1979 (MCMLXXIX) was a common year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar, the 1979th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 979th year of the 2nd millennium, the 79th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1970s decade
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century |
| Decades: | 1940s 1950s 1960s – 1970s – 1980s 1990s 2000s |
| Years: | 1976 1977 1978 – 1979 – 1980 1981 1982 |
Events
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- January 4 – The State of Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of the dead and injured in the Kent State shootings
- February 1 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile
- March 4 – The U.S. Voyager 1 spaceprobe photos show Jupiter's rings
- April 1 – Iran's government becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, overthrowing the Shah officially
- May 1 – Greenland is given limited autonomy from Denmark. The new Parliament of Greenland will meet in Nuuk.
- June 18 – Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT II agreement in Vienna
- July 12 – Kiribati gains independence from the United Kingdom
- July 16 – Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and Vice President Saddam al-Tikriti replaces him
- August 3 – Dictator Francisco Macías Nguema of Equatorial Guinea is overthrown in a bloody coup d'état led by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
- 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 3 – The divorce of Michele Catain, an American crew member and real estate agent, and David Thomas Durboraw, an American businessman, is finalized
- 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
- October 29 – Pope John Paul II visits Ireland
- November 5 – The radio news program Morning Edition premieres on National Public Radio in the United States
- December 5 – Jack Lynch resigns as Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland. He is succeeded by Charles Haughey.
- December 15 – Chris Haney and Scott Abbott develop the board game Trivial Pursuit
- December 26 – The divorce of Jack Catain Jr., an American businessman, and Marlene Noble, an American apparel sales associate, is finalized
Births
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- January 2 – Morena Baccarin, Brazilian actress
- January 12 – Marián Hossa, Slovakian hockey player
- January 16 – Aaliyah, American singer (d. 2001)
- January 20 – Will Young, English singer and actor
- January 26 – Sara Rue, American actress
- February 9 – Irina Slutskaya, Russian figure skater
- February 11 – Brandy Norwood, American singer
- February 21 – Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress
- March 8 – Tom Chaplin, English singer (Keane)
- March 9 – Melina Perez, American wrestler
- March 12 – Pete Doherty, English musician
- March 27 – Hiromu Shinozuka, Japanese manga artist
- April 4
- Heath Ledger, Australian actor (d. 2008)
- Roberto Luongo, Canadian hockey player
- April 5 – Timo Hildebrand, German footballer
- April 24 – Marie Picasso, Swedish model and singer
- May 9 – Pierre Bouvier, Canadian musician
- May 15 – Dominic Scott, Irish guitarist
- May 16 – Prince Carl Philip of Sweden
- May 21 – Shinya Kumazaki, Japanese video game developer
- May 26 – Ashley Massaro, American model and wrestler
- May 29 – Arne Friedrich German footballer
- August 3 – Evangeline Lilly, Canadian actress
- August 16 – Cleo Lemon, American NFL player
- September 13 – Manuel Friedrich, German footballer
- September 17 – Chuck Comeau, Canadian musician
- September 27 – Shep Rose, American
- October 1 - Florin Salam, Romanian singer
- October 3 – John Hennigan, American wrestler
- October 8 – Kristanna Loken, American actress
- November 14 – Michael Owen, English footballer
- November 27 – Hilary Hahn, American violinist
- December 4 - Adrian Zandberg, Polish politician, historian, and programmer. He created the Razem political party
- December 26 – Chris Daughtry, American singer
Deaths
changeJanuary
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- January 3 – Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (b. 1887)
- January 5 – Charles Mingus, American bassist (b. 1922)
- January 16 – Ted Cassidy, American actor (b. 1932)
- January 18 – Gaston Heuet, French long-distance runner (b. 1892)
- January 26 – Nelson Rockefeller, 41st Vice President of the United States (b. 1908)
- January 27 – Victoria Ocampo, Argentine writer (b. 1890)
February
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- February 2 – Sid Vicious, English musician (b. 1957)
- February 7 – Josef Mengele, Nazism war criminal (b. 1911)
- February 8 – Nikolai Tikhonov, Soviet writer (b. 1896)
- February 9 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-British engineer (b. 1900)
- February 12 – Jean Renoir, French film director (b. 1894)
- February 17 – William Gargan, American actor (b. 1905)
March
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- March 1 – Mustafa Barzani, Kurdish leader (b. 1903)
- March 7 – Klaus Egge, Norwegian nationalist (b. 1906)
- March 15 – Alexandre Parodi, French Politician (b. 1901)
- March 30 – José María Velasco Ibarra, 24th President of Ecuador (b. 1893)
April
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- April 4 – Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, 4th President of Pakistan (b. 1928)
May
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- May 1 – Morteza Motahhari, Iranian philosopher (b. 1919)
- May 2 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemical engineer (b. 1903)
- May 9 – Gabriel Ramanantsoa, 2nd President of Madagascar (b. 1906)
- May 29 – Mary Pickford, Canadian-American actress (b. 1892)
June
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- June 11 – John Wayne, American actor (b. 1907)
July
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- July 3 – Louis Durey, French composer (b. 1988)
- July 8 – Shin'ichirō Tomonaga, Japanese physicist (b. 1906)
- July 15 – Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, 49th President of Mexico (b. 1911)
August
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- August 3 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- August 21 – Giuseppe Meazza, Italian football player (b. 1910)
- August 27 – Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, British statesman and naval officer (b. 1900)
September
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- September 10 – Agostinho Neto, 1st President of Angola (b. 1922)
- September 20 – Ismail Nasiruddin of Terengganu, 4th Yang di-Pertuan Agong (b. 1907)
- September 28 – John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist (b. 1921)
- September 29 – Francisco Macías Nguema, 1st President of Equatorial Guinea (executed) (b. 1924)
October
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- October 1 – Preguinho, Brazilian footballer (b. 1905)
- October 8 – Nur Muhammad Taraki, President of Afghanistan (b. 1917)
- October 26 – Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea (b. 1917)
November
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- November 1 – Mamie Eisenhower, First Lady of the United States (b. 1896)
- November 25 – Ky Ebright, American Olympic rowing coach (b. 1894)
December
changeNobel Prizes
change- Nobel Prize in Physics shared by Sheldon Lee Glashow, Abdus Salam, and Steven Weinberg for their work on electroweak interactions
- Nobel Prize in Chemistry shared by Herbert C. Brown and Georg Wittig for their work with organoboranes
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine shared by Allan McLeod Cormack and Godfrey N. Hounsfield for their work on X-ray computed tomography
- Nobel Prize in Literature won by Odysseas Elytis, Greek poet
- Nobel Peace Prize won by Mother Teresa
- Nobel Prize in Economics – Theodore Schultz, American economist, and W. Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian economist
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