Enter your birthdate to find out.
In 1980, the world population was approximately 4,447,606,236 people[†]
1980Franco Costanzo, Argentine footballer[†]
Franco Costanzo Geymonat is an Argentine former football goalkeeper who last played for Chilean club Universidad Católica of the Primera División.
1980Kevin Simm, British singer[†]
Kevin Ian Simm is an English singer and songwriter. He was a member of Liberty X (2001–2007) and is the vocalist of Wet Wet Wet. Simm also won The Voice UK in 2016.
1980Don Banks, Australian composer and educator (born 1923)[†]
Donald Oscar Banks was an Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music.
1980The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo.[†]
The Gotthard Road Tunnel in Switzerland runs from Göschenen in the canton of Uri at its northern portal, to Airolo in Ticino to the south, and is 16.9 kilometres (10.5 mi) in length below the St Gotthard Pass, a major pass of the Alps. At time of construction, in 1980, it was the longest road tunnel in the world; it is currently the fifth-longest. Although it is a motorway tunnel, part of the A2 from Basel to Chiasso, it consists of only one bidirectional tube with two lanes. With a maximum elevation of 1,175 metres (3,855 ft) at the tunnel's highest point, the A2 motorway has the lowest maximum elevation of any direct north-south road through the Alps.
The company that owns Texas International Airlines plans to begin operating shuttle service--perhaps hourly-- between New York and Washington and New York and Boston within a few months in direct competition with Eastern Air Lines, well-placed industry sources reported yesterday.
The traffic in arts and culture between China and the United States, which has recently been assuming almost rush-hour proportions, is bringing to the American Museum of Natural History three shows this weekend by the Fujian Hand Puppets, a troupe from the southern coastal province formerly known as Fukien.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4--The Federal Communications Commission is considered likely next Tuesday to approve a recommendation by its staff that would substantially increase the number of television stations across the country, F.C.C. sources said today.
The National Weather Service confirmed yesterday what many people in the New York metropolitan area had suspected--that this summer was the driest on record, and one of the hottest.
Eight months after National Airlines was merged into Pan American World Airways, the new, enlarged Pan Am is still laboring to digest its $400 million acquisition.
In a move that could decide the fate of New York State's 41 electoral votes, with nationally significant results, the Liberal Party is preparing to reject President Carter and endorse Representative John B. Anderson, sources high in the party said yesterday.
DETROIT, Sept. 4--The nation's Big Three domestic automobile manufacturers, nearing the end of production of 1980 models, reported today that sales of new cars in the last third of August were down 20 percent to levels of the mid-1960's.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4--The special Senate subcommittee examining the Billy Carter case received new, circumstantial evidence today that a White House official might have tipped off the President's brother in June that the Justice Department was intensifying its investigation into his dealings with the Government of Libya.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have informed the managing director of the International Monetary Fund that they will make no more loans at this time to the international financial institution, according to a high I.M.F. official.
I was wondering if anything interesting on the news was going on when I was born, and decided to create this website for fun. The purpose is to show people what was going on when they were born. With this website I've found out that it was a pretty slow news day on my birthday, but I bet it would feel cool to know a historical event happened on your birthday.
The data used in this project is provided by the New York Times API. They have by far the best API I was able to find, with articles dating back to the 1950s. There weren't any other major newspapers that had an API with close to as much data. The closest was the Guardian API, but theirs only went back to the 1990s. I decided to only use articles from the New York Times because their API was by far the best. This tool works if you have a birthday after the 1950s or so.
Some important dates in history I'd recommend looking up on this website are:
These historical events are just a few examples of the fascinating moments in history you can explore through this tool. Whether you're interested in your own birthday, significant historical dates, or just curious about what was making headlines on any given day, this website offers a unique window into the past through the lens of contemporary news coverage.
You can read more on our blog.