Just to make you feel a bit old…

All of these things happened 30 years ago.

Notable events of 1988:

• The Soviet Union begins its program of economic restructuring (perestroika) with legislation initiated by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev – followed by the total collapse of the Soviet union later in the year.
• The Phantom of the Opera, the longest running Broadway play ever, opens.
• Iran–Contra affair.
• Celine Dion wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland.
• A report by U.S. Surgeon General states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
• NASA scientist testifies to the Senate that man-made global warming has begun.
• Al-Qaeda is formed by Osama bin Laden.
• The Morris worm, the first computer worm distributed via the Internet, written by Robert Tappan Morris, is launched from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S.
• Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
• Pan Am Flight 103 is blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270 people.
• TAT-8, the first transatlantic telephone cable to use optical fibers, is completed.
• Zebra mussels are found in the Great Lakes.
• Tim Berners-Lee begins to openly discuss his plans for what would become the World Wide Web at CERN.
• Rihanna, Sasha Grey, Jessie J, Adele, Rupert Grint, Emma Stone and Tinie Tempah are born.
• Philippe de Rothschild, Richard Feynman, John Holmes, Robert A. Heinlein, Kim Philby, Enzo Ferrari, Félix Leclerc and Roy Orbison die.