloyalty.
- April 18 - A Minor League baseball game between the Rochester Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island becomes the longest professional baseball game in history: 8 hours and 25 minutes/33 innings (the 33rd inning is not played until June 23).
- April 18 - The rock band Yes splits up (regrouping in 1983).
- April 24 - French presidential election, 1981: A first-round runoff results between Valery Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand.
May
- May - Daniel K. Ludwig abandons the Jari project in the Amazon Basin.
- May 6 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.
- May 10 - In the second round of the presidential elections in France, François Mitterrand beats Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
- May 13 - Pope John Paul II is shot and nearly killed by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman, as he entered St. Peter's Square in Rome to address a general audience (2 days after Christmas in 1983, Pope John Paul goes to the prison to meet and forgive his would-be assassin).
- May 15 - Donna Payant is murdered by serial killer Lemuel Smith - the first time a female prison officer has been killed on-duty in the United States.
- May 21 - In France, Socialist François Mitterrand becomes President.
- May 22 - Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, is imprisoned for life for 13 counts of murder.
- May 24 - Indianapolis 500-Mile Race: Bobby Unser wins for a third time for both he as a driver and Roger Penske as a car owner, but the race sanctioning-body USAC temporarily strips him of victory over an accusation of illegally passing other cars under a caution period (see racing flags). After the team's appeal, Unser's win is reinstated on October 8.
- May 25 - In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
- May 26 - The Italian government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell P-2.
- May 30 - Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman is assassinated in Chittagong.
June
- June 5 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 5 homosexual men in Los Angeles, California have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems (the first recognized cases of AIDS).
- June 6 - Bihar train disaster: Seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train fall off the tracks into the River Kosi in Bihar, India - about 800 die.
- June 7 - Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor.
- June 12 - Major League Baseball goes on strike, forcing the cancellation of 38 percent of the schedule.
- June 13 - At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, Marcus Sargeant fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.
- June 21 - Wayne Williams, a 28-year-old African American, is arrested and charged with the murders of two other African Americans. He will later be suspected of 28 others, in the Atlanta child killings.
- June 22 - Hamas attacks a travel agency in Greece, killing 2.
- June 22 - Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr is deposed.
- June 29 - Morris Edwin Robert, armed with a machine gun, holds hostages in the FBI section at the Atlanta, Georgia Federal Building. After 3 hours the hostages are rescued and Robert is shot (dead?).
July
- July 8 - California Governor Jerry Brown, faced with a Mediterranean fruit fly infestation, chooses to delay the aerial spraying of malathion, in favor of continuing ground-based eradication efforts.
- July 10 - Mahathir bin Mohamad became the 4th prime minister of Malaysia.
- July 17 - Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri collapse into a crowded atrium lobby, killing 114.
- July 17 - Israeli bombers destroy the PLO headquarters in Beirut.
- July 19 - The 1981 Springbok Tour commences in New Zealand, amid controversy over the support of Apartheid.
- July 27 - Wheel of Fortune premiers in Australia on the Seven Network.
- July 29 - Lady Diana Spencer marries Charles, Prince of Wales.
August
- August 1 - MTV (Music Television) is launched.
- August 3 - The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization goes on strike.
- August 5 - Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
- August 7 - The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.
- August 9 - Major League Baseball resumes from strike with the All-Star Game in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium.
- August 11 - The original Model 5150 IBM PC with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor was released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.
- August 19 - Gulf of Sidra incident (1981): Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi sends 2 Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept 2 U.S. fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroy the Libyan fighters.
- August 19 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan appoints the first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor.
- August 19 - Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, aka the pop duo Pet Shop Boys, meet for the first time by chance in an electronics shop in Chelsea, London.
- August 28 - South African troops invade Angola.
- August 31 - A bomb explodes at the U.S. Army base in Ramstein, West Germany, injuring 20 people.
September
- September 4 - An explosion at a mine in Zalizin, Czechoslovakia, kills 65.
- September 10 - Picasso's painting "Guernica" is moved from New York to Madrid.
- September 15 - The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world, at 150 years old, when it operates under its own power outside Washington, DC.
- September 18 - France abolishes capital punishment.
- September 19 - The second Wranslide occurs in New South Wales, with the Wran government re-elected for a third term with an increased majority, and reducing the Liberal Party to just 14 members in the Legislative Assembly. Simon and Garfunkel perform The Concert in Central Park, a free concert in New York in front of approximately a half a million people.
- September 21 - Sandra Day O'Connor takes her seat as the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
- September 27 - TGV high speed rail service between Paris and Lyon, France begins.
October
- October 6 - Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a parade by army members who were part of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization; they opposed his negotiations with Israel.
- October 13 - James Tobin wins the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
- October 10 - The Ministry for Education of Japan issues the jōyō kanji.
- October 14 - Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt 1 week after Anwar Sadat's assassination.
- October 15 - The heavy metal band Metallica forms.
- October 21 - Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
- October 22 - The founding congress of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Organisation faction led by Hareram Sharma and D.P. Singh begins.
- October 27 - A Soviet submarine runs aground oustide the Karlskrona, Sweden military base.
November
- November 1 - Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom.
- November 9 - Edict No 81-234 abolishes slavery in Mauritania.
- November 12 - STS-2: Space Shuttle Columbia, piloted by Joe Engle and Richard Truly, lifts off for its second mission.
- November 13 - The first Friday the 13th event is held by motorcyclists in Port Dover, Ontario, Canada.
- November 23 - Iran-Contra scandal: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
- November 25-November 26 - A group of mercenaries led by Mike Hoare take over Mahe airport in the Seychelles in a coup attempt. Most of the mercenaries escape by a commandeered Air India passenger jet; six are later arrested
- November 30 - Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe (the meetings end inconclusively on Thursday, December 17).
December
- December 1 - A Yugoslavian DC-9 crashes into a mountain while approaching Ajaccio Airport in Corsica, killing 178.
- December 4 - South Africa grants "homeland" Ciskei independence (not recognized outside South Africa).
- December 8 - The No. 21 Mine explosion in Whitwell, Tennessee kills 13.
- December 9 - Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner is shot and killed during a routine traffic stop of a vehicle driven by William Cook, Mumia Abu-Jamal's younger brother.
- December 11 - El Mozote massacre: In El Salvador, army units kill 900 civilians.
- December 13 - Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.
- December 15 - A car bomb destroys the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 61 people. This is the first modern suicide bombing.
Syrian intelligence is blamed.
- December 20 - The Penlee lifeboat disaster occurs off the coast of South-West Cornwall.
- December 28 - The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born in Norfolk, Virginia.
Unknown Dates
- Millennium Renactment of the translation of Saint Edward the Martyr's relics from Wareham to Shaftesbury
- Public funding of election Campaigns introduced in New South Wales, Australia
- The State Council of the People's Republic of China listed the four cities (Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Guilin) as where the protection of historical and cultural heritage as well as natural scenery should be treated as a priority project.
- Cuba suffers a major outbreak of Dengue fever, with 344,203 cases. [1]
Births
January
- January 1 - Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian race car driver
- January 1 - Eden Riegel, American actress
- January 3 - Eli Manning, American football player
- January 6 - Mike Jones, American rapper
- January 6 - Jérémie Renier, Belgian actor
- January 8 - Jeff Francis, Canadian pitcher
- January 9 - Euzebiusz Smolarek, Polish footballer
- January 11 - Jamelia, British singer
- January 12 - Quentin Griffin, American football player
- January 15 - El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer
- January 15 - Howie Day, American singer and songwriter
- January 17 - Scott Mechlowicz, American actor
- January 20 - Jason Richardson, American basketball player
- January 20 - Owen Hargreaves, Canadian-born footballer
- January 21 - Dany Heatley, German-born hockey player
- January 22 - Chantelle Anderson, American basketball player
- January 22 - Willa Ford, American singer, television hostess, and actress
- January 22 - Beverley Mitchell, American actress
- January 22 - Ben Moody, American guitarist (formerly of Evanescence)
- January 24 - Brandon Henschel, American actor and dancer
- January 27 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Composer
- January 28 - Elijah Wood, American actor and music producer
- January 31 - Justin Timberlake, American musician
February
- February 3 - Alisa Reyes, American actress
- February 10 - The Reverend Tholomew Plague, American drummer (Avenged Sevenfold)
- February 10 - Natasha St-Pier, Canadian singer
- February 11 - Kelly Rowland, American singer (Destiny's Child)
- February 14 - Erin Torpey, American actress
- February 15 - Jenna Morasca, American television personality
- February 16 - Lupe Fiasco, American Hip-Hop Artist
- February 17 - Paris Hilton, American model, heiress, and socialite
- February 18 - Andrei Kirilenko, Russian basketball player
- February 18 - Ivan Sproule, Irish footballer
- February 20 - Chris Thile, American mandolinist
- February 20 - Majandra Delfino, American actress
- February 22 - Jeanette Biedermann, German singer and actress
- February 24 - Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
- February 27 - Josh Groban, American singer
March
- March 1 - Ana Hickmann, Brazilian model
- March 1 - Adam LaVorgna, American actor
- March 2 - Bryce Howard, American actress
- March 3 - Lil' Flip, American rapper
- March 9 - Antonio Bryant, American football player
- March 10 - Kristen Maloney, American gymnast
- March 11 - David Anders, American actor
- March 11 - Lee Evans, American football player
- March 11 - LeToya Luckett, American singer (Destiny's Child)
- March 15 - Young Buck, American rapper
- March 16 - Andrew Bree, Irish swimmer
- March 19 - Kolo Touré, Ivorian football player
- March 26 - Matthieu Delpierre, French football player
- March 27 - Terry McFlynn, Irish footballer
- March 28 - Lindsay Frimodt, American model
- March 28 - Julia Stiles, American actress
April
- April 1 - Hannah Spearritt, British singer (S Club 7)
- April 2 - Bethany Joy Lenz, American actress and singer
- April 9 - Milan Bartovič, Slovak hockey player
- April 9 - Eric Harris, One of the Colombine shooters (d.1999)
- April 9 - Ireneusz Jeleń, Polish footballer
- April 10 - Gretchen Bleiler, American snowboarder
- April 10 - Liz McClarnon, British singer (Atomic Kitten)
- April 10 - Michael Pitt, American actor
- April 15 - Seth Wulsin, Artist
- April 17 - Hanna Pakarinen, Finnish singer
- April 18 - Jang Nara, Korean actress and singer
- April 18 - Audrey Tang, Taiwanese software programmer
- April 19 - Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor
- April 19 - Catalina Sandino Moreno, Colombian actress
- April 19 - Troy Polamalu, American football player
- April 21 - Mike Christie, English musician (G4)
- April 22 - Ken Dorsey, American football player
- April 28 - Jessica Alba, American actress
- April 29 - George McCartney, Irish footballer
May
- May 1 - Alexander Hleb, Belarusian football player
- May 3 - Farrah Franklin, American singer (formerly of Destiny's Child)
- May 4 - Jacques Rudolph, South African cricketer
- May 5 - Craig David, British singer
- May 5 - Danielle Fishel, American actress
- May 11 - Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
- May 12 - Kentaro Sato, Japanese composer
- May 13 - Rebecka Liljeberg, Swedish actress
- May 13 - Sunny Leone, Canadian entertainer
- May 13 - Jimmy Wang Yang, Japanese Proffesional Wrestler
- May 15 - Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player
- May 15 - Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress
- May 17 - R.J. Helton, American homosexual singer
- May 19 - Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer
- May 20 - Sean Conlon, English musician (5ive)
- May 20 - Lindsay Taylor, American basketball player
- May 22 - Melissa Gregory, American figure skater
- May 27 - Alina Cojocaru, Romanian ballerina
June
- June 1 - Carlos Zambrano, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- June 3 - Mike Adam, Canadian curler
- June 5 - Jade Goody, British reality show star
- June 6 - Johnny Pacar, American actor
- June 7 - Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
- June 7 - Larisa Oleynik, American actress
- June 8 - Sara Watkins, American violinist
- June 8 - Ai Nonaka, Japanese voice actress
- June 9 - Natalie Portman, Israeli-born actress
- June 9 - Celina Jaitley, Indian actress
- June 9 - Vic Zhou, Taiwanese actor, singer, and model
- June 10 - Hoku Ho, Hawaiian singer and musician
- June 12 - Adriana Lima, Brazilian model
- June 13 - Christopher Robert Evans, American actor
- June 14 - Lonneke Engel, Dutch model
- June 16 - Ben Kweller, American musician
- June 18 - Teresa Cormack, New Zealand murder victim (d. 1987)
- June 20 - Alisan Porter, American actress and singer
- June 21 - Brandon Flowers, American singer and keyboardist (The Killers)
July
- July 2 - Alex Koroknay-Palicz, American activist
- July 2 - Paul Anthony Finn, Irish singer and songwriter (The Flaws)
- July 7 - Synyster Gates, American guitarist (Avenged Sevenfold)
- July 8 - Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player
- July 19 - Didz Hammond, bassist/backing vocalist (Dirty Pretty Things and The Cooper Temple Clause)
- July 20 - Dayang Nurfaizah, Malaysian singer
- July 21 - Stefan Schumacher, German cyclist
- July 23 - Steve Jocz, Canadian drummer (Sum 41)
- July 24 - Summer Glau, American actress (Firefly)
- July 29 - Fernando Alonso, Spanish race car driver
- July 31 - M. Shadows, American singer (Avenged Sevenfold)
August
- August 4 - Marques Houston, American singer and actor
- August 5 - Carl Crawford, baseball player
- August 5 - Rachel Scott, American murder victim
- August 5 - Kō Shibasaki, Japanese singer and actress
- August 8 - Vanessa Amorosi, Australian singer and songwriter
- August 8 - Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player
- August 8 - Meagan Good, American actress
- August 8 - Kaori Iida, Japanese singer and actress
- August 10 - Natsumi Abe, Japanese singer and actress
- August 11 - Sandi Thom, Scottish singer, song writer
- August 12 - Djibril Cissé, French footballer
- August 16 - Taylor Rain, American actress
- August 24 - Chad Michael Murray, American actor
- August 25 - Rachel Bilson, American actress
- August 29 - Lanny Barbie, American actress
- August 30 - Brian J. Robinson, Canadian musician (A Wilhelm Scream)
September
- September 1 - Clinton Portis, American football player
- September 2 - Bracha van Doesburgh, Dutch actress
- September 3 - Fearne Cotton, British television presenter
- September 4 - Beyoncé Knowles, American actress and singer (Destiny's Child)
- September 4 - Lacey Mosley, American lead vocalist (Flyleaf)
- September 8 - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, American actor
- September 11 - Dylan Klebold, One of the Columbine Shooters
- September 12 - Jennifer Hudson, American singer and actress
- September 14 - Miyavi, Japanese singer and musician
- September 16 - Alexis Bledel, American actress
- September 23 - Robert Doornbos, Dutch race car driver
- September 25 - Rocco Baldelli, baseball player
- September 26 - Serena Williams, American tennis player
- September 30 - Cecelia Ahern, Irish author
- September 30 - Dominique Moceanu, American gymnast
October
- October 3 - Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Swedish footballer
- October 5 - Enrico Fabris, Italian speed skater
- October 11 - Beau Brady, Australian actor
- October 13 - Vernon Carey, American football player
- October 13 - Ryan Ashford, English footballer
- October 14 - Akon, Senegalese singer
- October 15 - Elena Dementieva, Russian tennis player
- October 20 - Willis McGahee, American football player
- October 22 - Michael Fishman, American actor
- October 23 - Olivier Occean, Canadian footballer
- October 28 - Milan Baroš, Czech footballer
- October 29 - Amanda Beard, American swimmer
- October 30 - Ivanka Trump, American model
- October 31 - Irina Denezhkina, Russian writer
- October 31 - Frank Iero, American guitarist (My Chemical Romance)
November
- November 1 - LaTavia Roberson, American singer (Destiny's Child)
- November 2 - Tatiana Totmianina, Russian figure skater
- November 3 - Jackie Gayda, American professional wrestler
- November 4 - Vince Wilfork, American football player
- November 6 - Cassie Bernall, American murder victim
- November 8 - Azura Skye, American actress
- November 11 - Natalie Glebova, Canadian beauty queen
- November 11 - Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg
- November 13 - Mark Cardona, Filipino basketball player
- November 15 - Lorena Ochoa, Mexican golfer
- November 17 - Sarah Harding, British singer (Girls Aloud)
- November 20 - Kimberley Walsh, British singer (Girls Aloud)
- November 21 - Bryant McFadden, American football player
- November 22 - Seweryn Gancarczyk, Polish footballer
- November 25 - Xabi Alonso, Spanish footballer
- November 26 - Natasha Bedingfield, British singer
- November 26 - Aurora Snow, American actress
- November 29 - Tom Hurndall, British photographer (d. 2004)
December
- December 2 - Britney Spears, American singer
- December 3 - Brian Bonsall, American actor
- December 4 - Lila McCann, American singer
- December 7 - Ben Adams, British singer (a1)
- December 9 - Dia Mirza, Bollywood Actress
- December 11 - Zacky Vengeance, American guitarist (Avenged Sevenfold)
- December 13 - Amy Lee, American singer/songwriter (Evanescence)
- December 15 - Thomas Herrion, American football player (d. 2005)
- December 15 - Donal Coonan, UK presenter for Channel 4's webshow thisisaknife
- December 16 - Anna Sedokova, Ukrainian singer
- December 21 - Cristian Zaccardo, Italian footballer
- December 27 - Emilie de Ravin, Australian actress
- December 27 - Yuvraj Singh, Indian cricketer
- December 28 - Elizabeth Jordan Carr, first American test-tube baby
- December 28 - Sienna Miller, American-born actress
- December 29 - Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater
- December 29 - Angela Via, American singer
- December 30 - Haley Paige, American actress
Deaths
January-April
- January 5 - Harold C. Urey, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)
- January 5 - Lanza del Vasto, Italian-born philosopher, poet, and activist (b. 1901)
- January 6 - A.J. Cronin, Scottish novelist (b. 1896)
- January 10 - Katherine Alexander, American actress (b. 1898)
- January 23 - Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910)
- January 31 - Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (b. 1909)
- February 1 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (b. 1908)
- February 9 - Bill Haley, American musician (b. 1925)
- February 15 - Karl Richter, German conductor (b. 1926)
- February 18 - John Knudsen Northrop, American airplane manufacturer (b. 1895)
- February 20 - Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, French magazine editor and playboy (b. 1904)
- February 26 - Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
- March 6 - George Geary, English cricketer (b. 1893)
- March 7 - Kiril Kondrashin, Russian conductor (b. 1914)
- March 9 - Max Delbrück, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1906)
- March 23 - Beatrice Tinsley, English astronomer (b. 1941)
- March 30 - DeWitt Wallace, American magazine publisher (Reader's Digest) (b. 1889)
- March 31 - Frank Tieri, American Gangster (b. 1904)
- April 7 - Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899)
- April 12 - Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)
- April 18 - James H. Schmitz, German-born writer (b. 1911)
- April 27 - John Aspinwall Roosevelt, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1916)
May-August
- May 5 - Bobby Sands, Irish republican (hunger strike) (b. 1954)
- May 9 - Nelson Algren, American author (b. 1909)
- May 9 - Ralph Allen, English footballer (b. 1906)
- May 11 - Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
- May 11 - Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (b. 1945)
- May 18 - William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908)
- June 1 - Carl Vinson, U.S. Congressman (b. 1883)
- June 9 - Allen Ludden, American television game show host (b. 1917)
- June 17 - Sir Richard O'Connor, English general (b. 1889)
- June 17 - Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (Dick and Jane) (b. 1889)
- June 19 - Lotte Reiniger, German-born silhouette animator (b. 1899)
- June 28 - Terry Fox, Canadian athlete and cancer activist (b. 1958)
- July 16 - Harry Chapin, American singer and songwriter (b. 1942)
- July 27 - Adam Walsh, Murder victim, inspired Code Adam (b. 1974)
- July 29 - Robert Moses, American urban planner (b. 1888)
- August 14 - Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor (b. 1894)
September-October
- September 1 - Albert Speer, Nazi official (b. 1905)
- September 2 - Enid Lyons, Australia politician (b. 1897)
- September 8 - Bill Shankly, Scottish football manager (b. 1913)
- September 8 - Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
- September 9 - Sir Robert (Bob) Askin, Premier of New South Wales (b. 1907)
- September 12 - Eugenio Montale, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
- September 15 - Rafael Méndez, Mexican-born trumpet virtuoso (b. 1906)
- October 2 - Harry Golden, American journalist (b. 1902)
- October 6 - Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1918)
- October 16 - Stanley Clements, American actor (b. 1926)
- October 16 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general (b. 1915)
- October 29 - Georges Brassens, French singer and songwriter (b. 1921)
November-December
- November 7 - Will Durant, American philosopher and writer (b. 1885)
- November 14 - Robert Bradford, Northern Irish footballer and politician (assassinated) (b. 1941)
- November 16 - William Holden, American actor (b. 1918)
- November 22 - Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1900)
- November 25 - Jack Albertson, American actor (b. 1907)
- November 29 - Natalie Wood, American actress (drowned) (b. 1938)
- December 3 - Walter Knott, American farmer and theme park creator (b. 1889)
- December 15 - Catherine T. MacArthur, American philanthropist (b. 1909)
- December 23 - Reginald Miles Ansett, Australian businessman and aviator (b. 1909)
- December 28 - Allan Dwan, Canadian-born film director (b. 1885)
Nobel prizes
- Physics - Nicolaas Bloembergen, Arthur Leonard Schawlow, Kai Siegbahn
- Chemistry - Kenichi Fukui, Roald Hoffmann
- Medicine - Roger Wolcott Sperry, David H. Hubel, Torsten Wiesel
- Literature - Elias Canetti
- Peace - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1981.