1980
 
  Paul Berg, Walter Gilbert, and Frederick Sanger share a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with Berg cited for for his fundamental studies of the biochemistry of nucleic acids, with particular regard to recombinant-DNA, and Gilbert and Sanger cited for their contributions concerning the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids. This is Sanger's second Nobel, the first having come in 1958 for his work on the structure of insulin.
 
1980
 
 
 
 
1981 Ronald Reagan becomes fortieth president of the United States.
 
 
 
 
1982
 
 
  Barbara McClintock receives the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her discovery of mobile genetic elements.
 
1983
 
 
 
 
1984
 
 
 
 
1985
 
 
 
 
1986
 
 
 
 
1987
 
 
 
 
1988
 
 
  Sidney Altman and Thomas R. Cech share a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA.
 
1989 George Bush becomes forty-first president of the United States.
 
 
 
1990