Anthropology: Johansen announces find of "Lucy" Australopithecus afarensis
Economy: Inflation as gold prices rise OPEC raises oil prices
Entertainment: Sondheim's "Sweeny Todd" and Webber's "Evita" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" debut Video game "Asteroids" introduced The Elephant Man written Star Trek motion picture debuts Launch of Nickleodeon
Environment: Gaia hypothesis published by James Lovelock
Fashion: Claude Montana opens couture house – specializes in leather
Food: Diets of low-fat and low-cholesterol foods make waves Screwpull corkscrew invented
Medicine: Smallpox eradicated Human insulin synthesized from E coli
Needleman shows how lead poisoning results in low IQs
Religion: Mother Teresa receives Nobel Peace Prize
Science: Biogen learns to sequence nucleotides Z-DNA discovered gluon particle shown
Dehmelt photographs single atom Belmont Report mandates basic principles for human research
Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit
Technology: Voyager Probe launched Segate Technology manufactures "floppy" disk drives
Video disk comes to market Hayes sells modem that connects to phone lines First handheld video games
Apple II emerges with BASIC pre-built into system Motorola introduces microprocessor with 16mb of memory
Deaths: Josef Mengele, Peggy Guggenheim, Nelson A Rockefeller, US ambassador Adolph Dubs (gunfire in Afghanistan),
Jean Monnet (FRA) of European Community, former Czech president Ludvik Svoboda, Park Chung Hee (S Korea assassinated),
Pakistan's former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto hanged, French military commander Maurice Challe, Angolan president Agostinho Neto, ,
Pedro Gerado Beltran(Peru), Gustavo Diaz Ordaz (MEX), Mamie Eisenhower, "Red Rudi" Dutschke in DEN, Mary Pickford, John Wayne, Sid Vicious (heroin overdose) of Sex Pistols
Africa
Angola: Death of president Agostinho Neto
Central African Republic: Created from Central African Empire Emperor Bokassa I overthrown and Dacko regains power
Equatorial Guinea: Bloodless coup
Ghana: Coup
Maruitania: President resigns
Sudan: Ebola breakout
Uganda: Guerillas and Ugandan and Tanzanian troops force Idi Amin Dada into exile
Venda: Independence from South Africa to 1994
Zimbabwe: Rhodesian whites enfranchise all blacks and rename the country Zimbabwe Rhosedia
Americas
hurricane in Lesser Antilles,
Brazil: Death of Josef Mengele the Butcher of Auschwitz - drowns under the name of Wolfgang Gerhard
Canada: Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark becomes youngest prime minister
Caribbean: Independence for Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Kirabati (Gilbert Islands), and the Grenadines
Atlantic Empress collides and is towed toward Texas until it sank - oil spill 7 times as large at Exxon Valdez in 1989
Colombia: Earthquake
Ecuador: Earthquake
El Salvador: Romero deposed in military coup
Grenada: Leftist coup
Guatemala: Native people systematically driven out
Mexico: Death of Gustavo Diaz Ordaz Oilwell blowout for three months results in Gulf contamination
Nicaragua: Dictator Anastasio Somoza resigns and Sandinistas including Daniel Ortega Saavedra rule
Panama: Panama Canal Zone returns to Panama
Peru: death of Pedro Gerado Beltran Chungar landslide
Puerto Rico: Tsunami in San Juan
Asia
Cambodia: Democratic Kampuchea named back to Cambodia – original name before 1970 End of Khmer Rouge and start of People's Republic to 1989
China: China and US establish diplomatic relations Deng Ziaoping cracks down on dissidents
China calls for one-child policy – severe penalties imposed – females aborted often Population reaches 1 billion
Deng Xiaoping visits US and later cracks down on protests Sino-American pact grants China favored-nation status,
Hong Kong: Subway opens
India: Launching of Bhaskara satellite
Japan: Japanese microchip makers begin to dominate First cell phones in Tokyo then Chicago
Typhoon Tip largest cyclone on record - weakens by the time it reached Japan
Java: Eruption of Mount Merapi
Micronesia: Self-rule
South Korea: Park Chung Hee assassinated
Taiwan: Washington breaks ties with Taiwan in favor of China
Vietnam: Fighting between Vietnam and China
Europe
General: German Walter Kellner publishes story of sea crash and Austrian Walter Kellner protests plagiarism – magazine verifies both stories true
First direct elections held in European Parliament for 9 EEC members European monetary system goes into operation
Bulgaria: Bulgarian newspaper editor murdered for publishing while Bulgarian critic murdered by ricin assassination
Croatia: Quake
Czechoslovakia: Death of former Czech president Ludvik Svoboda
Denmark: Death of "Red Rudi" Dutschke
East Germany: Two families flee from E Germany by balloon
France: Nice hit by tsunami - possibly caused by construction landslide - 23 dead Death of military commander Maurice Challe
Death of Jean Monnet of EC Paris drops in-restaurant breathalyzer tests
Great Britain: Prime minister James Callaghan loses with vote of no confidence – garbage strikes and unburied corpses leades to protests.
Conservative Margaret (Hilda) Thatcher becomes first female Prime Minister Earl Mountbatten murdered by IRA
50-lb bomb by IRA terrorists kill cousin of Elizabeth II aboard of Lord Mountbatten's fishing ship
Sir Anthony Blunt revealed to be Soviet spy – remains curator but stripped of knighthood First British nude beach
Scotland votes for home rule, but never implemented Peter LeComber of Scotland shows how to build transistors and LCD displays from silicon
Liberal Party Leader Thorpe charged with having his ex-lover killed – career ruined Post office inaugurates television information system
Greece: Greece grants non-mutual divorces
Hungary: Rubik's Cube for sale in Budapest – next year in US
Ireland: First sighting of Monster of Lough Brin
Malta: Freedom declared
Soviet Union: Soviets release five dissidents Accidental release of anthrax spores – hundreds killed – protests by other nations
Rogun Dam started Plane crashes in Ukraine
West Germany: maglev train exhibited in Hamburg
Middle East
General: Camp David Accord - Mid-East Peace Treaty met with dismay and split of PLO Jesse Jackson attempts to negotiate peace in Middle East
OPEC raises prices to $20 a barrel with limited production – prices rise to $24-$40
Afghanistan: Soviets invade to support Marxists and guerillas fight Soviet troops US ambassador Adolph Dubs killed by gunfire
Egypt: Boycott by other of Islamic countries
General: Camp David Accords declare limited peace
Iran: Ayatollah Khomeini leads Shiite Muslim revolution and Shah ousted and flees to Panama- "Satanic" US accused of causing disunity
American hostages taken at embassy by Iranian students Earthquake Government bans family planning
Iranian women protests revocation of Family Protection Law and forces rollbacks including wearing the chandor
Iraq: President Ahmen Hassan al-Bakr resigns and Saddam Hussein leads
Israel: Terrorist bomb - strike against Lebanon and Palestinians
Pakistan: Former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto hanged
Saudi Arabia: Plane crash Sunni Muslims occupy Mecca's Grand Mosque and 75 are killed in shootout with Saudi police
Turkey: Plans for Greek temple found at Dudyma created in 334 BC
Yemen: Border war - Carter sends arms
Pacific
Antarctica: Plane crash
Australia: US Skylab crashes back to earth in western Australia killing one cow
Arthur McDuffie beaten to death by police – racism charges – some officers indicted for manslaughter for the coverup
Business: Robert Williams at Ford Motor Co. plant killed by robot – hit him in the head
George Soros becomes billionaire Home Depot founded Carter deregulates US oil industry because of shortages
Renault saves American Motors form bankruptcy Chrysler bailout loans Reebok shoes introduced to compete with Nike Adidas and Puma
Crime: Raymond Washington founder of the Crips shot Mafia boss Galante gunned down by rival group US drug use skyrockets
FDA cracks down of dexadrine amphetamines as appetite suppressants (speed) Ted Bundy convicted of murder
Culture: Illegal for kindergarteners to ask whose birthday is celebrated for Christmas
Energy: 9 US nuclear reactors go online – because of three mile island new sites discouraged – new reactors cancelled
Entertainment: Birth of fictional character Bart Simpson Disco becomes scapegoat for all evils and phrase "disco sucks" becomes popular Antiques Roadshow debuts
Food: Start of Zagat restaurant surveys
Law: Affirmative action upheld by Supreme Court First palimony case for unmarried couple
Supreme court rules parent permission for abortions unconstitutional
Medicine: Rosalyn Carter testifies before congress for the mentally ill Kidney dialysis paid for through medicare
Barbara Gordon writes about valium addiction
Military: US Senators block SALT (Arms Limitation Treaty)
Natives: Navajo elderwoman Katherine Smith fires at government crew on Navajo lands – acquitted
News: C-SPAN broadcasts Morning Edition debuts on NPR
Politics: Rosalynn Carter urges women to get male support for ERA US Secretary of Education appointed increasing spending but proficiency plummets
Carter establishes FEMA from merged units
Religion: Beverly LaHaye (wife of Tim) opposes Betty Friedan's anti-God stances – membership in her CWA organization grows
Moral Majority founded by Jerry Falwell – until 1989
Science: Voyager I discovers ring around Jupiter
Sports: ESPN begins broadcasting
Technology: VisiCalc turns Apple II into business machine – soon available for Tandy Commodore and Atari
CompuServe goes online with first commercial electronic mail AOL begins Walkman cassette player introduced at $200
First space shuttle Columbia prepares for launch
Weather: Winter of '79 reported as coldest in US recorded history
East
New York: US drug use skyrockets – NYC lowers penalties to deal with backlogged cases
John Bowen at New York Jets half-time show dies when remote-control flying machines hits him in the head
Guardian Angels civilians patrol NYC
Pennsylvania: 3 Mile Island nuclear accident results in problems with cooling – little radiation released and core does not melt down
Midwest
General: Lake Superior freezes
Illinois: Plane crashes – Chicago O'Hare airport Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic fails to remove New Years snowfall and because of that looses primary election to Jane Byrne
50,000 attend disco demolition night at White Sox game – crowd tears up field and Sox forfeit
Kansas: Deadly tornado in Wichita Falls
Missouri: Kansas City arena collapses during thunderstorm
Ohio: 11 concertgoers crushed at "The Who" concert in Cincinnati Government begins paying for Kent State shootings
Oklahoma: Oklahoma City jury decides Kerr-McGee must pay to the estate of Karen Silkwood
South
Florida: First use of electric chair in US after death penalty reinstated – John Spenkelink of FL
Miami-Dade County repeals ordinance favoring homosexuals and some boycott Florida orange juice
Georgia: Jimmy Carter attacked by swamp rabbit near Plains GA Atlanta serial killer kills at least 20 black children (nearly all boys) – never discovered
Louisiana: Paul Prudhomme opens restaurant in New Orleans – run on redfish in Gulf leading to regulation
North Carolina: Klansmen in Greensboro NC fire on Communists killing three – declared gang war and acquitted
West and Pacific
California: Brenda Ann Spencer is convicted of a shooting spree at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego
Richard Trenton Chase US serial killer in CA – ate and drank victims -fear of his soap dish – killed at least six
Sardines return to California after 40-year absence
Hawaii: Telescope on Mauna Kea
Wyoming: Cheyenne, WY blizzard produces 29.8 8inches of snow