1977

For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album).

Years: 1974 1975 1976 - 1977(MCMLXXVII) - 1978 1979 1980
Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century Template:C20YearInTopic

1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar).

Events

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January-February

January 1 - First woman Episcopal priest ordained.
January 6 - Record company EMI sacks the controversial UK punk rock group the Sex Pistols
January 18 - Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious "legionnaire's disease"
January 18 - Australia experiences its worst railway disaster at Granville, near Sydney, in which 83 people died.
January 19 - President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (aka "Tokyo Rose").
January 19 - Snow falls in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that this occured, and the farthest south a snowfall has been recorded in the United States.
January 20 - Gerald Rudolph Ford, 38th President of the United States is succeeded by Jimmy Carter.
January 21 - President Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders.
February 7 - The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24.
February 11 - A 20.2-kg (44-lb.-9-oz.) lobster is caught off Nova Scotia (heaviest known crustacean).
February 18 - The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle goes on its maiden "flight" while sitting on top of a Boeing 747.

March-April

March 1 - Sara Lowndes Dylan files for divorce from her husband of 11 years, Bob Dylan
March 4 - 1977 Bucharest Earthquake - kills more than 1,500
March 9 - Approximately a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims take over three buildings in Washington, DC, killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. The hostage situation ends two days later.
March 27 - A collision between KLM and PanAm Boeing 747s at Tenerife, Canary Islands, kills 583
April 1 - Hay-on-Wye declares independence
April 7 - German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light near his home in Karlsruhe. "The Ulrike Meinhof Commando" later claims responsibility
April 7 - Toronto Blue Jays play their first-ever game of baseball against the Chicago White Sox
April 9-Gerard Way, lead singer of My Chemical Romance, is born.
April 28 - Stuttgart court sentences RAF members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe to life imprisonment

May-June

May 23 - Scientists report using bacteria in lab to make insulin
May 23 - Moluccan terrorists take over a school in Bovensmilde, northern Netherlands (105 hostages) and a passenger train in Bovensmilde-Assen route nearby (90 hostages) at the same time. June 11 Dutch Royal Marines storm the train - six terrorists and two hostages are killed
May 25 - Star Wars opens in theaters.
May 26 - George Willig climbed the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
May 28 - In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 inside.
June 5 - A coup takes place in Seychelles.
June 6-9 - Jubilee celebrations are held in the United Kingdom to celebrate twenty-five years of Elizabeth II's reign.
June 10 - James Earl Ray escapes from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros, Tennessee (he was recaptured on June 13).
June 15 - Spain has its first democratic elections after 41 years under the Franco regime.
June 20 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules that states are not required to spend Medicaid funds on elective abortions.

July-August

July 13 - The New York City Blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours and results in looting and other disorder.
July 22 - The purged Chinese communist leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power as the "Gang of Four" is expelled from the Communist Party of China.
July 28 - First oil through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System reaches Valdez, Alaska
July 30 - Left-wing German terrorists Susanne Albrecht [1] (http://www.baader-meinhof.com/who/terrorists/raf/albrechtsusanne.html), Brigitte Mohnhaupt [2] (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigitte_Mohnhaupt) and a third person assassinate Jürgen Ponto [3] (http://www.dresdner-bank.com/content/03_unternehmen/05_gesellschaftliches_engagement/02_ponto_stiftung/), chairman of the Dresdner Bank in Oberursel, West Germany
August 3 United States Senate Hearing on MKULTRA.
August 4 - US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy
August 12 - NASA space shuttle makes its first test flight off the back of a jetliner
August 15 - The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by The Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "WOW!" signal for notation made by a volunteer on the project.
August 16 - Rock singer Elvis Presley dies in Tennessee.
August 19 - Groucho Marx dies.
August 19 - Indonesia Earthquake and Tsunami of 1977
August 20 - Voyager program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft

September

September 5 - Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay
September 5 - Hanns-Martin Schleyer, President of the Employers Association, is kidnapped in Cologne, West Germany. Kidnappers kill three escorting police officers and his chauffeur. They demand release of Red Army Faction prisoners
September 6 (approx) - Steve Biko suffers a massive head injury in police custody in South Africa.
September 7 - Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The US agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century
September 8 - INTERPOL releases copyright laws that govern the reproduction of video tapes & other material.
September 11 - The last "wild" infection of smallpox is reported in Somalia.
September 12 - Steve Biko dies of his injuries.
September 21 - Nuclear-proliferation pact, curbing spread of nuclear weapons, is signed by 15 countries including the United States and USSR.
September 28 - Porsche 928 debuts at the Geneva Auto Convention

October-December

October 13 - Four Palestinians hijack a Lufthansa Airlines flight to Somalia and demand release of 11 members of the Red Army Faction
October 18 - Three Palestinian hijackers are killed when a German anti-terrorist squad storms a Lufthansa aircraft at Mogadishu Airport
October 18 - Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ensslin commit suicide in Stammheim prison. Irmgard Möller fails. Their supporters continue to claim they were murdered. Bodies are buried October 27
October 19 - Kidnapped industrialist Hanns-Martin Schleyer is found killed in West Berlin
October 20 - Three members of rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd die in charter plane crash
November 6 - The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia, fails, killing 39
November 19 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel when he meets with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement (much of the Arab world is outraged by the visit).
November 22 - British Airways inaugurates regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service
December 1 - First flight of Lockheed's top-secret stealth project aircraft designated Have Blue, the precursor to the US F-117A Nighthawk.
December 4 - Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor.
December 4 - A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737 is hijacked and then blown up in mid-air over the Straits of Johor, killing 100.