March 1979

Monday 05:

Detection equipment picks up a gamma ray burst originating from the Large Magellanic Cloud, leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters.

Tuesday 13:

The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts Prime Minister Eric Gairy in a nearly bloodless coup d'etat in Grenada.

Wednesday 14:

In China, a Hawker-Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200.

Monday 19:

The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.

Tuesday 20:

1979 – REXX programming language created

Sunday 25:

The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.

Monday 26:

Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty in Washington, DC

Wednesday 28:

In Pennsylvania, a pump in the reactor cooling system fails at Three Mile Island, resulting in the evaporation of some contaminated water causing a nuclear meltdown.

Saturday 31:

The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta is no longer a military base.