1977

Centuries: Year in Review 20th Century (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

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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."
• Jimmy Carter succeeds Gerald R. Ford as President of the United States of America
• Australia experiences its worst railway disaster at Granville, near Sydney, in which 83 people died.
• January 21 - President Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders.
• February 11 - A 20.2-kg lobster is caught off Nova Scotia (heaviest known crustacean).
• May 23 - Scientists report using bacteria in lab to make insulin.
• June 20 - The United States Supreme Court 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 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 11 - The last "wild" infection of smallpox is reported in Somalia.
• A collection of work by JRR Tolkien, The Silmarillion, is published posthumously by his son Christopher.
• September 21 - Nuclear-proliferation pact, curbing spread of nuclear weapons, is signed by 15 countries including the U.S. and U.S.S.R.
• Swedish music group ABBA passes The Beatles as having most records sold.

Births:

• February 11 - Jessica Carlson, US archer.
• February 11 - Stephanie Richardson, Canadian swimmer.

Deaths:

• February 11 - Louis J M Beel, Dutch premier (1946-1948, 1958-1959).
• July 2 - Vladimir Nabokov, writer
• August 16 - Elvis Presley, singer, actor
• 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

Films:

• 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 a Best Picture and All The President's Men wins Jason Robards the Supporting Actor and an Art Direction for George Jenkins and George Gaines.

Music:

• February 4 - Fleetwood Mac's album Rumour's released. It eventually hits #1 and becomes one of the all-time best selling albums (it was the best selling album by a individual artist until 1983, when Michael Jackson's Thriller would top it).
• May 27 - The Sex Pistols' single "God Save The Queen" is released
• July 22 - Elvis Costello releases his first album, My aim is true, in the UK.
• August 16 - Elvis Presley dies.
• October 20 - A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, killing several band members, including lead singer/guitarist Ronnie Van Zandt

Sport:

• Baseball - New York Yankees defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers. This is the World Series in which Reggie Jackson becomes known as Mr. October.
• NASCAR Championship - Cale Yarborough wins this years event, beating Richard Petty into second place with a very respectable 386 point lead.
• January 9 - Super Bowl XI Oakland Raiders (32) def. Minnesota Vikings (14)

Nobel Prizes:

• PhysicsPhilip 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