1970s

Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s

Years: 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

Table of contents

1 Events and trends 1.1 Computers, technology 1.2 Science 1.3 War, peace and politics 1.4 Economics 1.5 Culture 1.6 Others 2 World leaders 3 Sports figures 4 Entertainers 5 Music 6 Writers 7 Film

Events and trends

Computers, technology

• Pocket calculators make the slide rule obsolete.
• Home computer revolution starts
• Unix created along with C programming language
• Microsoft is founded (1975)

• Viking missions to Mars
• Voyager spacecraft explore the outer solar system
• Theory of quantum chromodynamics postulated to describe the strong interaction, one of the four fundamental forces of nature

• fear of Nuclear war
• The United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark join Common Market in 1973.
• Watergate break-in, cover-up, and scandal, leading to U.S president Richard Nixon's resignation
• Widespread strikess and industrial unrest in the United Kingdom throughout decade.
• Margaret Thatcher elected Britain's first female prime minister.
• Democracy established in Spain after death of dictator Francisco Franco who ruled for 40 years.
• Democracy established in Portugal after dictatorship overthrown in military coup.
• US backed coup in Chile topples government of Salvador Allende. Is replaced by Augusto Pinochet.
• Elected government in Pakistan replaced by Martial Law.
• Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia results in 2.5 million deaths.
• USSR begins disastrous military campaign in Afghanistan.
• Iranian revolution and hostage situation
• end of Vietnam War
• Indonesia invades East Timor and follows it with a long occupation.
• Raise of environmental awareness and green movements, peace movement and women's liberation in Europe and the USA

• high inflation
• high unemployment
• OPEC oil embargo

• Disco, Punk rock, Gothic rock music
• Star Wars
• An age of superstars and idols in sports, music, literature and film.
• Jamaican reggae music begins to gain an international audience, while dub music influences African Americans in New York City, leading to the development of hip hop

• Indonesian Archaeological Service and UNESCO restore Borobodur

• Gough Whitlam (Australia)
• Pierre Trudeau (Canada)
• Mao Zedong (People's Republic of China)
• Deng Xiaoping (People's Republic of China)
• President Chiang Kai-shek (Republic of China on Taiwan)
• President C. K. Yen (Republic of China on Taiwan)
• President Anwar Sadat (Egypt)
• President Georges Pompidou (France)
• President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (France)
• Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (India)
• President Suharto (Indonesia)
• President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (Iraq)
• Prime Minister Golda Meir (Israel)
• Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (Israel)
• Prime Minister Menachem Begin (Israel)
• Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
• Pope Paul VI
• Pope John Paul I
• Pope John Paul II
• Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark (Northern Ireland)
• Prime Minister Brian Faulkner (Northern Ireland)
• President Erskine Hamilton Childers (Ireland)
• President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh (Ireland)
• President Patrick Hillery (Ireland)
• Taoiseach Jack Lynch (Republic of Ireland)
• Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave (Republic of Ireland)
• Taoiseach Charles Haughey (Republic of Ireland)
• Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Pakistan)
• Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore)
• Leonid Brezhnev (Soviet Union)
• Queen Elizabeth II (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Edward Heath (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Harold Wilson (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister James Callaghan (United Kingdom)
• President Richard Nixon (United States)
• President Gerald Ford (United States)
• President Jimmy Carter (United States)
• Chancellor Willy Brandt (West Germany)
• Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (West Germany)
• President Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia)

• Henry Aaron
• Muhammad Ali (U.S. boxer)
• Rick Barry
• Franz Beckenbauer (West German soccer player)
• Wilfred Benitez
• George Best (Northern Irish soccer player)
• Larry Bird
• Bjorn Borg (Swedish tennis player)
• Terry Bradshaw
• Rod Carew
• Nadia Comaneci (Romanian gymnast)
• Jimmy Connors (U.S. tennis player)
• Roberto Duran (Panamanian boxer)
• Gareth Edwards (Welsh rugby player)
• Julius Erving
• George Foreman (U.S. boxer)
• Joe Frazier (U.S. boxer)
• Wilfredo Gómez;
• Bobby Hull
• Kareem Abdul Jabbar (U.S. basketball player)
• Reggie Jackson
• Barry John (Welsh rugby player)
• Billie Jean King (U.S. tennis player)
• Olga Korbut (Russian gymnast)
• Guy Lafleur
• Niki Lauda (Austrian racing driver)
• Clive Lloyd (Guyanan cricketerer)
• Pete Maravich
• Willie Mays (U.S. baseball player)
• Eddie Merckx (Belgian cyclist)
• Carlos Monzon
• Gerd Müller (West German soccer player)
• Joe Namath (U.S. American football player)
• Jack Nicklaus (U.S. golfer)
• Jim Palmer
• Pelé (Brazilian soccer player)
• Richard Petty
• Pete Rose
• Secretariat
• Barry Sheene (English motorcycle racer)
• O.J. Simpson (U.S. American football player)
• Mark Spitz (U.S. swimmer)
• Roger Staubach
• Bill Walton

• Alan Alda
• David Cassidy
• Gary Coleman
• Richard Dreyfuss
• Harrison Ford
• Redd Foxx
• Louis de Funes
• Serge Gainsbourg
• Mel Gibson
• Mark Hamill
• Ron Howard
• Jack Lemmon
• Steve Martin
• Robert De Niro
• Bob Newhart
• Jack Nicholson
• The Not Ready for Prime-Time Players
• Carroll O'Connor
• Al Pacino
• Robert Redford
• Sony
• Barbra Streisand
• John Travolta
• Mary Tyler Moore
• Johnny Whitaker
• Henry Winkler

• ABBA
• Source | Copyright

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