1977

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s

Years: 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 - 1977 - 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982

Events:

• January 1 - First woman Episcopal priest ordained
• 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 21 - President Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders.
• February 4 - Fleetwood Mac releases Rumours, which is a blockbuster album of which was recorded on March 3, 1976
• February 7 - The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24[?].
• February 11 - A 20.2-kg 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 4 - An earthquake in southern and eastern Europe kills more than 1,500.
• March 9 - Appoximetely 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 - Collision between KLM and PanAm Boeing 747's at Tenerife kills 583.
• May 23 - Scientists report using bacteria in lab to make insulin.
• May 28 - In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club[?] is engulfed in fire, killing 165 inside.
• June 20 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules that states are not required to spend Medicaid funds on elective abortions.
• July 13 - An electricity blackout hits the City of New York, lasting for 25 hours and resulting 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.
• September 7 - The Panama Canal treaties are signed.
• September 6 (approx) - Steve Biko suffers a massive head injury in police custody in South Africa
• 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
• November 3 - Born Marco Garcia[?], famous marketing manager.

• Jimmy Carter succeeds Gerald R. Ford as President of the United States of America
• A collection of work by JRR Tolkien, The Silmarillion, is published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien.
• Swedish music group ABBA passes The Beatles as having most records sold.
• 2060 Chiron, first of the outer solar system asteroids known as Centaurs, discovered by Charlie Kowal[?].
• Don Novello first appeared on Saturday Night Live until 1987.

Art, Culture & Fashion

• 1977 in film
  • Annie Hall
  • The science fiction saga, Star Wars, later renamed to Star Wars: Episode IV - [A New Hope], makes its first outing to the cinema and makes George Lucas and the team at LucasArts a staggering $461 million.
  • John Travolta discoed in Saturday Night Fever
  • In the Academy Awards, Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight[?] win Best Actor and Actress and Supporting Actress awards for Network.
  • Rocky picks up an Academy Award for Best Picture and All The President's Men[?] wins Jason Robards[?] the Supporting Actor and an Art Direction for George Jenkins[?] and George Gaines[?].
• 1977 in literature
• 1977 in music
  • February 4 - Fleetwood Mac releases Rumours, which is a blockbuster album of which was recorded on March 3, 1976
  • DJ_Kool_Herc classifies and introduces a new movement in America, calling it Hip hop
• 1977 in sports
  • May 29 - Janet Guthrie[?] becomes the first woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.
• 1977 in television
  • May 10 - South Africa has television service for the first time.

Births:

• January 13 - Orlando Bloom, actor
• January 28 - Joey Fatone[?], musician
• February 2 - Shakira, singer
• February 9 - Shakira, Colombian pop singer
• February 11 - Jessica Carlson[?], United States archer
• February 11 - Stephanie Richardson[?], Canadian swimmer
• May 23 - Ilia Kulik[?], figure skating champion
• July 1 - Liv Tyler[?], actress

Deaths:

• January 14 - Peter Finch, actor
• January 14 - Anaïs Nin, author
• January 14 - Anthony Eden, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• January 17 - Gary Gilmore[?], murderer (executed by firing squad)
• January 28 - Freddie Prinze, actor
• January 29 - Freddie Prinze, actor/comedian
• February 11 - Louis J M Beel[?], Dutch premier (1946-1948, 1958-1959).
• February 28 - Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, actor
• March 18 - Marien Ngouabi, President of The Congo[?]
• May 5 - Ludwig Erhard, German chancellor (1963-1966.
• May 10 - Joan Crawford, actress
• July 2 - Vladimir Nabokov, writer
• August 16 - Elvis Presley, singer, actor
• August 19 - Groucho Marx, comedian
• September 12 - South African activist Stephen Biko dies in police custody.
• October 14 - Bing Crosby, American singer and actor
• December 25 - Charlie Chaplin, star of silent film

Nobel Prizes:

• Physics - Philip Warren Anderson[?], Sir Nevill Francis Mott[?], John Hasbrouck van Vleck[?]
• Chemistry - Ilya Prigogine
• Medicine - Roger Guillemin[?], Andrew V Schally[?], Rosalyn Yalow[?]
• Literature - Vicente Aleixandre
• Peace - Amnesty International
• Economics - Bertil Ohlin, James Meade[?]

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