Centuries:	19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades:	1940s  1950s  1960s  - 1970s -  1980s  1990s  2000s
Years:	1976 1977 1978 - 1979 - 1980 1981 1982

1979 by topic:

Subject:      Archaeology - Architecture - Art

Aviation - Film - Home video - Literature (Poetry) Meteorology - Music (Country, Metal) Rail transport - Radio - Science

Sports - Television - Video gaming

Countries:      Australia - Canada - India - Ireland

Malaysia - New Zealand - Norway - Pakistan - Singapore South Africa - Soviet Union - UK - Wales - Zimbabwe

Leaders:    Sovereign states - State leaders

Religious leaders - Law

Categories: Births - Deaths - Works - Introductions

Establishments - Disestablishments - Awards v â€¢ d â€¢ e

See 1979 (song) for the Smashing Pumpkins song.

Year 1979 (MCMLXXIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1979 Gregorian calendar).

Events of 1979

January

• January 1 - United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the "International Year of the Child". Many musicians donate to the "Music for UNICEF Concert" fund.
• January 1 - The United States and the People\'s Republic of China establish full diplomatic relations.

• January 4 - The State of Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of the dead and injured in the Kent State shootings.
• January 7 - Vietnam and Vietnam-backed Cambodian insurgents announce the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and the collapse of the Pol Pot regime. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge retreat west to an area along the Thai border.
• January 8 - The French tanker Betelgeuse explodes at the Gulf Oil terminal at Bantry in Ireland; 50 are killed.
• January 9 - The Music for UNICEF Concert is held at the United Nations General Assembly to raise money for UNICEF and promote the Year of the Child. It is broadcast the following day in the United States and around the world. Hosted by The Bee Gees, other performers include Donna Summer, ABBA, Rod Stewart and Earth, Wind & Fire. A soundtrack album was released.
• January 16 - The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family, relocating to Egypt after a year of turmoil.
• January 19 - Former U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell is released on parole after 19 months at a federal prison in Alabama.
• January 21 - The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Dallas Cowboys 35-31 in Super Bowl XIII played at the Miami Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida.
• January 29 - Brenda Ann Spencer opens fire at a school in San Diego, California, killing 2 teachers and wounding 8 students.
• January 31 - The police under directions of Jyoti Basu, Chief Minister of CPM led govt of West Bengal, surrounds and opens fire on unarmed refugee settlement of Morichjhapi island in Sunderbans, West Bengal, India. Hundreds killed but govt officially accepted 36 deaths.

February

• February 1 - Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence is commuted by U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
• February 1 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile.
• February 3 - Khomeini creates the Council of the Islamic Revolution.
• February 7 - Supporters of Khomeini take over the Iranian law enforcement, courts and government administration; the final session of the Iranian National Consultative Assembly is held.
• February 7 - Pluto moves inside Neptune\'s orbit for the first time since either was known to science.
• February 10-February 11 - The Iranian army mutinies and joins the Islamic Revolution.
• February 11 - Khomeini seizes power in Iran.
• February 12 - Prime Minister Hissène Habré starts the battle of N\'Djamena in an attempt to overthrow Chad\'s President Félix Malloum.
• February 13 - The intense February 13, 1979 Windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
• February 14 - In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
• February 14 - Following her 1972 sex reassignment surgery, musician Wendy Carlos legally changes her name from Walter. She later reveals this information in an interview in the May 1979 issue of Playboy Magazine. Incidently on this day her future partner Andrew Aitken was born a hermaphrodite. He also went on to have sex reassignment surgery and they married as husband and wife.[1]
• February 15 - A suspected gas explosion rocks a bank in Warsaw killing 49.
• February 17 - The People\'s Republic of China invades northern Vietnam, launching the Sino-Vietnamese War.
• February 18 - The Sahara Desert experiences snow for 30 minutes.
• February 22 - Saint Lucia becomes independent of the United Kingdom.
• February 26 - A total solar eclipse arcs over northern Canada, and a partial solar eclipse is visible over almost all of North America and Central America. [2]

March

• March 1 - Scotland votes narrowly for home rule, which is not implemented, and Wales votes against it.
• March 4 - The U.S. Voyager I spaceprobe photos reveal Jupiter\'s rings.
• March 5 - Voyager I makes its closest approach to Jupiter at 172,000 miles.
• March 7 - Largest Magnetar, or Soft gamma repeater, event recorded.
• March 13 - Maurice Bishop leads a successful coup in Grenada.
• March 14 - In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200.
• March 17 - The Penmanshiel Tunnel in the UK collapses, killing two workers.
• March 25 - The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center, to be prepared for its first launch.
• March 26 - In a ceremony at the White House, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel sign a peace treaty.
• March 28 - A nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, releases radiation.
• March 28 - In Britain, Jim Callaghan\'s government loses a motion of confidence by 1 vote, forcing a general election.
• March 29 - Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Mustain Billah ibni Almarhum Sultan Sir Abu Bakar Riayatuddin Al-Muadzam Shah, Sultan of Pahang.
• March 30 - Airey Neave, World War Two veteran and Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, is killed by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the British House of Commons car park.
• March 31 - The Royal Navy withdraws from Malta.
• March 31 - Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
• March 31 - Gali Atari and Milk and Honey win the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 for Israel, with the song Hallelujah.

April

• April 1 - Iran\'s government becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, overthrowing the Shah officially.
• April 1-April 18 - Police lock Andreas Mihavecz in a holding cell in Bregenz, Austria, and forget him there without food or drink.
• April 1- Nickelodeon Television Channel, a children\'s cartoon channel, launches as The Pinwheel Network.
• April 2 - Sverdlovsk Anthrax leak: A Soviet biowarfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.
• April 10 - A tornado hits Wichita Falls, Texas, killing 42 people (the most notable of 26 that hit that day).
• April 11 - Tanzanian troops take Kampala, the capital of Uganda; Idi Amin flees.
• April 17 - Schoolchildren in the Central African Empire are arrested (and around 100 killed) for protesting against compulsory school uniforms. An African judicial commission later determines that Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa "almost certainly" took part in the massacre.
• April 20 - President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a swamp rabbit while fishing in his hometown Plains, Georgia.
• April 23 - Fighting in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police\'s Special Patrol Group results in the death of protestor Blair Peach.

May

• May 1 - Greenland gets home rule.
• May 4 - Conservatives win the British general election; Margaret Thatcher becomes the new prime minister.
• May 8 - The Manchester, England Woolworth\'s in city centre is seriously damaged by fire; 10 shoppers die.
• May 9 - Unabomber bomb injures Northwestern University graduate student John Harris.
• May 10 - The Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing.
• May 25 - American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O\'Hare International Airport, killing 271 on board and two people on the ground.
• May 25 - John Spenkelink executed in Florida. First usage of electric chair in USA after the reintroduction of death penalty in 1976.
• May 27 - Indianapolis 500: Rick Mears wins the race for the first time, and the second time for car owner Roger Penske.

June

May 4: Thatcher

• June 1 - Vizianagaram district is formed in Andhra Pradesh, India.
• June 1 - The first black-led government of Rhodesia in 90 years takes power, in succession to Ian Smith and under his power-sharing deal.
• June 1 - The Seattle Supersonics won the NBA Championship against the Washington Bullets.
• June 2 - Pope John Paul II visits his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
• June 3 - A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 600,000 tons (176,400,000 gallons) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the worst oil spill to date. Some estimate the spill to be 428 million gallons, making it the largest unintentional oil spill ever.
• June 3 - General elections are held in Italy.
• June 4 - Joe Clark becomes Canada\'s 16th and youngest Prime Minister.
• June 4 - Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after military coup in which General Akuffo is overthrown.
• June 12 - Bryan Allen flies the man-powered Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel.
• June 18 - Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II agreement in Vienna.
• June 20 - A Nicaraguan National Guard soldier kills ABC TV news correspondent Bill Stewart and his interpreter Juan Espinosa. Other members of the news crew capture the killing on tape.
• June 23 - Sydney: New South Wales Premier Neville Wran officially opens the Eastern Suburbs Railway. It operates as a shuttle between Central & Bondi Junction until full integration with the Illawarra Line during 1980.
• June 25 - Belgium: Supreme Allied Commander Alexander Haig escapes an assassination attempt by the Baader-Meinhof terrorist organization.

July

• July 2 - The Susan B. Anthony dollar is introduced in the U.S.
• July 3 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
• July 8 - Los Angeles passes its homosexual rights bill.
• July 9 - A car bomb destroys a Renault owned by "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.
• July 11 - NASA\'s first orbiting space station Skylab begins its return to Earth, after being in orbit for 6 years and 2 months.
• July 12 - Kiribati declares independence from the United Kingdom.
• July 12 - A "Disco Demolition Night" publicity stunt goes awry at Comiskey Park, forcing the Chicago White Sox to forfeit their game against the Detroit Tigers.
• July 12 - Carmine Galante, boss of the Bonanno crime family, is assassinated.
• July 12 - A fire at a hotel in Saragossa, Spain leaves 72 dead. Worst hotel fire in Europe in decades.
• July 16 - Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and Vice President Saddam Hussein replaces him.
• July 17 - Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida.
• July 19 - Maritza Sayalero of Venezuela wins Miss Universe, stage collapses after contestants and news photographers rushed to the throne of the new Miss Universe..
• July 19 - The Marxist Sandinistas take control of Nicaragua.
• July 19 - Maria de Lurdes Pintasilgo becomes prime minister of Portugal.
• July 24 - The Soviet Union exchanges Gerald Brook for spies Peter and Helen Kroger with the United Kingdom.
• July 31 - Four hundred Iranian pilgrims are killed after clashes with Saudi security forces in Mecca.

August

• August 5 - The Polisario Front signs a peace treaty with Mauritania.
• August 9 - The first British nudist beach is established in Brighton.
• August 9 - Raymond Washington, known for founding the Crips, today one of the largest, most notorious gangs in the United States, was shot and killed five months following his arrest for quadruple murder. (His killers have not yet been identified.)
• August 10 - Michael Jackson releases his first breakthrough album Off The Wall. It sold 7 million copies in the United States alone, making it a 7x platinum album.
• August 14 - A freak storm during the Fastnet Race results in the death of 15 sailors.
• August 27 - Lord Mountbatten and 3 others are assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. He was a British admiral, statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. On the same day, the Warrenpoint ambush occurs, Provisional Irish Republican Army members attack a British Convoy at Narrow Water, County Down, killing 18 British soldiers.
• August 28 - The death toll of the previous day\'s IRA bombing reaches five when Lady Dowager Brabourne, 82, dies in hospital as a result of her injuries.

September

• September 1 - The U.S. Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn, when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.
• September 7 - The Chrysler Corporation asks the United States government for $1 billion to avoid bankruptcy.
• September 7 - The Entertainment Sports Programing Network, known as ESPN, debuts.
• September 9 - Norrie Paramor died
• September 12 - Hurricane Frederic makes landfall at 10:00 p.m. on Alabama\'s Gulf Coast.
• September 16 - Two families flee from East Germany by balloon.
• September 20 - French paratroopers help David Dacko to overthrow Bokassa in the Central African Republic.
• September 22 - The South Atlantic Flash is observed near Bouvet Island, thought to be a nuclear weapons test.
• September 30 - The Hong Kong MTR begins service with the opening of its Modified Initial System (aka Kwun Tong Line).

October

• October 1 - Nigeria terminates military rule, and the Nigerian Second Republic is established.
• October 1-October 6 - Pope John Paul II visits the United States.
• October 2- Bob Marley\'s album "Survival" is released.
• October 9 - Peter Brock wins the Bathurst 1000 by a record 6 laps, with a lap record on the last lap.
• October 14 - A major gay rights march in the United States takes place in Washington, DC, involving many tens of thousands of people.
• October 15 - Black Monday events, in which members of a political group sack a newspaper office, unfold in Malta.
• October 16 - A tsunami in Nice, France kills 23 people.
• October 17 - The Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Baltimore Orioles to win the \'79 World Series.
• October 19 - 13 Marines Die due to fire @ Camp Fuji, Japan as a result of Typhoon Tip 2/4 H&S (Weapons) 81s & Dragons Platoons. Semper Fi! Brother. [3]

PFC Robert L. Brees, PFC Thomas J. Breunig, Lcpl Willie Davis Jr., Lcpl Phiip E. Dupont, PFC Tyrone C. Elem, Lcpl Ernest E. Gutierrez,Pvt. Gregory L. Hassel, Pvt. Roger A. Larson, Lcpl L C Malveaux, Cpl Colim Miller, Lcpl Orlando E. Sandoval, Lcpl Robert V. Smith Jr., Lcpl Steven R. Turner

• October 27 - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains independence.

November