1970's Timeline

The 1970's was an eventful decade of the 20th Century. Here we have a look at the 1970's timeline.
1970's Timeline
Timeline of the 1970’s

1970:
  • Invention of floppy discs.
  • Introduction of bar codes.
  • Breakup of the Beatles.
  • Completion of World Trade Center.
  • The FDA (Food and Drugs Administration) approved Lithium to treat manic-depressives.
  • Earthquake in Peru Killed 72,200 people.
  • China became the fifth nation to put a satellite into orbit.
  • American soldiers blamed for murdering entire town of Vietnamese civilians.
1971:
  • The Soviet Union and NASA sent probes to Mars.
  • The microprocessor was introduced which was the foundation of all computers.
  • Bangladesh was created from East Pakistan.
  • China joined the United Nations.
  • The US and South Vietnam invaded Laos.
  • Introduction of CAT scanning (Computerized Axial Tomography) which was the most important medical breakthrough since the X-ray.
  • Invention of cellular phone battery.
  • Opening of Disney World.
  • A new stock market index called the Nasdaq was introduced.
  • The country United Arab Emirates was created.
1972:
  • United States president Nixon went to China on a landmark visit.
  • Ugandan president Idi Amin expelled all asians.
  • Terrorist attack at the Munich Olympic Games.
  • Marks Spitz won 7 gold medals at the Munich Olympic Games.
  • E-mail was invented by Ray Tomlinson.
  • Eugene Cernan became the last man to walk on the moon.
  • Beginning of Watergate scandal.
  • Introduction of pocket calculators.
  • Bobby Fishcher beat Boris Spassky in chess.
1973:
  • Opening of Sydney opera house.
  • The world’s largest buliding the Sears Tower in Chicago was completed.
  • The end of the Vietnam war.
  • Abortion was legalized in the United States.
  • Paul Getty was kidnapped.
  • OPEC doubled the price of oil which led to the gas crisis of the 1970’s.
  • The US vice-president resigned.
  • The Bahamas become independent.
  • Egypt and Syria attacked Israel.
1974:
  • Stephen Hawking proposed new Black Hole theory which ran counter to Einstein’s theory.
  • US president Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal.
  • India conducts its first nuclear test.
  • Mikhail Baryshnikov defected from the Soviet Union to Canada.
  • Ethopian Emperor Haile Selassie dethroned after a famine, which killed over 200,000 people and had seen no help from the government.
  • US president Gerald Ford pardoned ex-president Nixon.
  • The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) kidnapped Patricia Hearst.
1975:
  • Microsoft was founded.
  • Disposable razors were introduced in the market.
  • Arthur Ashe of US became the first black man to win Wimbledon.
  • Lyme disease was first discovered.
  • Lebanon civil war began which was sparked by Christians who killed a busload of Palestinians and other Muslims.
  • The first home computer the Altair was launched.
  • The first joint US-USSR space mission.
  • Attempt to assassinate serving US president Gerald Ford.
  • Catalytic convertors are inroduced in cars.
  • Pol Pot became the dictator of Cambodia.
1976:
  • First artificial gene created in a test tube.
  • First Cray Supercomputer launched.
  • The Viking Probe lands on Mars and sends back pictures of rocky terrain.
  • Israeli commandos storm hijacked Air France plane in Uganda's Entebbe Airport anf released 103 hostages held by a pro-Palestinian terrorist group.
  • Mao Tse-tung the communist leader of China died in 1976 after over 25 years of rule.
  • Nadia Comaneci Given Seven Perfect Tens at the Olympics.
  • Tangshan Earthquake Kills Over 240,000 people.
1977:
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was first used to map the brain and other parts of the body.
  • Janelle Commissiong of Trinidad & Tobago became the first black woman in history to win the Miss Universe crown.
  • Elvis Presley dies.
  • Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat was the first Arab leader to visit Israel and acknowledge Israel's right to exist.
  • The Alaskan pipeline was completed.
  • The release of Star Wars movie.
  • The Nuclear-Proliferation Pact was signed by 15 countries, including the United States and the USSR, which was to "curb" the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
  • In the worst air disaster in history. Two 747's collide at airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands killing nearly 600 people.
1978:
  • First test tube baby was born using in vitro fertilization.
  • John Paul II became the Pope.
  • Ultrasound was first used.
  • The Camp David Accords were signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat.
  • Cartoon character Garfield the cat was syndicated.
  • In the Jonestown massacre there was the suicide and murder of 900 people who drank cyanide in fruit-flavored drink and the leader shot himself.
1979:
  • Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister.
  • In Iran the Shah was deposed and Ayatollah Khomeini became the leader.
  • Iranian students stormed the US embassy and held 52 of the 66 people in the embassy hostage for 444 days.
  • The Japanese company Sony introduced the walkman.
  • The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.
  • There was a nuclear accident at Three Mile island in US.
  • Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel peace prize.
  • ESPN began broadcasting

By Prabhakar Pillai
Published: 6/3/2008
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