What Happened in 1977 — Events, Births & Deaths

Apple Computer is incorporated.

Three bombs explode in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.

The first episode of Finnish children's TV show Pikku Kakkonen ("Little Number Two") is aired on Yle TV2.

Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045, a Douglas DC-8 jet, crashes onto the runway during takeoff from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, killing five.

Linjeflyg Flight 618 crashes in Kälvesta near Stockholm Bromma Airport in Stockholm, Sweden, killing 22 people.

Capital punishment in the United States resumes after a ten-year hiatus, as convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah.

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announce they have identified a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.

Australia's worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney, killing 83.

SFR Yugoslavia's Prime minister, Džemal Bijedić, his wife and six others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (a.k.a. "Tokyo Rose").

The Atocha massacre occurs in Madrid during the Spanish transition to democracy.

The first day of the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977, which dumps 3 metres (10 ft) of snow in one day in Upstate New York. Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown, and surrounding areas are most affected.

The Shining, the horror novel and the first hardcover bestseller by Stephen King, is published.

A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ends another and derails, killing 11 and injuring 180, the worst accident in the agency's history.

The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year when a firecracker ignited memorial wreaths of the late Mao Zedong, killing 694 personnel. It remains the deadliest fireworks accident in the world.

A thousand armed soldiers raid Kalakuta Republic, the commune of Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, leading to the death of Funmilayo Anikulapo Kuti.

The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747.

Libya becomes the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya as the General People's Congress adopts the "Declaration on the Establishment of the Authority of the People".

The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in eastern and southern Europe kills more than 1,500, mostly in Bucharest, Romania.

The Hanafi Siege: In a 39-hour standoff, armed Hanafi Muslims seize three Washington, D.C., buildings.

Astronomers discover the rings of Uranus.

The 1977 Hanafi Siege: Around 150 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.

Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt, the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War.

The first of The Nixon Interviews (12 will be recorded over four weeks) is videotaped with British journalist David Frost interviewing former United States President Richard Nixon about the Watergate scandal and the Nixon tapes.

Morarji Desai becomes the prime minister of India, the first prime minister not to belong to Indian National Congress.

Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). Sixty-one survived on the Pan Am flight. This is the deadliest aviation accident in history.

Southern Airways Flight 242 crashes in New Hope, Paulding County, Georgia, killing 72.

The US Supreme Court rules that congressional legislation that diminished the size of the Sioux people's reservation thereby destroyed the tribe's jurisdictional authority over the area in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Kneip.

German Federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.

London Transport's Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched.

Annie opens on Broadway.

Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic.

The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.

A Dan-Air Boeing 707 leased to IAS Cargo Airlines crashes on approach to Lusaka International Airport in Lusaka, Zambia, killing six people.

Nolan Bushnell opens the first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre (later renamed Chuck E. Cheese) in San Jose, California.

Likud party wins the 1977 Israeli legislative election, with Menachem Begin, its founder, as the sixth Prime Minister of Israel.

Star Wars (retroactively titled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) is released in US theaters.

The Chinese government removes a decade-old ban on William Shakespeare's work, effectively ending the Cultural Revolution started in 1966.

A plane crash at José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba, kills 67.

The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, is engulfed by fire, killing 165 people inside.

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed.

JVC introduces its VHS videotape at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. It will eventually prevail against Sony's rival Betamax system in a format war to become the predominant home video medium.

Five hundred million people watch the high day of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begin on television.

James Earl Ray escapes from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. He is recaptured three days later.

Convicted Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before.

After the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the first democratic elections take place in Spain.

Oracle Corporation is incorporated in Redwood Shores, California, as Software Development Laboratories (SDL), by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates.

France grants independence to Djibouti.

Constitution for the Federation of Earth was adopted by the second session of the World Constituent Assembly, held at Innsbruck, Austria.

The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.

The George Jackson Brigade plants a bomb at the main power substation for the Washington state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit.

The Pakistan Armed Forces under Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq seize power in Operation Fair Play and begin 11 years of martial law. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, is overthrown.

The Pinochet dictatorship in Chile organises the youth event of Acto de Chacarillas, a ritualised act reminiscent of Francoist Spain.

Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated in 1968, is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Somalia declares war on Ethiopia, starting the Ogaden War.

Amidst a period of financial and social turmoil, New York City experiences an electrical blackout lasting nearly 24 hours that leads to widespread fires and looting.

The world's first Global Positioning System (GPS) signal is transmitted from Navigation Technology Satellite 2 (NTS-2) and received at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at 12:41 a.m. Eastern time (ET).

The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments.

The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages.

Aeroflot Flight B-2 crashes after takeoff from Vitim Airport in the Sakha Republic, killing 39.

The start of the four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War.

Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power.

End of a four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War.

The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government.

Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world's first mass-produced personal computers.

U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.

In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over the period of one year.

The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.

The Sri Lanka Riots, targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, begin, less than a month after the United National Party came to power. Over 300 Tamils are killed.

Members of the British National Front (NF) clash with anti-NF demonstrators in Lewisham, London, resulting in 214 arrests and at least 111 injuries.

The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.

The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.

Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest, bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies.

Voyager program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

Waylon Jennings arrested in a drug raid.

The Charter of the French Language is adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec.

The Golden Dragon massacre takes place in San Francisco.

Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

The Torrijos–Carter Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The United States agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.

The 300-metre (980 ft) tall CKVR-DT transmission tower in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, is hit by a light aircraft in a fog, causing it to collapse. All aboard the aircraft are killed.

Hamida Djandoubi, convicted of torture and murder, is the last person to be executed by guillotine in France.

Atari, Inc. releases the Video Computer System (VCS), later renamed the Atari 2600 in 1982.

South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko dies in police custody.

Vietnam is admitted to the United Nations.

Malév Flight 203 crashes near Urziceni, Romania, killing 29 people.

About 4,200 people take part in the first running of the Chicago Marathon.

Japan Airlines Flight 715 crashes on approach to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, Malaysia, killing 34 of the 79 people on board.

The first prototype of the Mikoyan MiG-29, designated 9-01, makes its maiden flight.

The Fourth Soviet Constitution is adopted.

Hua Guofeng succeeds Mao Zedong as paramount leader of China.

Hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181 by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181 lands in Mogadishu. The remaining hostages are later rescued.

German Autumn: A set of events revolving around the kidnapping of Hanns Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of a Lufthansa flight by the Red Army Faction (RAF) comes to an end when Schleyer is murdered and various RAF members allegedly commit suicide.

A plane carrying the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in woodland in Mississippi, United States. Six people, including three band members, are killed.

Ali Maow Maalin, the last natural case of smallpox, develops a rash in Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date to be the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.

The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls College near Toccoa, Georgia, fails, killing 39.

Manolis Andronikos, a Greek archaeologist and professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina.

A munitions explosion at a train station in Iri, South Korea kills at least 56 people.

France conducts the Oreste nuclear test as 14th in the group of 29, 1975–78 French nuclear tests series.

During a British House of Commons debate, Labour MP Tam Dalyell poses what would become known as the West Lothian question, referring to issues related to devolution in the United Kingdom.

TAP Air Portugal Flight 425 crashes in the Madeira Islands, killing 131.

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.

Minister of Internal Affairs Allan Highet announces that the national anthems of New Zealand shall be the traditional anthem "God Save the Queen" and "God Defend New Zealand".

Former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., is found guilty by the Philippine Military Commission No. 2 and is sentenced to death by firing squad. He is later assassinated in 1983.

An unidentified hijacker named Vrillon, claiming to be the representative of the "Ashtar Galactic Command", takes over Britain's Southern Television for six minutes, starting at 5:12 pm.

A Tupolev Tu-154 crashes near Benghazi, Libya, killing 59.

Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire.

Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 is hijacked and crashes in Tanjong Kupang, Johor, killing 100.

Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen in retaliation to preventing President Anwar el-Sadat from pursuing negotiations with Israel at the Tripoli confer.

South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.

Air Indiana Flight 216 crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff, and boosters of the team.

United Airlines Flight 2860 crashes near Kaysville, Utah, killing all three crew members on board.

SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730 crashes near Madeira Airport in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, killing 36.

The Ms 5.8 Bob–Tangol earthquake strikes Kerman Province in Iran, destroying villages and killing 665 people.

With the approval of the State Council, China's two largest newspapers, the People's Daily and the Guangming Daily, publish in full for the first time the Second Chinese Character Simplification Scheme.

Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat.

Gavin DeGraw, American singer-songwriter

Gyula Koi, Hungarian scholar and educator

Jamie Salé, Canadian figure skater

Joe Bonamassa, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Averno, Mexican wrestler

Marek Jankulovski, Czech footballer

Svein Tuft, Canadian cyclist

Adrian Morley, English rugby league player

David Connolly, Irish footballer

Kanye West, American rapper, producer, director, and fashion designer

Christian Abbiati, Italian footballer

Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden

Leandro Amaral, Brazilian footballer

Jimmy Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager

Luciano Zavagno, Argentinian footballer

Andy Devine, American actor (born 1905)