What was going on when I was born?

EARLY yesterday, right on schedule, lava began spurting from a young volcanic cone known as Pu'u O on the east rift zone of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano. The 14-hour eruption, which sent fountains of fiery lava 1,000 feet into the air, was the 32d from that site since a series of periodic eruptions began there in January 1983. Probably no volcano on earth erupts so often, and probably no other is being subjected to such intense and varied observation. Among other findings the monitoring has revealed that, with surprising uniformity, it gradually swells before each of its successive eruptions, then deflates with amazing abruptness as lava pours forth from the Pu'u O outlet. Thus Kilauea has become a laboratory for seeking clues to the behavior of volcanoes worldwide. In particular it is the focal point of efforts to understand the volcanic process that has built the Hawaiian Islands, one by one, and is forming a new submarine member of the chain, Loihi Seamount, to the southeast.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 1985 International No compromise on Nicaragua was reached in a day of talks between leading Senators and White House officials on terms for providing $14 million in nonmilitary aid to the antiSandinista rebels. About a dozen legislators from both parties conferred for more than eight hours at the White House. (Page A1, Column 6.) Support for Nicaragauan rebels is wide enough to insure that their campaign is likely to continue whether or not Congress votes to aid them, according to Nicaraguan refugees, rebels and Western diplomats in the region. Visits to guerrilla bases and Nicaraguan refugee camps in the last month indicate that the rebels are growing in numbers and that they pose a significant threat to the Government despite serious political and logistical problems. (A1:4-5.)

The Coca-Cola Company is expected to announce today a reformulation of Coca-Cola, the world's best- selling soft drink. The Atlanta-based beverage and entertainment company has refused to comment, and bottlers, who are sequestered today in Atlanta, have learned only that they would receive a different concentrate. But, industry experts yesterday were convinced that the announcement involved a reformulation of Coke's top-secret formula. Coca-Cola is a mixture of water, sugar, caramel, phosphoric acid, vanilla, caffeine, extracts from coca leaves and cola nuts, and a substance called 7X.

The Sky Watch map on Sunday was inadvertently reprinted from a previous week, although the caption was up to date. A corrected version for this week appears today on page D27.

Pan American World Airways, which pioneered routes across the Pacific and grew into the most extensive global carrier, has agreed to sell its Pacific operations to United Airlines, the companies announced yesterday. United, the nation's largest airline, would pay $750 million to Pan Am, which needs cash to modernize its fleet of planes. The transaction is subject to approval by the Department of Transportation, President Reagan and the other governments involved. In a statement, both companies sought to assure ''the traveling public that all their service options and benefits will be preserved during the transition period.'' United would keep flying every route, assuming it gets the approval of each government.

Robert J. Del Tufo, a former Federal prosecutor who would like to become governor of New Jersey, arrived at a park on the Hoboken waterfront the other day with poster-size photographs of a convicted crime figure and the state's Attorney General stashed in the trunk of his car. Mr. Del Tufo, running his first political campaign at the age of 51, planned to use the props in appearing before the television reporters and crews invited to a news conference to cover his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for governor. After a half-hour, only one reporter showed up. Mr. Del Tufo, thwarted in his effort to expound on what he contends is a lack of interest by the Attorney General, Irwin I. Kimmelman, in the prosecution of John Di Gilio, who has been indicted on loan-sharking and conspiracy charges, then shrugged his shoulders and drove off in search of some real voters. Such are the vagaries of running in the New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial primary this year, where most of the five candidates are barely blips on the political radar screens. The candidates are finding it difficult to spark the attention of Democratic voters, who still seem to be suffering from post-Presidential-election blues and who, many politicians in both major parties believe, are content with the stewardship of Governor Kean, a Republican.

The Soviet Union said today that it reserved the right to use force against unknown intruders found near Soviet military installations in East Germany. The statement was issued by the Soviet Embassy here six days after the State Department said the Russians had given assurances that their military personnel would not use force or weapons against American military patrols in East Germany in the future. The assurances were reported after an American officer was killed by a Soviet sentry last month. The State Department, apparently caught off guard by the Soviet comments, said it had ''informed the Soviet Embassy that their interpretation of the issue is unacceptable.''

Undercut by sharply falling demand, three of the nation's largest oil companies, the Exxon Corporation, the Standard Oil Company (Indiana) and the Atlantic Richfield Company yesterday reported sluggish earnings for the first quarter of 1985. The declines in profit compared with the corresponding 1984 period ranged from 10.2 percent for Exxon, to 10.9 percent for Atlantic Richfield to 20.4 percent for Indiana Standard. The companies said that in addition to lowered demand for oil products, the country's slowing economy and the strength of the dollar were responsible for the weak showing. They also said that this year's first- quarter performance suffers by comparison with that of last year's because the beginning of 1984 was quite strong.

Rejecting a $1.6 billion leveraged buyout offer as inadequate, Storer Communications yesterday proposed a substantial change in its capital structure. It would repurchase six million of its shares, or slightly more than a third of the company, for cash and debt valued at $100 a share. The proposal is seen by Wall Street analysts as an attempt to head off a proxy fight at the annual meeting next month, when a dissident group headed by Coniston Partners has vowed to take control of the company. But Augustus K. Oliver, a general partner with Coniston, said that the recapitalization proposal was inadequate and that his group would continue with its plans to seize control of the cable operator.

A police sergeant and an officer were arrested last night and accused of beating a teen-ager and torturing him with electric shocks to force him to confess to having sold $10 worth of marijuana on a Queens street last Wednesday. The charges of felony assault were filed against the policemen by the Queens District Attorney, John J. Santucci, after the youth, Mark Davidson, identified them from photographs of the six members of the Police Department who had been involved in his arrest. Mr. Davidson picked out the photographs at about 7 P.M., and the policemen were arrested minutes later. They were identifed as Sgt. Richard A. Pike, who is 50 years old, and Officer Jeffrey W. Gilbert, who is 33.

The Economic Scene column in Business Day on Friday misquoted President Nicolas Ardito Barletta of Panama on Nicaragua's relationship with a four-nation group seeking a regional peace settlement. Nicaragua is not a member of the organization, which consists of Panama, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela and is known as the Contadora group.

WHICH of these planets takes longest to travel around the Sun? A) Earth; B) Venus; C) Uranus; D) Mercury. What does a light year measure? A) Distance; B) Gravity; C) Sunspot cycles; D) Energy. These were two of the questions on a science test given to fifth graders in the New York City public schools. Fewer than half the students could provide the right answers: Uranus and distance.