What was going on when I was born?

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1984 The Economy Bankers Trust cut its prime lending rate a half-point, to 12 1/4 percent. While no other major banks followed the move, economists predicted that they soon would because the banks' cost of funds has been dropping recently. The prime dropped to 12 3/4 percent, from 13 percent, last month. (Page D1.)

A STRONOMERS have photographed a disk of material surrounding a young nearby star, providing what may be the first view of a solar system being born. The photograph lends strength to the theory that planets and solar systems like ours developed from such orbiting clouds. The photograph of Beta Pictoris, a faint star in the southern sky 50 light years from Earth, was taken at the Carnegie Institution's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile using electronic light amplifiers and enhanced by computer processing. It shows a thin, disk-shaped cloud of material orbiting the star in a pattern that suggests planets are already beginning to form.

Israeli officials said today that the Reagan Administration had offered to defer $500 million in debt payments until March, and that Prime Minister Shimon Peres had accepted the offer. American officials immediately responded that no such agreement had been reached. Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai said that Mr. Peres had disclosed the American offer of a debt deferment, and his acceptance, at a meeting today in which he briefed the Cabinet on the results of his talks last week in Washington. The state-run Israeli radio quoted Mr. Peres as having told the Cabinet that he had been surprised by the American offer.

The Bankers Trust Company reduced its prime lending rate yesterday to 12 1/4 percent from 12 3/4 percent. No other major banks followed the move but some economists predicted that they would soon. The prime, or base, rate on corporate loans, has been at 12 3/4 percent at major banks since last month, when it dropped from 13 percent. The Wells Fargo Bank, which cut its prime rate to 12 1/2 percent on Sept. 26, has been the exception.

SOME types of excessive sexual activity have all the hallmarks of an addiction and can be treated in a fashion similar to other addictions, such as alcoholism and gambling, a growing number of sex therapists believe. People with this problem, who are now being called ''sexual addicts,'' typically use sex as a psychological narcotic. They are driven to find relief through sex from feelings of agitation and worthlessness. But once the sexual high ends they are again overwhelmed by those same feelings, and once again feel driven to sex. And so the cycle starts over once more. That cycle, many experts are now saying, is identical to that seen in other addictions. Some sex therapists estimate that as many as 1 in 12 people may have this problem, while other experts say it is relatively rare. The issue, experts say, is not one's particular sexual preference. Nor are the therapists equating strong, healthy sexual desire with addiction. Rather they are focusing on the cases in which sex becomes the all-consuming focus of life, an overriding passion that is pursued at the cost of living a normal life, at the expense of career, family or marriage.

The Nobel Prize for medicine was awarded yesterday to three men for their profound insights into the body's natural defenses against disease. They were honored for giving science a revolutionary new technique for producing antibodies that is used today for countless purposes in laboratories throughout the world. The winners were Dr. Cesar Milstein, 57 years old, of the British Medical Research Council's laboratory in Cambridge; Dr. Georges J. F. K"ohler, 38, of the Basel Institute of Immunology in Switzerland, and Dr. Niels K. Jerne, 72, professor emeritus at the institute. The prize money, about $190,000, will be divided equally among the three recipients. The Nobel Prize carries more prestige than any other award in medicine.

As retailers tell it, this Christmas season will be the first one in years that has gotten off the roller coaster. The economy, after enduring a deep slump and then booming in recovery, is settling into something approaching normality. That sort of economy, the merchandisers say, implies more conventional Christmas buying, a season for sweaters and home appliances rather than for pet rocks or solar-powered fans. The hot items that make or break retailing's most important period will likely be more traditional goods, less given to novelties, the merchants say.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1984 International The Salvadoran combatants agreed to form a joint commission to seek an end to the five-year civil war. The agreement was reached at a historic four-and-a-half-hour meeting led by President Jose Napoleon Duarte and insurgent leaders in La Palma, Salvador. The commission is to meet at an undisclosed site in late November to study ways to ''humanize'' the conflict. A joint communique stopped short of calling for a formal cease- fire, but that the meeting occurred at all was a major acheivement for both sides. (Page A1, Column 6.) Opposing U.S. and Israeli statements were made on a deferral of debt payments. Israeli officials said the Reagan Administration had offered to defer $500 million in debt payments until March and that Prime Minister Shimon Peres had accepted the offer. American officials including Secretary of State George P. Shultz responded that no such agreement had been reached. (A1:2.)

Excerpts from address, page B2. Archbishop John J. O'Connor said yesterday that Roman Catholic bishops expected public officials and candidates for election to publicly oppose ''abortion on demand'' and ''work for modification'' of legalized abortion. The New York Archbishop, in a major address on abortion and public policy that he has been preparing for several weeks, said he was not seeking to influence voters for or against particular candidates. At the same time, he stressed that the greatest public need faced by political figures was to ''protect the rights of the unborn.'' ''I recognize the dilemma confronted by some Catholics in political life, '' he said. ''I cannot resolve that dilemma for them. As I see it, their disagreement, if they do disagree, is not simply with me; it is with the teaching of the Catholic Church.''

Inventories held by United States businesses edged up a slight eight-tenths of 1 percent in August, but total sales dropped for the second consecutive month, the first back-to-back sales declines since 1982, the Commerce Department reported today. Sales were down two-tenths of 1 percent in August following a decline of seven-tenths of 1 percent in July. It marked the first time since June and July 1982 that sales were down for two consecutive months.

It began to rain as Team 2 headed into the forest. Through magenta and lemon-hued leaves, cold raindrops turned the path to Copperas Pond muddy. Out front, Martin H. Pfeiffer, his mustache dripping, forged ahead, leading the four-member team and its llama, Ferrous, toward one of the 2,759 lakes and ponds that sequin Adirondack Park. Team 2 is one of four research units that are part of a three-year survey of ponds and lakes in the Adirondacks to evaluate their acidic levels and the effect of the acidity on fish life. ''What we're doing is taking a snapshot of the Adirondacks' lakes,'' said Joseph Unangst, the chief chemist for the project. ''We're trying to get a feel for what kind of fish correspond to what kind of chemistries.''

An article in Metropolitan Report on Oct. 2 about the harboring of Guatemalan refugees at Riverside Church incorrectly described the United States Government's response to sanctuary for illegal aliens. In several cases the Government has prosecuted those who provided it.