1982

Happy birthday to me. Below are some key events and interesting figures from the year I was born - 1982.

A brief but severe recession begins in the United States

• Unemployment: 9.7%
• Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.20
• Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $1.30

Falklands War begins: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.

Michael Jackson releases his second adult solo album, Thriller.

First US execution by lethal injection is carried out in Texas.
Time Magazine's Man of the Year was for the first time given to a
non-human, a computer.

Cats opens on Broadway. Becomes Broadway's longest-running
play.

A permanent artificial heart is implanted in a human for first time
in Dr. Barney B. Clark, 61, at University of Utah Medical Center in
Salt Lake City (Dec. 2). Background

The space shuttle Columbia makes its first mission, deploying two
communications satellites (Nov. 16).

Washington University in St. Louis develops the Flavr Savr
tomato, the first genetically-engineered plant approved for sale.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration grants approval to Eli Lilly
& Company to market human insulin produced by bacteria, called
Humulin, the first commercial product of genetic engineering.