1979

1979 is a common year starting on Monday.

Years:
1976 1977 1978 - 1979(MCMLXXIX) - 1980 1981 1982

Decades:
1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s

Centuries:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century

1979 in topic:
Arts
Architecture - Art - Film - Literature - Music - Television
Science and technology
Aviation - Rail transport - Science
Other topics
Australia - Canada - Ireland - South Africa - Sport
Category:1979 births - Category:1979 deaths

Lists of leaders:
State leaders - Religious leaders

Events

January 1 - Sino-American relations: United States and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations
January 4 - State of Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of dead and injured in Kent State University shootings.
January 7 - Vietnam and Vietnam-backed Cambodian insurgents announce the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodian capital, and the collapse of the Pol Pot regime. Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge retreat to Thailand
January 8 - The French tanker Betelgeuse explodes at the Gulf Oil terminal at Bantry in Ireland - 50 dead
January 16 - The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocate to Egypt after a year of turmoil.
January 19 - Former US Attorney General John N. Mitchell released on parole after 19 months at a federal prison in Alabama
January 29 – Brenda Ann Spencer begins to shoot out her window across the street to Cleveland elementary school in San Diego, California. Kills two teachers and wounds 8 students

February 1 - Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence was commuted by 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
February 10-February 11 - Iranian army mutinies and joins the Islamic Revolution
February 11 - Khomeini seizes power in Iran.
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 17 - The People's Republic of China invades northern Vietnam, launching he Sino-Vietnamese War.
February 22 - Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.

March 5 - Voyager I passes Jupiter
March 13 - In Grenada, Maurice Bishop leads a successful coup
March 14 - In China, a Hawker-Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing killing at least 200
March 25 - The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, was 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 - Nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, releases radiation
March 28 - In the United Kingdom, Jim Callaghan's government loses a motion of confidence by one vote, forcing a general election
March 29 - Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, 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 INLA bomb in British House of Commons car park
March 31 - The Royal Navy withdraws from Malta

April 1 - Iran's government becomes Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, overthrowing the Shah officially
April 6 - President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed
April 10 - A tornado hits in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people. It was the most notable tornado of twenty-six that hit that day.
April 11 - Ugandan dictator Idi Amin overthrown; Tanzania takes Kampala
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 1 - Greenland gets home rule
May 4 - Conservatives win the British general election; Margaret Thatcher becomes the new prime minister.
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.

June 1 - The first black-led government of Rhodesia in 90 years takes power, ousting Ian Smith
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 4 - Joe Clark becomes Canada's sixteenth, and youngest, prime minister.
June 12 - Bryan Allen flies the Gossamer Albatross, man powered, across the English Channel.
June 18 - Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II agreement in Vienna.
June 20 - a national guard soldier in Nicaragua 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.

July 2 - The Susan B. Anthony one-dollar coin is introduced in the US.
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 - The space station Skylab returns to Earth.
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 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; Sandinistas form a new government on July 19.
July 19 - The Marxist Sandinistas take control of Nicaragua
July 19 - Maria de Lurdes Pintasilgo becomes prime minister of Portugal
July 24 - Soviet Union exchanges Gerald Brook for spies Peter and Helen Kroger with United Kingdom
July 31 - 400 Iranian pilgrims are killed after clashes with Saudi security forces in Mecca
August 5 – Polisario signs a peace treaty with Mauritania
August 9 - The first British nudist beach is established in Brighton
August 27 - Lord Mountbatten and two children killed by the I.R.A..

September 1 - The American 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 - ESPN starts broadcasting.
September 16 - Three families flee from East Germany by balloon
September 20 – French paratroopers help David Dacko to overthrow Bokassa
September 22 - The South Atlantic Flash is observed near Bouvet Island, thought to be a nuclear weapons test.
October 14 - A major gay rights march in the United States takes place in Washington, DC, involving many tens of thousands of people.
October 16 - 23 people die in Nice, France, when the coastal town is hit by a tsunami
October 21 - 259 Muslim radicals occupy Kaaba and the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Saudi-Arabian army goes in to expel them
October 26 - South Korean president Park Chunghee killed by KCIA head Kim Jaekyu.
October 27 - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains independence.