Nelson Mandela was in jail.
The anti-apartheid activist was released from prison in 1990 and elected President of South Africa in 1994.
Chernobyl was a fully functioning power plant.
The plant melted down in 1986, causing catastrophic damage. The site will remain uninhabitable for another 20,000 years.
The ozone hole was discovered.
Scientists determined that chemicals called CFCs were causing the hole. The chemicals have since been globally banned and the hole’s size has stabilized.
New Coke made its ill-fated entrance to the market.
The new product attempt remains one of marketing’s greatest cautionary tales.
The first ever .com domain name was registered.
Today, almost 200 million active domains are registered. Over 84 million of those are .com domains.
The Apple Macintosh made its debut.
It cost $2,495, and had a CPU speed of 8 megahertz. A modern cell phone is about 187 times faster.
The world was shocked to find that the princess was in another castle.
The Super Mario Bros. were born in 1985.
There were two Germanies.
The Berlin Wall, which separated East and West Germany, was torn down in 1989.
Guns N’ Roses was formed in L.A.
The band is still touring, although leading man Axl Rose looks a little different.
