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 3 – Conrad Hilton, American hotelier  (b. 1887)
 January 16 – Ted Cassidy, American actor  (b. 1932)
 January 26 – Nelson Rockefeller, American politician and businessman (b. 1908)
 February 2 – Sid Vicious, English musician (b. 1957)
 February 7 – Josef Mengele, Nazism war criminal (b. 1911)
 March 30 – José María Velasco Ibarra, 24th President of Ecuador (b. 1893)
 April 4 – Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani politician
 May 25 – American Airlines Flight 191 casualties
 June 11 – John Wayne, American actor (b. 1907)
 July 3 – Louis Durey, French composer (b. 1988)
 August 3 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
 September 28 – John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist (b. 1921)
 September 29 – Francisco Macías Nguema, first President of Equatorial Guinea (executed) (b. 1924)
 October 26 – Pak Chŏng Hŭi, President of the Republic of Korea (b. 1917)
 November 1 – Mamie Eisenhower, American First Lady (b. 1896)
 November 25 – Ky Ebright, American Olympic rowing coach (b. 1894)
 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