Title: 1979 Content: 1979 (MCMLXXIX) was . == Events == * 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 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 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 == Births == * 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 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 * 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 26 – Chris Daughtry, American singer == Deaths == === January=== * 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 === * 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 === * 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 === * April 4 – Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, 4th President of Pakistan (b. 1928) === May === * 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 === * June 11 – John Wayne, American actor (b. 1907) === July === * 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 === * 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 === * 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 === * 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 === * November 1 – Mamie Eisenhower, First Lady of the United States (b. 1896) * November 25 – Ky Ebright, American Olympic rowing coach (b. 1894) === December === * December 27 – Hafizullah Amin, President of Afghanistan (b. 1929) == Nobel Prizes == * 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 == Movies released == * 10 * Alien, important for science fiction types of movie * The Amityville Horror based on Jay Anson's novel * Apocalypse Now, written by Francis Ford Coppola and John Milius * Kramer vs. Kramer, winner of 5 Academy Awards * Monty Python’s Life of Brian * The Muppet Movie * Mad Max * Rocky II * Star Trek: The Motion Picture * The Warriors, a cult movie == Hit songs == * "A Message To You Rudi/Nite Klub" – The Specials * "Accidents Will Happen" – Elvis Costello and the Attractions * "After the Love Has Gone" – Earth, Wind & Fire * "Ambition" – Vic Goddard and the Subway Sect * "Bad Case Of Loving You(Doctor Doctor)" – Robert Palmer * "Bang Bang" – B.A. Robertson * "Bat out of Hell" – Meat Loaf * "Boogie Wonderland" – Earth Wind and Fire with the Emotions * "Born To Be Alive" – Patrick Hernandez * "Boys Don't Cry" – The Cure * "Boys Keep Swinging" – David Bowie * "Breakfast In America" – Supertramp * "Bright Side Of The Road" – Van Morrison * "California Über Alles" – The Dead Kennedys * "Can You Feel The Force" – The Real Thing * "Can't Stand Losing You" – The Police * "Chiquitita" – ABBA * "Comme disait Mistinguett" – Dalida * "Computer Games" – Mi-Sex * "Cool for Cats" – Squeeze * "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" – Queen * "Cruel To Be Kind" – Nick Lowe * "Dance Away" – Roxy Music * "Death Disco" – Public Image Limited * "Do Anything You Wanna Do" – Thin Lizzy * "Does Your Mother Know?" – ABBA * "Don't Do Me Like That" – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers * "Don't Stop Me Now" – Queen * "Dreaming" – Blondie * "Driver's Seat" – Sniff and the Tears * "Duchess" – The Stranglers * "Electricity" – OMD * "Eton Rifles" – The Jam * "Every Day Hurts" – Sad Cafe * "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" – The Buzzcocks * "Gangsters" – The Specials AKA * "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" – ABBA * "Girls Talk" – Dave Edmunds * "Go West" – Village People * "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" – Viola Wills * "Goodbye Stranger" – Supertramp * "H.A.P.P.Y. Radio" – Edwin Starr * "He must have been eighteen" – Dalida * "Helwa Ya Baladi" – Dalida * "Here Comes The Summer" – The Undertones * "Highway to Hell" – AC/DC * "I Don't Like Mondays" – The Boomtown Rats * "I Only Wanna Be With You" – The Tourists * "I Have A Dream" – ABBA * "Il faut danser reggae" – Dalida * "In The Navy" – Village People * "Into The Valley" – The Skids * "Is It Love You're After?" – Rose Royce * "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" – Joe Jackson * "Jimmy Jimmy" – The Undertones * "Just The Way You Are" – Barry White * "Just What I Needed" – The Cars * "Lady Writer" – Dire Straits * "Lay Your Love On Me" – Racey * "Let me dance tonight" – Dalida * "Let's Go" – The Cars * "London Calling" – The Clash * "Lucky Number" – Lene Lovich * "Making Plans For Nigel" – XTC * "Milk And Alcohol" – Dr. Feelgood * "Monday, Tuesday... Laissez-moi danser" – Dalida * "Morning Dance" – Spyro Gyra * "Oliver's Army" – Elvis Costello and the Attractions * "On My Radio" – The Selector * "One Step Beyond" – Madness * "On The Inside – Lynne Hamilton * "Parisenne Walkways" – Gary Moore * "Problemorama (L'Argent... L'Argent...)" – Dalida * "Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part 3)" – Ian Dury and the Blockheads * "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" – Steely Dan * "Roll Over Beethoven(EP)" – Chuck Berry * "Roxanne" – The Police * "Sarah" – Thin Lizzy * "Slap And Tickle" – Squeeze * "Smash It Up" – The Damned * "Something Else/Friggin' In The Riggin'" – The Sex Pistols * "Spiral Scratch(EP)" – The Buzzcocks * "Stop Your Sobbing" – Pretenders * "Sultans Of Swing" – Dire Straits * "Take Me To The River" – Talking Heads * "Tears Of A Clown/Ranking Full Stop" – The Beat * "The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan" – Marianne Faithfull * "The Cost Of Living(EP)" – The Clash * "The Logical Song" – Supertramp * "The Long Run" – The Eagles * "Transmission" – Joy Division * "Union City Blue" – Blondie * "Up The Junction" – Squeeze * "Vedrai Vedrai" – Dalida * "Voulez-Vous" – ABBA * "We Are Family" – Sister Sledge * "Whatever You Want" – Status Quo * "Wonderful Christmastime" – Paul McCartney * "You Decorated My Life" – Kenny Rogers * "You Needed Me" – Anne Murray == New books == * Douglas Adams – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy * V. C. Andrews – Flowers in the Attic * David Attenborough – Life on Earth * L. Sprague de Camp, editor – The Blade of Conan * Stephen King – The Dead Zone