1978

**1978** (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday in the Gregorian calendar.

## Events 
* January 14 – The Sex Pistols played their final show (until a 1996 reunion) at San Francisco's Winterland
* April 22 – The Blues Brothers make their first appearance on *Saturday Night Live*. The duo of Jake & Elwood Blues (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd) are introduced by Paul Shaffer (as Don Kirschner) and perform "Hey Bartender"
* April 26 – Ringo Starr's, *Ringo*, a musical version of *The Prince and the Pauper* airs on American television. Starr's fellow former Beatle George Harrison provides the narration
* May 8 – Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler are the first humans on the Mount Everest without oxygen tanks
* July 25 – First human birth from in vitro fertilization
* August 6 – Pope Paul VI dies at the age of 80. Albino Luciani become the new pope, Pope John Paul I
* August 17 – Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
* August 26 – The first Canada Jam Festival is held in Ontario, featuring sets by the Doobie Brothers, the Commodores, Kansas, Dave Mason, and the Atlanta Rhythm Section
* September 28 – Pope John Paul I dies after 34 days in office
* October 1
** Vietnam attacks Cambodia
** Tuvalu gains independence from the United Kingdom
* October 16 – Karol Wojtyła elected pope, and calls himself Pope John Paul II
* November 18 – Jim Jones and his followers commit suicide
* November 27 – San Francisco politician Dan White assassinates Harvey Milk and George Moscone
* December 21 - John Wayne Gacy is arrested for the killings of 33 boys and young men.
* Garfield, a comic strip, debuts
* Space Invaders is created by the Taito Corporation

## Births 
### January 
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* January 13 – Tinga, Brazilian footballer
* January 14 - Abdelaziz Ahanfouf, German-Moroccan footballer 
* January 25 – Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 6th President of Ukraine
* January 28 – Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer
* January 30 – Daniel Lindström, Swedish singer

### February 
* February 7 – Ashton Kutcher, American actor

### March 
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* March 7 – Azis, Bulgarian singer
* March 11 – Didier Drogba, Ivorian footballer
* March 21 – Kevin Federline, American doofus

### April 
* April 4 - Sam Moran, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
* April 6 – Myleene Klass, English musician
* April 30 – Tom Fulp, Newgrounds creater

### May 
* May 1 – Belal Jadallah, Palestinian journalist
* May 22 – Katie Price, English model and singer

### June 
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* June 9 – Matthew Bellamy, English singer
* June 9 – Miroslav Klose, Polish-German footballer
* June 11 – Joshua Jackson, Canadian actor
* June 19 – Dirk Nowitzki, German basketball player
* June 20 – Frank Lampard, English footballer
* June 21 – Gervase Markham, British computer programmer and blogger (d. 2018)
* June 29 – Nicole Scherzinger, American singer and actress

### July 
* July 19 – Chiara Zanni, Canadian actress

### August 
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* August 22 – Jeff Stinco, Canadian musician
* August 23 – Kobe Bryant, American basketball player (d. 2020)

### September 
* September 25 – Rafał Wiechecki, Polish politician
* September 28 – Bushido, German singer
* September 30 – Candice Michelle, American model and wrestler

### October 
* October 2 – Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer
* October 6 – Carolina Gynning, Swedish model
* October 5 – Gerald Asamoah, German footballer
* October 7 – Alesha Dixon, English singer
* October 26 - CM Punk, American professional wrestler

### November 
* November 25 – Ringo Shiina, Japanese singer

### December 
* December 2 – Nelly Furtado, Canadian singer
* December 2 – Chris Wolstenholme, English musician
* December 18 – Katie Holmes, American actress

## Deaths 
### January 
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* January 1 – Nicolae Simatoc, Romanian football player (b. 1920)
* January 5 – Sally Eilers, American actress (b. 1908)
* January 8 – André François-Poncet, French politician (b. 1887)
* January 13 – Hubert Humphrey, 38th Vice President of the United States (b. 1911)
* January 14 – Kurt Gödel, Czech mathematician (b. 1906)
* January 28 – Greta Johansson, Swedish diver (b. 1895)

### February 
* February 2 – Wendy Barrie, English actress (b. 1912)
* February 9 – Hans Stuck, German racing driver (b. 1900)

### March 
* March 21 – Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, 5th President of Ireland (b. 1911)

### April 
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* April 16 – Philibert Tsiranana, 1st President of Madagascar (b. 1912)

### May 
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* May 1 – Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (b. 1903)
* May 2 – Vong Savang, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Laos (b. 1931)
* May 9 – Aldo Moro, 38th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1916)
* May 13 – Sisavang Vatthana, 3rd Prime Minister of The Kingdom of Laos (b. 1907)
* May 14 – Robert Menzies, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
* May 17 – Armin T. Wegner, German writer (b. 1886)
* May 24 – Cyrille Adoula, 4th Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1921)
* May 30 – Tetsu Katayama, 46th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1887)
* May 31 – József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925)

### June 
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* June 2 – Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, Spanish footballer (b. 1895)
* June 12 – Guo Moruo, Chinese politician (b. 1892)
* June 24 – Ahmad al-Ghashmi, President of North Yemen (b. 1941)

### July 
* July 26 – Mary Blair, American artist (b. 1911)

### August 
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* August 6 – Pope Paul VI (b. 1897)
* August 6 – Edward Durrell Stone, American architect (b. 1902)
* August 22 – Jomo Kenyatta, 1st President of Kenya (b. 1894)
* August 26 – Charles Boyer, French actor (b. 1899)
* August 26 – José Manuel Moreno, Argentine footballer (b. 1916)

### September 
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* September 7 - Keith Moon, English drummer (b. 1946)
* September 28 – Pope John Paul I (b. 1912)

### October 
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* October 9 – Jacques Brel, Belgian musician (b. 1929)
* October 17 – Giovanni Gronchi, 3rd President of Italy (b. 1887)

### November 
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* November 15 – Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (b. 1901)
* November 19 – Jim Jones, American cult leader (b. 1931)

### December 
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* December 3 – Golda Meir, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1898)
* December 10 – Ed Wood, American screenwriter (b. 1924)
* December 11 – Raúl Alberto Lastiri, 39th President of Argentina (b. 1915)
* December 27 – Houari Boumédiène, 2nd President of Algeria (b. 1932)

## Nobel Prizes 
* Nobel Prize in Physics – Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, Arno Allan Penzias, Robert Woodrow Wilson
* Chemistry – Peter D Mitchell
* Medicine – Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans, Hamilton O Smith
* Literature -Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polnish writer and journalist
* Peace – Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat and Menachem Begin
* Economics – Herbert Simon

## References