| 1979-03-28
Operators of Three Mile Island's Unit 2 nuclear reactor outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania fail to recognize that a relief valve in the primary coolant system has stuck open following an unexpected shutdown. As a result, enough coolant drains out of the system to allow the core to overheat and partially melt down.
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| 1979-01-16
The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
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| 1979-06-04
Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown.
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| 1979-08-13
The roof of the uncompleted Rosemont Horizon near Chicago, Illinois collapses, killing 5 workers and injuring 16.
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| 1979-01-08
The tanker Betelgeuse explodes in Bantry Bay, Ireland.
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| 1979-08-07
Several tornadoes struck the city of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada and the surrounding communities.
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| 1979-07-16
Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
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| 1979-11-10
A 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario, Canada derails in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada just west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, causing a massive explosion and the largest peacetime evacuation in Canadian history and one of the largest in North American history.
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| 1979-12-12
Coup d'état of December Twelfth: South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.
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| 1979-08-24
Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash.
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| 1979-07-01
Sony introduces the Walkman.
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| 1979-03-05
Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by "off the scale" gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.
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| 1979-10-01
The United States returns sovereignty of the Panama canal to Panama.
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| 1979-09-20
A coup d'état in the Central African Empire overthrows Emperor Bokasa I.
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| 1979-09-27
The United States Department of Education receives final approval from the U.S. Congress to become the 13th US Cabinet agency.
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| 1979-02-15
Don Dunstan resigns as Premier of South Australia, ending a decade of sweeping social liberalisation.
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| 1979-10-12
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the first of five books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series by Douglas Adams is published.
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| 1979-02-07
Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered.
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| 1979-11-09
Nuclear false alarm: the NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland detected purported massive Soviet nuclear strike. After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early warning radars, the alert is cancelled.
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| 1979-11-17
Brisbane Suburban Railway Electrification. The first stage from Ferny Grove to Darra is commissioned.
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| 1979-09-22
The Vela Incident (also known as the South Atlantic Flash) is observed near Bouvet Island, thought to be a nuclear weapons test.
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| 1979-11-04
Iran hostage crisis begins: a group of Iranians, mostly students, invades the US embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages (53 of whom are American).
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| 1979-04-10
Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak: A tornado lands in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people.
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| 1979-12-23
Soviet war in Afghanistan: Soviet forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.
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| 1979-03-17
The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.
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| 1979-02-11
Islamic revolution of Iran establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
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| 1979-12-12
President of Pakistan, Zia-ul-Haq, confers Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam.
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| 1979-04-11
Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed.
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| 1979-10-12
The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa (870 mbar or 25.69 inHg), occurred in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Tip.
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| 1979-10-26
Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by KCIA head Kim Jae-kyu. Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May.
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| 1979-09-12
Indonesia is hit with an earthquake that measures 8.1 on the Richter scale.
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| 1979-12-16
Libya joins four other OPEC nations in raising crude oil prices, having an immediate dramatic effect on the United States.
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| 1979-08-20
The East Coast Main Line rail route between England and Scotland is restored when the Penmanshiel Diversion opens.
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| 1979-06-01
The first black-led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years takes power.
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| 1979-02-14
In Kabul, Muslims kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
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| 1979-03-08
Philips demonstrates the Compact Disc publicly for the first time.
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| 1979-07-11
America's first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
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| 1979-06-12
Bryan Allen wins the second Kremer prize for a man powered flight across the English Channel in the Gossamer Albatross.
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| 1979-02-22
Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.
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| 1979-05-10
The Federated States of Micronesia become self-governing.
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| 1979-09-30
The Hong Kong MTR commences service with the opening of its Modified Initial System (aka. Kwun Tong Line).
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| 1979-01-07
Third Indochina War – Cambodian-Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
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| 1979-07-12
The island nation of Kiribati becomes independent from Great Britain.
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| 1979-05-25
Six-year-old Etan Patz disappears from the street just two blocks away from his New York home, prompting an International search for the child, and causing President Ronald Reagan to designate May 25th as National Missing Children's Day (in 1983).
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| 1979-03-28
The British House of Commons passes a vote of no confidence against James Callaghan's government, precipitating a general election.
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| 1979-06-20
ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The murder is caught on tape and sparked international outcry of the regime.
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| 1979-11-20
Grand Mosque Seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and take about 6000 hostages. The Saudi government receives help from French special forces to put down the uprising.
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| 1979-01-29
Brenda Spencer kills two people and wounds eight at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School shootings.
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| 1979-12-21
Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for Rhodesia is signed in London by Lord Carrington, Sir Ian Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and S.C. Mundawarara.
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| 1979-06-03
A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels of oil to be spilled into the waters, the worst oil spill ever recorded
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| 1979-12-09
The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first and to date only human disease driven to extinction.
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| 1979-09-24
Compu-Serve launches the first consumer internet service, which features the first public electronic mail service.
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| 1979-01-01
Formal diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America.
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| 1979-03-26
Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C..
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| 1979-11-03
Greensboro massacre: Five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot dead and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis during a "Death to the Klan" rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States.
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| 1979-11-12
Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.
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| 1979-05-04
Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
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| 1979-04-22
The Albert Einstein Memorial is unveiled at The National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC.
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| 1979-07-17
Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida.
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| 1979-02-08
Denis Sassou-Nguesso becomes the President of the Republic of the Congo for the first time.
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| 1979-11-15
A package from the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski begins smoking in the cargo hold of a flight from Chicago to Washington, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing.
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| 1979-09-07
The Chrysler Corporation asks the United States government for USD $1.5 billion to avoid bankruptcy.
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| 1979-11-21
The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan is attacked by a mob and set on fire, killing four. (see: Foreign relations of Pakistan)
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| 1979-02-17
The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.
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| 1979-12-13
The Canadian Government of Prime Minister Joe Clark is defeated in the House of Commons, prompting the 1980 Canadian election.
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| 1979-12-12
A major earthquake and tsunami kill 259 people in Colombia.
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| 1979-12-24
The first European Ariane rocket is launched.
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| 1979-04-15
A disastrous earthquake (of M 7.1) occurs on Montenegro coast.
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| 1979-11-14
Iran hostage crisis: US President Jimmy Carter issues Executive order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the United States in response to the hostage crisis.
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| 1979-10-15
Black Monday in Malta. The Building of the Times of Malta, the residence of the opposition leader Eddie Fenech Adami and several Nationalist Party clubs are ransacked and destroyed by supporters of the Malta Labour Party.
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| 1979-03-19
The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
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| 1979-07-09
A car bomb destroys a Renault motor car owned by famed "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.
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| 1979-08-05
In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake an attempted military uprising.
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| 1979-03-05
America's Voyager 1 spacecraft has its closest approach to Jupiter, 172,000 miles.
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| 1979-06-23
Titus succeeds his father Vespasian as the tenth Roman Emperor.
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| 1979-06-02
Pope John Paul II first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
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| 1979-03-14
In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200.
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| 1979-08-23
Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.
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| 1979-06-18
SALT II is signed by the United States and the Soviet Union.
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| 1979-04-04
The 2nd Congress of the Communist Youth of Greece starts.
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| 1979-07-03
[[U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
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| 1979-02-01
The Ayatollah Khomeini is welcomed back to Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile.
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| 1979-07-19
The Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua.
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| 1979-12-26
Opening night of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea at the Hammersmith Odeon; a benefit concert for the citizens of Cambodia who were victims of dictator Pol Pot.
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| 1979-10-21
Moshe Dayan resigns from the Israeli government because of strong disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policy towards the Arabs.
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| 1979-11-19
Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.
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| 1979-09-20
Lee Iacocca is elected president of the Chrysler Corporation.
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| 1979-06-09
The Ghost Train Fire at Luna Park Sydney (New South Wales, Australia) kills seven.
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| 1979-02-13
An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
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| 1979-10-17
Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
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| 1979-07-12
Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park Chicago, IL
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| 1979-05-21
White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
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| 1979-09-01
The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.
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| 1979-03-30
Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
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| 1979-03-13
The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts Prime Minister Eric Gairy in a nearly bloodless coup d'etat in Grenada.
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| 1979-08-27
An IRA bomb kills British World War II admiral Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and 3 others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Another bomb near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland kills 18 British soldiers.
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| 1979-08-28
An IRA bomb explodes on the Grand Place in Brussels.
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| 1979-12-27
Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
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| 1979-02-01
Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence is commuted by President Jimmy Carter.
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| 1979-10-17
The Department of Education Organization Act is signed into law creating the US Department of Education and US Department of Health and Human Services.
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| 1979-02-18
Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history.
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| 1979-12-05
Sonia Johnson is formally excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for her outspoken criticism of the church concerning the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
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| 1979-08-23
Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States.
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| 1979-12-12
Rhodesia changes its name to Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.
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| 1979-10-20
The John F. Kennedy library is opened in Boston, Massachusetts.
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| 1979-04-01
Iran becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
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| 1979-08-17
Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156
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| 1979-10-14
The first Gay Rights March on Washington, D.C., the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, demands "an end to all social, economic, judicial, and legal oppression of lesbian and gay people," draws 200,000 people.
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| 1979-07-15
U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his so-called "malaise" speech, where he characterizes the greatest threat to the country as "this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation" but in which he never uses the word malaise
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| 1979-12-03
In Cincinnati, Ohio, eleven fans are suffocated in a crush for seats on the concourse outside Riverfront Coliseum before a Who concert .
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| 1979-11-28
Air New Zealand Flight 901, a DC-10 operated sightseeing flight over Antarctica, crashes into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 people on board.
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| 1979-04-04
President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
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| 1979-03-31
The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
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| 1979-01-30
Varig 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.
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| 1979-10-06
Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit the White House.
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| 1979-09-13
South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa).
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| 1979-12-03
Shadow Traffic begins broadcasting in the New York City metropolitan area.
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| 1979-12-04
The Hastie fire in Hull, kills three schoolboys and eventually leads police to arrest Bruce George Peter Lee.
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| 1979-03-25
The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.
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| 1979-09-29
Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to set foot on Irish soil with his pastoral visit to the Republic of Ireland.
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| 1979-05-28
Constantine Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.
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| 1979-09-07
The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, better known as ESPN, makes its debut.
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| 1979-05-25
American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing 271 on board and two people on the ground.
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| 1979-11-23
In Dublin, Ireland, Provisional Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.
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| 1979-11-16
The first line of Bucharest Metro (Line M1) is opened from Timpuri Noi to Semanatoarea in Bucharest, Romania.
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| 1979-07-25
Another section of the Sinai Peninsula is peacefully returned by Israel to Egypt.
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