In history, year 1979 has its own importance and known for many memorable events like famous birthdays, inventions, natural disaster, treaties, change of rulers, special days etc. Find below a list of important historical events which happened during the year 1979.
| Date/Month | Event / Incidence / Incident |
|---|
| 07 january | The Vietnam People's Army captured the Cambodian capital city Phnom Penh, deposing Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, which marked the end of large-scale fighting in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. |
| 08 january | The oil tanker Betelgeuse exploded at the offshore jetty of the Whiddy Island Oil Terminal off Bantry Bay, Ireland, killing approximately 50 people. |
| 01 february | Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile and soon led the Iranian Revolution to overthrow the US-backed Pahlavi dynasty. |
| 08 february | Denis Sassou Nguesso was chosen as the new President of the Republic of the Congo after Joachim Yhombi-Opango was forced from power. |
| 11 february | The Pahlavi dynasty of Iran effectively collapsed when the military declared itself 'neutral' after rebel troops overwhelmed forces loyal to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in armed street fighting. |
| 15 february | Don Dunstan resigned as Premier of South Australia, ending adecade of sweeping social liberalisation. |
| 01 march | Philips publicly demonstrated a prototype of an optical digital audio disc at a press conference in Eindhoven, Netherlands. |
| 26 march | By signing the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty, Egypt became the first Arab country to officially recognize Israel. |
| 28 march | A partial core meltdown of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, resulted in there lease of an estimated 43,000 curies (1.59 PBq) of radioactive kryptonto the environment. |
| 28 march | British Prime Minister James Callaghan was defeated by one votein a motion of no confidence by the House of Commons after hisgovernment struggled to cope with widespread strikes by trade unionsduring the 'Winter of Discontent'. |
| 04 april | Deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was executed. |
| 06 april | The first of the 1979 Nepalese student protests broke out,which forced the monarchy to concede to holding a referendum on the possibility of a multiparty system in the country. |
| 11 april | Uganda–Tanzania War-The Uganda National Liberation Army and Tanzanian forces captured Kampala, forcing Ugandan President Idi Amin tofler. |
| 23 april | Activist Blair Peach suffered fatal head injuries after being knocked unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration in Southall, London, against a British National Front election meeting in the town hall. |
| 01 may | English Singer Elton John becomes 1st Pop star to perform in Israel. He has received six Grammy award, five Brit awards for outstanding contribution to music. Now Israeli music is deeply influenced by mainstream pop and rock music from the United Kingdom. |
| 04 may | Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, following the defeat of James Callaghan's incumbent Labour government in the previous day's general election. |
| 09 may | Prominent Iranian Jew Habib Elghanian was executed after havingbeen convicted by a revolutionary tribunal of various charges,triggering a mass exodus of Jews from Iran. |
| 10 may | The Federated States of Micronesia had formed its own constitutional government on May 10, 1979. Prior 1979 it was a part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands under US administration and became an independent state on November 3, 1986. |
| 21 may | Riots erupted in San Francisco after formerSupervisor Dan White was only sentenced for voluntary manslaughter forthe assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and openly gay SupervisorHarvey Milk. |
| 25 may | Six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared on his way to school, andlater became the first missing child to have his picture featured onmilk cartons. |
| 18 june | SALT II was signed by the United States and the Soviet Union. SALT II was a series of talks between United States and Soviet negotiators from 1972 to 1979 which sought to curtail the manufacture of strategic nuclear weapons. SALT II was the first nuclear arms treaty which assumed real reductions in strategic forces to 2,250 of all categories of delivery vehicles on both sides. |
| 03 july | Construction of the second Howrah Bridge known as the Vidyasagar Setu started. Vidyasagar Bridge is a toll bridge on the Hooghly River in West Bengal state of India. It links the cities of Kolkata .With a total length of eight hundred twenty three metres, Vidyasagar Setu is the longest cable stayed bridge in India and one of the longest in Asia. |
| 11 july | First American space station was destroyed. The Skylab space station destroyed when it was entering in the earth’s atmosphere. The event occurred in skies above Indian Ocean. It was a space observatory. The space station was operated by US’s NASA. |
| 12 july | Kiribati became independent from United Kingdom. It is an island country. It is situated in central Pacific Ocean. It is comprised of 33 different types of islands and reefs. South Tarawa is the capital of country. |
| 12 july | Rowdy fans at Comiskey Park in Chicago stormed the field duringa promotional event in which a crate of disco records was blown up. |
| 14 august | A freak storm with force seven winds has decimated the Fastnet race with over 150 yachts still missing and at least 3 reported dead. The Fastnet is the last in a series of five races which make up the Admiral's Cup competition, the world championship of yacht racing. |
| 27 august | In two separate attacks, IRA bombs killed 18 British soldiersnear Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland, and British admiral LouisMountbatten and three others in County Sligo, Ireland. |
| 14 september | Afghan President Nur Muhammad Taraki was assassinated upon theorder of Hafizullah Amin, who became the new president. |
| 30 september | Construction of the Kwun Tong Line, the first line of Hong Kong's MTR rapid transit system, was completed. |
| 17 october | Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work and support provided to f the poor and needy in Calcutta. |
| Date/Month | Name / Profession / Country |
|---|
| 01 March | Bruno Langlois / Cyclist / Canada |
| 01 June | Markus Persson / Game Designer / Sweden |
| 04 December | Ysabella Brave / Writer / United States of America |
| 05 March | Lee Mears / Rugby Player / United Kingdom |
| 07 December | Sara Bareilles / Writer / United States of America |
| 08 June | Alexei Kozlov / Figure Skater / Estonia |
| 08 December | Ingrid Michaelson / Writer / United States of America |
| 09 February | Akinori Iwamura / Baseball Player / Japan |
| 11 March | Benji Madden / Writer / United States of America |
| 11 April | Malcolm Christie / Footballer / United Kingdom |
| 16 August | Ian Moran / Cricketer / Australia |
| 16 July | Nathan Rogers / Singer / Canada |
| 18 May | Julián Speroni / Footballer / Argentina |
| 19 June | José Kléberson / Footballer / Brazil |
| 23 May | Brian Campbell / Ice Hockey Player / Canada |
| 24 March | Norris Hopper / Baseball Player / United States of America |
| 25 August | Marlon Harewood / Footballer / United Kingdom |
| 28 October | Olcay Çetinkaya / Footballer / Turkey |
| 28 August | Shaila Dúrcal / Singer / Spain |
| 28 July | Henrik Hansen / Footballer / Denmark |
| Year | Name / Profession / Country |
|---|
| 02 May | Nigaar Khan / Actress / India |
| 01 February | Mahek Chahal / Actress / India |
| 31 August | Yuvan Shankar Raja / Writer / India |
| 03 January | Gul Panag / Actress / India |
| 01 October | Shraddha Nigam / Actress / India |
| 20 October | Nargis Fakhri / Actress / India |
| 01 January | Vidya Balan / Actress / India |
| 14 June | Tarun Arora / Actor / India |
| 08 April | Amit Trivedi / Writer / India |
| 11 September | Tulip Joshi / Actress / India |
| 23 February | Purab Kohli / Actor / India |
| 21 August | Pema Khandu / Politician / India |
| 04 June | Avnish Singh Chauhan / Writer / India |
| 18 February | Tinu Yohannan / Cricketer / India |
| 14 November | Pushkar Lele / Singer / India |
| 03 January | Gul Panag / Actress / India |
| 07 November | Raima Sen / Actress / India |