1977 - What happened in 1977 ?

January 1977

Sunday 09:

Super Bowl XI: Oakland Raiders defeat Minnesota Vikings, 32-14.

Monday 17:

Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on the death penalty in the United States.

Wednesday 19:

Snow falls in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that this occurs.

Friday 21:

President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders.

Sunday 23:

The first segment of the Roots mini-series airs on ABC.

February 1977

Friday 04:

Fleetwood Mac releases one of the biggest-selling albums of all time, Rumours.

Monday 07:

The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24.

Friday 18:

The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle goes on its maiden "flight" while sitting on top of a Boeing 747.

March 1977

Friday 04:

The 1977 Bucharest Earthquake in southern and eastern Europe kills more than 1,500.

Wednesday 09:

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.

Thursday 10:

Rings of Uranus: Astronomers discover rings around Uranus.

Friday 11:

130+ hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims were set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined negotiations.

Sunday 27:

Tenerife disaster: Two jumbo jets collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583.

April 1977

Thursday 07:

Toronto Blue Jays play their first-ever game of baseball against the Chicago White Sox

Thursday 28:

1977 - The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure is signed.

May 1977

Sunday 08:

Grateful Dead performs at Barton Hall, Cornell University

Monday 23:

1980 - Australian Oylmpic commitie decides to send a team to Moscow. Dispite opposition by P.M Malcom Fraser

Thursday 26:

George Willig climbs the South Tower of New York City's World Trade Center.

Saturday 28:

In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.

Tuesday 31:

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed.

June 1977

Tuesday 07:

500 million people watch on television as the high day of Jubilee gets underway for Queen Elizabeth II.

Friday 10:

Apple Computer ships its first Apple II personal computer.

Saturday 11:

Seattle Slew wins the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.

Thursday 16:

Leonid Brezhnev becomes president of the USSR

Monday 20:

Oil begins to flow through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS).

July 1977

Sunday 03:

The Senegalese Republican Movement (MRS) is founded.

Wednesday 13:

The New York City Blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours and results in looting and other disorder.

Monday 18:

Vietnam joins the United Nations.

Friday 22:

Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power.

Monday 25:

A supposed thunderbird is reported attacking a boy named Marlon Lowe.

August 1977

Wednesday 03:

United States Senate Hearing on MKULTRA.

Thursday 04:

US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.

Wednesday 10:

In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over a year's period.

Monday 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.

Saturday 20:

Voyager program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

September 1977

Monday 05:

1977 - 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

Wednesday 07:

The Torrijos-Carter 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.

Saturday 10:

Last execution by Guillotine in France. Hamida Djandoubi, convicted for torture and murder, was executed at Baumettes Prison in Marseille.

Monday 12:

South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko is killed in police custody.

October 1977

Saturday 01:

Brazilian soccer star Pelé retires.

Friday 07:

The adoption of the Fourth Soviet Constitution.

Thursday 13:

Four Palestinians hijack a Lufthansa Airlines flight to Somalia and demand release of 11 members of the Red Army Faction.

Thursday 20:

A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, killing several band members, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines.

Friday 21:

The European Patent Institute is founded

November 1977

Sunday 06:

The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia, fails, killing 39.

Wednesday 16:

Close Encounters of the Third Kind opens in theaters.

Saturday 19:

Transportes Aereos Portugueses Boeing 727 crashes in Madeira islands killing 130

Tuesday 22:

British Airways inaugurates regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.

Saturday 26:

Vrillon, representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command, takes over Britain's Southern Television for five minutes at 5:12 PM.

December 1977

Sunday 04:

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737 is hijacked and then blown up in mid-air over the Straits of Johore, killing 100.

Tuesday 06:

not recognized by any other country

Tuesday 13:

A United States government DC-3 crashes after takeoff at Evansville, Indiana, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team

Sunday 25:

Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt Anwar Sadat