1983 Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. A network administrator preparing for ARPANET’s January 1, 1983 transition needs to adopt the protocol suite that became foundational to the modern internet. Which should be installed?
FTP
SMTP
TCP/IP
DNS
2. In 1983, Australia II ended the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year winning streak in the America’s Cup. Which country did the victorious yacht represent?
New Zealand
The United Kingdom
The United States
Australia
3. A record television audience in 1983 watches Hawkeye, B.J., and other members of a mobile Army surgical hospital say goodbye. Which series is ending?
M*A*S*H
Cheers
Dallas
Hill Street Blues
4. A cinema advert promises the 1983 conclusion to the original Star Wars trilogy, featuring Luke Skywalker’s return to confront Darth Vader. Which film is being promoted?
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
Blade Runner
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
5. Guion Bluford became the first African American to travel into space in 1983. On which Space Shuttle mission did he fly?
STS-8
STS-7
STS-6
STS-9
6. A 1983 headline reports that United States forces have invaded a small Caribbean island following political upheaval. Which island nation is the subject?
Barbados
Grenada
Jamaica
Trinidad and Tobago
7. Which British prime minister secured another term when the Conservative Party won the United Kingdom’s 1983 general election?
James Callaghan
Margaret Thatcher
John Major
Edward Heath
8. A cricket supporter is celebrating India’s first men’s Cricket World Cup title in 1983. Which team did India defeat in the final?
England
Australia
West Indies
Pakistan
9. Which home video game console did Nintendo launch in Japan in 1983, before releasing a redesigned version internationally as the Nintendo Entertainment System?
Atari 2600
ColecoVision
Sega SG-1000
Famicom
10. A news report from June 1983 describes the first American woman traveling into space aboard the shuttle Challenger. Who is the astronaut?
Sally Ride
Judith Resnik
Svetlana Savitskaya
Valentina Tereshkova
11. A US music shopper in 1983 adopts a new format that stores digitally encoded audio on a small optical disc. Which format is it?
MiniDisc
LaserDisc
Digital Audio Tape
Compact Disc
12. President Ronald Reagan announces the Strategic Defense Initiative in 1983. What was the central purpose of this proposal?
To create a single currency for NATO members
To replace nuclear submarines with conventional ships
To negotiate the immediate removal of every nuclear weapon
To research defenses capable of intercepting strategic nuclear missiles
13. Which Motorola device became the first commercially available handheld cellular phone in 1983?
Motorola MicroTAC
Motorola DynaTAC 8000X
Mobira Cityman 900
IBM Simon
14. Who received the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership of Poland’s Solidarity movement and advocacy of workers’ rights?
Václav Havel
Nelson Mandela
Lech Wałęsa
Mikhail Gorbachev
15. Which novel by Alice Walker received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction?
The Color Purple
Ironweed
Sophie's Choice
Beloved
16. Viewers in 1983 see Michael Jackson transform into a werewolf and lead a group of dancing zombies. Which music video are they watching?
Billie Jean
Beat It
Thriller
Say Say Say