# 1970’s Timeline

URL: https://buzzle.com/history/1970s-timeline
Category: History
Published: 2008-06-04T16:15:29
Updated: 2026-07-27T14:56:27
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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