1970’s Timeline

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

Timeline of the 1970’s

Science, Politics, and Conflict: 1970 to 1972

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 to 1975: Oil Crisis, Watergate, and New Technology

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 and 1977: Disasters and Breakthroughs

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 and 1979: The End of the Decade

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