1977 CE

Star Wars is released; the Atari Video Computer System is released; Elvis Presley dies at Graceland; the Ogaden War erupts as Somalia invades Ethiopia’s Ogaden region; the Torrijos–Carter Treaties set the framework for Panama Canal transfer; the Tenerife airport disaster kills 583 when two Boeing 747s collide; the Apple II is released; the 1977 Vrancea earthquake in Romania kills thousands and causes widespread destruction; and the Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 in Pennsylvania.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 20 - Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the 39th President of the United States after defeating Gerald Ford in the 1976 election.source
February 2 – The Congress Party of India, led by Indira Gandhi, splits with Jagjivan Ram and other senior leaders, forming Congress for Democracy. This party later merges with the Janata Party.source
March 8 – The Australian parliament is opened by Elizabeth II in her capacity as Queen of Australia.source
March 19 – Results of elections to the Indian Parliament are declared. Indira Gandhi's Congress Party is routed by the opposition Janata alliance.source
March 21 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi withdraws the state of emergency which was implemented on June 25, 1975.source
April 9 – Spain legalizes the Communist Party of Spain, which had been outlawed since 1939.source
May 12 – Portugal and Israel establish diplomatic relations.source
May 17 – The Likud Party, led by Menachem Begin, wins the national elections in Israel.source
June 15 – Spain has its first democratic elections, after 41 years of Francoist Spain.source
June 21 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (40th government since the founding of the Turkish republic, but fails to receive the vote of confidence).source
June 27 – Djibouti receives its independence from France.source
June 27 – Constitution for the Federation of Earth is adopted by the second session of the World Constituent Assembly, held at Innsbruck, Austria.source
June 30 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization is permanently disbanded.source
July 5 – General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrows Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.source
August 4 – U.S. president Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.source
August 9 – The military-controlled government of Uruguay announces that it will return the nation to civilian rule through general elections in 1981 for a president and Congress.source
August 26 – The National Assembly of Quebec passes the Charter of the French Language (Law 101, La charte de la langue française) making French the official language of the Canadian province of Quebec.source
September 7 – Torrijos-Carter treaties: Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The U.S. agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.source
October 7 – The Soviet Union adopts its third Constitution. The Soviet National Anthem's lyrics are returned after a 24-year period, with Joseph Stalin's name omitted.source
October 23 – The president of Catalonia, Josep Tarradellas, returns to Barcelona from exile and the autonomous government of Catalonia, the Generalitat, is restored.source
November 19 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to make an official visit to Israel, when he meets with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, seeking a permanent peace settlement.source
December 6 – South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.source
December 10 – 1977 Australian federal election: Malcolm Fraser's Liberal/National Country Coalition government is re-elected with a slightly reduced majority, defeating the Labor Party led by former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Consequently, Whitlam resigns as ALP leader after holding the job for nearly 11 years; he is replaced by former treasurer Bill Hayden.source
December 20 – Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.source

Conflict & Security

January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.source
January 24 – The Massacre of Atocha occurs, during the Spanish transition to democracy.source
March 9 – Hanafi Siege: Approximately a dozen armed Hanafi Movement members take over 3 buildings in Washington, D.C., killing 1 person and taking 149 hostages (the hostage situation ends 2 days later).source
April 28 – A federal court in Stuttgart, West Germany, sentences Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe to life imprisonment.source
April 30 – The Cold War between Cambodia and Vietnam evolves into the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.source
May 1 – The Taksim Square massacre in Istanbul results in 34 deaths and hundreds of injuries.source
May 23 – Moluccan terrorists take over a school in Bovensmilde, northern Netherlands (105 hostages), and a passenger train on the Bovensmilde–Assen route nearby (90 hostages) at the same time. The children are released on May 26. On June 11, Dutch Royal Marines storm the train, and six terrorists and two hostages are killed.source
June 5 – A bloodless coup installs France-Albert René as President of the Seychelles.source
July 9 – The Pinochet dictatorship in Chile organises the youth event of Acto de Chacarillas, a ritualised act reminiscent of Francoist Spain.source
July 13 – Somalia declares war on Ethiopia, starting the Ethio-Somali War.source
July 21–24 – The Libyan–Egyptian War, sparked by a Libyan raid on Sallum, begins.source
July 22 – The purged Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power nine months after the "Gang of Four" was expelled from power in a coup d'état.source
July 30 – Left-wing German terrorists Susanne Albrecht, Brigitte Mohnhaupt and Christian Klar assassinate Jürgen Ponto, chairman of the Dresdner Bank in Oberursel, West Germany.source
September 4 – The Golden Dragon massacre, involving rival Chinatown gangs, takes place in San Francisco, United States. Five are killed.source
September 19 – Under pressure from the Carter Administration, President of Nicaragua Anastasio Somoza Debayle lifts the state of siege in Nicaragua.source
September 20 – The Petrozavodsk phenomenon is observed in the Soviet Union and some northern European countries.source
October 28 – Hong Kong police attack the ICAC headquarters.source
November 9 – Gen. Hugo Banzer, president of the military government of Bolivia, announces that the constitutional democracy will be restored in 1978 instead of 1980 as previously provided.source

Exploration & Expansion

September 18 – Courageous (U.S.), skippered by Ted Turner, sweeps the Australian challenger Australia in the 24th America's Cup yacht race at Newport, Rhode Island.source
December – The Colombo Plan for Co-operative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific (CESDAP) is implemented.source

Religion & Belief

February 23 – Óscar Romero, an outspoken opponent of violence, becomes Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador.source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 11 – The first episode of Finnish children's TV show Pikku Kakkonen ("Little Number Two") is aired on Yle TV2.source
January 18 – Australia's worst railway disaster at Granville, a suburb of Sydney, leaves 83 people dead.source
April 11 – London Transport's Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched.source
May 29 – Indianapolis 500: A. J. Foyt becomes the first driver to win the race four times.source
September 15 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic, as an Italian company in Turin, Centro Studi e Laboratori Telecomunicazioni (CSELT) begins operation of two telephone exchanges.source
October 21 – The European Patent Institute is founded.source
November 6 – The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia, United States, fails, killing 39 people.source
November 22 – British Airways inaugurates regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.source
November 22 – The TCP/IP test succeeds, connecting 3 ARPANET nodes (of 111), in what eventually becomes the Internet protocol. See Packet Radio Vansource

Science & Discovery

February 7 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24 (Viktor Gorbatko, Yury Glazkov) to dock with the Salyut 5 space station.source
March 10 – The rings of Uranus are discovered.source
April 18 – An annular solar eclipse was visible in Africa, and was the 29th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 138.source
May 23 – Scientists report using bacteria in a lab to make insulin via gene splicing.source
May 25 - Star Wars is released in the United States by director George Lucas, It immediately became a major pop culture phenomenon, and became a major box office hit for the next 6 years.source
August 12 – The NASA Space Shuttle, named Enterprise, makes its first test free-flight from the back of a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.source
August 15 – 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 for a notation made by a volunteer on the project.source
August 17 – The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.source
August 20 – Voyager program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.source
September 5 – Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.source
October 1 – Energy Research and Development Administration combines with the Federal Energy Administration to form United States Department of Energy.source
October 7 – Pelé plays his final professional football game, as a member of the New York Cosmos.source
October 26 – Space Shuttle program: Last test taxi flight of Space Shuttle Enterprise, over California.source
November 1 – 2060 Chiron, first of the outer Solar System asteroids known as Centaurs, is discovered by Charlie Kowal.source

Health & Medicine

January 18 – Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.source
August 15 – Nazi war criminal Herbert Kappler escapes from the Caelian Hill military hospital in Rome.source
October 26 – The last natural smallpox case is discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, a great success of vaccination and, by extension, of modern science.source
November 2 – The worst storm in Athens' modern history causes havoc across the Greek capital and kills 38 people.source

Crime & Justice

April 7 – German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light near his home in Karlsruhe. The "Ulrike Meinhof Commando" later claims responsibility.source
May 16 – A 20-passenger S-61L topples sideways at takeoff from the roof of the Pan Am Building in Midtown Manhattan. Four passengers are killed by the turning rotors and a woman at street level is killed by a falling blade.source
May 27 – A demonstration and coup attempt in Angola takes place. Thousands are killed by the government and Cuban forces.source
July 27 – The Soviet Politburo orders Boris Yeltsin to demolish the Ipatiev House, where Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family were shot in 1918. Yeltsin later refers to this as a barbarian act.source
September 5 – German Autumn: Employers Association President Hanns Martin Schleyer is kidnapped in Cologne, West Germany. The kidnappers kill three escorting police officers and his chauffeur. They demand the release of Red Army Faction prisoners.source
September 8 – Interpol issues a resolution against the copyright infringement of video tapes and other material, which is still cited in warnings on opening pre-credits of videocassettes and DVDs.source
September 10 – Murderer Hamida Djandoubi is the last person executed by guillotine in France (at Marseille) and the last legal beheading in the Western world.source
September 19 – North Korean agents abduct Yutaka Kume from Noto Peninsula starting the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens.source
October 17–18 – German Autumn: GSG 9 troopers storm the hijacked Lufthansa passenger plane in Mogadishu, Somalia; three of the four hijackers die.source
October 18 – German Autumn: Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ensslin commit suicide in Stammheim prison; Irmgard Möller fails (their supporters still claim they were murdered). They are buried on October 27.source
October 19 – German Autumn: Kidnapped industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer is found murdered in Mulhouse, France.source

Disasters & Accidents

January 17 – 49 Navy and Marine enlisted members on a landing craft from the and are killed by a collision in Barcelona harbour, Spain.source
January 18 – SFR Yugoslavia Prime minister Džemal Bijedić, his wife and 6 others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.source
January 19 – An Ejército del Aire CASA C-207C Azor (registration T.7-15) plane crashes into the side of a mountain near Chiva, on approach to Valencia Airport in Spain, killing all 11 people on board.source
February 4 – Eleven CTA commuters are killed when an elevated train derails from the Loop in central Chicago, United States.source
March 27 – Tenerife disaster: A collision between KLM and Pan Am Boeing 747s at Tenerife, Canary Islands, kills 583 people. This becomes the deadliest accident in aviation history.source
April 4 – Southern Airways Flight 242 crashes on a highway in New Hope, Georgia, United States, killing 72 people.source
May 14 – An IAS Cargo Boeing 707 airplane crash in Lusaka, Zambia, kills all six on board.source
May 27 – The 1977 Aeroflot Ilyushin 62 airplane crash in Cuba kills 69 people.source
May 28 – The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, United States, is engulfed in fire; 165 are killed inside.source
July 13 – New York City is affected by a complete electricity blackout lasting through the following day that results in citywide looting and other criminal activity, including arson.source
October 13 – German Autumn: Four Palestinians hijack Lufthansa Flight 181 to Somalia and demand the release of 11 Red Army Faction members.source
November 19 – TAP Portugal Flight 425 crashes at Madeira Airport, Funchal, Portugal, killing 131 and leaving 33 survivors.source
December 4 – Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 is hijacked and crashes in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, Malaysia, killing all 100 passengers and crew on board.source
December 13 – a chartered Douglas DC-3 aircraft carrying the University of Evansville basketball team to Nashville, Tennessee, crashes in rain and dense fog about 90 seconds after takeoff from Evansville Regional Airport; 29 people die in the crash, including 14 members of the team and head coach Bob Watson.source
December 18 – SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730, an international charter service from Zurich to Funchal Airport (Madeira), hits the sea during a landing attempt. Many of the 36 who die drown, trapped inside the sinking aircraft. Twenty-one people survive with the help of rescuers and by swimming to the shore.source
December 22 – A grain elevator explodes in Westwego, Louisiana, United States, killing 36 people.source

Climate & Environment

January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).source
February 3 – In northern Japan a blizzard piles snow on rooftops, causing many to collapse killing at least 31 people.source
March 4 – The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in the Vrancea Mountains of Romania kills over 1,500 people.source
April 24 – In northern Bangladesh, a cyclone kills 13 people and injures about 100 others.source
July 1 – The East African Community is dissolved.source
July 10 – A temperature of 48.0 C F, a record for continental Europe, is recorded in Greece.source
December 19 – The 5.9 Bob–Tangol earthquake rocks Iran, killing at least 584 people and injuring 1,000.source

Culture & Society

March 12 – The Centenary Test between Australia and England begins at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.source
April 2 – Horse racing: Red Rum wins a record third Grand National at Aintree Racecourse in the UK.source
June 25 – The 1977 Rugby League World Cup culminates in Australia's 13–12 victory over Great Britain at the Sydney Cricket Ground before about 24,450 spectators.source
July 1 – The Championships, Wimbledon (tennis) – Virginia Wade wins the women's singles title in the centenary year of the tournament, Wade's first and only Wimbledon title and her third and final Grand Slam title overall; she remains the last British woman to win the singles title at Wimbledon.source
September 28 – The Porsche 928 debuts at the Geneva Motor Show.source
October 20 – Three members of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd die in a charter plane crash outside Gillsburg, Mississippi, three days after the release of their fifth studio album Street Survivors.source
October 27 – British punk band Sex Pistols release Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols on the Virgin Records label. Despite refusal by major retailers in the UK to stock it, it enters the UK Album Charts at number one the week after its release.source
November 8 – San Francisco elects City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the U.S.source
November 8 – Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina.source
November 30 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is founded as a specialized agency of the United Nations.source

Births

January 15 – Giorgia Meloni, Italian politiciansource
February 2 – Shakira, Colombian singer-songwriter and musiciansource
February 24 – Floyd Mayweather Jr., American boxing championsource
March 10 – Robin Thicke, American-Canadian R&B singer-songwriter and actorsource
April 23 – John Cena, American professional wrestler, actor and rappersource
June 8 – Kanye West, American rapper and record producersource
June 25 – Layla El, English dancer, model, and retired professional wrestlersource
July 12 – Brock Lesnar, American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artistsource
August 3 – Tom Brady, American football player and entrepreneursource
October 4 – Bowie Jane, Australian DJ, singer, producer, lawyer and contestant on Big Brother Season 25source
October 10 – Brandon Vera, Filipino-American retired mixed martial artist and former ONE Heavyweight World Championsource
December 1 – Brad Delson, American musician (Linkin Park)source
December 31 – Donald Trump Jr., American businessman and son of former U.S. president Donald Trumpsource
December 31 – Psy, South Korean singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer and record producersource