What was going on when I was born?

FOR sheer intellectual esoterica, nothing can top the limited engagement hit that is opening in Manhattan this week. Billed as the Town Hall of Science, this production will bring together 5,000 scientists and science buffs from around the country for a sometimes rowdy run of discussions, arguments and occasional protests involving hundreds of subjects ranging in importance from atomic weapons to U.F.O.'s. The session that officially begins Thursday is the 150th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, whose theme this year is ''Science, Engineering, Technology, Education: Toward a World Perspective.'' While some scientific groups will begin meeting Wednesday, the main sessions of the association open Friday and continue through next Tuesday at the New York Hilton, Avenue of the Americas at 53d Street, and the Sheraton Centre, Seventh Avenue at 52d Street, where scores of meeting rooms have been reserved for participants. Registration for the sessions will be at the Hilton.

An obituary yesterday of Dr. Joseph Thomas Klapper, a researcher into the effects of television on behavior, gave an incorrect site for the funeral service. It will be held at 11:45 A.M. today at the Riverside Memorial Chapel, Amsterdam Avenue and 76th Street.

A RARE and dramatic solar eclipse that will cast its shadow on more of the United States than any other for a decade is only days away. Professional and amateur astronomers and eclipse buffs of every stripe who plan to move into the right place at the right time along a thin line from Louisiana to Virginia will catch a glimpse of the spectacular event on May 30. On that Wednesday, a ''diamond necklace'' of light will surround the dark moon as it passes directly in front of the sun. This narrow, bejeweled ring of light will be visible for only a few seconds, and then only to observers along a path a few miles wide. Careful viewers in New York and other areas outside this thin strip of land where the shadow will fall most directly can also witness the eclipse, although they will not be able to see the majestic ''diamond necklace.'' In New York, a partial eclipse will begin at 11:24 A.M., Eastern daylight time. By 12:55 P.M., at its maximum stage, 92 percent of the sun will be hidden and the city will be bathed in a strange orange light.

It was a ''desecration,'' according to Governor Cuomo, for reporters to attribute to A. J. Parkinson such aphorisms as, ''When in doubt, mull'' or ''Let them eat polenta.'' ''A. J. Parkinson never said those things,'' the Governor said. He knows, he said, as the world's leading Parkinson scholar. His counselor, Timothy J. Russert, said the Cuomo office had ''the world's only complete collection of Parkinson.''

Beatrice's bold move to acquire Esmark, if successful, would create ''a huge consumer company,'' said George Novello, an analyst at E. F. Hutton & Company. Combining Beatrice, which had $9.3 billion in sales in 1983, with Esmark's, which had $4.1 billion in sales, would result in a concern about the same size as the Procter & Gamble Company or the foreign giant Nestle S.A. Only the huge Unilever British-Dutch conglomerate would be significantly larger among consumer products companies. ''Even if they have to sell a lot of businesses to pay for Esmark, the Esmark food and personal-product businesses would add another $2.5 billion in sales,'' Mr. Novello said. The proposed merger would be a continuation in a series of changes taking place at Beatrice. For example, James L. Dutt, Beatrice's chairman, announced last winter that Beatrice was not simply a food concern. And in March the company said it would ask shareholders in June to change the corporate name, now the Beatrice Foods Company, to the Beatrice Companies. Beatrice has also embarked on a $29 million campaign to publicize its new image. The Esmark acquisition, analysts say, will move Beatrice faster toward its goals by enhancing Beatrice's national marketing and distribution, as well as adding nationally recognized brands.

The New York State Comptroller's office is to mail a warning today advising local governments and school districts not to invest in repurchase agreements following the bankruptcy filing last week of a second government-securities firm. A similar warning was issued by the Comptroller earlier this month in the wake of the first such filing. Seven school districts and one municipality in the state were among the 14 largest unsecured creditors listed by RTD Securities Inc., a small New York government-securities firm that filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday. The 14 creditors are owed nearly $7 million.

Companies Beatrice Foods will make a $2.5 billion bid for Esmark, which had earlier accepted a $2.4 billion bid from an investor group headed by Kohlberg, Kravis. A Beatrice-Esmark combination would involve two of Chicago's leading companies and create one of the world's biggest food and consumer products organizations. (D1.) Analysts said the acquisition of Esmark would move Beatrice closer to its goal of achieving a global presence. (D1.) Potential bidders for Continental Illinois said a review of the bank's books showed that its condition was much worse than expected. Meanwhile, its chairman told staff members that the bank's goal was still to remain independent. (D1.)

and all other emotions - are seen by most people as the heart of psychology. But for decades research psychologists have shied away from emotions. Leaving feelings to the therapists, the researchers chose instead to break new ground throughout the 1960's and 1970's in areas that were more easily quantifiable. Emotions are now getting their chance. In a new movement to study human emotions in closer detail than has been done in the past, the first pieces of a mosaic are already coming together in a way that may one day give a far more precise picture - from the experimental scientist's point of view - of how people feel. ''Now, for the first time, there are ways to get objective measures of emotions,'' said Richard Davidson, one of the psychologists at the forefront of the new research.

Potential purchasers of the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company who have begun poring over its books said yesterday that the condition of the giant Chicago bank was much worse than they had expected. The most likely buyers, mainly other banks, have received three volumes of material from Goldman, Sachs & Company, Continental's investment banker, which has been charged with seeking a buyer. David G. Taylor, chairman and chief executive officer of both the bank and its corporate parent, the Continental Illinois Corporation, said in a letter to his staff yesterday that the bank's primary objective is to find a long-term solution to its problems that would allow it to continue as an independent organization. ''The search for a solution that will avoid our merging with another institution is our No. 1 priority,'' he said.

Stock prices fell broadly yesterday for the third consecutive session, with the Dow Jones industrial average closing at its lowest level in more than a year. The average, which was in the minus column during most of the session, ended 8.48 points lower, at 1,125.31. This was the lowest finish since April 8, 1983, when it closed at 1,124.71.

''I'll never ask for foreign troops to enter my country.'' - President-elect Jose Napoleon Duarte of El Salvador. (A9:1.)

Members of Congress and officials of public health organizations said today that they expected Congress to approve a compromise measure for stronger health warnings on cigarette packages and advertising. An aide to Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, said that he had won an agreement from Senators Jesse A. Helms and John P. East, both Republicans from tobacco-growing North Carolina, not to block the compromise with a filibuster. Representative Albert Gore Jr., Democrat of Tennessee, who drafted the compromise, said he expected Congress to approve it quickly, and some aides said the final vote could come shortly after Congress returned from its Memorial Day vacation on June 4. Effort for 'Damage Control' Optimism over fast approval arose after the tobacco industry, in the words of one aide, agreed to the compromise as an ''exercise in damage control,'' an attempt to reduce the harshness of the warning.